Jazmin's Notebook

by Nikki Grimes Narrated by Allyson Johnson

Overview

Jazmin Shelby was "born with clenched fists"-which is okay, since she's got a lot of fighting ahead of her. Her dad died a couple of years back, and now that her mom's in the hospital, it's just her and her big sister, CeCe. But that's fine by Jazmin. She's got her friends, her school, lots of big plans for the future-and a zest for life and laughter that's impossible to resist.

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
A Booklist Editors' Choice Book
A Child Study Children's Book Committee Children's Book of the Year

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Hard times in 1960s Harlem do not squelch the ambitions of Grimes's (Growin'; Raining Laughter) doughty protagonist, nor inhibit Jazmin from penning her eloquent ideas. Readers will be drawn into Jazmin's neighborhood, where they meet the characters who have made an impact on the teen with "coke-bottle spectacles" and "chicken-legs": Jazmin's mother, institutionalized for alcoholism; her protective sister, CeCe; her best friend, Destinee; and Crew, a professional gambler who is sweet on Cece (he secretly sees to it that the pair can pay their bills). In this slender volume, Grimes depicts both the humor and tenacity of an adolescent who spent most of her childhood in foster homes and is determined to make something of herself. Jazmin's poems, sprinkled among her journal entries, crystallize her emotions from joy and reverence ("The library/ is no place to kneel/ but this cathedral of books/ feels holy") to sorrow (e.g., "The homes/ are just fine./ It's the people/ who are broken"). Her prose expresses a more detailed account of her fears (contending with rats, potential rapists and school bullies) and hopes (laughing with CeCe, celebrating holidays and observing signs of her mother's recovery). An articulate, admirable heroine, Jazmin leaps over life's hurdles with agility and integrity. Ages 12-up. (June)

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-With exuberance, passion, perception, and wit, 14-year-old Jazmin Shelby fills her notebook with glimpses of her life, neighborhood, family, and dreams in Harlem in the 1960s. Rescued from a series of foster homes and makeshift living arrangements by her older sister, CeCe, Jazmin draws strength and wisdom from her devoted sibling when their alcoholic mother is institutionalized. Jazmin is an observer and a thinker. From her apartment stoop, she savors the rhythm and blues that drifts out of the Garden of Eden Bar & Grill next door and watches customers come and go. At school, she avoids a fight by locking herself in the bathroom and scribbling her anger in verse. When a high-school guidance counselor suggests pursuing a vocational career, Jazmin clings to her aspirations of being a writer and demands a college-prep schedule. Despite her "second hand" appearance, the girl's goals are high and her attitude is positive. The sadness in her life comes from watching her gentle father die after a car crash and being unable to connect with her troubled, aloof mother. However, Jazmin is resilient. Her lyrical journal is a treasure of sensory observations, intellectual questioning, and moral decision-making. Secondary readers will delight in her candor and imagination. Her gritty determination to survive and succeed is inspiring and heartwarming.-Gerry Larson, Durham Magnet Center, Durham, NC

Kirkus Reviews

There's a poetic soul taking notes up on Amsterdam Avenue in New York City, and her name is Jazmin Shelby, the star witness to the hard lives and high hopes in a novel from Grimes (Come Sunday, 1996, etc.). Jazmin has her sights set on college, but meanwhile she keeps her eyes open, noticing all the comings and goings of her 1960s neighborhood from her front stoop. She records everything in her notebook, including a running commentary on her family, feelings, friendships, hopes, and disappointments. Her father has been dead a year, and her mother—a mentally unstable alcoholic—is hospitalized; Jazmin's life has included shuttling between relatives and foster homes, living in rat-infested tenements, and avoiding the everyday violence of the streets. Older sister CeCe is a source of strength, who, along with some supportive neighbors and teachers, have helped Jazmin hang on to her goals and resist the pitfalls of drugs, alcohol, and sexual activity. Peppering the first-person narration with poems from Jazmin's journal, Grimes paints a vivid picture of her character's surroundings. Especially effective are Jazmin's witty descriptions of neighbors and local characters; just as compelling is Jazmin's interior landscape, in which a wiser, more reflective voice hints at the young woman—and writer—she'll become. (Fiction. 10-12)

From the Publisher

— "Readers will delight in [Jazmin's] candor and imagination". — School Library Journal, starred review

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169210996
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	03/06/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

copyright ?1998 by Nikki Grimes published by Dial Books for Young Readers A Member of Penguin Putnam Inc. - excerpt (pages 14-25)FOR SALEI pass the used-goods store peek at the bronzed baby shoes useless and dusty in the window.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Jazmin's Notebook"
by .
Copyright © 2000 Nikki Grimes.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Young Readers Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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