A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices

Meet a diverse group of six children ranging in age from Kindergarten through fifth grade. With nerves and excitement each child gears up for a new school year by hustling in the morning, meeting new teachers and new classmates during the day, and heading home with homework and relief by day’s end. Simple, bright illustrations focus on each child and their worries, hopes, and successes on the first day of school.

Experience the breadth and depth of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poetry. From his childhood in poverty and his early promise as a poet through his struggles to find acceptance as a writer and his tumultuous romance with his wife, to his immense fame and his untimely death, Dunbar’s story is one of triumph and tragedy. But his legacy remains in his much-beloved poetry — told in both Standard English and in dialect — which continues to delight and inspire readers today.