Love to Langston

by Tony Medina

A collection of fourteen poems celebrates the life of Langston Hughes, one of America's greatest poets, exploring the many significant themes in his life, including his lonely childhood, his love of language and travel, and his dream of writing poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Childrens, African American

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Tony Medina is a poet, graphic novelist, editor, short story writer, and author. Born in the South Bronx and raised in the Throgs Neck Housing Projects, Medina earned a BA in English at Baruch College, CUNY, on the GI Bill, and an MA and PhD at Binghamton University, SUNY, where he received the Distinguished Dissertation Award. Medina has published 22 books for adults and young readers, the most recent of which are Che Che Colé; Death, With Occasional Smiling; Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy; I Am Alfonso Jones; and Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky. Medina’s awards include the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, the Langston Hughes Society Award, the first African Voices Literary Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award honor, and Special Recognition from the Arnold Adoff Poetry Award. He has appeared in several documentaries and CD compilations and has read/performed his work all over the United States, as well as in Germany, France, Poland, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Netherlands. The first professor of creative writing at Howard University, Medina’s poetry, fiction and essays appear in over 100 journals and anthologies, including Sheree Renée Thomas' Dark Matter, Ishmael Reed’s Hollywood Unchained and Kevin Young’s Library of America anthology, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, and as an advisory editor for Nikki Giovanni’s Hip Hop Speaks to Children. Medina has also been featured on NBC's philanthropic reality show, Give, PBS’ White House Chronicle, CBS’ Great Day Washington, SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live, Medgar Evers College’s Writers on Writing, Forbes magazine, and has worked extensively with the non-profit literary organizations Say It Loud, Behind the Book, and Meet the Writers. Medina's book, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy, was featured on Let's Learn NYC for PBS. Follow him on Facebook; Twitter: @PoetTonyMedina and Instagram: poettonymedina. His website is tonymedina.org.

Reviews

[NS- Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is simply amazing. The poems in this book will touch your heart. These poems tell the story of the life of Langston Hughes and also shed light on some major events in history. This book teaches about Harlem, slavery and Jim Crow laws. The illustrations are unique and captivating. Two of my favorite poems from the book are titled "First Grade" and "Jazz makes me sing." In "First Grade" you learn about some of Langston's feelings as a young boy in school. There is a verse that says:

she tells one kid
not to eat licorice
or he'll turn black
like me

When I read it I was stunned. This poem could provide for some great classroom discussions. The other poem that caught my attention was about how jazz music made Langston feel. He says:

it makes me think
about my sadness
and how I ain't alone

He uses so few words but you can really understand how he was feeling when you read these poems.This book definitely made me think differently about poetry as a whole.

[Natalie Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw there were several children’s books that were recently objected to and requested to be banned in Florida. I hadn’t heard of the titles and this was one of them. It is lovely telling of Langston Hughes’ biography told in verse and illustrations. No reason to ban this book.

[John Hugens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love to Langston could be used in two ways. First to introduce Langston Hughes to students unfamiliar with his work during a literature class. Second to introduce the reasons, motivations, and causes behind the Harlem Renaissance, and the roots of the 20th century Civil Rights movement. Further, the style of writing it uses, with poetry, could easily be used as a general guide to writing a narrative in a non-traditional fashion.

[Steph Lovelady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Langston Hughes is one of my favorite poets so I was happy to find this book while browsing in the children's room of our local library. Each poem illuminates a moment in Hughes' life. The style is somewhat reminiscent of Hughes' work, the illustrations are expressive, and the biographical notes that accompany each poem are informative. It's a not full biography because there are large gaps between the poems (and there are only fourteen of them); it's more a series of telling snapshots of a life. There are links between the poems, however.

