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Black History Month Recommended Reads for Children |
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Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment
by Parker Curry
A visit to Washington, DC's National Portrait Gallery forever alters Parker Curry's young life when she views First Lady Michelle Obama's portrait--
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The ABCs of Black History
by Rio Cortez
A beautiful alphabet picture book that presents key names, moments, and places in Black history with text lyrically written by poet Rio Cortez. This is an opportunity for children to learn their ABCs to the sound of words beyond apple, boy, and cat, and an opportunity for young thinkers to prepare for big ideas.
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We Shall Overcome
by Book Author
A celebration of the gospel anthem and Civil Rights protest song We Shall Overcome, masterfully brought to life by Caldecott Honor recipient and a nine-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Bryan Collier.We Shall Overcome is one of the most recognizable anthems of the Civil Rights movement, widely performed at protests and rallies to promote nonviolent civil rights activism. Now, these inspirational, empowering, legendary lyrics are brought to life with the stirring, evocative, and breathtaking illustrations from multi-award-winning talent Bryan Collier. Powerfully imagined for the present moment, Collier's illustrations meld the most emblematic moments of the twentieth-century Civil Rights movement with the present day, depicting the movements, protests, and demonstrations -- big and small -- as the fight for justice continues. With illustrations full of depth, tenderness, and expression, and offering historical context while remaining powerfully relevant to the present-day, this impactful picture book is a must-have for every home, classroom, and bookshelf.
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Hair Love
by Matthew A. Cherry
Original picture book of best animated short film Hair Love at the 2020 Academy Awards! The 6th best-selling picture book in the New York Times in 2020! We are a family, as long as we have love, responsibility, and courage, all difficulties can be easily solved! Su Li has curly, fluffy, and tangled curly hair, as if she has her own personality. Dad said that this curly hair is beautiful, and Su Li also loves her curly hair very much and is proud of it, because this curly hair makes Zu Li as she once was.
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The Undefeated
by Kwame Alexander
Winner of the 2020 Caldecott Medal A 2020 Newbery Honor Book Winner of the 2020 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award The Newbery Award-winning author of THE CROSSOVER pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time Caldecott Honoree. Originally performed for ESPN's The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes. The text is also peppered with references to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and others, offering deeper insights into the accomplishments of the past, while bringing stark attention to the endurance and spirit of those surviving and thriving in the present. Robust back matter at the end provides valuable historical context and additional detail for those wishing to learn more.
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Black is a rainbow color
by Angela Joy
A child reflects on the meaning of being Black in this moving and powerful anthem about a people, a culture, a history and a legacy that lives on.
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Ways to Make Sunshine
by Renee Watson
Ryan Hart has a lot on her mind--school, self-image, and especially family. Her dad finally has a new job, but money is tight. That means some changes, like selling their second car and moving into a new (old) house. But Ryan is a girl who knows how to make sunshine out of setbacks. As her brother says when he raps about her, she's got the talent that matters most: it's a talent that can't be seen, she's nice, not mean! Ryan is all about trying to see the best in people, to be a good daughter, a good sister, a good friend. But even if her life isn't everything she would wish for, when her big brother is infuriating, her parents don't quite understand, and the unexpected happens, she always finds a way forward, with grace and wit. And plenty of sunshine. Acclaimed author Renâee Watson writes her own version of Ramona Quimby, one starring a Black girl and her family, in this start to a charming new series--
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Lena and the Burning of Greenwood: A Tulsa Race Massacre Survival Story
by Nikki Shannon Smith
Twelve-year-old Lena is aware of racism, but she lives a comfortable life in the segregated but relatively wealthy Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma; but on May 31, 1921 racial tensions explode, and men from downtown Tulsa invade Greenwood, set on killing and destroying the district--and as the violence escalates Lena, her parents, and her older sister search desperately for a safe place to hide from the mob.
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Finding Langston
by Lesa Cline-Ransome
When eleven-year-old Langston's father moves them from their home in Alabama to Chicago's Bronzeville district, it feels like he's giving up everything he loves. It's 1946. Langston's mother has just died, and now they're leaving the rest of his family and friends. He misses everything -- Grandma's Sunday suppers, the red dirt roads, and the magnolia trees his mother loved. In the city, they live in a small apartment surrounded by noise and chaos. It doesn't feel like a new start, or a better life. At home he's lonely, his father always busy at work; at school he's bullied for being a country boy. But Langston's new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the Chicago Public Library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston -- a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.--Provided by publisher.
