The Blacker The Berry

The Blacker The Berry is a book of poems geared towards African-American children. The poems focus on the various colors of skin that African-American children may have and it highlights them in a way that shows the beauty of having darker skin. The illustrations are captivating and feature oil painted pictures and very detailed expressions. The twelve poems each highlight a different skin tone and are both educational and uplifting for some young children.

Since the poems are geared towards outlooks I would ask my students questions about themselves like:

• What is you unique about your outlook?
• What do you like most about yourself?
• What is one thing you like about one of your classmates?

A motivational activity I would do with my students is have them each make their own poem about themselves similar the ones in The Blacker The Berry.

Another motivational activity I would have my students do is cut out pictures of items that describe them from magazines and then make a collage out of them. We will then make a tree out of all the collages to post on the bulletin board to showcase the various unique features of every student.

Joyce Carol Thomas is a African-American poet,playwright, and author of more than 30 children's books.


Thomas, J. (2008). The blacker the berry. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers