Double Dutch : A Celebration of Jump Rope, Rhyme, and Sisterhood

This colorful, vibrant treasury is the ultimate tribute to the unique sport and pastime of double Dutch. Written and compiled by celebrated author and journalist Veronica Chambers, Double Dutch is filled with her own personal memories of girlhood and jumping rope, along with poems, interviews, songs, history, quotes, rhymes, and photographs. At the heart of Double Dutch, though, is a celebration, not just of a sport, but of sisterhood—after all, it takes a few friends to make that rope really swing and those feet jump for joy

Grade 4-6-A book that is as snappy and fresh as its subject. Chambers introduces readers to the world of jump roping through personal reminiscences, wonderful action photos, and factual narratives. The book looks like a vibrant collage; a clean typeface is interspersed with pictures and inserts of the rhymes themselves. From it, readers learn not only the history of double Dutch (jumping between two twirling ropes dates back to the ancient civilizations in Phoenicia, Egypt, and China) and its current state, but also experience some of the joy of jumping. Joanna Cole has compiled jump rhymes in Anna Banana (Morrow, 1989), but Chambers re-creates the vibrant context in which they live.
Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, ME
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Essays, photographs and snazzy graphics combine in Double Dutch: A Celebration of Jump Rope, Rhyme, and Sisterhood by Veronica Chambers. The volume chronicles the history of the sport and profiles double-Dutch devotees, including eight-year-old Bronx resident Tahira Reid, who invented an automatic rope-turning machine, and Miho, who was inspired to start the first Japanese double-Dutch team after watching a video of a U.S. team in action. Sidebars present a plethora of popular rhymes (e.g., "Miss Susie Had a Steamboat..."; "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around..."). Ages 8-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4-8. Here's a book for girls that will make them jump for joy! It's a hodgepodge celebration of Double Dutch, the "queen of jump rope," which over the years has become a magnificent team game. Double Dutch is quite a sight to see. It's not like sissy old jump rope. It's the awesome WACK! WACK! WACK! of double ropes, the amazing jumping of the girls, and the familiar rhyme-calls used to keep the cadence. Chambers offers a miscellany of Double Dutch history, interviews, great photos, rhymes, poems, and stories, including how a black female student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute created her childhood dream: the automatic Double-Dutch Machine. There's also a section on Japanese teams, who now come to the contests--and often win. Display this with Sharon Draper's recent novel, Double Dutch [BKL S 1 02], for immediate response. Jean Franklin
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