|
Categories: Science fiction Fantasy Mystery Romance Business Classic Sports Young adult Humor Memoirs See all categories... |
|
Categories: Science fiction Fantasy Mystery Romance Business Classic Sports Young adult Humor Memoirs See all categories... |
“Dawn grays Los Angeles like a great pigeon wing.” The first sentence of the book spellbinds me and helps me make a prompt decision for this week’s PSB. “Old man Joseph plods along, alone. / Past the homeless sleeping / like small lost boats, / past buildings that tilt / their old chins toward the sun, / past a wall pocked / with bullet holes.” I do be aware that a brief “blurb” does not quote that much as I do. But Johnson’s lyric-/poem-like words are so magnetic to me that I am totally under his spell. Joseph, a black old man, got his “gift from God”—a “perfect and new” baby from a Dumpster, and promised to raise that baby. “Juan is a Mexican baby. He needs to know Mexican things.” Joseph consults his neighbors about those mysteries—he learns how to make tamales, how to sing Mexican songs, and “He intends to learn Spanish for that tiny baby.” I do love the sweet, poignant story when Joseph takes 4-year-old Juan to “know great art”. Carole’s marvelous illustration makes me miss my dad and his piggyback ride. Joseph “scours the trash for cans” to buy his son a box of crayons. “Juan crayons on the wall. / Pop-pop sighs. ‘Perhaps that’s how Siqueiros began.’” I burst into laughter and deeply touched by Joseph’s great love. I hopelessly love Carole’s master creations, especially the one used for the cover, which depicts the Joseph and Juan’s “fierce, long hug” when a devil in the angel city takes Chucho’s life away. I am so jealous of Carole that she could draw pictures catching people’s eyeballs, as well as their hearts.