Available:*
Material Type | Library | Call Number | Item Barcode | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library | JJ HOO | 30470001806115 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Haverhill Public Library | JPB/PIC/H | 31479004300405 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
From legendary author and critic bell hooks and multi-Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka comes an acclaimed ode to Black boy joy, perfect for fans of I Am Every Good Thing and I Am Enough .
I be boy. All bliss boy. All fine beat. All beau boy. Beautiful.
Here a tight, exuberant story from two award-winning creators that captures the essence and energy of what it means to be a boy. Chris Raschka's soulful illustrations buzz with a force that is the perfect match for bell hooks' powerful words.
Praise for Be Boy Buzz: *"This spare, poetic riff on young manhood plumbs the delights and contradictions of what it means to be a boy... Hooks's rhythmic blend of brevity and eloquence launches Raschka's trademark visual haiku... This life-affirming book will have readers as much 'in love with being a boy' as are its own utterly irresistible characters."
--- Publishers Weekly , starred review
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-An alliterative ode to the snips, snails, and puppy-dog tails gender. The syncopated text suits the subject well: "I be boy./All bliss boy./All fine beat./All beau boy." It captures children running, jumping, "talking way too loud," and then, "sitting all quiet still." Brown-skinned boys with long, curving arms and curly hair lope and leap across sienna-colored pages; bright squiggles of scribbled design add a geometric counterpoint to the flowing lines of kids with big, open hearts and sweet minds, ready for the world. A wonderful collaboration, this book is as exuberant as the boys it describes.-Anna DeWind Walls, Milwaukee Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This stunning volume celebrates all things boy. The creators of Happy to Be Nappy set the stage with the bold opening sortie: "I be boy" appears on the left of the spread, paired with a deceptively simple layering of rectangles in blue line that pulsates on the page; opposite, a thoughtful-looking fellow, all elbows and knees slightly bent, seems poised for action. This spare, poetic riff on young manhood plumbs the delights and contradictions of what it means to be a boy particularly an African-American boy in a brief handful of sentences and with a few well-placed pastel lines that imply motion and emotion. From boys soaring ("All bliss boy") to boys sulking ("All bad boy beast" here Raschka conveys the mood with just the right-hand side of a furrowed brow, and two arms seemingly blocking readers from view), at play ("I be boy jumping") and at rest ("all think and dream time"), the words pinpoint boyhood's unflagging energy and exuberance, vulnerability ("Hug me close. Don't let me down") and attitude. Hooks's rhythmic blend of brevity and eloquence launches Raschka's trademark visual haiku. His series of watercolor and pastel portraits set off against a warm cappuccino backdrop conjures fingers and toes, features and squiggles of hair from simple sweeps of his brush, and evokes characters suffused with humanity and tenderness. The graceful design visually balances the spare text, lively portraits and geometric graphics which harmoniously orbit the spreads. This life-affirming book will have readers as much "in love with being a boy" as are its own utterly irresistible characters. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Hooks celebrates boyhood here with a text so generalized (I be boy running. / I be boy jumping. / Boy sitting down) that girls might as well sit down for the self-esteem message as well. While more consistently on message than the author's [cf2]Homemade Love[cf1], the book suffers from a similar lack of distinction and direction. Raschka's minimally lined portraits of African-American boys are stylish but don't have enough to do. From HORN BOOK Spring 2003, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The creators of Happy to Be Nappy (1999) return with a fine companion paean to boy-ness. "I be boy. / All bliss boy. / All fine beat. All beau boy. / Beautiful. / All bad boy beast. / All boy." Hooks's spare text celebrates the many aspects of being a boy, from running and jumping to sitting still and dreaming, the chopped-off declarative sentences creating a jumpy flow that embodies the pent-up energy of preschoolers. Raschka's equally spare illustrations appear on a background of terra-cotta paper, and feature brown-skinned boys pictured as heads and limbs emerging from amorphous clothing depicted as short white lines overlaid with circles and jags of colored lines. The energy and movement conveyed by these lines, complemented by irregular tight boxy squiggles that appear floating on the page, enhances the energetic rhythm of the text. The words march across the page, varying in size and placement to complete the sense of irregular bursts of energy. For the most part, the boy figures appear without relation to one another, with two major exceptions: in one spread-"All boy. Hug me close. Don't let me down"-a boy appears wrapped in the embrace of a nurturing adult; in the next, two boys-"All boy. Big open heart. Sweet mind"-appear with elongated arms joining to create one big circle, harmoniously enclosing two of the boxy energy-squiggles. In all, a pleasing and affirmative visual and textual interpretation of what it means to be a little boy: be boy buzz, indeed. (Picture book. 3-6)
Booklist Review
PreS^-K. In the boys' version of Happy To Be Nappy! (1999), hooks and Raschka use just a few rhythmic words and minimal images to celebrate black is beautiful. The double-page spreads in shades of brown leave lots of space, whether the boy is running and jumping, acting "bad boy beast," or talking way too loud. In one of the most beautiful pages, he is alone with himself, "All think and dream time." The changing black type is part of the joyful beat, and the lapsit audience will want to join in the buzz, point at the pages, and act out the movements and the loving embrace. Hazel Rochman