Here is an innovative exploration of the blues aesthetic that reflects the literary work created by Black authors and illustrators for the Black child reader. This book examines literature written for Black children, using critical and creative writings – by artists, scholars, and critics – that define the blues within Black «adult» literature, poetry, and the visual arts. The book identifies Black children’s literature published in the past forty years by authors and illustrators who can be classified as blues artists, and whose work reflects social, political, economical, and historical developments of the Black experience throughout the United States. Referencing work created by Jacqueline Woodson, Walter Dean Myers, John Steptoe, Tom Feelings, Sherley Anne Williams, and others, this book demonstrates how the blues aesthetic now includes the literature dedicated to Black children.

The Author: Nancy D. Tolson is a native Detroiter. She has taught at Grinnell College, University of Cape Coast, and Illinois State University, and is currently an associate professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Mitchell College. She received her B.A. at Madonna University, and her M.A. in African world studies and her Ph.D. in English education from the University of Iowa. She has been a Fulbright Fellow in Cape Coast, Ghana, and is the author of numerous articles on Black children’s literature and Black adult literature.