Teaching Finding Langston: Creative Lesson Plan Ideas for Literary Analysis

Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome is a book that we love to teach to our middle school classes. It takes place right after World War II during the Great Migration as Langston and his father move from rural Alabama to the bustling city of Chicago after Langston’s mother passes away. It is a heartfelt story about a boy’s love of his family, books, and poetry.

We love to teach this story in one of two months: February or April. We teach it in February for Black History Month and for Valentine’s Day. Sometimes we teach it in April for National Poetry Month. Both times of the year are great for this short book. Here is a peek at our lesson and Google slides if you want some help planning a lesson.

Bonus: it is also a trilogy. So, hopefully it encourages your students to read the other two books if they liked the first one. Our students love this story, and we hope that it inspires you to teach it in your classroom, too.