Ready Reference Treatise: Bronx Masquerade

By Raja Sharma

“Bronx Masquerade” by Nikki Grimes was first published in 2002. It is a unique book owing to its nineteen different narrators.

As the story opens, all of these characters are or will be enrolled in the same English class. Having joined that English class, all of them believe that they are unique and they have their special thoughts and ideas with them, but it does not prove to be so.

The book was awarded the Coretta Scott King Author Award in the year 2003. This award is given to the authors whose books reflect the African-American experience in America. The book is a combination of wonderful prose and poetry.

Ready Reference Treatise: Bronx Masquerade
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Major Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Mar 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310875441

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: Bronx Masquerade

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Bronx Masquerade

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2016 Raja Sharma

Smashwords Edition

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Chapter One: Introduction

Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes was first published in 2002. It is a unique book owing to its nineteen different narrators. As the story opens, all of these characters are or will be enrolled in the same English class. Having joined that English class, all of them believe that they are unique and they have their special thoughts and ideas with them, but it does not prove to be so.

At the beginning of the story, all of them carry different ideas and judgments about each other, but as they get invited by their teacher one by one to share their poetry during a session, they learn that all of them have a lot in common.

The book presents each student’s story as well as the poems those students write. The book is highly admired for its unique style of writing, and consequently winning several literary awards.

The book was awarded the Coretta Scott King Author Award in the year 2003. This award is given to the authors whose books reflect the African-American experience in America. The book is a combination of wonderful prose and poetry.

The story provides a very clear and deep insight into each student’s life. Through the poetry class of Mr. Ward and their own experiences, all of them go through very obvious transformation and consequently begin to understand each other better. However, the author primarily tries to convince the reader that poetry has the power to change the thought process and ideas of a student.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

The book opens with the scene of Mr. Ward’s English class. The place is a high school in the Bronx. Mr. Ward is teaching his students about the Harlem Renaissance. After his lecture, Mr. Ward tells his students to write an essay.

Wesley is one of the students in the class. He wants to write a poem instead of an essay. It is obviously a bright idea. Eventually, Mr. Ward tells Wesley to read his poem out loudly.

Every Friday, eighteen students from that class read their poems to the other students in the class. Tyrone is also one of the students. He has his dreams of becoming a rapper and a song writer. He believes that writing poetry is very much close to rapping. He writes poems every week for their Open Mike Fridays.

The narrator introduces each of the students who attend Mr. Ward’s class. A brief glimpse into the lives of these students is provided.

Raul is one of the students. She wants to become an artist. She wants to have a baby while studying at the high school because she will have Janelle to love. However, Janelle feels insecure about her weight.

Steve is also one of the students in that class. He wants to work on Broadway. Then there is Porscha. She is angry because her mother had taken an overdose of a drug and died.

As the time progresses, Tyrone begins to realize that he does not know much about his classmates. In each of the poems that the students read to the