Night on Neighborhood Street

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.

Eloise Greenfield - Author

Jan Spivey Gilchrist - Illustrator

Book: Paperback | 32 pages | ISBN 9780140556834 | Feb 1996 | Puffin | 0 - 3 years