Who needs a backyard when you've got brownstone steps, double dutch, and freeze tag beneath the sizzling summer sun? The jingling bell of the ice cream truck mingles with laughter and sidewalk rhymes. Frosty lemonade from the corner store and tight cornrows beat the heat with style. There's nothing like summer in the city when you've got friends, family, and imagination to keep you company.
Ruth Forman, whose work has been honored by the American Library Association, offers a poetic testament to childhood, language, and play. Cbabi Bayoc's richly hued paintings bring the streets of South Philadelphia to vivid life. Young Cornrows Callin Out the Moon is celebration of city summer memories, and of African American culture and community.
Ruth Forman is a highly acclaimed writer and poet. Ruth teaches at the University of Southern California and is a former teacher in the Poetry for the People program at U.C. Berkeley. Her first book, We Are the Young Magicians (Beacon Press, 1993), won the Barnard New Women Poets Prize and was listed by the American Library Association as a 2001 Popular Paperback for Young Adults. She has read her work at the United Nations, the National Black Arts Festival, London’s Centrestage Millennium Festival, on PBS and NPR. She lives in Los Angeles.
Cbabi Bayoc is a fine artist and illustrator whose work reflects his love of music and family. His paintings can be found in galleries and homes around the world, and his illustrations can be seen in magazines, newspapers, and on album covers like “The Rainbow Children” by Prince. Born in New Jersey, Cbabi grew up in Illinois and Korea before studying art at Grambling State University in Louisiana. Cbabi lives in St. Louis with his wife Reine, and their children Jurni, Ajani, and Birago.
- 2008 NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts, Poetry
"Children's Book Press has a magic touch, has found Rumpelstiltskin's loom, plays the flute of the Piper, is a national treasure...Young Cornrows Callin Out the Moon by Ruth Forman is another great selection by this wonderful press. I'm calling out Children's Book Press. The moon will have to get here on its own." --Nikki Giovanni, poet, author, professor
"Forman's poetry is sweet and evocative… This sweet reminiscence invites readers to recall the special things about their own summers." --School Library Journal
"This children’s book is just as much for Mom and Dad to read as it is for the kids… beautiful when read aloud…a great book for bedtime or anytime." --The Michigan Citizen
