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Though her best friend, Free, is excited about a poetry contest, Dyamonde has little interest in writing verse. She is curious, though, about Damaris, a new classmate with a secret. Dyamonde befriends her and encourages her to enter the contest with a poem that reveals what she’s been hiding. Featuring several of the same vividly drawn African American characters as the first book in the Dyamonde Daniel series, the second volume looks at the sensitive issues of poverty and homelessness from different angles and in a reassuringly matter-of-fact way. Expressive ink drawings illustrate this fine beginning chapter book.
Nikki Grimes began penning poetry at the age of six. Her many award-winning titles include the picture books Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, which won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award and a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, and Meet Danitra Brown, which won a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. Coretta Scott King Author Honors went to her novels The Road to Paris, Jazmin’s Notebook, and Dark Sons, and her novel Bronx Masquerade won the Coretta Scott King Author Award. She lives in Corona, California.
