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Lullaby (for a Black Mother)

by Langston Hughes

Subject
Bedtime & Dreams
Age
3-5 years
Format
Hardcover
Pages
32
Publisher
Clarion Books
Size
23.1 cm × 25.6 cm
ISBN
9780547362656

With graceful words as smooth as a song, the poet Langston Hughes celebrates the love between a mother and her baby. This picture book edition is a gift to share.

Award-winning illustrator Sean Qualls’s painted and collaged artwork captures universally powerful maternal moments with tenderness. In the end, readers will find a rare photo of baby Hughes and his mother, a biographical note, further reading, and the complete lullaby. Like little love-ones, this beautiful book is a treasure.

“My little dark baby, / My little earth-thing, / My little love-one, / What shall I sing / For your lullaby?"

About the creators

Langston HughesAuthor

Langston Hughes penned many well-known poems, such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "I, Too, Sing America," and "The Dream Keeper." A renowned contributor to New York City's Harlem Renaissance, he died in 1967.

Sean QuallsIllustrator

Sean Qualls is a Brooklyn-based artist, illustrator, and author. His work is a mixed-media combination of painting, drawing, and collage. He is the author and illustrator of Fros, Fades, and Braids but has illustrated many picture books, including The Idea In You by Questlove; Before John Was a Jazz Giant, which received a Coretta Scott King Honor; The Poet Slave of Cuba, a Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon book; Dizzy, an ALA Booklist Notable Book and a Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and Child magazine best book as well as a Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon book and an ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice; and Emmanuel’s Dream, which was a Schneider Award winner and an Amazon Best Book of the Month. You can find him occasionally DJing in and around New York City. Visit him at seanqualls.com.

Data provided by BiblioShare.

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What reviewers said

"Hughes' classic lullaby gets a loving lift with Quall's graceful artwork."
Booklist
"A wonderful celebration of both love and poetry."
School Library Journal
"A quiet but welcome introduction to the writer's work for the very young."
Publishers Weekly
"Share with little ones needing a gentle lullaby."
Kirkus
"Not all poems make for great picture book texts, but this one has just the right cadence and all the right line breaks for smooth page turns, especially when accompanied by Qualls's superb art showing the deep bond between a mother and her baby at bedtime."
Horn Book
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© 2026 Peekabooks Inc. All Rights Reserved.