Julia Fields

A group of children waiting for the school bus use their imaginations to create an adventure involving a lion statue in the park. Fields uses a unique, rhythmic language to create interesting images. The illustrations are very expressive and well done. Fields writes a good example of African American poetry that could provide inspiration for kids to express themselves.

A group of scary friends are at a bus stop. They have missed the bus and must cross a bridge to get to the next one. They are convinced that they see a lion and realize that it is only a statue. I would read this book to my class on a rainy day.

On the one hand we have a living, breathing poem. Rich and evocative language paired with gorgeous art.

On the other hand, it's written in a nonstandard and highly stigmatized dialect - one that's far different from my own. I feel awkward reading this book, as though I'm mocking people who do speak in this dialect. So I just don't read it often.