Here's a poem about Hughes' experience integrating an all-white school as a first grader:

First Grade

In Topeka, Kansas
the teacher makes me sit
in the corner
in the last row
far away from the other kids

She rolls her eyes
and sucks her teeth
with heavy sighs
and lies and lies

She tells one kid
not to eat licorice
or he'll turn black
like me

When Mama finds out
she takes me out of school
she rolls her eyes
and sucks her teeth with heavy heavy sighs

And why why why

The next poem takes place six years later and is linked to the one before with repeated language, but a very different outcome:

Jim Crow Row

In the seventh grade
in Lawrence, Kansas
the teacher puts all
us black kids in the same row
away from the white kids

I don't roll my eyes
or suck my teeth
with a heavy heavy sigh
and a why why why

I make signs that read
Jim Crow Row
Jim Crow Row
we in the Jim Crow Row

Jim Crow is a law
that separates white and black
making white feel better
and black feel left back

So we protest
with our parents
and let everybody
know about

Jim Crow Jim Crow
not allowing us to grow

Jim Crow Jim Crow
don't put us in a
Jim Crow Row

The note explains Hughes' protest initially got him expelled, but after parents joined in, he was re-admitted to school and seating was integrated.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

From, "Libraries"

Libraries
are a special place
for me

to sit and to stay
with books and books
and books of endless

beautiful words

keeping me company
taking my loneliness
and blues

away
-----------------------------
From, "Poetry Means the World to Me"

Words don't always
have to be neat
and polished
like a statue

They should be
used used used
to say what you like
or don't like
what you see think
or feel--

Words to fight against
hate and unnecessary
suffering

Poetry is what I use
to say
I love you

[Kathy Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teachers and administrations at Bob Graham Learning Center in Miami-Dade County have moved this book from the elementary school to the middle school. That removal is based on one parent filing out a form. That parent admitted to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency publication that she only read parts of the books that she objected to even though the form asks if the book has been read. Her statement to the JTA was that “'They have to read for me because I’m not an expert,' she said. 'I’m not a reader. I’m not a book person.'”

With its picture book quality, this book would seem to be more appropriate for 4-6 graders. In fact, the book is marketed for 3-6 grade readers. Middle school students might be too embarrassed to be seen reading a picture. That might be the point. This way, no one voluntarily reads it.

So what's wrong with Love to Langston? What makes it too dangerous to be read by younger students? In verse, it recounts the life of Langston Hughes, the Harlem Renaissance poet, who was born in 1920 and came of age during the Jim Crow era. This book contains no profane language, no nudity, no depiction of sex, no LBGTQ characters, and no racial slurs.

All the poems in this book are biographical depictions of select events in Hughes' life. First, there is the poem, "Little Boy Blues," which recounts Hughes's childhood spent cooped up in his grandmother's house. She would not allow him to go outside and play because the white kids chased him because he was brown. There are no depictions of physical violence. That poem is followed by "Grandma's Stories," which briefly relates the history of slavery - black people "stolen from Africa into slavery," the Underground Railroad, grandma's biracial ancestry (African, French, and Cherokee) and her near escape from being kidnapped and forced into slavery, and how grandpa was killed along with John Brown at Harper's Ferry. Next, "First Grade" relates the racist attitude of a white teacher in Topeka, Kansas, and how Hughes's mother withdrew him from the school when she found out that the teacher had told a white student that if he ate licorice, he would turn black like Langston. "Jim Crow Row" recounts Langston's experience in the seventh grade when all the black students were segregated into one row that the teacher dubbed "Jim Crow Row." Langston made a sign that read "Jim Crow Row." There is an explanation of what Jim Crow was - "a law that separates white and black making white feel better and black feel left back." That is an explanation for a younger student. By middle school, students should be able to study the harsher realities of the Jim Crow era. The poem goes on to say that the students protested with their parents, so yes, the p-word that many fear is used - protest. The poem neglects to relate that their protest was successful. That, of course, is even more fearful to some - that a peaceful protest could be successful. The next poem, "Libraries," celebrates books and learning. Hmm. Then "In High School," recounts the white school where Langston was accepted by whites because they were immigrants from Russia, Poland, Italy, and Hungary. "I Do Not Like My Father Much" depicts Langston's strained relationship with his father from whom he had been estranged for many years. Hughes' father openly held poor, uneducated blacks in destain, which contributed to Hughes' negative feelings for his father. "Leaving Harlem for Africa" is about Langston's decision to leave college and go to Africa. "All My Life" is about his travels around the world. "Harlem is the Capital of the World" celebrates the Harlem community. "Jazz Makes Me Sing" is a celebration of jazz. "Poetry Means the World to Me" emphasizes the power of "words to fight against hate and unnecessary suffering." Perhaps this is the idea to which Bob Graham objects - that language has the power to change the world for the best. "A Bag of Oranges" relates a visit from Alice Walker, who brought him oranges. I know, I know, Alice Walker has written several books that are under attack from the book police, but those books are not mentioned here. Only her name is mentioned. If Alice Walker's name alone can get a book removed from a library, then there must be something to the idea that words have power. The book ends with "Sometimes Life Ain't Always a Hoot," which provides a lesson about grit and individual responsibility by warning children that there are "a whole mess of happenin' days up ahead," but that they should not give into sitting and sulking but should instead"love and laugh and live life."

