Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes

When a little child, Langston lived in Kansas with his elderly grandmother who admonished him not to play with other children. In the middle of miles of fields, it reality it was not hard to do. The sheer loneliness was difficult. Abandoned by a mother who wanted to become a successful singer/dancer, and a father who fled the bonds of parenthood and moved to Mexico, this precocious child dug deep into himself and found solace in reading.

Eventually, he was taken in by another family. And, in this experience, he paints wonderful poems of food that is bountiful, of a place to stay that is lovely, and of the ability to find love and accept the sheer power of it all.

Highly recommended!

This book has so much potential- but it just doesn't quite deliver. That's ultimately disappointing, as the subject-- Langston Hughes-- is such a deeply interesting and talented indvidual. The text is very wordy and flat-- there are brief poetic moments here and there, but no enough to engage readers young or old. The paragraphs are long, there is virtually no dialogue, and allusions-- to Booker T. Washington, Buffalo Soldiers-- are not explained, even in the author's notes. I've read this book to several different groups of students and they all got very bored and tired halfway through. This book is ok-- but it could've been fabulous if Floyd Cooper had made a few key changes.

Lovely picture book the emphasizes the early childhood of Langston Hughes. The vivid illustrations help round out the rich descriptions of Langston's lonely childhood and how his dreams and imagination helped him discover what family and home are. This would be a wonderful book to read prior to studying the Harlem Renaissance because it provides wonderful perspective on why Hughes' poetry and stories were so powerful. The book does not address segregation or racism, which is a shame. But many children may be able to relate to feeling lonely or struggling with a difficult issue, such as poverty or living apart from one or more parent. Very sensitive book.

I liked this book for two prominent reasons. First, I liked this book for its detailed illustrations. Throughout the book, the characters talked about in the text were illustrated on the pages around the text. The best aspect of these illustrations was the detail given to the facial expressions of the characters depicted in the pictures. For example, on the page that details Langston Hughes’ first encounter with Booker T. Washington, the excitement and joy explained in the text could easily be seen on his face on the page next to the text. For me, it made the experience easier to relate to by seeing a young child smiling ear to ear, rather than simply reading the fact that he was enjoying himself. The second reason I liked this book show more was for attention to detail the author gave to events in the story. For example, on the page that told of the time Langston made funny faces while on stage with his mother, the text said the crown “burst out laughing,” making the noise more power when I read it in my head. Another example of this amazing detail was when the author described what Langston’s Auntie said and that she did so “in a voice as sweet as dessert.” This small detail added a trait to Langston’s Auntie that described her personality without explicitly stating that she sounded sweet and pleasant. The big idea of this book was to tell about Langston Hughes’ life as a child and give the reader some insight on what made the historically influential African American who he was. show less

Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes by Floyd Cooper opens with a short, sad poem by Hughes called Hope. The picture book documents the young life of Langston Hughes before he became a poet. Coming Home would be a good book to introduce a unit on Langston Hughes' poetry. It also addresses the loneliness that kids often experience. But this lonely boy became a great poet and a hero to many. It's a good lesson about struggle.
Hughes grew up in poverty on his grandmother's Kansas farm. His mother was off trying to be a star, and his father had moved to Mexico. His grandmother didn't want him playing with the neighborhood boys. He was a lonely kid.
But his often-silent grandmother was also a great storyteller, and spoke of heroic show more black men, including her first husband, who fought slavery with John Brown. His grandmother still wore the bullet-riddled shawl from her husband, who was killed in the struggle.
Finally, after the grandmother has grown even more silent, Hughes goes to live with friends of the family. It's here that he discovered what a real home felt like. With friends, enough to eat and two loving people to take care of him, Hughes blossomed into a popular class poet. His writing took off, and he found that he could carry "home" within himself. show less

This book helps share the life of one of the famous African-American poets, Langston Hughes. If you are teaching your students about history or let's say it's black history month, I recommend this. It shows you how important home really is and how it helps you become who you are. Although it is rather lengthy, upper elementary would love it.

In this picture book, you are taken into the life of young Langston Hughes. When you read this book you are able to see the hardships Langston Hughes went through in order to become his own person. He went through many trials and tribulations to accomplish his goals. I would read this book to a group of first-second graders because I feel as though they would appreciate it more in depth and understand the concept of his life.