Irene and the Big, Fine Nickel - Hardcover

As a former Miss Black New York State, Young Ambassador to Europe and student activist, I have had lots of jobs, ranging from model, working in government, actress, to radio reporter to running my own business, establishing a networking group for business professionals says Irene Smalls. But, the job I really like is writing children's books. I write very simple stories about my children, my childhood. I grew up in Harlem in the 1950's. Back then, Harlem was a small southern black community that just happened to be in the north. The dialect, the foods, the mores and the values were southern. Harlem was a ghetto of softness and strength, a community of open doors and open hearts that loved its children. Irene Smalls' first children's book, Irene and the Big Fine Nickel, was inspired by her fond memories of Harlem. Her second book, Jonathan and His Mommy, is a love song for her son. Louise's Gift tells the story of how an unappreciated gift changes a young girl's view of herself. Irene Jennie and the Christmas Masquerade: The Johnkankus is the tale of a slave girl's Christmas. Because You're Lucky is a simple story of how families can change and grow in ways that they are lucky to discover. A Strawbeater's Thanksgiving (Fall 1998) shows one boy's strength and spirit during the terrible days of slavery. Her forthcoming book. (Spring 1999), Kevin and His Dad is the story of a young boy and his Dad making a game of doing homework. I always tell young children I get my ideas from the tip of my nose. I write about the things all around me, the people I love, the things I do everyday. I write all my best stories while dreaming, muses Smalls. When I wake up, I simply refined and further develop the essential idea of the story. There are so many stories and so little time. Irene Smalls graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Black Studies and from New York University with an M.B.A. in marketing and behavioral science. She lives in Boston with her three children: Dawn, Kevin Logan and Jonathan.

``Harlem [in the 50's] was a place where nobody locked the door, and you never questioned being black because there were a million people who looked just like you.'' Smalls-Hector's story, presumably based on reminiscence, follows Irene through one happy, event-filled Saturday: washing her face in the kitchen bathtub; going past the ``toilet room'' to a neighbor's apartment, where her twin best friends are among the 13 children and there's always delicious food to share; squabbling and then making up with another girl--''Charlene's people came from...down south, and they were church people''--(the traded insults are wonderfully mild); fearlessly playing in the park; finding a nickel and spending it on a bun big enough to share four ways. Like Howard's Chita's Christmas Tree (1989), this book lovingly recreates the secure childhood of an African-American child in the not-too-distant past. New illustrator Geter makes an outstanding debut, combining a warm palette, impressionistic use of light, a pleasing sense of design, and an affectionately realistic portrayal of the girls. The lengthy text is appropriate as a readaloud or for young readers. (Fiction/Picture book. 6-10) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.