A young person recounts their experience going to Tar Beach (the top of the apartment complex in the city that they live in) and gazing at the stars and imagining all the things that young people imagine. ( )

Primary
Cassie flies above New York and reflects on her family and the city.
This is a great story for children to hear a perspective of the black experience.

8 year old Cassie wants to be free to go wherever she would like. She uses her dreams to fly over the city to claim buildings and landmarks as her own. Flying is used as a beautiful metaphor for freedom. Book is set in 1939 Harlem. There is a great connection to the quilt created by Ringgold that inspired the book in the back of the book.

Summary: Cassie dreams and flies through New York from her roof with her imagination with the crossover of reality where things are not going well.

Set in New York in 1939. Tar Beach is the roof of Cassie's Harlem
apartment building. Cassie's dearest dream is to be free to go wherever
she wants, and one day it comes true when the stars help her to fly across the city.
Tar Beach is unique in its use of literary innovations, particularly its combination
of various artforms such as quilt making, autobiography, and painting.[
As spoken by Faith Ringgold in an interview with cultural critic and
daughter Michele Wallace, Tar Beach was not written for children but
rather to recall the essence of childhood and invoke the memories associate with it.

Faith Ringgold, October 8, 1930 an American
painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist,
best known for her narrative quilts.

I think this book would be good for mid-elementary students. This book takes you through the story of Cassie Louise Lightfoot and her dream of one day being able to go where she wants to go next. She currently lives in an apartment with her family, but she dreams of much more. I think this book would be great for a history lesson or just a book to admire. ( )

This book has beautiful illustrations that with the words tell a really lovely story of a girl as she explores the world around her and takes in the beauty of the city. It really encompasses the importance of family and how even in the hardest of situations there is always joy to be found and hope to have. I put this as a primary book because of the few words on each page but I think for the younger ages I would use it as a read aloud because I think some of the pages have words and longer paragraphs that may be difficult for kindergartens to understand fully.. ( )

Tar Beach tells about a little girl who, one night, is able to fly above the city. She begins to claim buildings as her own so her family will no longer have to worry about work. This would be an interesting story for the classroom and would require further discussion.

This book is suitable for primary aged students. It is about an African-american girl who imagines herself flying over her city, gaining ownership over the things she flies over. This idea of flying is relative to freedom. She imagines that as an African American, she has the freedom to go wherever she wants and take ownership over the things she desires. In her imagination, there are no constrictions. I would use this in my classroom library as a book to represent my African American students and also to convey to my students that they have freedom in the world to do what they aspire, just like the character in the story. ( )

This book was amazing in all of the elements it has to offer. The imagination that the author sets you into is mind-blowing and felt very personable. I loved the adventure aspect that the author takes the reader on. The voice and language of the story is great for a variety of readers as it is not too complex but can be analyzed in a deeper context if needed. The multicultural aspect of this book falls back on the main characters African American roots. A beautiful book involving family and love for the world. ( )

Set in 1939, Tar Beach tells the story of Cassie, an eight-year-old who gets the ability to fly. We're introduced to her family and neighborhood (Harlem)). The book also mentions how despite her father's hard work, he is still banned from a workers union. The book does a great job of combining. elements of fantasy and reality. ( )

Cassie is an 8-year-old African American girl in Harlem, who dreams as she sleeps on the roof of her apartment building. The roof is her 'Tar Beach'. She imagines herself flying, and in her mind, she can do anything and own anything she wants. Although she isn't rich in the traditional sense, she is very imaginative, creative, and loves her home. She dreams of making her family's life a better one. This story, in my opinion, can help kids realize that life is all about perspective and appreciating those around you, and determination and creativity is everything. I thought this story was fresh and inspirational, and I liked Cassie's spirit. She may be young, but she doesn't let anything hold her back from her dreams. ( )

This book is told from a perspective of a child living with her family in Harlem. She describes lying on the roof (the tar beach) and imagines flying over the city and lifting her family out of poverty. There is some racial inequality issues described in the book (her dad can't join the union due to his father not being a members refers to racial segregation) that could be a good teaching aspect with students. The pictures really make this book shine. The book was initially create as a quilt for a museum and the quilt design is replicated on the edges of the pages. The story line at times seems a little disjointed and seems like it would be hard for younger children to follow. ( )

