Poetry Friday

In honor of Langston Hughes's birthday (Feb 1, 1902) and Black History Month, I'd like to tell you about Love to Langston by Tony Medina. Love to Langston is a collection of biographical poems about Hughes's life. The subjects range from Hughes being humiliated at school by a teacher, his love of poetry, his journey to Africa, and being visited by Alice Walker when he was near death.

This is not a collection of poems for very young readers; the poems deal with some very sad and difficult subject matters. The poem expressing Hughes's love of poetry is one of my favorites, as "Leaving Harlem For Africa."

If you know an upper elementary child with a Black History Month assignment, check this one out. If it's a biographical report, you may need to supplement this book with prose biographies:

Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes

Alice Walker wrote a children's biography of Langston Hughes titled Langston Hughes, American Poet.