Rum-a-Tum-Tum - Hardcover

Medearis, Angela Shelf

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823411435 ISBN 13: 9780823411436

Publisher: Holiday House, 1997

Synopsis

A celebration of music bursts through the town as people, one and all, join the fun-filled parade down a street in early twentieth-century New Orleans, enhanced by full-color illustrations.

About this title

About the Author

Angela Shelf Medearis was born in Virginia. Her family moved often, though, because her father was in the Air Force. She says that at each new place, "I knew there would always be a library, a friendly librarian, and my favorite books there to greet me. It made a new school and new friends much easier to deal with."In grade school, Angela Shelf Medearis's teachers told her that she wrote well. She was thirty years old, however, before she decided to try to earn a living as a writer. She enjoys history, and spends a lot of time researching African-American history for her books. As a bonus, her research often leads to ideas for new books.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2. Lucious fruits and vegetables, snappy street cries, and strutting musicians bring to life the melange that was New Orleans 100 years ago. A young girl awakens to the shout of a banana seller, visits the market, somberly watches a passing funeral, and joins an impromptu parade. Her adventures and observations are recounted in jazzy verse that is interspersed with traditional vendors' cries and punctuated with the "Rum-a-tum-tum" of the bands' drums. Many of Ransome's vigorous street scenes completely fill double-page spreads; others highlight piles of ripe produce, glistening fish, and mischievous cats. The illustrator's vibrant, glowing colors and broad brush strokes enhance the bouncy, upbeat rhythm of Medearis's rhyming text. While very different in mood and momentum from Alan Schroeder's Carolina Shout! (Dial, 1995), both books provide enlightening author's notes about street cries and employ a charming young lady to lead the way on a jubilant excursion through an earlier time in a fascinating place. Appropriate for independent reading, this is best shared aloud for a "finger-snapping, toe-tapping" experience.?Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Holiday House
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0823411435
• ISBN 13: 9780823411436
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 28
• Illustrator: Ransome James E.