Wood-Hoopoe Willie
Product Description
by Virginia Kroll, Katherine Roundtree (Illustrator)
Synopsis:
Willie makes music every chance he gets. He will use anything to create the sounds of the rhythms he feels inside him. Willie dreams of playing the African instruments of his ancestors that his Grandpa describes. The Kwanzaa festival and the encouragement of his Grandpa provide the chance for Willie to live out his dreams. Color illustrations.
Annotation:
Willie makes music every chance he gets. He will use anything to create the sounds of the rhythms he feels inside him. Willie dreams of playing the African instruments of his ancestors that his Grandpa describes. The Kwanzaa festival and the encouragement of his Grandpa provide the chance for Willie to live out his dreams. Color illustrations.
Publishers Weekly:
Willie, a spirited African American child, can't seem to keep his feet or hands still: ``If his toes weren't tapping, his knuckles were rapping.'' The boy's incessant, impromptu music-making makes his Grandpa recall the dundun drums , ecasas and balas that he saw on a trip to Africa. Willie longs to play these handmade instruments of his ancestors, and finally gets his chance during the Kwanzaa festival at the African-American Center. The boy fills in for a missing drummer, thus freeing the wood-hoopoe--an African bird whose tree-pecking and cackling creates rhythmic music--that Grandpa insists has been trapped within him. Kroll's ( Masai and I ) melodic tale conveys the warmth among Willie's loving family as well as the musical legacy of several African peoples. Past and present fuse gracefully in Roundtree's boldly hued art--though the characters' faces are somewhat rudimentarily executed, the artist's depiction of the traditional instruments and dress of Africa is particularly striking. Ages 3-8. (Feb.)
Hardcover: 32 pages
Synopsis:
Willie makes music every chance he gets. He will use anything to create the sounds of the rhythms he feels inside him. Willie dreams of playing the African instruments of his ancestors that his Grandpa describes. The Kwanzaa festival and the encouragement of his Grandpa provide the chance for Willie to live out his dreams. Color illustrations.
Annotation:
Willie makes music every chance he gets. He will use anything to create the sounds of the rhythms he feels inside him. Willie dreams of playing the African instruments of his ancestors that his Grandpa describes. The Kwanzaa festival and the encouragement of his Grandpa provide the chance for Willie to live out his dreams. Color illustrations.
Publishers Weekly:
Willie, a spirited African American child, can't seem to keep his feet or hands still: ``If his toes weren't tapping, his knuckles were rapping.'' The boy's incessant, impromptu music-making makes his Grandpa recall the dundun drums , ecasas and balas that he saw on a trip to Africa. Willie longs to play these handmade instruments of his ancestors, and finally gets his chance during the Kwanzaa festival at the African-American Center. The boy fills in for a missing drummer, thus freeing the wood-hoopoe--an African bird whose tree-pecking and cackling creates rhythmic music--that Grandpa insists has been trapped within him. Kroll's ( Masai and I ) melodic tale conveys the warmth among Willie's loving family as well as the musical legacy of several African peoples. Past and present fuse gracefully in Roundtree's boldly hued art--though the characters' faces are somewhat rudimentarily executed, the artist's depiction of the traditional instruments and dress of Africa is particularly striking. Ages 3-8. (Feb.)
Hardcover: 32 pages
