BEDTIME FOR SWEET CREATURES

Nikki Grimes, author

Elizabeth Zunon, illustrator

Hardcover, 32 pages

Published January 14th, 2020 by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky  

ISBN: 1492638323 (ISBN13: 9781492638322)

Such a treat! A beautifully illustrated hardcover book by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon. Zunon's illustrations use brilliant colors that lift right off the page. Her sweet creature's expressions are beautifully done. Grime's mommy is admirably calm and patient, and her sweet creature is full of spirit. The language used is alive, active and strong. The story and the illustrations perform well together, making Grimes and Zunon a talented team.

***Thanks to Nikki Grimes, Author, Elizabeth Zunon, illustrator, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky and Multicultural Children's Book Day for the opportunity to read and review this book. I won this through an MCBD giveaway.***

I really enjoyed the poems and the illustrations are lovely. I was happy to learn there are more Danitra Brown books. I'll have to see if the later two books (Danitra Brown, Class Clown and Danitra Brown Leaves Town) are easier to find (neither of my libraries owns a copy for some reason). 

He wanted his son to be a jock but Garvey had other plans. Garvey would rather learn and study than play catch or shoot a basket. As his classmates taunted him for his weight, I had to wonder if his father even knew what happened at school and if this would even effect how he talked to his son. While at school one day he notices the choir room, his best friends suggest that he should check it out since he is always humming. Garvey wonders if perhaps that might be just what he needed yet he hesitates, what if he fails? Days later, Garvey takes a chance and opens the chorus room door and finds that what lies inside this room is more than just music. It’s a lesson in acceptance and empowerment as Garvey learns to embrace his individuality.

This is another novel that should not be listened to, the narrator shows no emotion as he reads the novel and he sounded like. A. Robot. When. He. Reads. The. Text. Which. Drove. Me. Crazy. There was no rhythm or perk in his voice and after the novel was finished, the author explained that her novel was written in Tanka, a type of Japanese poetry like a haiku but the author changed the number or syllables in her novel. That being said, I still think there should have been some type of rhythm in the narrator’s voice as he read. I normally love it when an author plays with their words in a novel and this is the first time I have ever listened to a novel being read using this technique and I think it will be my last time I ever do it. Listening to the audio, I thought the story lacked the emotions and the dramatics that it really deserves. It’s amazing how much a narrator can affect your reading experience. If you do read this novel, don’t listen to the audio, read the text yourself so you can put your own dramatics, your own pauses, and your vocals to the text.

I’ll be honest and say I did not know what I was getting myself into when I picked up Dark Sons.  I knew I had read things by Nikki Grimes before (and am embarrassed to say I could not remember what those things were) and that it looked like kind of an interesting.  I was pleasantly surprised both by the format and content of the book.

One thing to know (and again something I should have but didn’t know before I read the book) is that it is a collection of poems that tell the story of two sons dealing with a changing relationship with their father.  The first is Ishmael and his relationship with his father Abraham (from Old Testament fame) and the second is a more modern distancing about a teenager named Sam.  Through the course of the book the similarities and differences of these two interpretations are brought to the forefront through alternating sections of poetic cycles.

As someone who grew up in a fairly religious household (and as a result when I stopped being particularly interested in faith for religious reasons and more for academic ones), I really enjoyed the Ishmael side of the book.  He has always been a fascinating character to me and the role he plays is one that I feel like is ripe for a lot of different interpretations.  I felt like this interpretation of what his emotions and feelings must have been were incredibly well done and were interesting when compared to the Christian response in terms of how Sam was able to deal with his father’s new family in the modern part of the book.  It set up an interesting parallel of having God take care of these people while still not making a great life for them or seeming to always have their best interest at heart.

I thought the portrayal of Sam was also incredibly well done.  It felt incredibly real and is one of the few reasons I would potentially recommend this book to a student.  The way that the character processes emotions and was able to separate his feelings for his father and his new wife from those for his step-brother was quite interesting and something I feel like most people have had to do even if not with this particular situation.

I do not think I would ever assign this book primarily because I think that religion is a bit too explicitly central.  That said, I have several students that I am already thinking of who could relate and benefit immensely from this.  I also think that there are students like me who might see the comparison of Ishmael as almost a “patron saint” of someone abandoned by their father to be compelling even without the religious overtones it produces.  Overall, it was a good, quick read and the format was something different that I found quite refreshing (although, this should not be super surprising coming from me since my favorite format for books are short story cycles).