Hip Hop Speaks to Children

Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat
Edited by Nikki Giovanni
8+
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Hip Hop Speaks to Children is a collection of poems by various authors celebrating writing with rhythm.  The books comes with a CD with selected poems read by the author.  Authors include Mos Def, Kanye West, Tupac Shakur, Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni.

I find it hard to find quality poetry for kids so I enjoyed this collection.  It combines accredited poets with current musicians tying them together with the rhythm of their poetry. There were poems by authors I enjoy but would not have thought to be accessible to young readers. However some of the poems were disappointing and seemed to be written with a simplified idea of children's poetry.  I like the idea of incorporating spoken poetry with the written form.  I think listening to poetry is a completely different experience than reading poetry.  Some of the recordings were not what I expected and seemed to lack the power behind the poems.  This may have been because the authors had a young audience in mind but some of the readings sounded awkward.  There were a number of illustrators.  One used ink, paint and collage to create bright, layered images and portraits which I enjoyed referencing as I read the poem.  Another used oil paint or water colors but the illustrations were very generic and detracted from the poems.  They all seemed to express a singular message such as happy, sad, lonely which simplified the poems even more.

I would use this book in the classroom to let students experience rhythm within writing.  Students might get a better feel for flow within their own writing from an early age.  I might use it as an introduction to poetry to show how diverse poetry can be.  The audio CD would be a great interactive tool, allowing the students to explore the readings on their own.  Students would have the ability to flip through the book and find poems that appeal to them.  Current artists might draw the attention of students who would normally not be interested in poetry.