The complaint that one parent at Bob Graham filed against this book was that page 1 has CRT and more after page one. The complaint does not articulate an explanation of what constitutes CRT on page 1. Page one is the poem "Little Boy Blues" in which Langston's grandmother makes him stay inside because she does not want the white boys to chase him. I am no legal scholar, but if a school (government institution) suppresses a book because it conveys the very real history of the Black experience in Jim Crow America because it allows the experience of young Black students' grandparents and great-grandparents to be seen and acknowledged, then that is, ironically, CRT in action.

The bottom line is if elementary school students are too young to read a relatively benign account of growing up black during the Jim Crow era, then it stands to reason that black children like Langston Hughes should never have been the targets of Jim Crow racism and segregation.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A biography with beautiful pictures for young independent readers. The writing is by the authors and *not* by Langston Hughes, and occupies a strange territory for this reader. Is it a very attractive "cliffs notes" on Langston Hughes? The book seems a great resource nonetheless for students inspired to learn more about the life of Langston Hughes.

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book offers 14 little poems to show the life of Langston Hughes. The poems start off with the lonely childhood he had and much more. The illustrations are abstract drawings to bring the words to life. I give this book a 4 because the poems were so deep but down to earth for a child.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography of Langston Hughes by poetry, somewhat trying to imitate his style (I don't think super successfully?). More focus on his youth than later years. There are notes in the back on each individual poem that helped make for a more cohesive story.

[Annburnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really sad to see what the author had gone through over the course of his life. I did enjoy reading his poetry though. It if very sad that there is such prejudice in the world we all live in.

[Roger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Biography and poems about Langston Hughes. But it hides his gayness. :(. Don’t give me a biography about a famous double-minority and then shove him in the closet! Jerk!

[Debbie O’Hare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Provides an excellent overview of Langston’s life.

[Maeve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at Langston Hughes' life, from a child to a prolific poet. Told through poetry.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great work and style.

[Mirtha Dominguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

great poems.

[iram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade/Interest Level – Upper Elementary (3rd Grade)
Reading Level: N/A
Genre: Poetry
Main Characters: Langston Hughes
Setting: Harlem
POV: Langston Hughes’s point of view
Rating: 5 stars

Just in time for Langston Hughe’s 100th birthday, this book commemorates his contributions to the Harlem Renaissance, poetry, and the struggle for equality. Each poem in the book highlights a major theme and event in his life. Beginning when he was a boy living in poverty his poems depict a childhood filled with confusion, sadness, and helplessness. After the passing of Jim Crow, Hughes found solace in libraries reading and writing poetry. As an adult he leaves home to travel the world working on a ship and visiting places like Africa, China, Russia, and Mexico. It was after his travels that he came back to Harlem and wrote his poetry contributing to one of the most glorious times in American History: The Harlem Renaissance. Each poem is deep in meaning and language and evokes emotion with each line. The artwork accompanying each poem provides a very bold and striking visual that complements the tone and theme of each poem. I would use this book when studying poetry in the classroom. I would also use it to do a poet study of Langston Hughes since each poem gives a biographical sketch of his life. This would be a great resource to use in a social studies classroom for a civil rights unit study since his poetry was grounded in equality for all. It would be a great addition to read them in class and have a discussion around it.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade/interest level: 3-5
Reading level: 3.7
Genre: Poetry

Main Characters: Langston Hughes
Setting: Kansas and Harlem
POV: Langston Hughes

Love to Langston is a book of poetry about the life of Langston Hughes. The author, Tony Medina, uses what she has learned about the life and death of Langston Hughes to create a selection of poems in the voice of how she believed Hughes would think, feel, or say about particular events in his lifetime. The reader learns about how racism and segregation affects his childhood, as well as the troubles he encountered dealing with a father who did not support his passion and a mother who was most often not around to raise him. This book of poetry ends with Hughes on his deathbed sick from pneumonia.

