Hello, everyone! How are you today? I am well rested and ready for a month of celebrations and inquiry. Happy Black History Month!!

As most of you know I love books and reading is one of my favorite things to do. On Monday, I went to my local library and picked up some books to read with Apollo during Black History Month. One thing you may not know about me is that I am not so versed in poetry. My mother loved poetry and had even memorized some of her favorites. For some reason,  I have shied away from it often out of fear of lack of understanding. So I thought what better way to kick of BHM with my boys than to celebrate some poetry written by African Americans. I chose these books because they seemed like a nice entryway into poetry.  So here are the four books I plan on experiencing with my boys throughout this month:

The first is I, Too, Am America by Langston Hughes (this book even one a Coretta Scott King award) -“Caldecott Honor artist Bryan Collier interprets one of Hughes’s most powerful poems, using his breathtaking and compelling illustrations to show how far we have come as a people in realizing a vision of equality that Hughes once dreamed of.”

Ashley Bryan’s ABC of African-American Poetry – “An A to Z look at twenty-five poems and one African spiritual from a wide range of African American poets.”

Thanks a Million by Nikki Grimes – “Poems that reminds us how wonderful it is to feel thankful and how powerful a simple thank you can be.”

Poetry for Young People: African American Poetry – This book includes poetry from African American poets over the last 200 years. What I like is that each poem has brief contextual notes that accompany each one to create a better understanding.

I look forward to getting into these books with the boys over the course of this month. Feel free to share with me what kind of activities are you doing for Black History Month. I would love to hear them!

Belinda