The Best of The Brownies' Book (Opie Library)
Grade 6 Up-The Brownies' Book was a literary magazine for African American children and their parents, published from January, 1920 through December, 1921 by W. E. B. DuBois. It was filled with poetry, prose, biographies, and art and letters from readers. Its intention was to give the "Children of the Sun" a better sense of their own self-worth and, as one reader put it, "race love and race pride." Johnson-Feelings has taken excerpts from this serial and given a fair representation of its individual components. In addition, she has added thoughtful critical analysis in both the preface and the afterword. This is a well-done book that presents a remarkable piece of historical children's literature. The question here is not one of quality, but of audience. It certainly fills an embarrassingly gaping hole; however, while the poems (mostly by Langston Hughes) and biographies are fine for today's young readers, the prose may be unpalatable to minds used to modern writing. It is only natural for the language to be old-fashioned and, as is typical of "wholesome" literature from the time, the arch moral tone of the various writers is almost past bearing. However, children who can stand Louisa May Alcott can certainly manage this. The best audience, however, will be students of children's literature and general adult readers.?Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GACopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.