Tag: Sibert Award

A Novel by Nikki Grimes

1. Bibliography

Grimes, Nikki. 2019. Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir. Honesdale, PA: WordSong. ISBN 978-1-62979-881-3

2. Plot Summary

In Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir told in verse, Nikki Grimes recounts her own personal history from her birth in 1950 until her mid-teenagerhood in 1966. Grimes’s story is one of great trauma. As the second child of a marriage doomed to fail, Nikki remembers lots of yelling. When her father moves out, Nikki’s alcoholic, schizophrenic mother goes to find a job, leaving Nikki and her older sister, Carol, in the hands of an abusive “babysitter” who locks the girls in the closet until just before their mother gets home in the evening. A little later, when their mom can’t seem to make ends meet, Nikki and Carol move in with cousins who “shoot up” regularly. Foster care, splitting Nikki and Carol apart, comes quickly thereafter. It is while staying with her foster family that Nikki learns the power of the pen to calm her fears and manage her burdens. When Nikki returns to her mother, she is beset by gang violence, sexual abuse, racism, and the death of a loved one. Yet, while her childhood is traumatic, Nikki finds her footing with her writing, her religious convictions, and the support of her sister, her writing teacher, and her best friend Debra. The end of Grimes’s memoir includes personal photographs from various periods of her childhood and young adulthood.

3.  Critical Analysis

There’s no doubt about it: Nikki Grimes has the gift of language. From page one, readers will want to invest in the story of the woman whose name is a lie, her first “invention” to protect herself from the real name that “wasn’t worth a lot.” Nikki quickly reveals the book’s title in an early poem, “On Our Own,” writing that she was never warned that “the world was full of / ordinary hazards / like closets with locks and keys.” For Nikki, a key becomes an “ordinary hazard” that locks her in a closet for hours on end while to an outside observer, a key appears to be an object of security just like mothers and grandmothers are supposed to be people of security (although for Nikki, they’re not) and bedrooms are supposed to be places of security (although for Nikki, it’s not).

Yet, while Nikki’s “ordinary hazards” provoke readers to horror, her adolescent life—though exceedingly difficult—is punctuated by what Nikki sees as God’s grace. For her, “hard evidence appears / round every corner.” It’s in the Christian church that Nikki is drawn to that leads her to her best friend, Debra. It’s in her reacquaintance with her father who becomes Nikki’s ally and confidante. It’s in her metamorphosis, as the slip cover shows, of a pitiful black moth—blurry on the edges—into a striking butterfly of neon light revealed underneath. Readers will come away from Nikki’s trauma-filled story full of that same hope she feels as an aspiring poet when the famous writer James Baldwin reads her writing, looks her in the eye, and asks her to give him a call.

African American culture plays a part in Nikki’s formation. Through it, she experiences deep trauma: For example, in June 1964, she mourns the “white-hooded devils” who killed black men like Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, and she’s physically scarred when she refuses to join a neighborhood gang. But through her culture, she also experiences deep peace: attending the Convent Avenue Baptist Church, dubbed a “Black church” by Nikki, brings her the family she’d never had and gives her the strength to “brave the darkness at home, once again.” Her father teaches Nikki about Black history, Black painters, Black musicians, and Black writers, allowing Nikki to see “Black so beautiful,” and to dream of herself as a singer, a dancer, and a writer. Never before have I read a book so unapologetically candid about both the negative and the positive aspects of a culture.

Nikki Grimes’s book invites readers of all backgrounds to rise above their difficulties and cultivate their talents. Raw, gripping, and packing a powerful poetic punch, Ordinary Hazards deserves a place on every young adult shelf. Highly recommended.

4. Rewards and Review Excerpts

Cybils Awards, 2019, Finalist, Poetry

Michael L. Printz Award, 2020, Honor

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, 2020, Honor

Horn Book Fanfare Title, 2020, Nonfiction

From Kirkus: “Grimes recounts her story as a memoir in verse, writing with a poet’s lyricism through the lens of memory fractured by trauma. Fans of her poetry and prose will appreciate this intimate look at the forces that shaped her as an artist and as a person determined to find the light in the darkest of circumstances. A raw, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting story of trauma, loss, and the healing power of words.”

From Booklist: “The memoir has heartbreaking moment—seven soul-crushing ones—that will make readers ache for young Grimes and teens grappling with similar circumstances. But inspiring moments bolster her raw, resonant story, showing that there is always light at the end of the darkest of tunnels.”

5. Connections

Ordinary Hazards is a memoir told in verse. Invite teens to write a few memoir poems of their own. Then invite them to share their poems in an online library showcase if comfortable.

Create a display of Ordinary Hazards and other children/YA books written by Nikki Grimes, such as the following selections:

  • One Last Word. ISBN 9781619635548
  • Garvey’s Choice. ISBN 9781501964695
  • Bronx Masquerade. ISBN 9780803725690
  • Words With Wings. ISBN 9781590789858
  • Off to See the Sea. ISBN 9781492638292
  • Legacy: Women’s Poets of the Harlem Renaissance. ISBN 9781681199450

*Note—This book review was created as an assignment for a course at Texas Woman’s University.

