JEFFERY BOSTON WEATHERFORD

is an award-winning children’s book illustrator and a performance poet. He has lectured, performed, and led art and writing workshops in the US, the Middle East, and West Africa. Jeffery was a Romare Bearden Scholar at Howard University, where he earned an MFA in painting and studied under members of the Black Arts Movement collective AfriCobra.

His book, KIN: Rooted in Hope  won a Coretta Scott King Honor and the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Poetry. His debut book, You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen, was named an ALSC Notable Book and a best book of the year by National Council for the Social Studies and Kirkus Reviews. Both books he co-authored with his mother Carole Boston Weatherford. His next book with his mother is Rap It Up!

His art has been exhibited in Washington, DC, Atlanta, Baltimore and North Carolina.  He formerly was a National Book Foundation teaching artist. A North Carolina native and resident, Jeffery has exhibited his art in North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, and Washington, DC.

RAP IT UP!

Rap It Up! written by mother-son literary duo Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Ernel Martinez is an infectious, read-aloud introduction to the poetry and craft of rap.

From scribbling words on the page to spitting rhymes on the mic, a joyful narrator guides readers through the emotions, literary techniques, structures and motifs that help make rap so amazing. With vibrant illustrations that leap off the page, this book urges readers to believe in themselves and the power of their creativity.
Celebratory and informative, Rap it Up! invites us to see where our imaginations may lead. Get ready to drop some beats, express yourself, and let the world hear what you’ve got to say!