“There was a party for Langston at the library … to celebrate the man who wrote wake-up stories, and rise-and-shine rhymes …” The 1991 celebration of the opening of the Langston Hughes Auditorium at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture inspired this dynamic introduction/tribute to Hughes, along with poets Maya Angelou and Amiri Baraka. It was a photograph of Angelou and Baraka at the celebration that first made author Jason Reynolds wonder what event had brought these two “word makers” together—on a dance floor! The narrative offers artful, observant, inviting entry points into all three poets’ work. Hughes could “make the word HARLEM sound like the perfect place to have a party.” Angelou could “make the word WOMAN seem like the word MOUNTAIN.” Baraka could “make the word Black echo into the future and way back into the past …” The Pumphreys’ distinctive illustrations, created using handmade stamps, are a perfect pairing for the energy of the text and pay tribute to other Black writers on the opening endpapers. (Ages 5-9)