Teacup Full of Roses by Sharon Bell Mathis

'She had sat there listening to the light touch of water against natural things. In Listen for the Fig Tree, Muffin Johnson, in her childlike innocence, remembered the summer that she and Ernie had driven up to Seven Lakes.

The language of the children, and other characters, in Mathis's works illuminates the very rhythm, rhyme and nuance of black language patterns and gives her works a distinctive style. Sharon Bell Mathis's use of language is varied and plentiful as is the language of poetry, as is the language of children. It is fitting, therefore, to use Langston Hughes's 'Mother to Son,' as an interpretive guide to the features of the culture that Mathis gives. Her words, like poetry, tell meaningful stories through images and allusions, through carefully chosen language. As each story unfolds, rich cultural features are revealed language comes alive and realistically communicates the joy, sadness, and disconnectedness of the spirit of the characters. Mathis's writing is rooted in the oral tradition of story telling. She celebrates children, innocent and determined children who gain the psychological and spiritual strength which they need to survive in a frightening and threatening world.

She also writes of life, of love and caring, of friendship and understanding, of convictions and forgiving, and of family. Mathis writes of death, drug addiction, and alcohol dependence, of figurative and literal blindness, of old age and senility, and of eviction and displacement. Sharon Bell Mathis's children's books- Sidewalk Story (1971), Teacup Full of Roses (1972), Ray Charles (1973), Listen for the Fig Tree (1974), and The Hundred Penny Box (1975)-create contemporary black images, the sounds of the blues, and the accompanying emotions of the heart.

Teacup Full of Roses by Sharon Bell Mathis