New Releases by Marilyn Nelson

A Claudia Lewis Award Winner for Poetry by the Bank Street College of Education A Black Caucus ALA Children & Young Adult Award Winner A CCBC Children’s Choice • A CBC Teacher Favorite This powerful biography in poemsu200b tells the life of Augusta Savage, the trailblazing artist and pillar of the Harlem Renaissance. Augusta Savage was arguably the most influential American artist of the 1930s. A gifted sculptor, Savage was commissioned to create a portrait bust of W.E.B. Du Bois for the New York Public Library. She flourished during the Harlem Renaissance, and became a teacher to an entire generation of African American artists, including Jacob Lawrence, and would go on to be nationally recognized as one of the featured artists at the 1939 World’s Fair. She was the first-ever recorded Black gallerist. After being denied an artists’ fellowship abroad on the basis of race, Augusta Savage worked to advance equal rights in the arts. And yet popular history has forgotten her name. Deftly written and brimming with photographs of Savage’s stunning sculpture, this is an important portrait of an exceptional artist who, despite the limitations she faced, was compelled to forge a life through art and creativity. Features an afterword by the curator of the Art & Artifacts Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Horn Book • Kirkus Reviews • School Library Journal • Bank Street College ★ "A stunning portrait of artistic genius and Black history in America." —Booklist, starred review ★ "A wonderful addition to young people’s literature on African American artists." —Horn Book, starred review ★ "In a rich biography in verse, Nelson (A is for Oboe) gives voice to the Black sculptor Augusta Savage (1892-1962), a key Harlem Renaissance figure." —Publishers Weekly, starred review ★ "Nelson’s arresting poetry, which is accompanied by photographs of Savage’s work, dazzles as it experiments with form. … A lyrical biography from a master of the craft." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review ★ "A master poet breathes life and color into this portrait of a u00adhistorically significant sculptor and her remarkable story." —School Library Journal, starred review

This deeply imaginative and entertaining poetry collection details the pleasures of the orchestra, from strong-willed A to satisfied Z. Two widely acclaimed poets--one a composer and classical pianist as well--have come together to create this extraordinary portrait of the orchestra in all of its richness and fascination, using the structure of the alphabet in a way that''s entirely new and delightful. A is for the first note you hear as you take your seat in the concert hall, played by the headstrong oboe. B is for the bassoon, "the orchestra''s jester, complaining impatiently through his nose." And C is for the conductor, "like the captain on the bridge of a great ship, navigating the composer''s musical charts." Onward the text goes, soaring in reverie and making thought-provoking observations while not taking itself too seriously--illuminating all the various details that flow together to create the nourishing experience of playing or listening to music.

Johnnie wants to celebrate her Papa''s birthday, but Papa doesn''t know exactly when that special day is. Johnnie doesn''t understand how that could be. Then she learns about Papa''s childhood--how he built a new life in the all-Black town of Boley, Oklahoma. Inspired by her father''s incredible story, Johnnie decides to throw Papa a different kind of party--one to recognize her Father''s Day of freedom. Based on a true story about the author''s grandfather, Papa''s Free Day Party is a powerful celebration of storytelling, strength, and the importance of family. Th book''s author, Marilyn Nelson, is the author of the memoir How I Discovered Poetry, written in a series of 50 poems. It is a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and was named on of NPR''s Best Books of 2014. She was Poet Laureate of Connecticut from 2001 to 2006.

A faithful little dog must survive on his own in the wild in this evocative tale of loss and reunion from acclaimed poet Marilyn Nelson and the inimitable Timothy Basil Ering. (Ages 4-7) Abba Jacob is a monk who lives on a far, far away island with his loyal rat terrier, Snook. Every day, from the wee hours of dawn till the sun sets over the sea, Snook keeps Abba Jacob company as he prays or works, tending the gardens or fixing the plumbing of the little hermitage he calls home. But when the two are separated by a ferocious storm, Snook must learn to fend for himself in the wild, all alone in a world of fierceness and wonder. Will he ever again hear the loving voice that he waits for? Simply and lyrically told by award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson and beautifully illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering with wit, warmth, and affection for the natural world, this captivating tale of friendship lost and found conveys the power of faith against all odds.

In this stirring picture book about social justice activism and the power of introverts, a quiet girl''s artwork makes a big impression at a protest rally. Newbery Honor winner Marilyn Nelson and fine artist Philemona Williamson have come together to create this lyrical, impactful story of how every child, even the quietest, can make a difference in their community and world. Young Lubaya is happiest when she''s drawing, often behind the sofa while her family watches TV. There, she creates pictures on the backs of her parents'' old protest posters. But when upsetting news shouts into their living room, her parents need the posters again. The next day her family takes part in a march, and there, on one side of the posters being held high, are Lubaya''s drawings of kids holding hands and of the sun shining over the globe--rousing visual statements of how the world could be. "Lubaya''s roar may not be loud, but a quiet roar can make history."

Abba Jacob, a hermit monk, shares with a group of children about how he learned to meditate from a baobab tree which was his boyhood''s "best silence teacher." Observing the baobab and the creatures who lived in its trunk and branches taught him about beauty, friendship, generosity, vulnerability, compassion, and the community of living things: lessons he tells us we can learn ourselves by going inward in meditation. Listening to silence may help us to see the connection between the natural world and faith.

Gorgeous illustrations surround a collection of poetry written for children about the magic, beauty, and promise of sea voyages.

