On My Block

On My Block edited by Dana Goldberg Product Description

This book was part of my collection already because I knew one of the 15 artists featured in the book, Cbabi Bayoc. I lived in Shaw neighborhood for 8 years and Cbabi and his family were very active in that community. The park in his story is Tower Grove Park and I can picture it very vividly as he describes it. I felt a connection to his story, because it ran parallel to mine. I enjoyed the other stories, but wished I had a little more detail and background knowledge, as I did for Cbabi's. The artists all had very differing experiences growing up showing all walks of life can achieve success. They all had very different styles of art also which made it fun to flip from page to page to see what the next page had to hold for the reader. Though I loved the book and treasure my autographed version, I don't think it would be a popular book in the library and would only purchase it if it were paired with an artist visit. Instead I would probably go with Young Cornrows Callin Out the Moon by Ruth Forman and Illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc.