Starred review from March 14, 2022
Written from within a community of friends, in a voice that often uses “we,” lilting, intimate-feeling lines by Woodson (The Year We Learned to Fly) capture a delicious sense of autonomy and possibility shared “In Brooklyn/ in the summer/ not so long ago,” when “the minute/ school ended, us kids were free as air.” Pencil and digital art centers blue skies and city landscapes as Espinosa (The Creature of Habit) draws children of varying ages and skin tones bursting from the doors of a school, with 1970s clothing details that are right on the mark. In the hot days that follow, the kids crowd sidewalks and stoops, open hydrants, and play street games with chalk and bottle caps. They also engage in camaraderie and community care, comforting each other after scrapes, noticing each other’s gifts (“We said, You sure can draw... and we meant it”), and sharing an ice cream truck’s bounty, “because some days the ones with no money/ were us.” And in this Brooklyn nabe, the kids dream big, because “anything was possible/ when a guy from our block was good enough/ to play for the Mets.” Affirming the strengths of shared experiences and power drawn from collective appreciation, the creators show how a childhood can engender joy that follows “everywhere I’d ever go.” Ages 5–8. Author’s agent: Dorian Karchmar, WME.
Starred review from May 27, 2022
Gr 2-6-Fond memories of summer vacation at home in Brooklyn are the backbone of this vivid picture book memoir. Woodson describes what it was like to leave school and have an extended period of free time without a great deal of adult supervision. She describes the games the kids would play, how disputes would be solved, how the bigger kids would take care of the younger kids, and how the kids would take care of each other. Some young readers will have a hard time believing that children used to be allowed to play outside for long periods of time with only one another to direct activities and solve problems when the need arose. Woodson's evocative use of language will bring readers right into the hot Brooklyn streets. The illustrations are perfect for this story, with a 1970s retro vibe. The joyful portrayal of many different kinds of kids in the expressive text is echoed in the striking art work. This will make an excellent conversation starter for families about how kids used to play. It would also serve as a wonderful mentor text to model how to write a vacation experience. VERDICT A gorgeous depiction of summer vacation in Brooklyn in the 1970s that could work in writing classes as well. Don't miss this one.-Debbie Tanner
Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from July 1, 2022
This lyrical paean to unstructured play does not wax nostalgic or hark back to a simpler time. Rather, Woodson sets out to capture (and brilliantly succeeds in it) a feeling and a moment. She starts off, "In Brooklyn / in the summer / not so long ago," and tells readers that "the minute / school ended, us kids were as free as air. / Free as sun. Free as summer." While their grownups are busy inside the apartment buildings above, the neighborhood kids spend the long, hot days playing on the city streets. Open hydrants are converted into super squirters, games are invented and mastered, conflicts are collectively resolved, and scraped knees tended. It's a time of endless possibility. "Our block was the whole wide world / and the world belonged to us," at least until their mothers call them home for dinner. Espinosa's kinetic pen-and-ink and watercolor art captures a cadre of kids in perpetual motion -- biking, jumping rope, building forts, shooting bottle caps, playing stickball -- and conveys unbridled joy and mutual respect and admiration. This book reminds readers that the benefits of free play, independence, and being excited about what each day may hold can extend beyond a Brooklyn block one summer to a lifetime of creative possibility. Simultaneously published in Spanish as El mundo era nuestro, translated by Yanitzia Canetti. Luann Toth
(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
July 1, 2022
This lyrical paean to unstructured play does not wax nostalgic or hark back to a simpler time. Rather, Woodson sets out to capture (and brilliantly succeeds in it) a feeling and a moment. She starts off, "In Brooklyn / in the summer / not so long ago," and tells readers that "the minute / school ended, us kids were as free as air. / Free as sun. Free as summer." While their grownups are busy inside the apartment buildings above, the neighborhood kids spend the long, hot days playing on the city streets. Open hydrants are converted into super squirters, games are invented and mastered, conflicts are collectively resolved, and scraped knees tended. It's a time of endless possibility. "Our block was the whole wide world / and the world belonged to us," at least until their mothers call them home for dinner. Espinosa's kinetic pen-and-ink and watercolor art captures a cadre of kids in perpetual motion -- biking, jumping rope, building forts, shooting bottle caps, playing stickball -- and conveys unbridled joy and mutual respect and admiration. This book reminds readers that the benefits of free play, independence, and being excited about what each day may hold can extend beyond a Brooklyn block one summer to a lifetime of creative possibility. Simultaneously published in Spanish as El mundo era nuestro, translated by Yanitzia Canetti. Luann Toth