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Becoming Muhammad Ali
by James Patterson
Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to ... [imagine] his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing--Publisher marketing.
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As Brave as You
by Jason Reynolds
When Genie and his older brother spend their summer in the country with their grandparents, he learns a secret about his grandfather and what it means to be brave.--Provided by publisher.
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Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?
by Bonnie Bader
The story of one of the most influential civil rights activist of our time. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 25 when he helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott and was soon organizing black people across the country in support of the right to vote, desegregation, and other basic civil rights. Maintaining nonviolent and peaceful tactics even when his life was threatened, King was also an advocate for the poor and spoke out against racial and economic injustice until his death--from an assassin's bullet--in 1968. With clearly written text that explains this tumultuous time in history and 80 black-and-white illustrations, this Who Was? celebrates the vision and the legacy of a remarkable man.
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Who Was Rosa Parks?
by Yona Zeldis McDonough
In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. This seemingly small act triggered civil rights protests across America and earned Rosa Parks the title Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. This biography has black-and-white illustrations throughout.
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Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement
by Ann Bausum
Freedom Riders compares and contrasts the childhoods of John Lewis and James Zwerg in a way that helps young readers understand the segregated experience of our nation's past. It shows how a common interest in justice created the convergent path that enabled these young men to meet as Freedom Riders on a bus journey south. No other book on the Freedom Riders has used such a personal perspective. These two young men, empowered by their successes in the Nashville student movement, were among those who volunteered to continue the Freedom Rides after violence in Anniston, Alabama, left the original bus in flames with the riders injured and in retreat. Lewis and Zwerg joined the cause knowing their own fate could be equally harsh, if not worse. The journey they shared as freedom riders through the Deep South changed not only their own lives but our nation's history. National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.
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An American story
by Kwame Alexander
"A picture book in verse that threads together past and present to explore the legacy of slavery during a classroom lesson"
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Let the Children March
by Monica Clark-Robinson
This powerful picture book introduces young readers to a key event in the struggle for Civil Rights. Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Award.In 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, thousands of African American children volunteered to march for their rights after hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak. They protested the laws that kept black people separate from white people. Facing fear, hate, and danger, these children used their voices to change the world.Frank Morrison's emotive oil-on-canvas paintings bring this historical event to life, while Monica Clark-Robinson's moving and poetic words document this remarkable time.I couldn't play on the same playground as the white kids. I couldn't go to their schools. I couldn't drink from their water fountains. There were so many things I couldn't do.
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Have I ever told you Black lives matter
by Shani M. King
"Have I told you that we have never, ever accepted that Black lives don't matter? Not Frederick, Harriet, Sojourner, Martin, Rosa, Malcolm, or Nelson? We have always known and you must remember that Black lives matter. W. E. B. knew that Black lives matter. He preached about Black equality and liberation and would be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us today. Have I ever told you that? Have I told you that we have long been world-acclaimed poets and authors-Zora, Richard, Langston, James, Ralph, Maya, Toni, Ta-Nehisi, and so many others-affirming with powerful voices that Black lives matter? Have I ever told you that?"
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Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
by Vashti Harrison
Features female figures of black history, including abolitionist Sojourner Truth, pilot Bessie Coleman, chemist Alice Ball, politician Shirley Chisholm, mathematician Katherine Johnson, poet Maya Angelou, and filmmaker Julie Dash.
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Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History
by Vashti Harrison
Author-illustrator Vashti Harrison shines a bold, joyous light on black men through history in this #1 New York Times bestseller. An important book for readers of all ages, this beautifully illustrated and engagingly written volume brings to life true stories of black men in history. Among these biographies, readers will find aviators and artists, politicians and pop stars, athletes and activists. The exceptional men featured include writer James Baldwin, artist Aaron Douglas, filmmaker Oscar Devereaux Micheaux, lawman Bass Reeves, civil rights leader John Lewis, dancer Alvin Ailey, and musician Prince.The legends in Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History span centuries and continents, but each one has blazed a trail for generations to come.
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