Night on Neighborhood Street

by Eloise Greenfield, Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Illustrator)

Overview

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book

A wonderful collection of poems, this book gives a beautiful snapshot of life on Neighborhood Street.

“The magical andeveryday reside comfortably together on Neighborhood Street and make it well worth the visit.”—Booklist 

"A warm, triumphant book."—School Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140556834
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	02/01/1996
Series:	Puffin Pied Piper
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.41(w) x 10.50(h) x 0.14(d)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Eloise Greenfield has published many children's books, including picture books, novels, poetry, and biographies. She has won many awards for her writing, including the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, given by the National Council of Teachers of English. In 1999 she became a member of the National Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent. Greenfield was born in North Carolina and grew up in Washington, DC, where she continues to live. She has a son, a daughter, and four grandchildren.

Jan Spivey Gilchrist has illustrated children’s books for over a quarter of a century. She illustrated the Coretta Scott King Award Book Nathaniel Talking and the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Night on Neighborhood Street, both by Eloise Greenfield. In 2000, she was inducted to the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent. Jan lives with her husband in a suburb of Chicago. See more of her work at janspiveygilchrist.com.

Editorial Reviews

The magical andeveryday reside comfortably together on Neighborhood Street and make it well worth the visit.”—Booklist 

"A warm, triumphant book that will be wonderful to share with a group or in a more cozy situation."—School Library Journal

"Greenfield's poems have a peaceful tone that is perfectly matched in Gilchrist's gentle, dreamy paintings, where brown skins glow with a warm light against soft-focus backgrounds of shadowed walls and deep, starry sky. A winning combination." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Gr 1-4-- Warm shades of blues, greens, and lavenders as well as the characters' gently, glowing shades of browns perfectly capture Night on Neighborhood Street . Each of Greenfield's poems deals with everyday concerns and delights of African-American city children: a lonely boy gazes at the moon, waiting for his ``best, best friend'' to come home; a newborn baby swaddled in pink cries because she's ``too tiny a girl/ for this big new world.'' Nerissa tries to cheer her unemployed father and ill mother ``by telling them the best old/ bedtime jokes.'' The most powerful poem is ``The Seller,'' who ``comes around/ carrying in his many pockets/packages of death.'' The final poem depicts a young mother playing a trumpet on a porch late at night. She ``blows lullaby sounds/ into the silence/ the children hear and smile/ their sleep deepens/ and they are at peace/ with the night.'' A warm, triumphant book that will be wonderful to share with a group or in a more cozy situation. --Eve Larkin, Chicago Public Library

School Library Journal