(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from May 1, 2022
Preschool-Grade 2 *Starred Review* In this joyful and nostalgic celebration of young Black girlhood, multi-award-winning author Woodson remembers fondly how, not so long ago in Brooklyn, when school ended for the summer, the neighborhood kids headed outdoors to play, "free as air, free as sun." Moms might shout, "Don't get your school clothes wet!" but kids still ran through the fire hydrants, shooting water at each other. Wet hair would spring back into natural coils, because "even hair had the right to be free!" Every day, all summer long, kids played in the street--drawing chalk games on the sidewalk, building forts out of boxes, spinning tops, and skipping rope. Jumping, running, or playing, they felt the whole world belonged to them, and anything seemed possible: their friends could grow up to be ball players, singers, writers, or anything. Voices call out in Spanish, English, Polish, and other languages as they play until the streetlights come on. Brightly colored illustrations jam-packed with joyful details fill every page in this positive endorsement of unstructured play. At the end, readers can join in dreaming along with the child who now sits on her front stoop, excited about the many tomorrows to come--not just in Brooklyn, not just for the summer, but everywhere and always.
COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from April 15, 2022
Kids burst out of school and into summer vacation. Now they can play outside all day till the streetlights come on, when moms call them home. This nostalgic homage to Woodson's childhood in her beloved Brooklyn evokes the senses: the sounds of laughter and double Dutch rhymes, the sight of sidewalk chalk and bottle cap games, and the taste of an ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles from the ice cream truck. The refrain, "In Brooklyn / in the summer / not so long ago," appears in text the color of summer heat: red, orange, yellow. The bell-bottom plaid pants; white, knee-high, color-ringed tube socks; and loud-and-proud Afros pinpoint this story's '60s or '70s setting. The amazing diversity of the neighborhood comes through both in Espinosa's lively, colorful retro illustrations, which depict Black, brown, and White children, and Woodson's lyrical text, which describes kids calling "out to each other / in Spanish / in English / in Polish / in German / in Chinese." They also get along well, with the older kids looking out for the younger ones and those with ice cream money sharing with those without "because some days the ones with no money / were us." Espinosa depicts many characters with mouths wide open, emphasizing their unbridled delight and loudness. Author and illustrator offer a refreshing reminder of a pre-internet time when full-immersion play was the summer activity and kids took full advantage. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A dream team of talent show and tell a delightful story of summers gone by. (Picture book. 4-8)
COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
July 1, 2022
This lyrical paean to unstructured play does not wax nostalgic or hark back to a simpler time. Rather, Woodson sets out to capture (and brilliantly succeeds in it) a feeling and a moment. She starts off, "In Brooklyn / in the summer / not so long ago," and tells readers that "the minute / school ended, us kids were as free as air. / Free as sun. Free as summer." While their grownups are busy inside the apartment buildings above, the neighborhood kids spend the long, hot days playing on the city streets. Open hydrants are converted into super squirters, games are invented and mastered, conflicts are collectively resolved, and scraped knees tended. It's a time of endless possibility. "Our block was the whole wide world / and the world belonged to us," at least until their mothers call them home for dinner. Espinosa's kinetic pen-and-ink and watercolor art captures a cadre of kids in perpetual motion -- biking, jumping rope, building forts, shooting bottle caps, playing stickball -- and conveys unbridled joy and mutual respect and admiration. This book reminds readers that the benefits of free play, independence, and being excited about what each day may hold can extend beyond a Brooklyn block one summer to a lifetime of creative possibility. Simultaneously published in Spanish as El mundo era nuestro, translated by Yanitzia Canetti.
(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)