Brynne Barnes

This book was powerful! From the beginning the girl is told to stay in her lane and to know her place in the world. Midway through, the book shifts to show her who she really is, the power she has, and what she is capable of. I love that Barnes references strong black female poets and authors in her own poem including Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Gwendolyn Brooks, Mari Evens, Alice Walker, Sonia Sanchez, and Zora Hurston. This is an incredibly uplifting book that can empower and inspire students. Fazlalizadeh’s paintings beautifully highlight diversity among black women throughout the book. I would highly recommend this Black Girl Rising.… (mais)

Barnes, B. (2016). Books do not have Wings. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Sleeping Bear Press.

This poem describes a myriad of fanciful flights you might take while reading a book. From a pirate ship to a fairy-filled forest, we see wonderful sights that a book can provide for us. We learn that a book is only merely a book when it is closed, laying still on a shelf; for books do not have wings. When, however, it is picked up, and read, that book can, indeed, have wings. This book is suitable for children ages 3-7 years.… (mais)

This story was fun to read and had very colorful illustrations. It talks about everything a book cannot do, and how a book is just a book if you never pick it up. The process or theme of the story is to show all the things that you can get from reading (imagination) with bright and fun adventurous looking illustrations in order to contradict what the words were saying.

This book would be fun in a classroom when trying to get students excited about reading. It shows how while reading you can go on and see so many fun adventures.… (mais)

I liked the book, Colors of Me, for three reasons. The first reason I liked this book was because of the descriptive language. The book describes many things and their colors, but they’re maybe colors people don’t typically notice. We think of the sky being blue, but the book describes the sky at dusk saying, “Does the sun know the sky turned purple before it went to sleep?” This describes the sky, but it also challenges what we typically think about the sky. The author is trying to get the readers to understand that different things sometimes have different colors.

The second reason I like this book is because of the illustrations. The book is illustrated with mixed media, which I think fits the book very well. The different medias are organized and come together to create one piece of artwork. This book is about colors, and the diversity of color in the world. All of the colors come together to create one world. So the mixed media reflects that color diversity.

The last reason I like this book is because of it’s ability to push the readers to broaden their perspective, and question things. One page that really stuck out to me said, “If the trunks of trees were blue and orange would they grow so tall? I think I’d climb them either way-if they were any color at all.” This makes the readers think not just about trees, but people too. It does not matter what color the trees are, they are still trees, and can still be used to do similar things. This relates to people and skin colors, which is also the big idea of this story. There are many colors of people, they are all special, but they are still just people. The world has a lot of diversity in it, and this diversity is what makes the world great.… (mais)