Come Sunday
By: Nikki Grimes
Illustrated By: Michael Bryant
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grimes, Nikki.1996. Come Sunday. Ill. Michael Bryant. Grand Rapids, Michigan. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802851345
Plot Summary
LaTasha’s Sundays at Paradise Baptist are chronicled in fourteen poems from sun-up “Come Sunday, Mommy wakes me up with whispers” to Sun-down “Mommy tucks me. I shake my head, still wondering where the long day went”. These poems depict different elements and activities of church through a little girl’s eyes.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Nikki Grimes uses short verse poems to help describe LaTasha’s Sunday’s at church. She reaches her young readers as LaTasha describes avoiding being pinched by the “Blue Haired Ladies”…..”Come here , you precious thing, --That’s why I run the other way,” and is sure to leave children with a recognizing giggle. Grimes uses kid friendly language that is sure to put a picture in the readers head “Mommy’s chocolatey- brown skin peeks through the white-lace gloves she likes to wear”. She cleverly steps the reader through LaTashas day and will leave the reader ready to turn the page to hear the next intriguing poem.
Michael Bryant’s full page, vivid water colored pictures brings to life the beauty of a southern, African-American church. The color of the church’s stained glass windows spills on to each page, illuminating the soul of the book. The authentic clothes, facial expression, and church images capture the important celestial spirit of LaTasha’s culture.
Cultural Markers are present when Grimes describes the authentic process of LaTasha getting her hair ready for church, “I rise and wander to the kitchen—where Mommy makes my hair and scalp tingle with oil and comb and brush. If only she didn’t weave the braids so tight.” She describes and captures the beauty of the hats worn by African-American women to church in a poem titled “Ladie’s Hats” – “I could admire them for hours—hats with feathers, bows and flowers, satin ribbons, black as jet, broad silk bands, and lacy net that ladies hide behind”. Grimes conveys to importance of sharing the spirit with music in church in her poem titled “Jubilation” that has a sing-song rhythm. Children will love spending the day at Paradise Baptist Church with LaTasha.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
Kirkus Review- “Composed as a suite of pitch-perfect poems, Grimes (Portrait of Mary, 1994, etc.) affectionately portrays a young girl's enjoyment of the spirit and practice of Sunday services in her community's church”
Publishers Weekly- “Reverent, funny and wildly energetic all at the same time, this is a wonderful book for introducing children to church life.”
Other Books By Nikki Grimes
Grimes, Nikki. Danitra Brown Leaves Town. ISBN 9780688131555.
Grimes, Nikki. My Man Blue: Poems. ISBN 9780803723269.
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