Ellington Was Not a Street

by Ntozake Shange, Kadir Nelson, Phylicia Rashad

Book Overview

Featuring luminous art by Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator Kadir Nelson, this reflective picture book by poet Ntozake Shange looks back at the great Black thinkers and innovators who visited her father's house.

A close-knit group of Black innovators formed their own community in the early to mid-twentieth century. These men of vision lived at a time when the color of their skin dictated where they could live, what schools...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689828845
• ISBN13: 9780689828843
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.3" x 12.2"
• Age Range: 5 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 6

Customer Reviews

this book should be in every music lover library to pass on to the next generation. EXCELLENT

to mention the legends of rocknroll.....the clovers...sonny till is giving new knowledge to a generation not aware of our music pioneers....and the duke will always be our king and class act. will buy more for my students.

Ellington Was not a Street should have won the Caldecott

I think Ellington Was Not a Street should have won the Caldecott because it had very realistc and large drawings. The drawings also helped tell the story because there were very few words on the page. I would reccomend this book for ages 9 to 19.

This Book Should Have Won The Caldecott!

Dear Reader, I thought Ellington Was Not a Street would win the Caldecott. I thought wrong. This book's illustrations can easly catch your attention.Illustrater Kadir Nelson makes the illustrations beautiful and colorful. Next time recommend this book!

Classic for our children's library

I have been a fan of Ntozake Shange since seeing the play "For colored girls..." as a teen. Her writing and passion has always been vibrant and found its way to the heart of you. This book is a beautiful reflection of what & who shaped her as a child. She knew some of the fore most revered African-American minds and talents when as a child as friends "play uncles." They influenced her and now she uses her history and past to mold and shape young readers. This book is a tribute to their memories as well as tool to teach the younger generation about the past. I am greatful to her for this book and all her other books. Every library should have this book for their children. We have read this to our daughters and will most assuredly read it to our son. I can't say anymore regarding Kadir Nelson except "Masterful." He has the portraiture down to a science. W.E.B. DuBois leaps off the page.

Caldecott material--if not, Nelson will be robbed

This is one of the most beautifully illustrated picturebooks I've ever seen. Kadir Nelson is brilliant and supremely talented. It takes us into the narrator's home (the little girl on the cover) and gives us an intimate view of some of the most celebrated African-Americans in history. The text is scarce in a good way, and set off beautifully in boxes within the illustrations. Elegant and edifying.

Wish I could buy 100 copies to give to everybody I know!

This book is so beautiful! The poem and illustrations are a perfect fit, recreating Harlem during a rich period in time. It's about the past, but reminds us of what the present and future could be. Biographies of the people mentioned in the poem bring the story to life even more. This is the sort of book I'd buy for a child, but end up keeping for myself.