From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up. Countless anthologies of African-American poetry, many with elaborate illustrations, have appeared since Adoff's I Am the Darker Brother (Macmillan, 1968) was published. It remains remarkable in its ability to present the African-American experience through poetry that speaks for itself without the distraction of artwork or the need to trumpet itself as being multicultural. This revised and updated edition has 21 new selections, representing 19 poets (9 of them women), added to the thematic sections of the original title. Now, readers can meet more contemporary writers such as Rita Dove, Maya Angelou, and Ishmael Reed as well as classic black poets like Countee Cullen, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Langston Hughes. An introduction puts the book in historical context and a foreword offers encouragement to a new generation of readers. Notes and biographies have been updated and added where appropriate and Andrews's spare but evocative line drawings still open each section. Because of the historical context of many of the poems, the book will be much in demand during Black History Month, but it should be used and treasured as part of the larger canon of literature to be enjoyed by all Americans at all times of the year. An indispensable addition to library collections.?Carrie Schadle, New York Public LibraryCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Gr. 7 and up. Nearly 30 years after poet and anthologist Adoff first published his classic core collection of black poetry, this new edition has been expanded to include 21 additional poets, 10 of them women. In a celebratory afterword, Adoff remembers how he collected those first poems into a book in 1968 so that he could present to his students, of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, "the complete vision of an American literature." Many of us can still remember the excitement of reading that original anthology, of discovering those distinct, powerful voices so long left out of the American canon. The arrangement here is still by theme, with the new poems echoing, arguing with, connecting, and extending the core. There are eloquent introductions by critic Rudine Sims Bishop and poet Nikki Giovanni and notes at the back on the poems as well as brief biographies of the poets. A must purchase. Hazel Rochman

ANNOTATION

Arnold Adoff updates the classic collection I Am the Darker Brother: An Anthology of Modern Poems by African Americans, first published in 1968, with 23 new poems by Nikki Giovanni (who also contributes a foreword), Ishmael Reed, Maya Angelou and others. This anthology covers not only well-known poems by Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Claude McKay and Paul Laurence Dunbar, but fills in other bright spots in a strong and often neglected tradition. Illustrations, by Benny Andrews, not seen by PW.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

'I Am the Darker Brother' exposes the quintessential African American, a proud, lonely, vulnerable yet independent human being who has forged out of hardship that combination of endurance, understanding, and spirit called soul.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Sheree Van Vreede

You couldn't have a richer collection of the most prominent contemporary African-American poets. Names like Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, and Rita Dove fill its pages. Through the lyrical medium of poetry, this anthology strives to illuminate the soul of the quintessential African-American. The hardship of history and the hope for the future resound from section to section. Readers follow the poets on a journey of a collective heritage that will forever affect future generations.

School Library Journal