Rap It Up!

February 1, 2025
A talented youngster schools readers in this rhyming introduction to hip-hop. Prolific author Carole Boston Weatherford and her son, spoken word poet Jeffery Boston Weatherford, have teamed up for a tutorial on composing and performing rap lyrics. The narrator, a swaggering Black child who was "born holding a mic, pad, and pen," is the perfect teacher. As the setting shifts from a living room to the child's neighborhood, the park, and the train station, the text introduces many poetic devices and rap-specific terminology (defined in a glossary at the end), starting with hyperbole: "Once I took the mic, I rapped for five years straight." The authors encourage readers to write about what matters to them, to practice, and to perform. Reading the lively text aloud is an accessible and fun way to practice rapping. Martinez's joyful illustrations employ both primary and pastel colors, shading, collagelike layers, and words to create a child's creative world with an irresistible sense of depth and mood. Pieces of lined yellow paper are woven throughout the spreads to hold text and remind readers of the tools of the creative process. Old-school hip-hop gets a shoutout with depictions of records, boom boxes, and cassette tapes. A thrilling ode to rap and the creative process. (note from Jeffery Boston Weatherford, glossary)(Informational picture book. 4-8)

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March 1, 2025
"My mom claims I was rapping before I could speak. / Matter of fact, I freestyled eight days a week." A young MC serves as the narrator of this ode to hip-hop, which introduces readers to rap as an art form that is primarily about wordplay. An early illustration shows three kids drawing on a wall with the word hyperbole incorporated into the art. The word is then defined on the following page, providing an important lesson about language: "Remember that rap is poetry." The text includes several terms that reinforce the use of literary devices -- alliteration, onomatopoeia, and personification -- all of which are defined in an appended glossary. The young protagonist provides a step-by-step guide to writing and performing rap lyrics, with many instructions written on what appears to be notebook paper. Martinez's illustrations in a dreamlike watercolor style include some classic hallmarks of rap: a crate full of records, a cassette tape, a large boom box, shell-top sneakers, and plenty of microphones. The young characters' faces are expressive and lifelike. One particularly effective double-page spread depicts a tree whose branches sprout words and verses. An author's note by Jeffery Boston Weatherford is appended. Marva Anne Hinton

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)