Lullaby (for a Black Mother)

With graceful words as smooth as a song, the poet Langston Hughes celebrates the love between a mother and her baby. This picture book edition is a gift to share.

Award-winning illustrator Sean Qualls’s painted and collaged artwork captures universally powerful maternal moments with tenderness. In the end, readers will find a rare photo of baby Hughes and his mother, a biographical note, further reading, and the complete lullaby. Like little love-ones, this beautiful book is a treasure.

“My little dark baby, / My little earth-thing, / My little love-one, / What shall I sing / For your lullaby?"

"Hughes' classic lullaby gets a loving lift with Quall's graceful artwork."
—Booklist

"A wonderful celebration of both love and poetry."
—School Library Journal

"A quiet but welcome introduction to the writer's work for the very young."
—Publishers Weekly

"Share with little ones needing a gentle lullaby."
—Kirkus

"Not all poems make for great picture book texts, but this one has just the right cadence and all the right line breaks for smooth page turns, especially when accompanied by Qualls's superb art showing the deep bond between a mother and her baby at bedtime."
—Horn Book