For over 100 years Black people have written and illustrated stories for Black children in order for them to know the historical backgrounds and heroic Black figures that set down monumental tracks throughout the world. Tolson (early childhood education, Mitchell College, New London, Connecticut) offers an examination of various Black writers and illustrators of the past 40 years whose work includes a blues aesthetic. The text is intended to educate adults on the literature that, if incorporated into classrooms and displayed in school libraries and bookstores, could uplift children who have felt ignored, mentally abused and confused by the mainstream European and White American literature that fails to recognize their cultural identity. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)