San Francisco: The More Distribution Company, 1968. [20]pp; illus. 4to. Saddle-stapled in orange illustrated wraps. Bumping to top corners, echoed throughout; light surface abrasions at spine and fore-edge of rear cover. Very good. A children's reader celebrating soul music legend James Brown, as written by a sixth grade class at the Martin Luther King School, a San Francisco Freedom School, and illustrated with line drawings by Matabala. The class's teacher Welvin Stroud (1937-2008), an educator and poet who published eight books under the nom de plume "Dust," stated in a June 6, 1968 article in The San Francisco Examiner that the book was written specifically to appeal to Black students: "'Everybody in our district knows who James Brown is. This makes learning to read meaningful." A charming and uncommon production. OCLC locates eight institutions holding copies.
