Reviews

Harlem Renaissance Party by Faith Ringgold

lattelibrarian's review

4.0

This was a nice, didactic primer on the who's who of the Harlem Renaissance.  The (unexpectedly pale and) excited Lonnie travels with his uncle in the hopes that they'll meet Langston Hughes.  By the end of the day, Lonnie is even more proud to be black and wants to continue writing like his poet idol.  It's a celebration of the past and the present, as Ringgold celebrates using her own acrylic-painted artistry. 

But like some others, I wonder why Lonnie is so incredibly white-passing.  I'm wondering if he has a dual purpose: to reaffirm that biracial kids exist and are just as black as well as a way to call-in white children to learn about a history so often passed over in school.  Whatever the reason is, I can't say that it isn't a little jarring.  

Overall, it's a cute, short book.  If you liked this, you'll also likely enjoy Carole Boston Weatherford's Sugar Hill.  Great for kids who enjoy learning about black history, and great for kids who want to know about the icons of the past.  Perfect for grades 1-3.

Review cross-listed here!

mariahroze's review

3.0

Thanks to one of my Goodreads' friends, I was suggested the author Faith Ringgold. My class will be reading all her picture books that my library has because they are great for our Black History Month unit.

This book had a really cool theme and was very educational. It talked about a lot of famous black people throughout history. But because of this, the book dragged on at times and my students couldn't keep all the characters and people straight.

This is a higher level picture book.

skersh68's review

hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

I love children books written by black authors that teaches about black history. When I came across this book my first response was I’ve got to get this. A very quick read but had to add to my collection for my future grandchildren. I like how she touched on not only poets of the Harlem Renaissance period but others important figures as well. 

azajacks's review

4.0

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corncobwebs's review

I remember learning about Faith Ringgold in my art history classes in college, so this book made me feel like two distinct parts of my life were colliding! Speaking of colliding, I felt like this book was kind of a mess is some ways. Like Jason, I wondered why Lonnie was depicted as white. My best guess is that Ringgold was trying to communicate that being black can encompass a wide range of skin tones...but did she have to make him look so...Irish? It just didn't really make a lot of sense to me, and there was no explanatory note. Also -- I think the Harlem Renaissance provides a wealth of material for engaging, imaginative, & informative children's books. But the writing in this book gave it the feeling of taking something that's not interesting and trying to make it fun: "Let's fly on a plane into the past and have really short and insubstantial interactions with Josephine Baker! And Langston Hughes! And Marcus Garvey!" In other words, I felt like Ringgold took an idea with a lot of potential to be something creative and engaging, and made it into something that felt like sitting through an uninspiring lesson. It's a "No thanks" on this one for me!

wordnerd153's review

3.0

I loved the inclusion of so many talented African-Americans from the Harlem Renaissance and the illustrative style was interesting, but the narrative was a tad confusing and I honestly thought the little boy was Caucasian until the end, which also struck me as odd.

kstoczanyn's review against another edition

4.0

I read Harlem Renaissance Party by Faith Ringgold for my second picture book for historical fiction. In this book, Lonnie and his Uncle Bates fly back in time to meet all the famous writers, painters, musicians, and other artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Lonnie is looking forward to meeting his hero, Langston Hughes, because Lonnie wants to be a writer himself. The book introduces many of the important figures of the Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th century and provides further information on each person in a glossary at the end of the book. Ringgold also includes other books related to the topic for readers to investigate further.

I enjoyed this book. I knew many of the people that Ringgold introduced, but was not familiar with all of them so that glossary at the end of the book was really helpful to me. It would be interesting to use this book as part of a multicultural and history lesson - not only investigating who the people are and what their contribution to black and American culture and investigating the Harlem Renaissance as a movement. I really enjoyed the book and loved the bright colors that Ringgold used throughout the book.

hlminton's review against another edition

3.0

Good compendium of important figures from the Harlem Renaissance, but feels like a lot of info crammed into too small of a space.

dlauron's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this book. It told about a lot of black entertainers and artists that were important in the 1920's. The giants. I especially enjoyed th the part in the back of the book that told a little more about each of the great artists of the time. There was a part about books for further reading. Unfortunately, most of them are not available at the library.

The illustrations were great and the story was fun.