Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse - Hardcover

Myers, Walter Dean

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060229179 ISBN 13: 9780060229177

Publisher: Collins, 1993

Synopsis

‘The distinguished novelist has culled his personal collection of turn-of-the-century photographs of African-American children and composed the verses that accompany this enchanting selection of youngsters.’ —NYT. ‘A unique celebration of the continuum of human life and of childhood in all its robustness, fragility, and evanescent beauty. . . . An exquisite album. The 42 superbly reproduced black-and-white and sepia prints radiate intensely with the personalities of their subjects.’ —SLJ. ‘The poet, inspired by the photographs, affirms the black experience in a lyrical, tender, and sometimes humorous voice.’ —H.

Notable Children's Books of 1994 (ALA)
1994 Notable Trade Books in the Language Arts (NCTE)
1994 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
Children's Books of 1993 (Library of Congress)

About this title

About the Author

Walter Dean Myers was the New York Times bestselling author of Monster, the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award; a former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature; and an inaugural NYC Literary Honoree. Myers received every single major award in the field of children's literature. He was the author of two Newbery Honor Books and six Coretta Scott King Awardees. He was the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, a three-time National Book Award Finalist, as well as the first-ever recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

From Publishers Weekly

Myers ( Scorpions ; Now Is Your Time! ) gathers a stirring collection of turn-of-the-century photographs of black children and sets them to poetry, his verse alternating between the music of 19th-century hymns and that of plain talk. The arresting portrait of a truly angelic-looking child on the book's cover, for example, is accompanied by "Prayer": "Shout my name to the angels / Sing my song to the skies / Anoint my ears with wisdom / Let beauty fill my eyes." A series of pictures of smiling children illustrates a poem that mocks adults who are "so tizzy-busy / They don't remember / How good a grin feels / Ain't that something / How people forget that?" Myers's tone is sometimes sentimental--especially in the depiction of "sweet" or "precious" children, like the "pretty little tan girl / She knows all the tricks"--and sometimes didactic; he's best in his lightest moments. The design of the book, with its warm sepia-toned photographs and Victorian decorations, handsomely showcases the haunting and hopeful faces of the children, whose names have been lost along with those of the men and women who photographed them. All ages.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0060229179
• ISBN 13: 9780060229177
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40