Sibert Award Winner

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bryant, Jen, and Melissa Sweet (illustrator). The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus. Grand Rapids, MI: Erdman’s Books for Young Readers, 2014. ISBN 9780802853851

PLOT SUMMARY

Peter Roget (pronounced “Roh-zhay”) loved making lists. At the age of 8, he began his first, listing the Latin names of beasts next to their English counterparts. As he grew older, Peter became more and more enamored with lists and especially with lists of synonymous words. Even as he studied, traveled, became a doctor, got married, started a family, and dabbled in science, Peter continued growing his book of synonyms. Finally, after several other men had attempted to create thesauruses but with mixed results, Roget’s children convinced him to publish the thesaurus he’d been creating for years. His was the best, they assured. The people who read Roget’s thesaurus thought his was the best too! It became an instant hit. Even today, more than 150 years after Roget’s thesaurus was first published, it has never gone out of print. The Right Word includes a short timeline of Peter Roget’s life and other concurrent world events, a selected bibliography, suggested books for further reading, sources, a complete list of the 1,000 words found in Roget’s thesaurus, an author’s note, and an illustrator’s note.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Right Word is one of those rare books with incredible dedication to detail and historical accuracy. Each page reveals careful study on the part of both author and illustrator. For example, readers learn that at age 8, Roget began writing his first “book”—a list of Latin words he’d learned from his English tutor. What makes this seemingly normal piece of information so incredible is that Melissa Sweet uses the illustrations to deepen the reader’s understanding of Roget’s list. To accompany the story about 8-year-old Roget, readers see an illustration of the actual words Roget printed in his book, a list of Latin beasts and their English counterparts—leo for lion, ursus for bear. In this and every other illustration, the lists of words that Melissa Sweet draws come straight from Roget’s notebooks and his 1852 thesaurus. Her design not only complements the text, but it often gives readers further understanding about the subject.

While the illustrations are notably researched, they might prove problematic to readers who find Sweet’s signature collages (colorful organized chaos) visually overstimulating. For example, Sweet draws columns of lists describing the four elements, the weather (in Latin and English), shapes, triangles, things that are green (in Latin and English), and things that fly, all on just one motley page spread of browns, whites, greens, reds, and blues ripped from pages of many-textured papers, some clipped onto the page, some pasted helter-skelter. With so much clutter, readers may be derailed from the main text of the story.

But while the illustrations sometimes outshine the text they’re meant to complement, it’s never due to poor writing. Jen Bryant has a knack for creating sentences that use just the right words to keep readers interested. The book begins, “Baby Annette slept in Mother’s arms, a small pink blossom against a wall of black.” The first sentence creates immediate interest with its unique metaphor—a baby isn’t a blossom but she could certainly look like one! Bryant never stops constructing these wholly original sentences. Roget’s idea for a thesaurus is carried “like a secret treasure,” and to describe the popularity of Roget’s thesaurus, Bryant writes, “People snatched it from the shelves like a new kind of candy,” a simile that will certainly strike a chord with its young, confectionery-loving audience.

The story’s reference aids are impressive too. Most notably, the timeline of principal events both in Roget’s life the world at large gives readers a better sense of the time period Roget inhabited. During Roget’s lifetime, he saw the end of the American Revolution ended and, only eighty years later, the beginning of the American Civil War. Young researchers will also learn that the term “scientist” wasn’t coined until Roget was almost 50!

One of the characters in The Right Word declares that Roget’s thesaurus is “a marvel, a wonder, a surprise!” But The Right Word itself, an incredibly crafted informational picture book, certainly deserves the same praise. This book is a must-buy for every library.

AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS

Robert F. Sibert Informational Picture Book Award Winner, 2015

Randolph Caldecott Honor Book, 2015

Orbis Pictus Honor Book, 2015

Golden Kite Award Winner, 2015

Kirkus Prize Finalist, 2014

From Booklist: “In brilliant pages teeming with enthusiasm for language and learning, Bryant and Sweet (A Splash of Red, 2013) joyfully celebrate curiosity, the love of knowledge, and the power of words.”

From Kirkus: “Bryant’s prose is bright and well-tuned for young readers. She goes gently, omitting Roget’s darkest traumas, such as witnessing his uncle’s suicide. Sweet tops herself—again!—visually reflecting Roget’s wide range as a thinker and product of the Enlightenment. . . . In a word: marvelous!”

From Publishers Weekly: “Together with Bryant’s sympathetic account, Sweet’s gentle riot of images and words humanizes the man behind this ubiquitous reference work and demystifies the thesaurus itself.”

CONNECTIONS

  • After reading The Right Word, play a synonym game with middle-graders. Split children into groups and then say a word (like “big”), giving the groups one minute to write down as many synonyms as they can for the word (like “humongous,” “gigantic,” “ginormous,” “huge,” etc.). Then share the words each group has come up with, and repeat the exercise.
  • Read The Right Word with another 2015 Sibert Honor picture books, such as the following:
    • Roy, Katherine. Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands. ISBN 9781596438743
    • Tonatiuh, Duncan. Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation. ISBN 9781419710544
    • Powell, Patricia H., and Christian Robinson (illustrator). Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker. ISBN 9781452103143
  • As a creative writing prompt, ask children to write their own unique list of things like Peter Roget did in The Right Word, and pull out art supplies for children to decorate their lists. Hang them up when they’re finished.
  • Read The Right Word. Then read a bio of the illustrator, Melissa Sweet, and set out some of the other nonfiction books she’s illustrated, such as the following:
    • Sweet, Melissa. Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White. ISBN 9780544319592
    • Sweet, Melissa. Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade. ISBN 9780547199450
    • Markel, Michelle, and Melissa Sweet (illustrator). Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909. ISBN 9780061804427

*Note—This book review was created as an assignment for a course at Texas Woman’s University.