Here is a necessary collection of poetry for admirers of words and treasurers of literary beauty. Spanning more than 30 years, this collection of literary masterpieces by the venerable Ms. Gwendolyn Brooks, arguably Illinois' most beloved Poet Laureate and Chicago's elder black literary stateswoman, Blacks includes all of Ms. Brooks' critically acclaimed writings. Within its covers is the groundbreaking "Annie Allen," which earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1950. There is also the sweepingly beautiful and finely crafted "A Street in Bronzeville," a highly anticipated and lauded poetic treasure that spoke volumes for this great poet's love of black people, Chicago's Black community, and even the community of the world. Blacks includes a special treat, Maud Martha, Brooks' only novel

 

 

Essential Brooks Unabridged CD

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks reads 27 of her best poems, including "Do Not Be Afraid of No," "The Bean Eaters," "Riot," and "The Sermon on the Warpland," in a quiet, forceful manner that underscores the raw vigor of her writing, centered on the daily lives of black people in bleak cities. The recording bursts with the cutting observation and warm humor that have made Brooks one of the most celebrated poets of her time.
 

Elizabeth Alexander (Editor)

ISBN: 1931082871
Format: Hardcover, 200pp
Pub. Date: October 2005
Publisher: Library of America

Brings together the best work from three earlier books now out of print, and includes poems not previously published in book form.

The classic volume by the distinguished modern poet and winner of the 1950 Pulitzer Prize that represents her technical mastery, her compassionate and illuminating response to a world that is both special and universal, and her warm humanity.
 

Gwendolyn Brooks: Poetry Is Life Distilled

by Christine M. Hill

ISBN: 0766022927
Format: Hardcover, 48pp
Pub. Date: March 2005
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Incorporated
Age Range: Young Adult

School Library Journal,  Gr 5-8
These clearly written, factual biographies emphasize the integrity and determination that led to each individual's success. Each title begins with a vignette about the subject's adulthood before turning to a chronological recounting of important people, events, and accomplishments in their lives. Brooks moves beyond dates and facts to help readers understand the poet's personality, important relationships, and philosophies. All of the books include the subjects' encounters with and responses to racism, as well as the careers/talents that bolstered their confidence and resolve to succeed. Orange sidebars provide historical background on such topics as affirmative action, segregation, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Great Migration. Green boxes provide extrapolated or additional material. The captioned color photos add to the visual appeal; those that are black and white offer a glimpse into early- and mid-20th-century America. Although Brooks exceeds the quality of the other two books in both organization and writing style, all three are valuable contributions to general collections.
'Julie R. Ranelli, Episcopal Center for Children, Washington, DC Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
 

Gwendolyn Brooks' Maud Martha: A Critical Edition

Product Details:
ISBN: 0883782375
Format: Paperback, 196pp
Pub. Date: October 2001
Publisher: Third World Press

Gwendolyn Brooks' only novel captures the essence of Black life. In Maud Martha, Brooks recognizes that beauty and strength resides deep within every one of us.
 

ISBN: 0883782324
Format: Hardcover, 120pp
Pub. Date: September 2003
Publisher: Third World Press

The first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize, Brooks (1917-2000) moved from early, formally intricate verse about American life, through a brilliantly jagged free verse attuned to the turbulence of the late 1960s, into a populist hortatory style that reached a very wide audience. Brooks prepared this new-and-selected volume shortly before her death; its titular sequence, published in Ebony in 1971, has never appeared in book form. That sequence praises Alabama's civil rights workers, incorporating their speech and giving the flavor and the micro-history of that important period as few other poets could. The selection concludes with the pivotal, and critically admired, long poem "In the Mecca" (1968), a harrowing narrative set in a Chicago housing project. The rest of the book collects poems from Brooks's later phase, many of them about or addressed to the young; the sequence "Children Coming Home" consists of short, moving verse-monologues by boys and girls from Chicago's South Side. Other poems praise named individuals, from the social reformer Jane Addams to a deceased child to Danny Glover ("Danny Glover is/ a good poem"). An ode to Winnie Mandela ("the She of our vision, the Code") appears now as Brooks's last ambitious work, and includes a deservedly proud mission statement: "We blue-print/ not merely our survival but a flowering." (Oct.) Forecast: Because it is in effect a memorial volume, and because it includes poems not in Brooks's 1987 collected Blacks, this volume could inspire widespread reviews: much depends on the distribution Third World (Brooks's publisher since the 1980s) achieves. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.