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This month, Sourcebooks, Inc. is releasing a new children’s book that aims to help young people, especially African-American children, develop a love for poetry. Hip Hop Speaks to Children: a celebration of poetry with a beat is a groundbreaking new anthology of rhymes and rhythms that places an emphasis on the art forms that led up to the development of hip hop.

The book was created by National Book Award nominee, Spoken Word Grammy nominee and New York Times best-selling author Nikki Giovanni. (She was the Virginia Tech professor who gave that rousing speech “We are Virginia Tech” after the tragic campus shootings.)

Like Poetry Speaks to Children, the classic book and CD that started it all, this anthology is meant to be a journey of discovery. Readers can immerse themselves in 51 beautifully animated poetry and hip hop selections, 30 of which are performed by well known poets and artists on the accompanying audio CD including:

• Nikki Grimes
• Queen Latifah
• Langston Hughes
• Sugar Hill Gang
• James Berry
• A Tribe Called Quest
• Gary Soto
• Eloise Greenfield

Why you should get this book

This is a gorgeous book that you can dip into time and time again with your children. Now, I’m not into either poetry or hip hop, go figure, but this book is fantastic. You can listen to the CD by itself or while you’re looking at the book. Or you can just read the book on it’s own. It’s so beautifully illustrated that children and adults – African-American or not – will be attracted to it.

Nikki Giovanni is wonderful, too. I love how she says she’s “old school” and isn’t into hip hop. Still, she appreciates the art form and what “the kids” are doing.

Learn why she got involved in this project:

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