Children Coming Home – Gwendolyn Brooks, The David Company, Chicago, 1991, softcover, in wraps intended to look like a school workbook.  20 pp. Inscribed by Brooks on the ffep “Sincerely, Gwendolyn Brooks, June 27, 1995”.  Near fine condition, with just a minor wrinkling of the covers (may actually just be from binding) and very slight bumping of the corners.

A small collection of 20 poems, each one “narrated” by a different child. "Short, moving verse-monologues by boys and girls from Chicago's South Side".  The poems are harsh, sad, poignant, funny and absorbing, sometimes all at once.

The book itself is scarce, and even scarcer signed. Perhaps Brooks’ rarest title.  $495 SOLD

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950, for Annie Allen, making her the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize.  A lifelong resident of Chicago, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968, a position she held until her death.  She was also named the U.S. Poet Laureate for the 1985–86 term.  In 1976, she became the first African American woman inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.