Newbery Honor Book National Book Award finalist Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Flora Stieglitz Straus Award Beautiful verse explores agricultural scientist George Washington Carver''s life and many achievements, from his work as a botanist and inventor to his unsung gifts as a painter, musician, and teacher. George Washington Carver was determined to help the people he loved. Born a slave in Missouri, he left home in search of an education, eventually earning his master''s degree. When Booker T. Washington invited Carver to start the agricultural department at the all-black-staffed Tuskegee Institute, Carver truly found his calling. He spent the rest of his life seeking solutions to the poverty among landless Black farmers by developing new uses for soil-replenishing crops such as peanuts, cowpeas, and sweet potatoes. This STEAM biography reveals Carver''s complex and profoundly devout life.

Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award For young readers comes a poetic commemoration of the life of an 18th-century slave, from a past poet laureate and three-time National Book Award finalist For over 200 years, the Mattatuck Museum in Connecticut has housed a mysterious skeleton. In 1996, community members decided to find out what they could about it. Historians discovered that the bones were those of an enslaved man named Fortune, who was owned by a local doctor. After Fortune’s death, the doctor rendered the bones. Further research revealed that Fortune had married, had fathered four children, and had been baptized later in life. His bones suggest that after a life of arduous labor, he died in 1798 at about the age of 60. The Manumission Requiem is Marilyn Nelson’s poetic commemoration of Fortune’s life. Detailed notes and archival photographs enhance the reader’s appreciation of the poem.

"The story of a renowned poet''s childhood"--Cover.

Sixteen-year-old Connor tries to help his severely depressed father, who learned upon his mother''s death that Nonno was not his biological father, by doing research that reveals Dad''s father was probably a Tuskegee Airman.

"Poetry illustrated in the poet''s own words--with brief prose descriptions of what she sees inside her work--this ... collection takes readers back in time and deep into the mind''s eye of Marilyn Nelson ... [who] draws upon history, and her ... imagination, to revive the long lost community of Seneca Village"--Jacket.

Conjuring numerous voices and characters across oceans and centuries, Faster Than Light explores widely disparate experiences through the lens of traditional poetic forms. This volume contains a selection of Marilyn Nelson''s new and uncollected poems as well as work from each of her lyric histories of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century African American individuals and communities. Poems include the stories of historical figures like Emmett Till, the fourteen-year-old boy lynched in 1955, and the inhabitants of Seneca Village, an African American community razed in 1857 for the creation of Central Park. "Bivouac in a Storm" tells the story of a group of young soldiers, later known as the Tuskegee Airmen, as they trained near Biloxi, Mississippi, "marching in summer heat / thick as blackstrap molasses, under trees / haunted by whippings." Later pieces range from the poet''s travels in Africa, Europe, and Polynesia, to poems written in collaboration with Father Jacques de Foiard Brown, a former Benedictine monk and the subject of Nelson''s playful fictional fantasy sequence, "Adventure-Monk!" Both personal and historical, these poems remain grounded in everyday details but reach toward spiritual and moral truths.

Ostrich and Lark spend their days together, Lark singing from his perch in the tree and Ostrich silent, until Ostrich finds his voice.

A Coretta Scott King and Printz honor book now in paperback. A Wreath for Emmett Till is "A moving elegy," says The Bulletin. In 1955 people all over the United States knew that Emmett Louis Till was a fourteen-year-old African American boy lynched for supposedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. The brutality of his murder, the open-casket funeral held by his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, and the acquittal of the men tried for the crime drew wide media attention. In a profound and chilling poem, award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson reminds us of the boy whose fate helped spark the civil rights movement.

A collection of poems and paintings paying tribute to the 1940''s all-female jazz band. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm originated in a boarding school in Mississippi and eventually found their way to the most famous ballrooms in the country, offering solace during the hard years of the war. Includes chronology of the band''s history.

Beautiful ballerina, you areslender,straight-legged,high-arched,symmetrical...Beautiful ballerina,You are the dance.In this celebration of ballet''s splendor, lush photographs and a poetic narrative put readers center stagewith young ballerinas from the Dance Theatre of Harlem. The minimal text balances the harmony of thephotos and demonstrates the joy of movement--inviting bravissimos and encores at each reading.

Newbery Honor winner Nelson collaborates with new writer Hegamin in this rap-inspired thriller--a supernatural tale told in the voices of a modern-day teenager and the ghost of an 18th-century slave girl.

ALSC Notable Children''s Book Here is the story of Miss Prudence Crandall and her black students, who endured the cruelty of prejudice and hateful actions for the sake of their education. Miss Crandall faced legal proceedings for opening her school of African American women. But her young students knew that Miss Crandall had committed no crime. They knew that the real criminals were the rich white residents of Canterbury, Connecticut, who had poisoned the school''s water and set fire to the schoolhouse. But hatred could not destroy their patience and compassion. From March of 1833 to September of 1834, when persecution forced the school to close, these African American women learned that they deserved an education. What they needed was the courage to go after it. Poets Elizabeth Alexander and Marilyn Nelson have re-created the remarkable story of Prudence Crandall''s school in this award-winning book, using the sonnet form with innovative style. Floyd Cooper''s powerful illustrations reveal the strength and vulnerability of Miss Crandall and her students.

Poets Elizabeth Alexander and Marilyn Nelson tell the story of Prudence Crandall''s school for African American girls opened in 1833.

"...In "The Cachoeira tales" longing to take her family on a journey to "some place sanctified by the Negro soul," the poet finds herself in Brazil''s Bahia, along with a theater director, a jazz musician, a retired commercial pilot, an activist, a university student, and two mysterious African American women whom they meet along the way. In rhymed couplets, each pilgrim tells a story, and the result is a rollicking, sensual exploration of spirit and community, with a nod to Chaucer and to traditional Trickster tales." -- dust jacket flap.