The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes, Illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Yesterday I just reviewed the book My People that was illustrated to a Langston Hughes poem, so why not another one today? The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes and illustrated by E.B. Lewis is a beautiful book with simply stunning watercolor spreads.

Langston Hughes was just 18 when he composed The Negro Speaks of Rivers and in it he captured the strength, the history and the courage of not only African Americans but black people all over the world.

I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow
of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down
to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden
in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

E.B. Lewis has taken this poem and visually interpreted it as a gorgeous tribute. One that will find you eagerly turning the pages to discover the next watercolor but forcing yourself to not move too fast and linger over each spread.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month. Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.
Links of interest: E.B. Lewis website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Hyperion. January 6, 2009.
Hardcover, 32 pages. ISBN 0786818670
Source: Review copy from publisher for Cybils consideration.
The Negro Speaks of Rivers is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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Tags: African American, Black History Month reads, Cybils 2009 picture book nomination, E-H Author, Fiction, M-P Title, male author, poetry, published 2009, Publisher: Hyperion Books

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