Langston Hughes: A Biography
by Milton Meltzer
Nonfiction · ages 10–14 · grades 5–9 · 780L · 1968
Why we'd hand it over
Meltzer's 1968 biography is still the most honest, unflinching portrait for this age—it doesn't shy from Hughes's queerness, poverty, or the racism he faced, and kids grasp why those struggles mattered to his art.