FICTION

Move the Crowd

by Eric William Griffin Barrier (text) & illus. by Kirk Parrish
Akashic. Oct. 2020. 32p. Tr $16.95. ISBN 9781617758492.
COPY ISBN
Gr 1-3–A young Black boy’s passion for beats and lyrics comes alive as he expresses his thoughts by listening to spoken words through his boombox. In this entry in the “LyricPop” series, readers see how a beat can inspire someone to move the crowd, inspired by the lyrics of the rap duo Eric B & Rakim. The boy’s imagination comes alive as he draws everyone into the beat, into the rap, into the musical vortex that takes him to another world where he explains the importance of great beats and sounds to other children and introduces them to the party of perfect rhymes, lyrics, and sensation. Parrish’s wonderful drawings, a version of graffiti fused with a narrative arc, show an array of colorful words that seem to jump off the page.
VERDICT Rap music is a story, perfectly suited to the picture book form, and this book is sure to move the crowd.
Reviewed by Annmarie Braithwaite, New York P.L., New York City , Sep 01, 2020

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