I would teach this book because of the many social justice themes it presents. I also really appreciate how the author uses poetry as a way to present biographical information to children. The final pages of this book also give some biographical information that served as inspiration for each poem.

[Jackie Pino]

Tony Medina wrote Love to Langston as a sort of biographical, poetic tribute to his inspiration, Langston Hughes. Written in first person point of view, the poems move chronologically through Hughes’ life, addressing some specific situations including racial and family issues he encountered. At the end of the book, Medina includes an informative section that explains the specific circumstances from Hughes’ life written about in each poem. These informative paragraphs may better serve their purpose on the page opposite each specific poem, but understandably would deter from the current layout and colorful illustrations. The poems themselves, while dealing with some weighty topics, are lightened by adding in a small amount of rhyme and repetition with a great deal of rhythm. Children studying Langston Hughes or the Harlem Renaissance may find this to be a unique way of learning about the topics.

[Roberta Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a book of poetry. This book was wrote as a tribute to Langston Hughes.
It features a series of poems that depicts the story of Langston Hughes life.
The book is so important because it's an honest look at the struggles and accomplishments of
Mr. Hughes. It's a story told through poetry about racism, family dynamics, and african americans in the 1800's. This is an important story to learn and tell. I love the use of poetry to tell this fascinating story. My favorite poem in the book is Harlem is the Capital of My World. I like this poem because it speaks to Langston's love of his community. He felt Harlem is where he belonged and he always felt loved and protected there. I love that.

[Amanda Northrup · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that this book of poems for kids tells the story of Langston Hughes, but I found many of the poems to have tricky or non-existent meters. Also, I wanted more detail. For instance, there are two poems about Langston traveling the world by ship. I wish the author had included a poem or two about the things he did or saw or experienced on those trips, but instead the poems read more like entries on a timeline. Maybe that's my whole disappointment with this book. I wanted stories of his life, but I got statements of fact instead. Granted, some poems tell stories, but not many.

One redeeming element is the backmatter which gives biographical information for each poem.

[Erica J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Biography in the form of poems in honor of Langston Hughes. Each poem explores a significant event or theme in the life of Hughes. Readers learn about his childhood, the racism he faced, his decision to become a writer, his years of travel, his love of New York’s Harlem neighborhood, and his success as a poet. The poems are somewhat sad, I would have liked to read a few that weren't as depressing. This would be great to utilize in a social studies unit for 60’s.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the back of the book there is a detailed description describing langton's life and the connection to the poem. A poem I would read aloud would be "Jim Crow Row" about how a teacher would separated African American students from others in a row in the back of the classroom. Another poem I like is "I Don't Like My Father Much" about the relationship between Langston and his dad.

[Lucia Benzor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of poetry about the life of Langston Hughes. Interesting illustrations, but the very well-written poetry was the best part. Probably more fun than reading a long biography on him. Would use when talking about the Harlem Renaissance and what the poetry is trying to tell use about Hughes dreams, childhood, and writings.

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems are based off of the life of Langston Hughes. Medina has extensively researched Langston Hughes and offers the background information for each poem. Please note that a few poems are really sad (for examples - I Don't Like My Father Much). The illustrations are exquisite and promise to give all readers delight.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accessible, fun biography in poetry (how often do you see that?) Artwork is a perfect compliment to the poems. Which, interestingly, are not Mr. Hughes but Medina's (in the voice of Langston Hughes).

[David Wachlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love To Langston puts illustrations to several of Hughes' poems. His poetry is obviously an extremely evocative way to introduce social studies concepts like segregation and civil rights, as well as African American culture and the Harlem Renaissance.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was teaching at the junior high in Morton, I arranged for Tony Medina to come and visit our school. He read his book aloud to the students, and talked about the writing process. It was a wonderful experience for me and the kids! If you love Langston, and I do, you must read this book!

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the artwork by R. Gregory Christie, and the poems taught me things about Langston Hughes that I didn't already know. I'm not sure what age group would like this book best, but I'm guessing 6-9 years old --and grown-ups like me who love kids' books with great art.

[Christie Suh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of short poems written from the point of view of Langston Hughes describing variuos themes and historical events.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is beautifully illustrated with poems selected that young children can understand and share a discussion about.