According to the introduction by the African American children’s literature authority Rudine Sims Bishop, “Mary Effie Lee Newsome was possibly the first African American poet whose body of work consisted primarily of poems for children.” As a well educated adult, Newsome wrote poems appearing in W.E.B. DuBois’s magazine,“The Brownies’ Book,” published for “the children of the sun.” Born in 1985, Newsome wrote well over a hundred and fifty poems for children, but her published work from the 1920's and 1930's has largely been forgotten until now. Newsome chose nature themes for her children’s, and she wrote from a child’s perspective, wanting to express that African American children were “normal” and “ordinary” in their emotions and appreciations of nature. She wanted to express more than what typically represented African Americans to themselves and in the wider world, in that most published works of the time portrayed African American children as “comical” and “different.” The poems chosen for this slim volume are accompanied by artwork created decades ago by the noted African American critic, teacher and painter Lois Mailou Jones to illustrated some of Newsome’s works. When children are shown in the illustrations, they are African American children. Jones’s images are the sweet, quite like those generally prevalent in children’s books during the 1930's. This old-fashioned, yet newly developed collection will appeal to elders who remember Newsome and/or Jones or who are looking for historical African American children’s literature of which to be proud. (Ages 4-7)

Effie Lee Newsome was a pioneer in children's literature. She was possibly the first African American poet whose body of work consisted primarily of poems for children. A number of her poems appeared in The Brownies' Book, the magazine published by W.E.B. DuBois. Later, she wrote a children's column, "The Little Page," for The Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Until now, Effie Lee Newsome's poems were available only in a hard-to-find collection titled Gladiola Garden, published in 1940. This new volume, which includes poems from Gladiola Garden, The Brownies' Book, and "The Little Page," reintroduces Effie Lee Newsome and the spirit of her work to a new generation of children.