Ellington was not a street By: Ntozake Shange

Ellington was not a street  By: Ntozake Shange

Illustrated by:  Kadir Nelson

Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers; New York

Copy Right: 1983

(Award Winner)

            While this would outwardly appear to be a beautifully illustrated children book, it actually is for an older audience.  While the story is simplistic you can’t understand it unless you read the back of the book and know who the people are that they are talking about.   This book is more of a tribute to particular men/groups in African American history.  The illustrations are amazingly striking.  There was color, textur and depth in every page.

            The text to text connection I found was in several books.  During one class period we read a book entitled “Martin”.  While that book solely talked about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, I felt that both of these books were written in homage to great men.  The text to world connection is that we all have people in our histories that impact our world as a whole.  It made me think of how what people do in our country to improve it, impacts how others regard us and learn from us.