"Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices" by Walter Dean Myers
Bibliography
Myers, Walter Dean. (2004). Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices. New York, NY:
Holiday House. ISBN: 0-8234-1853-7
Summary
This book holds a wide collection of poems written “in many
voices” from Harlem before and during the Civil Rights Movement. It represents
the many viewpoints of the people who lived in Harlem at the time and shows a
side of the Movement that many people are not privy to.
Review
The first thing that struck me
about this book was the texture of the pages. They are thick and heavyweight as
the stories shared them with edges as rough as the hands that held the scribbling
pen. In an interview, the author Walter Dean Myers claimed, "I'm not
interested in building ideal families in my books. I'm more attracted to
reading about poorer people, and I'm more attracted to writing about them as
well." And so he does, in this beautiful compilation of stories shared by fictional
people from every part of the spectrum: teachers, writers, laborers, photographers,
students, veterans, revolutionaries, jazz artists and many, many more.
One of my favorite poems is “by” a
hairdresser. She tells the most juicy, gossip-y tales of all her clients, but
consistently claims she’s “not the kind to talk behind nobody’s back.” I find
it funny how people, then and now, still tell their hairdressers everything! It
seems like such a simple innocuous story, but it exemplifies the idea that
people are, and will always be, just people regardless of their skin color.
Many of these poems are about Jazz.
The feeling of it. The pain of it. The opportunities provided by it. The taboo
of it. So many of the writers in these poems elevate Jazz to the level of
spirituality. They savor the music because it fed their souls in a time when
their lives were not full. In these poems Jazz represent the freedom of
expression that was repressed in so many people.
The poems in this book represent
the people whose individuality was oppressed and not appreciated. This book
deserves to be read and these stories deserve to be told. The perspective they
can give a reader is one-of-a-kind in that nobody can tell a story quite like one
who lived it. In our current social climate, these stories need to be read and
shared so that we might learn from our past and evolve as a society beyond
color and socioeconomic status.
Awards
American Library Association
Notable Children’s Book
Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
Lion and the Unicorn Award for
Excellence in North American Poetry Honor Book
Paterson Prize for Books for
Young People, Grades 4-6
Society of School Librarians Best
Book Award
Texas Tayshas Reading List
Voice of Youth Advocates
Nonfiction Honor List
Washington D.C. Capitol Choice
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