Review by Horn Book Review
Lonnie (Dinner at Aunt Connies House) and his uncle Bates take an airplane trip back in time, landing in Harlem at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Throughout their day, Lonnie and Uncle Bates visit several Harlem landmarks -- Wells Restaurant, the Africana Art Gallery, Madam Walkers Beauty School, etc. -- in search of Lonnies favorite writer, Langston Hughes. At each stop they meet Harlem Renaissance greats -- Jack Johnson, Marcus Garvey, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Madam C. J. Walker, to name just a few -- and Lonnie, along with readers, gets a mini history lesson from each one, delivered in occasionally clunky exposition (Lonnie: Mr. Robeson, you are a great singer, actor, and athlete. How does it feel to be so famous that everyone knows your name?). By the time they finally catch up with Langston Hughes himself, giving a poetry reading at the Schomburg Library, Lonnie has been so thoroughly immersed in the history and culture of the times that he dreams of being dubbed the littlest giant of the Harlem Renaissance. More of a history lesson than a story, the book is also a vehicle for Ringgolds accomplished acrylic paintings, which make the greats Lonnie meets seem both larger than life and completely down to earth. kathleen t. horning(c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
