Danitra Brown, Class Clown
Nikki Grimes
Illustrated by E. B. Lewis
Best friends Danitra and Zuri are back for a new school year and a new teacher. Miss Volchek gives us quizzes/with no warning in advance,/and still Danitra tells us/that we should give her a chance. Challenges arrive for Zuri–fears about passing math and worry about her mother’s illness. Even singing solo with the glee club adds a level of anxiety to her days. Confident Danitra, the One of a kind…Original thinker…/Matchless tutor/Matchless friend provides support, friendship, and her own unique styles to her advice. Grimes’s text, a running sequence of titled verses, neatly voices the critical self-examination of preadolescent girls. Lewis’s detailed watercolor paintings create energy of their own, revealing the girls’ emotions with visualization of both joyous expressions and thoughtful moments. Theirs is a friendship with the closeness of siblings, revealed for readers in a natural flow of events and Zuri’s narration. A must-buy for all libraries and a must-read for all Danitra and Zuri fans.
