Name: Finding Langston
ISBN: 9780823439607

Lesa Cline-Ransome

When 11-year-old Langston's mother dies in 1946, he and his father leave rural Alabama for Chicago's brown belt as a part of what came to be known as the Great Migration. It's lonely in the small apartment with just the two of them, and at school Langston is bullied. But his new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the local public library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston, a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.

Finding Langston

Melissa Palmer

Book #80 Read in 2018
Finding Langston

This book tells the tale of Langston, newly arrived in Chicago with his father after his mother dies. He is being bullied at school and finds some solace in a local library, in reading and in poetry. This is a good, quick read and would be perfect for upper elementary and middle school readers. The author is somewhat local, living in Rhinebeck. I borrowed this book from the public library.

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

Achingly beautiful story about a boy from Alabama grieving for his mother and finding comfort in poetry after moving North, with intense heartbreak, to Chicago. The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance become intimate forces for change and growth in young Langston's life when he discovers a library for black community members on his way home from school and begins his reading life. A slim gem of a historical novel that is so important to read always and especially now.

Katharina Hoffmann

I’m very sorry to say that I didn’t enjoy this book at all. It was a very short read and still, I had to force myself to finish it.

The story takes place in 1946 Chicago, set against the backdrop of the Great Migration, where 6 million African Americans left the South to move to Northern states. Originally from Alabama, 11-year-old Langston and his father have moved to Chicago after the death of Langston’s mother. He is a teenager who is bullied at school while his father works hard to support the two. One day, Langston accidentally stumbles upon the local library and finds solace not only in books but especially in the poetry of Langston Hughes, the person he later learns he was named after.

Even though I didn't enjoy it because I found it to be a bit bland, I can see that this book might work when reading it in school in grades 7-8. I must say that I didn’t find the writing style particularly beautiful or interesting. He and his father speak a Southern dialect, something that contributes to Langston’s bullies calling him ‘country boy’. What irritated me immensely is that because he is the first-person narrator, Langston’s internal monologues, as well as thoughts and feelings, were also “written in dialect”. I get that it is a stylistic choice but it bothered me because it made for a not-so-smooth reading experience.

The novel discusses the topics of losing a parent, standing up to one’s bullies, falling in love with reading and poetry, and the relationship between father and son, which is why it might work for a younger audience. However, it didn't work for me.

Finding Langston

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