“Finding Langston”
by Lesa Cline-Ransome.
Holiday House, New York, 2018, 106 pages, Grades 4-6.
Racism has tragically been embedded in American history. In the United States its baleful shadow has tended to fall on African Americans, Native Americans and Asian Americans. It is crippling in many ways. Racism takes away the dignity of the human person and treats them as an object to be ridiculed. This is the opposite of the Christian message of loving your neighbors.
Racism leaves other scars as well. The victims of racism must fight their way through negative, painful thoughts of their place in society. This is a burden that is carried and weighs down the victims of racism. Lesa Cline-Ransome writes about the many issues involving this subject in her superb novel based on the migration of southern African Americans to northern cities after World War II. The name of this outstanding work is “Finding Langston.”
After his mother’s early death, Langston moves from Alabama to the south side of Chicago. His father saw little hope for a better life in Alabama and thinks he can better raise his son in Chicago. Quickly finding a low-paying job in a factory, they move into a cheap apartment.
Langston is completely lost in the hustle and bustle of the big city. Nothing is familiar. People don’t know their neighbors’ names. They ridicule his southern accent and country manners. His heart is already breaking with grief from his mother’s death and he wonders if he can go on.
His school is fine, once he is in the classroom. But to get there, Langston must walk past young thugs trying to intimidate him. When school ends for the day, he walks past a public library. He walks through the front door and is amazed to see black people reading books and journals.
In his hometown in Alabama, black people cannot use the library. These racist attitudes have robbed Langston of an ability to know what might be possible for him. But this library is totally different. The librarians ask him if he would like to see some books. In bewilderment, he says yes. The librarians take him into the book stacks and to his stunned amazement, there are rows and rows of books on every subject. He eagerly begins reading the books the librarians have given him.
Next, they ask him if he would like a library card to check out more books. He agrees and they then write out a library card for the child. Maybe this library is a way for him to escape from the racial problems of the past and create possibilities.
But Langston is still troubled. He doesn’t know what his father will think about all this reading. His deceased mama always read, but his father doesn’t understand why anyone would need this much knowledge. Langston’s heart desires to learn as he aches from his mother’s death, while fearing for his own safety going to school.
Yet the books of poetry by Langston Hughes move the child’s heart and gives him hope. What should Langston do? What kind of life should he choose? To find out the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and check out this exceptional novel, “Finding Langston” by Lesa Cline-Ransome.
“Finding Langston” is a beautifully written story that should find a wide audience in the middle grades. Langston’s courage forms his character as he works through his suffering and fears.
Lesa Cline-Ransome is the wife of famous children’s artist, James Ransome. She writes about the difficult subject of racism with clarity and hope. I was very moved by this story and think that middle school readers will benefit as well. It will be equally helpful to the adults in the family. Simply a tremendous story. Highly recommended.
