Exquisite, a picture book on Gwendolyn Brooks that lives up to its name

The cover and thickness of Exquisite might turn off some audiences. The subtitle of the book is The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. Many elementary aged kids we know don’t like poetry. This is also a thick illustrated book, implying that there’s a lot to read about poetry and an author that they might not have heard of. It’s worth having young audiences hang in there for Exquisite. While it is a book about a poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, the text in it doesn’t rhyme and isn’t boring. The book is thick, but the pages use the words sparingly on some of them. The result is a gorgeous book that will entertain readers aged five an up.

Not only will it entertain them, it will educate them on the rewards of being patient, working hard and never giving up. All the book is missing is an audio clip of Commander Peter Quincy Taggart to make it completely inspiring to those late 90’s kids who might be slightly poetry compromised.

Again, this isn’t a poetry book. It’s about Gwendolyn Brooks, the first black person who won a Pulitzer Prize. She did this for her second book of collected poems entitled Annie Allen. She grew up in the 1920’s and loved writing. In 1924 when she was seven she started writing poetry and had her first published works four years later in the Hyde Parker newspaper. Unfortunately, the next year the Great Depression hit and unemployment was sent to levels that society couldn’t fathom.

Brooks was also going through high school, which can be horrible even under the best of circumstances. However for her, she was too dark for some cliques, too quiet for other groups that she tried to befriend and even tried going to a different school each year. But, she kept on writing, receiving encouragement from her teachers and went to college.

She found a great man, got married, became a mother, but still kept on writing. They lived in the South Side Chicago neighborhood of Bronzeville. It was here that she kept on writing and never gave up, consistently sending her poetry to book publishers in New York City. Eventually, one of them asked her for more poems, which led to one book, then another and ultimately winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950.

Exquisite is a children’s illustrated book that combines art and words in a gorgeous, non-fiction package. It’s a book whose title describes its interior. Is there such a thing as a book version of an onomatopoeia? If so, this is it, if not, this book can be the first to be it. The art makes it effortless to read and a pleasure to look at. Readers, or those reading the book to young audiences will easily get lost and end up finishing the book before they realize it. The acrylic paintings make the book as much of a moving work of art as any picture book that we’ve seen recently. If Gwendolyn Brooks is unknown to you and poetry makes you run for the hills this is still a book that ages five and up will smile to, learn from and enjoy reading numerous times.

Exquisite is written by Suzanne Slade with illustrations by Cozbi A. Cabrera on Abrams Books.

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