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Amiri & Odette: A Love Story

by Walter Dean Myers

Comment on this title and you could win free books! Synopses & Reviews Read an exclusive essay by Walter Dean Myers Comment on this title and you could win free books! ISBN13: 9780590680417 ISBN10: 0590680412 All Product Details

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In this modern retelling of the Swan Lake ballet, acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers explores the sweet/sharp spark of love between two teens.

A boy searches for his newfound love among the city streets, to find that, unwarily, she's been caught in the arms of an evil street lord who means her harm. It is only through perseverance and undying love that the girl is returned to the safety of her one true love. Lyrical text and stunning mixed media artwork make for a powerful recasting of the classic ballet Swan Lake.

Review:

"Myers's (Sunrise over Fallujah) and Steptoe's (In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall) concept, recasting Swan Lake as hip-hop, may sound unlikely, but in their hands it largely succeeds: the ultra-cool, emotionally hot setting gives the story new power. Swan Lake is a housing project, Rothbart represented as Big Red, a drug lord, and Odette an addict; Amiri tries to save her, but fails. Myers's words carry the force of blows; Steptoe's collages teem with bodies colliding and overlapping. The language swings from pop lyric to Shakespearean, sometimes in the same breath: 'Amiri, be my man!/ Save me if you can!/ If not, let my last pure breath/ Pledge my love to you in wretched death.' Steptoe gets gritty, working directly on slabs of asphalt, a street effect intensified by the graffiti-like use of multicolored and multisize fonts in the text. His figures are shadowed with ghostly blue; they leap, ward off blows, embrace, argue. It's easy to imagine them as dancers. The momentum yields at the end, where, in contrast to the stark immediacy of the rest of the work, abstract language softens the tragic conclusion. Ages 12 — up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

A boy searches for his newfound love among the city streets, to find that, unwarily, she's been caught in the arms of an evil street lord who means her harm. It is only through perseverance and undying love that the girl is returned to the safety of her one true love. Lyrical text and stunning mixed media artwork make for a powerful recasting of the classic ballet Swan Lake.

They danced like mist on water

As light as summer breeze.

He touched her waist; she kissed his cheek.

Her eyes began to tease.

Set among the asphalt of a housing project and the concrete of a basketball court, Walter Dean Myers' compelling work is delivered with rhythms that twist, hover, pounce, and inspire. For Amiri and Odette, love is hard when the streets are mean. Their dance for two becomes a fight for three, and their only chance is to hold fast to the power of being together as one. Part poem, part love story, part rap and rhapsody, AMIRI AND ODETTE: A DANCE FOR TWO celebrates hearts that beat forever. Accompanied by the collage-on-cinder-block paintings of Javaka Steptoe, this genre-breaking volume sets a new stage for a classic story.

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About the Author

Walter Dean Myers is the 2012 - 2013 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. He is the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author an award-winning body of work which includes, SOMEWHERE IN THE DARKNESS, SLAM!, and MONSTER. Mr. Myers has received two Newbery Honor medals, five Coretta Scott King Author Awards, and three National Book Award Finalists citations. In addition, he is the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Javaka Steptoe is the award-winning artist of many books for young people, an NAACP Image Awards nominee, and winner of the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. He is also the artist of the highly acclaimed books DO YOU KNOW WHAT ILL DO by Charlotte Zolotow and A POCKETFUL OF POEMS by Nikki Grimes. Son of the late award-winning author/artist John Steptoe, Javaka draws inspiration from the multifaceted colors and shapes of Brooklyn, NY, where he lives and works.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780590680417

Author:

Myers, Walter Dean

Publisher:

Scholastic Press

Illustrator:

Steptoe, Javaka

Author:

Steptoe, Javaka

Subject:

Ethnic - African American

Subject:

People & Places - United States - African-American

Subject:

Fairy tales

Subject:

Love

Subject:

African Americans

Subject:

Children s-General

Subject:

General

Copyright:

2009

Edition Description:

Hardcover

Series:

Amiri and Odette

Publication Date:

20090131

Binding:

HARDCOVER

Grade Level:

from 7

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Y

Pages:

40

Dimensions:

9.5 x 7.25 in

Age Level:

from 12

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Amiri & Odette: A Love Story New Hardcover Walter Dean Myers

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Product details 40 pages Scholastic Press - 2009-01-01 English 9780590680417 Reviews:

"Publishers Weekly Review" by Publishers Weekly, "Myers's (Sunrise over Fallujah) and Steptoe's (In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall) concept, recasting Swan Lake as hip-hop, may sound unlikely, but in their hands it largely succeeds: the ultra-cool, emotionally hot setting gives the story new power. Swan Lake is a housing project, Rothbart represented as Big Red, a drug lord, and Odette an addict; Amiri tries to save her, but fails. Myers's words carry the force of blows; Steptoe's collages teem with bodies colliding and overlapping. The language swings from pop lyric to Shakespearean, sometimes in the same breath: 'Amiri, be my man!/ Save me if you can!/ If not, let my last pure breath/ Pledge my love to you in wretched death.' Steptoe gets gritty, working directly on slabs of asphalt, a street effect intensified by the graffiti-like use of multicolored and multisize fonts in the text. His figures are shadowed with ghostly blue; they leap, ward off blows, embrace, argue. It's easy to imagine them as dancers. The momentum yields at the end, where, in contrast to the stark immediacy of the rest of the work, abstract language softens the tragic conclusion. Ages 12 — up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Synopsis" by Firebrand, A boy searches for his newfound love among the city streets, to find that, unwarily, she's been caught in the arms of an evil street lord who means her harm. It is only through perseverance and undying love that the girl is returned to the safety of her one true love. Lyrical text and stunning mixed media artwork make for a powerful recasting of the classic ballet Swan Lake.

They danced like mist on water

As light as summer breeze.

He touched her waist; she kissed his cheek.

Her eyes began to tease.

Set among the asphalt of a housing project and the concrete of a basketball court, Walter Dean Myers' compelling work is delivered with rhythms that twist, hover, pounce, and inspire. For Amiri and Odette, love is hard when the streets are mean. Their dance for two becomes a fight for three, and their only chance is to hold fast to the power of being together as one. Part poem, part love story, part rap and rhapsody, AMIRI AND ODETTE: A DANCE FOR TWO celebrates hearts that beat forever. Accompanied by the collage-on-cinder-block paintings of Javaka Steptoe, this genre-breaking volume sets a new stage for a classic story.