Review: The Dream Keeper

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Brian Pinkney.
Originally published in 1932 by Alfred A. Knopf, my edition Scholastic, New York, 1994.
Poetry collection, 84 pages.
Lexile:  1150L .
AR Level:  Not leveled.

Langston Hughes’ own selection and arrangement of his poems for young readers.

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Brian Pinkney.

It’s books like this one that especially point out the lie that early literary education is not able to be diverse. Although my particular version was published in the early 90s, this book has been around since 1932!

The book opens with an introductory essay by Lee Bennett Hopkins, which succinctly summarizes the key points of Hughes’ life. It is skippable, but does add valuable context for those who choose to read it.

Board Book Review: Lullaby for a Black Mother

Lullaby for a Black Mother by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Sean Qualls.
Text copyright 1994, illustrations copyright 2013, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA.
Board book, 20 pages.

The text of a famous poem illustrated and reformatted as a board book.

Lullaby for a Black Mother by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Sean Qualls.

One of my children adores Langston Hughes, and I wish I’d had this when she was younger. Instead, I asked her to read it to the little one staying with us, and enjoyed her surprise and delight when she flipped back to the cover – “This is my poet!”

Of course, Langston Hughes died nearly half a century ago, so how is he still publishing new books? This isn’t new writing rediscovered – it’s a poem that can be found in Hughes’ collection for young readers, The Dream Keeper as well as his collected poems and probably elsewhere.

Where Lullaby for a Black Mother excels is in the alteration of the poem into the board book format. The poem is well broken down, with each spread containing between one phrase up to a full sentence worth of the poem. All of the text is entirely in all caps, which initially struck me as a bold choice, but makes sense for extending the life of the book.