Grand Mothers: Poems, Reminiscences, and Short Stories about the Keepers of Our Traditions

by Nikki Giovanni

Book Overview

The acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni created this book by asking her friends--writers like Gloria Naylor, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Maxine Hong Kingston--for their stories and recollections of their grandmothers, then to a group of writers in their nineties for their thoughts.

Grand Mothers celebrates those special women in every culture who preserve heritage and prepare the future.

"A diverse and moving tribute." --Publishers...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805049037
• ISBN13: 9780805049039
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

A terrific, tender book

This book is a well-organized and convincing look at Grandmothers. Told through the voices of well-known authors, it is an engaging, funny, and poignant mix of fiction and personal experience. The role of Grandmother as both disciplinarian and comforter shines through brilliantly, serving to portray the women in all their complexity. There are many more essays and stories than poems, however, and readers who want more poetry may not find it to their liking. In my opinion, the poems provide strong insight and solid transition from one theme to another. As with all good writing, the themes are not explicitly stated. This allows the reader to draw their own conclusions and reflect on their own experiences. Even as discipline and disagreements are discussed, respect and love for older women is evident throughout. Although this is a fairly good book for teens fourteen and up, adults may find it speaks more fully to their experience and perspective.