Meaning & use
Finding Langston
Last updated
Meaning
proper nounproper
A 2018 novel by Lesa Cline-Ransome about a boy who moves to Chicago and finds comfort in Langston Hughes's poetry.
Grammar: Used as a title, so it takes no article: I read Finding Langston. Not 'the Finding Langston'.
Our teacher assigned Finding Langston for the unit on historical fiction.
Finding Langston tells the story of a boy who discovers poetry in a public library.
After reading Finding Langston, my students wanted to learn more about Langston Hughes.
Common combinations
- read Finding Langston
- We read Finding Langston in our book club last month.
- the novel Finding Langston
- The novel Finding Langston won an award for new talent.
- a unit on Finding Langston
- She planned a unit on Finding Langston and Langston Hughes's poems.
Commonly confused: Finding Langston or Langston Hughes?
Finding Langston vs Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes is the real poet whose work appears in the novel; Finding Langston is the title of the novel itself.
Practice
Which sentence uses the title correctly?
Choose one answer.
Book titles are proper nouns and normally take no article: 'I borrowed Finding Langston.' Adding 'the' or 'a' is wrong because the title already names a specific book, and the possessive 'Finding Langston's' would mean something belonging to the book.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Finding Langston”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.