The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas

Title: The Blacker the Berry

Author: Joyce Carol Thomas

Illustrator: Floyd Cooper

Summary: The picture book is about a collection of different poems which was written from the African-American children's POVs about their skin tones and how it was compared to similar things, such as milk, berries, sun, etc. Not only that, but the poem was associated with an illustration that describes what a poem represents.

Genre: It's a combination of a poetry and a nonfiction book contained in a picture book.

Art: The illustrations coming from the book was so beautiful and realistic. It was if someone did a perfect copy of African-American children of different skin colors from the pictures then illustrated it. It truly captivates the self-image of themselves and the illustrations really matches the poems beautifully, word for word.

Literacy Elements: In the book, the poems are described as imagery and metaphors because how it describes the skin colors of different African-American children. Because it's a picture book consisting of different poems, there is no setting or plot, but a theme which was the different skin colors of African-American children and how they feel comfortable and proud of their own skin.

Critical Literacy: This book is a kind of book that will help show the children that no matter how we are different in the colors of our skin colors but we are all human beings. And you can use the book to teach that there's the beauty of poems and how it describes the beauty of people through the different skin tones. The book can be used to help teach the students how to express their self-image and their descriptions via the art of poetry.

Personal Evaluation: This book is certainly a must-have in every classroom and I cannot find any weaknesses associated with it and that the illustrations perfectly flowed with the poems into a stunning book portraying the African-American children and how beautiful their skin tones are. This book does indeed justify the Coretta Scott King Award perfectly because of the tolerance and respect among the African-American children and their skin tones.