Hip Hop Speaks to Children: 50 Inspiring Poems with a Beat (A Poetry Speaks Experience for Kids, From Tupac to Jay-Z, Queen Latifah to Maya Angelou, Includes CD)

Buy this book!!! My granddaughter, her mom and I all love it. It exposes children to poetry while making it fun adding a beat to it. The book is accompanied with a CD which makes it even more entertaining, including poems an assortment from different poets/writers which are thoughtfully put together to make the book a hit . As I have with many other books, I referred it to family members and friends, they've purchased it and love it. I especially love it because the poems are written by ethnic poets/artists. As a former educator, I believe all children will love and benefit from it. Thank you Amazon for offering books for all walks of children.

I took it to my 5 year old child's class and read some of the poems to them. I played some of the ones in the CD. I told them about Hip Hop and the culture. It helped me explain to them about her ethnicity, she is half black, half white and most of the kids in her class are either white or Hispanic. I made copies of the cd for the kids and left one for each of them. They were thrilled and many of the parents have called me to thank me for sharing and for the cd. Poetry is great for young children. They have such a short attention span that I have found it easier to read a couple of poems before bedtime than to get into an entire story.

I you. like poems, hip-hop, and music this is for you and your family. Love it

I recently purchased this book and CD for my four-year-old and two-year-old grandchildren. I loved the concept and the children love a great beat ;-) The illustrations and poetry are wonderful and though I have not had the opportunity to hear the CD (it's at their house), I heard they are enjoying it very much. I am thinking of lots of other little ones who might enjoy Hip Hop Speaks to Children as a holiday gift this year!

I love this book so much I bought one for my grandson and donated the other to a young school boy. It comes with a CD that the child can learn to read while listening. It helps with reading skills and builds confidence due to repetition and picture/word association. As a result my grandson was selected to recite 2 of the poems in front of the entire school. He practically knows them all by heart. 3 years later, we are still enjoying this book and CD.

Great book & CD. Funny that my 1 year old grand gets excited but is a little confused that they are hearing it from CD and she’s sitting her dads lap. Ha ha ha. But they enjoy the rhymes and music of it. Perfect compliment to Jazz Baby.

This is an excellent book and CD of fun loving 90's hip hop, spoken word and classic poetry that I can't listen to enough! We borrowed it from the library and had to purchase it. My infant daughter loves it too, "dancing" to some of the tracks. Great introduction to Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Queen Latifah, A Tribe Called Quest and MLK. I'll probably gift a copy of two to other children in my life.

What a great book...not only because I'm in this award winning and ground breaking book;-) but also because its the first of its kind in terms of fusing the hip hop culture of music to the literary world of poetry for children. Hip Hop is spoken word with music and Ms. Giovanni is a visionary for editing this innovative book for children of all ages. What a treat for teachers, students, parents and most of all me! Due to space limitations, not all the poems are on the CD but the most classic ones are included on the page and on the CD. Kudos to all involved in this fantastic publication.

This is a great book-cd combo. My 6-yr old girls love to speak/sing along on their way to school, quickly learnt words, enjoyed pictures, and worked diligently in the back of the car to keep up with the cd as they turned the pages. Above all I loved it to, and even dad got in on the act for that. All our thanks to Nikki Giovanni for such a gift to our lives.

I really love this book and so do the children I work with in my after school beat poetry club. The illustrations are really lovely and bright and the CD is kind of necessary to get the rhythm and twang intended by the poets. I may even have listened to it a few times on my way home from work on a Friday night... but hey A Tribe Called Quest and Young MC feature in there, as well as some powerful spoken word.

the service was great and it arrived on time. the service was great and it arrived on time. the service was great and it arrived on time

Bought this for my grandson, but it was so good I kept it for my home,everyone can enjoy it when then visit. A great book for youngsters; that way my grown ups at home gets use before the young one destroys it(hope never though)The rapping,well, good for effort (-:

Great explanation of hip hop (who knew?), variety of pieces, and recordings to accompany. Illustrations are lovely. Glad I came across it.