PASS IT ON
Africa-American Poetry for Children
edited by Wade Hudson & illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Chosen for their appeal to the elementary age, 19 short poems, mainly by such standards as Paul Laurence Dunbar, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Eloise Greenfield, and Nikki Giovanni. The majority deal with the universal activities and preoccupations of childhood; a few (most poignantly, Cullen's ``Incident,'' describing a small black boy offering a smile to a white boy on a bus and receiving an epithet in return) are specific to the African-American experience. Cooper's luminous full-bleed oil paintings provide a context for each poem and suggest an identity for its narrator. An excellent resource for extending Black History studies into literature. Thumbnail sketches of the 14 poets are included. (Poetry/Picture book. 6-10)