Visiting Langston

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Bibliography

Perdomo, Willie.  Visiting Langston.  Ill. By Bryan Collier.  New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002.  ISBN 0805067442

Summary

A young girl visits the historical home of Langston Hughes with her father.  While visiting, the girl tells of Hughes’s life, work and interests while connecting her life to the famous author.

Analysis

There are many things to love about Perdomo’s first children’s book.  The narrator, a young girl from Harlem, is bright faced and confident.  Her words and the illustrations make it easy to identify her as a sweet and likeable child.  Children can easily understand and relate to her as she voices her excitement about a special trip with her father and wearing her favorite pink shirt.  It is easy to hear her voice throughout the pages, being somewhat scattered and jumping from Langston to herself, just as a young girl would do.

The illustrations are true works of art.  Collier pieced together mixed media, combining beautiful watercolor portraits with masterfully crafted collages.  The images welcome the reader to look for all the small details, relishing in the rich textures and connecting with the lifelike characters depicted.  They also provide much needed visual support for the simply versed poem.

I personally found the text a bit difficult to read.  There were awkward turning points, places where the rhythm of the verse was interrupted and broken in an odd and unexpected manner.  It appeared that they page breaks were designed to allow the illustrations to support the text, however the text would have been stronger had stanzas been kept together. 

I also felt the content jumped around a bit too much, telling about Hughes then jumping to the young narrator’s poetry and life.  I wanted to know more about the man who had captured her attention and heart.  Perhaps this was Perdomo’s hope, that the reader would be intrigued and seek out more information on this influential writer. 

Awards and Reviews

*Coretta Scott King Honor

“A rhythmic poem in praise of Langston Hughes and the writer's craft. The poem is presented by a young girl who is off to visit Hughes's Harlem home with her father. It begins, "Today I'm going to wear/My favorite pink blouse/I'm going with my daddy/To visit Langston's house." Readers quickly learn that, like Hughes, the girl is a writer and resident of Harlem. Powerful in its simplicity, the text explores the child's special connection to the famous man. "He can tell you why my/Dreams run wild/Why Daddy says I'm like/Langston's genius child." Text and illustrations complement one another perfectly as the pages of the book come to life with energetic purpose and delight. Done with a mixture of collage and watercolor with dramatic results, Collier's artwork uses muted shades of green, purple, and brown and yet shines with brilliant bits of patterns and textures. While this is obviously an urban landscape, the girl's enthusiasm and talent have universal appeal. Be sure to use this impressive collaboration to introduce young readers to the life and work of the poet (a brief author's note with some dates and titles is included) but be sure it reaches young writers as well.” -Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools (from Amazon)

Connections

The narrator speaks of herself as a poet.  Have students write a journal entry explaining if they see themselves as a poet, why or why not? 

The mixed media illustrations help bring Visiting Langston to life.  After they have revised and edited a piece of poetry, provide students with a variety of scrapbooking papers, magazines and newspapers.  Have students create a background to illustrate their poems, and then create details using paints or markers.

Have students read Uptownby Bryan Collier to discover more about this neighborhood.  Using what they learned from both texts, have the students write or draw about what they think everyday life is like for either Hughes or the narrator living in Harlem.  Discuss how life in Harlem is similar or different from life where the students live.