Review: 2011 Poetry Book

Title: Roots and Blues: A Celebration

Author: Arnold Adoff

Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie

ISBN: 978-0-547-23554-7

Citation: Adoff, Arnold. Roots and Blues: A Celebration. New York: Clarion Books, 2011.

Awards: A Junior Library Guild Selection

Review: In Roots and Blues: A Celebration, Arnold Adoff explores the evolution of blues music in African American culture as well as its impact on singers and listeners. Beginning with the songs of those being transported from Africa across the ocean during the slave trade and ending with blues music in modern times, Adoff uses lyrical poetry to engulf readers with the pure emotion of this genre of music. Adding visual beauty to Adoff's words are R. Gregory Christie's enchanting acrylic paintings. The rhythm and flow of the poems in Roots and Blues allows for a smooth reading while evoking sensory images through the use of rich vocabulary. Perhaps the most interesting element of this book is the unique layout in which special attention was paid to spacing, line breaks, and the placement of the poems on the page. Readers will enjoy this historically rich exploration of how blues music came to be.

Potential Use: Due to its complex vocabulary and, at times, abstract nature Roots and Blues: A Celebration would be best suited for use with high school aged students and beyond. Though one usually associates use of poetry with Language Arts curriculum, Roots and Blues would make for an excellent teaching tool in any music or music history class. This book represents the history of blues music in a historically accurate, yet emotionally riveting manner. Roots and Blues could provide an engaging alternative to reading a traditional textbook about the same topic. To explore the use of blues music in African American culture during various points in history, educators can select poems that represent each time frame being studied (see the following selections).

Pre-Slavery in Africa (taken from p. 7)

Each word a hammer hit. Each word the solid tip

of finger hitting squarely on to the center of the ivory

yellow piano key. Each hammer to each steel wire hit

makes tone makes sound and resonates: rings like rocks

hitting calm water. Circles of sounds reach out

like circles of words: flow stories out from the shore.

I look into the water and see my usual face bending out

and under the ripples: bending as blue notes extend

from finger tip to steel wire hit to air to ear to memory.

Slave Trade (taken from p. 10)

Chained

in rags in blood in dark death of daylight.

To survive the passage across the ocean from

life to living hell to life in hell means

silent

singing

of old

songs.

Behind the eyes
the fingers strum
homeland strings and memory of my history
remains as strong as steel.

Always: this melody of words is journey home.