It is an uplifting story by Faith Ringgold about a little girl and her dreams. It is a story quilt that's displayed in Guggenheim Museum in New York city. The project weaves together an autobiography, fictional narrative, painting and quilt making, I thought that was genius. The book starts with "I will always remember when the stars fell down around me and lifted me up above the George Washington Bridge", and that sentence stole my heart. The little girl's poor family lives on top of the building and has an access to the roof, where they spend a lot of time together. Dreams take this girl all over the city, which belongs to her forever. They also take her to her father's new job owning a factory and some other things that would restore justice in her heart. This book is also incredibly illustrated as a collage of different designs, motifs, fantasies, hopes and opportunities. This is definitely a jewel! ( )

The book was an easy read and very touching. As little ones watching our parents work, we all dream of a day where we can just erase all of their problems and ours. This little girl was a dreamer. ( )

The way to book relates architecture to real issues are amazing such as the union. I feel more could have been added to the book and the non essential parts could have been taken out. But has a overall good message for 3-6 graders. It is magical with ethnic backgrounds of colored half breed Indians. working class ( )

In this book, a little girl named Cassie calls the roof of her building "tar beach". It seems like Tar Beach, is used as a getaway for Cassie. Life was tough for everyone in the 1930s, especially black people. Cassie is a young black girl who wants to help her family as much as she can. In the book, she talks about "flying over" the buildings and claiming them as hers to give to her family. I think that Tar Beach is an outlet where Cassie can imagine all of the ways that she could help her family, even though many of her ideas are unrealistic.
I wasn't a big fan of the writing style of the book, I think it would confuse a child if they were picking it up to read out of enjoyment. I think this book would be a good resource to use for teaching the class, but if a child were to pick it up out of a library they might be confused about some topics, such as the union. ( )

Tar Beach is a book based on a storyquilt. Throughout the book, the panels have quilt patterns, This autobiographical tale of a young woman who imagines flying over the George Washington bridge and being able to help those around her will resonate with many children. ( )

The honest and child-like perspective of Cassie is at once refreshing and heartbreaking. The narrative provides the reader an idea of the racial prejudices and familial tensions woven through the book but from Cassie's perspective appears innocent. The first thing I thought when looking at the illustrations is that of detailed and colorful chalk art. The quilt images on the bottom of each page ties the semi-fictional, semi-biographical story to Ringgold's own quiltmaking and the reasons behind her textual and artistic choices. On one of the last page she provides an image of the story as an entire quilt, portraying how the story is pieced together. Ringgold also provides a page of explanation behind the book and its cultural, personal, and historical influences. ( )

This was a great story to show kids how imagination works. As her parents and other adults did adult things, Cassie imagined she was able to fly. She was able to fly over any and everything she wanted to. The moment she flew over it, it became her property. Everything she flew over meant something special to her. The bridge was opened on the day she was born. ( )

Tar Beach is an imaginative story told by eight-year-old Cassie Louise Lightfoot who dreams of flying over all of New York City and owning all of it's beauty. She claims the George Washington Bridge as a diamond necklace. She plans to gift the Union Building to her father and fly to the ice cream factory to bring ice cream to her family. Cassie dreams all of this as she is laying on tar beach, a mattress on the roof of their apartment building. She even shares her dreams with her Be Be, her little brother, as he has threatened to tell Mommy and Daddy if she leaves him behind. ( )

Tar Beach is an imaginative story told by eight-year-old Cassie Louise Lightfoot who dreams of flying over all of New York City and owning all of its beauty. She claims the George Washington Bridge as a diamond necklace. She plans to gift the Union Building to her father and fly to the ice cream factory to bring ice cream to her family. Cassie dreams all of this as she is laying on tar beach, a mattress on the roof of their apartment building. ( )

I loved the illustrations in this book, as every page is a quilt with a border around it. This story talks about the life of an Indian family through the young girls eye's. She talks about being born the same day that the George Washington bridge was finished, which her father worked on. She believes that when she flies over it, she will claim ownership and be able to wear it like a diamond necklace. She also talks about how her father is not in the union, because her grandpa was not. But, that she is proud of how hard her father works. Continue with her to see how the rest of her flight will be. ( )

I was really impressed with this Caldecott book for a couple reasons. I found the illustrations to be beautiful but I was overlooking something at the top and bottom as adults often do. I love children, in part, because they notice everything and help me to keep my awareness instead of tuning out the world. I got to the end of this good story and decided to read a bit about the author to realize the illustrations were pieces of art and her history was as rich as the theme of the story. This gave the book so much more dimension and cultural relevance not only for lost artforms such as quilting but sometimes the voices of our ancestors. Bravo, for bringing it all together in a way a child can celebrate! ( )