Belinda Rochelle

This beautiful collection of famous African American artists and their paintings, displayed with past and present African American poets. "Your World" is a beautiful poem I love to read my students at the beginning of the year, a poem of courage to try new things as the author "cradles my wings in the breeze". You will find poets like Alice Walker, Lucille Clifton, Rita Dove, Langston Hughes. The paintings give such rich possibilties tor discussion, and there are clear and informative biographies in the back for each writer and artist. The collator Belinda Rochelle says these poems and paintings were collected to inspire creativity. They certainly inspire me!… (más)

I really enjoyed Words with Wings. This book of poems constantly switches time periods, giving the perspectives of African Americans all through American history. I really enjoyed how the author structured the poem collection, because it allowed the reader to make connections between poems. For example, the poem entitled "How Poems are Made" says that, "I know how poems are made. There is a place the loss must go. There is a place the gain must go." Then, on the very next page, the poem takes place about fifty years later (in the 1960s). The poem talks about the losses and gains an African American student has at her school. Obviously the structure of this collection added a lot to the reading experience.

I also enjoyed the art style. Because the poems take place in different time periods, they incorporated a variety of art techniques! The poems start with art in the African style (bright block colors and prints), then proceed to detailed paintings and finally to geometric modern art. The flow of the art style very much represents how things have changed over the course of American history.… (más)