Young Cornrows Callin Out the Moon

Who needs a backyard when you’ve got brownstone steps, double dutch, and freeze tag beneath the sizzling summer sun? The jingling bell of the ice cream truck mingles with laughter and sidewalk rhymes. Frosty lemonade from the corner store and tight cornrows beat the heat with style. There’s nothing like summer in the city when you’ve got friends, family, and imagination to keep you company.

Ruth Forman, whose work has been honored by the American Library Association, offers a poetic testament to childhood, language, and play. Cbabi Bayoc’s richly hued paintings bring the streets of South Philadelphia to vivid life. Young Cornrows Callin Out the Moon is a celebration of city summer memories, and of African American culture and community.

Editorial Review From The Michigan Citizen

This children’s book is just as much for Mom and Dad to read as it is for the kids that will hear it…Young Cornrows sounds beautiful when read aloud and is a great book for bedtime or anytime.

Editorial Review From Booklist

First published in Forman’s poetry collection We Are the Young Magicians (1993), this lively poem celebrates the author’s South Philly neighborhood, where kids outside on summer evenings play double Dutch, freeze tag, and kickball and run for the ice-cream truck. Mamma snaps the naps out to make clean cornrows, and corn bread cools on the stove. Bayoc’s double-page spreads, with thick lines and bright colors in exaggerated folklore style, show “we got fine brothers we r fine sistas / n / we got attitude.” The kids may have “no backyard frontyard neither,” but every page of this book shows the fun they have in the lively urban community.

— Hazel Rochman

Editorial Review From School Library Journal

Grade 1–3—Summer in the city in South Philly is packed with sense memories for the children who live there. “We don have no backyard frontyard neither. we got black magic n brownstone steps when the sun go down.” But what these kids do have is special: “lemonade n black eye peas…n more to watch than tv”—street games, the ice-cream truck, dancing in the street, and relatives and friends. Life is full. And when the sun goes down, they “got to call out the moon.” Forman’s poetry is sweet and evocative of a blissful childhood filled with tastes and sights and sounds that seem idyllic. Bayoc’s illustrations swirl with energy, movement, and color. The text curls and bounces on the early pages, adding rhythm to the playful scenes. This sweet reminiscence invites readers to recall the special things about their own summers—a great introduction to a September (“What did you do over the summer?”) writing assignment. It could also be used as an introduction to writing with a sense of place or a memoir.

— Mary Hazelton