A book your child will crow about!
Caribbean Life, DECEMBER 25-31, 2020 27
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Uh-oh! Everybody’s watching.
They’re all looking at you
and now what? Your voice
won’t work when all eyes are
pointed your way. You can’t
sing like that, can’t say your
lines, so how can you play your
part? You can barely even move
when everybody’s watching, so
try this: sleep on it. In the new
book “Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard
Boogie Starring Indigo
Blume” by Kwame Alexander,
pictures by Tim Bowers, that
might work.
As she helped clean up the
park near her house, Indigo
Blume was a happy girl. The
Garden City Community Festival
would be held soon and
she was going to sing for the
Festival. It was exciting – until
it wasn’t.
Her friend, Elijah, said that
the whole school was coming
to hear Indigo sing! Mr. Woody
said he saw posters everywhere,
and Samantha said that hundreds
of people would probably
come. Nooooooooope, that
was too much for Indigo.
Her mom said that Indigo
was “the bravest songbird” she
knew.
Indigo’s dad said she should,
“Be brave. Be a star. Believe.”
As Indigo went to bed that
night, she couldn’t believe how
scared she was. Still, she managed
to fall asleep and she fell
into…. a barn! It was Acoustic
Rooster’s barn and his band
members were all there. She
loved his book. She loved
Acoustic Rooster; his band
could play anything! So there
she was, and even though Chickee
Minaj said it was “a closed
rehearsal,” Acoustic Rooster
gave Indigo a tambourine.
But then a “hurritrain”
came and blew everything all
over. The barn was scrambled,
it was a mess, but Indigo
remembered how her neighbors
cleaned up the park, so
she suggested that Acoustic
Rooster’s band members clean
up their area. In fact, maybe
it was a good time to have
a “Barnyard Boogie” benefit
concert.
And it might have been,
if Dairy Parton hadn’t lost
her voice and Duck Ellington
hadn’t quacked up. In
that case, somebody had to be
brave. Someone needed to be
courageous. Someone had to
be a star…
Chances are you’ve seen
videos or TV shows featuring
young performers that have
blown your socks off. Believe
it or not, at some point in
their lives, chances are they’ve
had stage fright. It happens
to children of all ages, making,
“Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard
Boogie Starring Indigo
Blume” a perfect read.
Kids who live to make music
and dance but hate the pressure
will love the story here
because there’s not a shred of
outside push inside this book.
Instead, author Kwame Alexander
lets his main character
shine because of a dream-sequence
she had, which leads
to a satisfying ending that she
already owned. This makes
young readers smile, and parents
confident in an easilyabsorbed
lesson; add colorful,
happy illustrations from Tom
Bowers and you’ve got a book
that’ll make kids and parents
both sing.
Based on the Kennedy Center
Musical, this is a great confidence
booster for kids ages
5-8, especially the occasionally
cold-footed performer. They’ll
crow about “Acoustic Rooster’s
Barnyard Boogie Starring
“Acoustic Rooster’s
Barnyard Boogie
Starring Indigo Blume”
by Kwame Alexander
c.2020, Sleeping Bear
Press $16.99 / $21.99
Canada, 32 pages
Kwame Alexander, author of “Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard
Boogie Starring Indigo Blume.” Portia Wiggins Photography
Book cover of “Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie Starring
Indigo Blume,” by Kwame Alexander.
By Nelson A. King
Created by Dr. Maulana
Karenga, professor and chairman
of Black Studies at California
State University, Long
Beach in 1966, Kwanzaa is an
annual week-long celebration
that is observed from Dec. 26
to Jan. 1, according to Awarenessdays.
com.
“Following the Watts Riots
that took place in LA (Los
Angeles), Dr. Karenga was keen
to create an event that would
unite African-Americans,” it
said. “He wanted African-Americans
to have an opportunity to
celebrate themselves and their
history instead of imitation of
participation of the dominant
society.”
Dr. Karanga founded US,
a cultural organization, and
started to research African first
fruit (harvest) celebrations,
awarenessdays.com.
It said Karenga combined
aspects of several different harvest
celebrations, such as those
of the Ashanti and the Zulu, to
form the basis of Kwanzaa.
Awarenessdays.com said this
celebration is based around
seven major principles which
are, according to Karenga, “a
communitarian African philosophy:
unity, self-determination,
collective work and responsibility,
cooperative economics,
purpose, creativity and faith.
“On each of the seven nights
of the week-long celebration,
families gather together and
light one of the seven candles
of the Kinara,” Awarenessdays.
com said. “Usually, a discussion
about the one specific principle
takes place.”
It said Kwanzaa also has its
own symbols, which include: a
decorative mat, an ear of corn,
crops, the Unity Cup, gifts, the
seven candles and candleholder.
“All the symbols are designed
to convey the seven principles
of Kwanzaa,” Awarenessdays.
com said.
“Many African-Americans
who celebrate Kwanzaa observe
it as ad additional celebration
to Christmas.”
According to Wikipedia,
the free online encyclopedia,
Karenga’s goal was to “give
Blacks an alternative to the
existing holiday and give Blacks
an opportunity to celebrate
themselves and their history,
rather than simply imitate the
practice of the dominant society.”
For Karenga, a major figure
in the Black Power movement
of the 1960s and 1970s,
the creation of such holidays
also underscored the essential
premise that “you must have a
cultural revolution before the
violent revolution,” according
to Wikipedia. “The cultural
revolution gives identity, purpose,
and direction.”
Karenga said Kwanzaa
derives from the Swahili phrase
matunda ya kwanza, meaning
“first fruits of the harvest.”
A more conventional translation
would simply be “first
fruits,” states Wikipedia.
“The choice of Swahili, an
East African language, is ahistoric,
as most of the Atlantic
slave trade that brought African
people to America originated
in West Africa,” it said.
“First fruits festivals exist in
Southern Africa, celebrated in
December/January with the
southern solstice.”
Wikipedia said Karenga was
partly inspired by an account
he read of the Zulu festival
Umkhosi Wokweshwama.
It was decided to spell the
holiday’s name with an additional
“a”, so that it would have
a symbolic seven letters, Wikipedia
said.
“During the early years
of Kwanzaa, Karenga said it
was meant to be an alternative
to Christmas,” it said. “He
believed Jesus was psychotic,
and Christianity was a ‘White’
religion that Black people
should shun.”
As Kwanzaa gained mainstream
adherents, Wikipedia
said Karenga altered his position,
“so practicing Christians
would not be alienated.”
In the 1997 “Kwanzaa: A
Celebration of Family, Community
and Culture,” Karenga
said, according to Wikipedia,
that “Kwanzaa was not created
to give people an alternative to
their own religion or religious
holiday.”
What is Kwanzaa?
/awarenessdays.com
/Awarenessdays.com
