UPTOWN

When I went to return Goodnight Moon and Make Way for Ducklings, I discovered a lovely book that was not on my reading list for my course. Uptown by Bryan Collier caught my attention for several reasons.

The plot appears simple but would inspire pride in any African American or resident of Harlem. A young boy takes readers on a tour of the most important parts of Uptown, Harlem. We visit the Apollo, have chicken and waffles, and listen to Jazz and the Boys Choir of Harlem. The young boy not only takes pride in what he shows us but gives readers a culture and history lesson. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I had to Google "Van Der Zee."

Collier and the boy leading the tour don't come off as preachy. As a matter of fact, they teach children a valuable lesson: Be proud of where you come from even if that place produces strange combinations like chicken and waffles.

One of the reasons I wanted to read this book was because it had a Coretta Scott King Medal on the front cover. It also won the Ezra Jack Keats award. Also, I found the following reviews.

• "A young boy provides a particularly inviting, personally guided tour of his uptown home... Collier's evocative watercolor and collage illustrations create a unique sense of mood and place"- School Library Journal, starred review
• "This is a visual love song that makes it easy to see why the narrator loves it uptown."- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
• "Collier debuts with a set of dazzling paint and photo collages paired to a child's tribute to his Harlem neighborhood"- Kirkus Review

Speaking of these illustrations, I was first captivated by the color. Then, I stopped on the page that reads "Uptown is a row of brownstones. I like the way they come together when you look at them down the block. They look they're made of chocolate." This is when I started getting closer to the picture. The collage was made from actual chocolate bars. How clever and entertaining for children and adults. When I started looking at the pictures very closely, I started trying to figure out what Collier had cut up to make is collage, actual photos, a pair of jeans, and some really interesting African prints.

As I started looking for connections for this text, I discovered that Collier was an illustrator on several the Caldecott Honor Books Rosa by Niki Giovanni and Martin's Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King Jr. by Doreen Rappaport. A lot of the art looks like that of Ezra Jack Keats in Snowy Day. Imitating the collage aspect of the art could be interesting to children. However, Collier combines that with water color. This book might be a good lead in to a study of music or poetry by members of the Harlem Renaissance. Simply put, cultural connections abound and this would be a great February read for African American History month.

Reference:

Collier, Bryan. Uptown. New York: Henry Hold and Company, 2000.

ISBN: 0-8050-5721-8