Gladiola Garden: My Most Cherished Volume of Children's Poetry

Gladiola Garden: My Most Cherished Volume of Children's Poetry | Heritage Mom

source: https://heritagemom.com/index.php/2020/10/21/gladiola-garden-my-most-cherished-volume-of-childrens-poetry/

When I began to introduce my children to poetry as a daily practice within our homeschool, I was struck by the homogeneity of the sweet images included within the pages of our favorite poetry books. As I read more, I heard familiar refrains and verses that struck on the many shared emotions of humanity - joy, fear, love, discomfort, belonging. But none celebrated the unique experiences of Black children and their meanderings through field and forest alongside the crickets and toads.

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Feeling certain that poetry reflecting my children and their attachment to the natural world was somewhere to be found, I began a hopeful search telling myself that diligent effort would perhaps pay out in the end. And boy, did it ever.

Tucked away in the middle of a literature guide, originally published in 1941, was a passing reference to Gladiola Gardenby Effie Lee Newsome with a brief description of "Poems for younger children by a Negro poet and artist."

I had come to trust the guide's author, Charlemae Rollins, the head of the children's department in the first branch of the Chicago library system built in a Black neighborhood, so it was easy to follow the trail she left behind so many years ago. And sure enough, at the end of the line awaited a treasure of poems that spoke to my children, my adult sensibilities, and the little girl inside of me who had longed to see herself within the pages of a special book.

As my family soaked up the richness of Harlem Renaissance writer Effie Lee Newsome and illustrator Lois Mailou Jones, it became apparent that this volume was too plum a treasure to hold as our own. It needed to be in the home of every child - as a mirror reflecting the everyday life recognized as their own or a window giving a rare view into the playful romps and observations of brown-skinned children.

So with a thankful spirit and steadfast commitment to bring forth voices and images that will pour into the lives of so many young people, I'm so happy to share with you that

(in hardcover and paperback) with all 77 of the original illustrations and a new foreword by yours truly.

The World Voices Collection from Living Book Press was created to bring you stories and experiences from different cultures than those which are usually shared. Every book gives the reader the opportunity to share in lives and backgrounds different from those usually presented allowing deeper understanding of the things we all share.

It was an absolute honor to write the new foreword in this edition of my most cherished volume of children's poetry, my little pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. May Gladiola Garden bless you and yours as it has me and mine.

You can find me on Instagram at @heritagemomblog. See you there!

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