Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks

This picture-book biography follows poet Gwendolyn Brooks from her childhood in Chicago through her writing life. Raised in a poor family with a bookcase full of poetry, she heard her father recite poems and began writing her own by age seven. Encouraged by her mother, she published poems in a newspaper at eleven, continued writing while working other jobs, and drew inspiration from Chicago’s South Side. Her second poetry collection won the Pulitzer Prize. The book includes expressive acrylic illustrations of Brooks observing, thinking, and writing.