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.
