Hip Hop Speaks to Children

Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry With a Beat, which features lyrics by Mos Def, Kanye West and Queen Latifah, as well as poems by Maya Angelou and Gwendolyn Brooks, has become a modest hit, rising to No. 3 among picture books on The New York Times children’s best-seller list last Sunday.

One of the selling points of the book, which was edited by the poet Nikki Giovanni, is that it comes with a CD of recordings by many of the poets and artists performing their work, including an excerpt from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Ham ’N’ Eggs” and “Dream Variations,” by Langston Hughes . . . (Read full article)

I think this is an excellent holiday gift idea! But honestly, as much as I love books now, there was a time when I would frown up my face if anybody ever gave me a book as a present. I was an ungrateful child. Ask my mama. Books just aren’t the kind of gifts that you can show off to your friends at school. Feel free to dispute me on this.

Happy reading, ya’ll.