Young Cornrows Callin' Out the Moon Book

A rhythmic poem illustrating summer life in the city from a young girl's view. The initial lines, "we don have no backyard, frontyard neither", sets a tone of disparity but the next few pages is anything but needy as she relays all the things that make up her life. From double-dutch and freeze tag, red cream pop, black eyed peas and cool lemonade, it is quite clear that her hot Philly Summer leaves nothing much to be desired, even without that backyard. The soft, pencil illustrations by Cbabi Bayoc are filled with beautiful browns and warm oranges, and contain his usual style of detailed and exaggerated features. The text flows beautifully in spite of the fact that it is written in dialect, and would be a perfect addition to any picture book collection that highlights city life or summer in the city. Parents who lived in similar environments will love the nostalgia found in these pages. I surely did.