In My Daddy's Arms I Am Tall

In My Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers

1997. In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers. Ill. by Javaka Steptoe. New York: Lee and Low. ISBN 1880000318.

PLOT SUMMARY
In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall is a collection of poetry focused on delivering a positive look at African American fathers. Twelve authors are featured in the book, including Coretta Scott King Award winners Angela Johnson, Davida Adedjouma, and David A. Anderson. The varied artwork is created by the hand of Javaka Steptoe, son of the late artist, John Steptoe. Steptoe also contributes a poem.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In Daddy's Arms is a compilation of twelve poems by African American writers that celebrate African American fathers from various viewpoints. Davida Adedjouma's poem, "Artist to Artist" is one of thankfulness for her father's willingness to forgo his passion for art, working instead for the postal service to provide a good life for his family. He wore the blue uniform and black shoes of a postal worker and "rode the bus feeling black and blue." Davida's thankfulness is honest and simple, "I write, hew drew. Daddy, thank you!"

Several poems evoke the rural life of Southern Blacks, telling of "red Alabama roads" as in Angela Johnson's, "Her Daddy's Hands" and "red Georgia clay" in "The Farmer." The father in Dakari Hru's "Tickle Tickle" shows the African American father as a joyful, playful father. "me scream and run (but OH WHAT FUN!) when papa tickle me feet." The poem has a musical speech pattern, either Black dialect or possibly a Caribbean infused dialect. "Lightning Jumpshot" evokes an image of an urban father in a basketball related haiku. The title poem, "in daddy's arms," employs repetition for impact. "in daddy's arms i am tall & close to the sun & warm in daddy's arms."

A curious addition to the collection is Lenard D. Moore's "Black Father Man." While it is laudable in its evocation of a universal Black father figure, its concept and verbiage is too abstract and complicated for a picture book collection. "We all bleed his blood....Black Father Man, heal blustering blues, mend fragmented minds, teach the maleness, ... a branching grain, springing up to shudder the land." This poem would be better suited to an older audience.

Each poem is presented in small type, imposed over a double-spread image by Javaka Steptoe. Steptoe is a second generation African American book illustrator, son of the well-respected John Steptoe. Javaka Steptoe's artwork is an eclectic mix of collage, cut paper, pastels, "found objects" and painting. His work ranges from abstract to realistic. The artwork for "Lightning Jumpshot" contains actual floorboards. For this work, Steptoe won the 1998 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award.

The Ashanti proverb which precedes the book "When you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him," is a central theme, the importance and permanence of the father's influence in the family. The art and the poems are so varied as to encompass many views of the African American father, showing diversity within the race and commonality within the individuals. Taken together, the verse and images in Daddy's Arms offers an uplifting and encompassing view of African American fathers. Children used to viewing themselves and others through racial stereotypes will find this book a breath of fresh air.

A short biography of each author and a note on the artwork appears on the last page. Many of the authors are winners of multiple prestigious awards including the Coretta Scott King and Ezra Jack Keats Awards.

REVIEW EXCERPT
Certain poems, particularly those by Angela Johnson, E. Ethelbert Miller, Davida Adedjouma, and Steptoe himself, elevate this collection above the mundane, but it is the illustrations that set this volume apart.

Taylor, Deborah. 1998. "In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers." Horn Book Magazine 74, no. 1: 87-87. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed June 19, 2007).

The artwork vibrates with emotion; even the simplest pieces, showing torn-paper figures on a solid background, capture the powerful bond between parent and child.

Amsberry, Dawn. 1998. "Grades 5 & up: Nonfiction." School Library Journal 44, no. 2: 118. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed June 19, 2007).

CONNECTIONS
Use this book as an example for a lesson in creating collage art.

Share this book for Father's Day programs at public libraries or schools.

Encourage children to celebrate their own fathers in verse.