Harlem at Four
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- USD 4.99
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- USD 4.99
Descripción editorial
A stunning picture book comprising two incredible stories—the first part chronicles the adventures of a four-year-old Black girl named Harlem, while the second part describes the history of Harlem the neighborhood. From a New York Times bestselling author and a critically acclaimed illustrator.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
In this beautiful picture book in two parts, meet Harlem: the girl and the neighborhood. Part one follows the adventures of a little girl named Harlem and her single father as they go on a museum “playdate” with painters Romare Bearden and Jean-Michel Basquiat, listen to John Coltrane records, and conduct science experiments in their apartment ("The volcano erupts /Red lava on Valentine’s Day!").
Part two takes us back to the fourth year of the twentieth century in Harlem the neighborhood. Here, we are introduced to Philip A. Payton Jr., aka Papa Payton, whose Afro-American Realty Company gave birth to the Black housing explosion, helping to start America's Great Black Migration. Because of Papa Peyton, Black families—like Harlem and her father a century later—could move to Harlem and thrive and flourish.
This is a completely unique, absolutely gorgeous picture book by a New York Times bestselling author and a Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator that weaves together the lives of a modern Black family and a historically Black neighborhood in New York City.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A child named Harlem—"named after the Harlem Renaissance," per an author's note—is celebrated alongside the time frame and neighborhood after which she's named in this lyrical picture book ode. The two-part narrative opens on the four-year-old child (who displays "Malcolm X/ Boulevard/ Corner speaker confidence") and her adoring father. Their Harlem neighborhood days involve listening to John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and visiting Basquiat paintings at Studio Museum Harlem. The story's second half introduces the neighborhood in 1904, when "The Father of Harlem/ Philip A. Payton, Jr." buys buildings to rent to "Brownstone-colored families" blocked "from white blocks'/ Brownstones." Though the sections only conceptually connect, and references to some figures go undefined until back matter, Datcher's affectionate lines and Morrison's luminous portraiture result in a loving past-and-present look at two Harlems. Ages 4–8.
