Melodies of the Weary Blues: Classic Poems Illustrated for Young People

Editor and contributor Knight-Justice pairs 23 illustrators, including Reggie Brown, Oge Mora, and Andrea Pippins, with a poem apiece in this arresting illustrators’ anthology that riffs on works from Langston Hughes’s first poetry collection, The Weary Blues. Depicting images of musicians, journeys, and the natural world, visual interpretations range from impressionistic to surreal. Attending poem “The Weary Blues,” Dominique Ramsey shows a figure playing a long, curving keyboard in the rain. Charly Palmer illustrates one of two pieces titled “Poem,” building colorblock detail into an image of two musicians. And in the depiction that accompanies “The Negro Speaks of Rivers (To W.E.B. DuBois),” Frank Morrison paints a bracingly realistic scene of a Black crew using poles to propel a flat vessel through choppy waters. Thoughtfully created with young readers in mind, it’s an affecting, visually inviting variation of a much-beloved work. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Includes a letter from the editor, biography of Hughes, and timeline. Ages 6–10. (Jan.)