HEY BLACK CHILD

While listening to this picture book, one can envision a girl, standing with arms akimbo, bellowing the words to other children in her neighborhood. However, the choice of 5-year-old Pe'Tehn Raighn-Kem Jackson as narrator, while imaginative, does a disservice to the poem. Her young voice, though fitting, takes away from the importance and inspiration of the text. The inclusion of an author's note, read by the author himself, further enhances the disconnect between Jackson's narration and the significance of the poem. The transition from the soft notes of the opening music to Jackson's over-the-top hollering recitation is a jarring juxtaposition of audio opposites. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2017]