By Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow
Hardcover

In order to read this book properly, you'll have to heat a cup of tea and curl up under a warm blanket in front of a crackling fireplace. Make sure your feet are covered with thick, wool socks. You'll also have to check your preconceived notions about the world at the door and open your mind to seeing the same old things in a new way. Nikki Giovanni promotes thought.

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea Excerpt We're going to Mars because whatever is wrong with us will not get right with us so we journey forth carrying the same baggage but every now and then leaving one little bitty thing behind: maybe drop torturing Hunchbacks here; maybe drop lynching Billy Budd there; maybe not whipping Uncle Tom to death; maybe not resisting global war. ©2003 Nikki Giovanni Published with permission from William Morrow

In Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea, Giovanni tosses gold dust into the air and allows it to cover the world with great insights and wit. Her "Poems and Not Quite Poems" elicit smiles, tears and introspection. One gets the feeling of sitting at a wise grandmother's kitchen table as she cleans collard greens in a sink full of pale green water. Giovanni's words run clear.

She praises Richard Williams (father of Venus and Serena Williams) for committing himself to his daughters' dreams. She honors Aretha Franklin. She shakes a disgusted head at President Bush and former Vice President Al Gore. She even has a few words for Susan Smith, the woman who drowned her children in her abandoned car.

Giovanni speaks of her childhood and of the people who influenced her life. In this book, she sings an old, comfortable melody.

Bookworm's Briefing
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea is an interesting read. It leaps about from topic to topic like a wild rabbit exploring the countryside. Although some won't agree with all of her views, Giovanni is to be respected as a voice in our history - speaking out where others have gone mute.

Nikki Giovanni is the author of twenty-six books. She is the University Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.