Unparalleled: Floyd Cooper, A Literary Remembrance

By Carole Boston Weatherford

“There is no greater gift than the truth.”
Floyd Cooper

I credit my two children with introducing me to Floyd Cooper—not the man but the artist. Their grandmother gave them the poetry book Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea by Joyce Carol Thomas. Floyd’s subjects’ faces glowed with warmth and love. I next encountered his work in Nikki Grimes’s Meet Danitra Brown. Floyd’s realistic illustrations invited my daughter into Danitra’s neighborhood and into her circle of friends.

It’s Shark Week on the Discovery Channel – and here’s a list of books about sharks for readers who just can’t get enough!

Are you pigeonholing your picture books, limiting them to just primary grades? Gain insights from librarians and literacy luminaries Betsy Bird, Cicely Lewis, and Susannah Richards as they discuss the benefits of and strategies for using picture books with older students—including middle grade and high schoolers.

It’s deep summer in the northern hemisphere, and what better way than to cool off than with books featuring ice cream? Read on for a list of titles that cover how ice cream is made, experiments that help you make your own, or stories that include everyone’s favorite sweet treat.

First Avenue Classics transform unabridged editions of literary staples into compelling digital layouts, making the books accessible from any digital device. We’d like to highlight some of the multicultural voices available from the First Avenue Classics line.