African-American Classics presents great stories and poems from America's earliest Black writers, illustrated by contemporary African-American artists. Featured are "Two Americans" by Florence Lewis Bentley, "The Goophered Grapevine" by Charles W. Chesnutt, "Becky" by Jean Toomer, two short plays by Zora Neale Hurston, and six more tales of humor and tragedy. Also featured are eleven poems, including Langston Hughes' "Danse Africaine" and "The Negro", plus Paul Laurence Dunbar's "Sympathy" ('I know why the caged bird sings...') In a long running series of high-quality, high-concept adaptations, this volume is a standout... Vastly superior to many anthologies, and more accessible than many textbooks of literary history, this book will charm casual readers as well as students and teachers who can see its role as a study supplement. --School Library Journal / Francisca Goldsmith This is a collection of stories that speaks from our history and a culture all too often ignored. The stories contained here range from short tales to beautifully illustrated poetry, and each of them resonates with emotion and power beyond the written word. These are not just classic literature, they are the tales of men and women who yearned to be heard and have been given new life in the pages of this volume. --The Jersey Journal / William Kulesa AFRICAN-AMERICAN CLASSICS is a stunner of a project... if I told you that one single book had new material from Trevor Von Eeden, Kyle Baker, Christopher Priest, Afua Richardson, Lance Tooks, Stan Shaw, Alex Simmons, Jeremy Love and Shepherd Hendrix, you d want it immediately, right? Add in stories from some of the finest American writers in history like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and W.E.B. Du Bois, and you don't really need me to give you another reason to buy it. --Comics Waiting Room / Marc Mason