Black joy & identity books

Ages 3–8

Cheryl Willis Hudson

Bright Eyes, Brown Skin (Feeling Good) by Cheryl Willis Hudson — a thoughtfully chosen inclusive book for young readers.

Ages 3–8

Leo Dillon

In illustrations and rhyme, describes the dancing of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, one of the most famous tap dancers of all time.

Ages 3–8

Sharon Dennis Wyeth

It is a book about a little girl that her mother told that everyone has a beautiful something in their life so she starts a little journey to find out whether was this true or not. It is a 36 pages that can make you feel a lot better about the world and yourself.

Ages 3–8

Kwame Alexander

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 ...

Ages 3–8

Derrick Barnes

A perfect gift for any special occasion! I am a nonstop ball of energy. Powerful and full of light. I am a go-getter. A difference maker. A leader. The confident Black narrator of this book is proud of everything that makes him who he is.

Ages 3–8

Nikki Giovanni

A poetry collection which recounts the feelings of Black children about their neighborhoods, American society, and themselves.

Ages 3–8

Ezra Jack Keats

A letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats — a thoughtfully chosen inclusive book for young readers.

Ages 3–8

Sue Stauffacher

Born in 1927, she was a spirited child and became an enormously talented athlete. Sue Stauffacher's lively text, paired with vibrant paintings by artist Greg Couch, captures the exuberance, ambition, and triumph of this remarkable woman.

Ages 3–8

Ann Herbert Scott

Sam by Ann Herbert Scott — a thoughtfully chosen inclusive book for young readers.

Ages 3–8

Carole Boston Weatherford

The 1960 civil rights sit-ins at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, are seen through the eyes of a young Southern black girl.

Ages 3–8

Oliver Butterworth

When Nate Twitchell discovers that one of his family's hens has laid the biggest egg he has ever seen, he is determined to see it hatch. And when it does, neither he nor his parents, the townspeople, the scientists, or the politicians from Washington are prepared for what comes out!

Ages 3–8

Henry Cole

A young girl's courage is tested in this haunting, wordless story.When a farm girl discovers a runaway slave hiding in the barn, she is at once startled and frightened.

Ages 3–8

Carole Boston Weatherford

Six days a week, slaves labor from sunup to sundown and beyond, but on Sunday afternoons, they gather with free blacks at Congo Square outside New Orleans, free from oppression. Includes foreword about Congo Square by Freddi Williams Evans, glossary, and historical notes.

Ages 3–8

Wynton Marsalis

Ringing with exuberance and auditory delights, this second collaboration by world-renowned jazz musician and composer Wynton Marsalis and acclaimed illustrator Paul Rogers takes readers (and listeners) on a rollicking, clanging, clapping ...

Ages 3–8

Cathryn Falwell

Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell — a thoughtfully chosen inclusive book for young readers.

Ages 3–8

Heather E. Schwartz

What do you want to be when you grow up? When Katherine Johnson was young, women weren't expected to go into the math and science fields. Johnson loved math, but she never thought she could be a mathematician. After studying math in school and teaching for a few years, she learned that the organization that would later become NASA was hiring women to complete mathematical equations. As an African American woman, Johnson had to work hard to earn the respect of her coworkers, but they soon came to rely on her brilliant calculations. Her contributions to the US space program helped send astronauts to the moon. Learn how Johnson broke barriers as a female African American mathematician.

Ages 3–8

Kelly Starling Lyons

Kelly Starling Lyons' eloquent text explores the power of history and family traditions, and stunning illustrations by Coretta Scott King Honor- and Caldecott Honor-winner Daniel Minter reveal the motion and connections in a large, multi ...

Ages 3–8

Michael S. Bandy

After tasting the warm, rusty water from the fountain designated for African Americans, a young boy questions why he cannot drink the cool, refreshing water from the "Whites Only" fountain. Based on a true experience co-author Michael S. Bandy had as a boy.

Ages 3–8

Rio Cortez

In addition to rhyming text, the book includes back matter with information on the events, places, and people mentioned in the poem, from Mae Jemison to W. E. B. Du Bois, Fannie Lou Hamer to Sam Cooke, and the Little Rock Nine to DJ Kool ...

Ages 3–8

Virginia Hamilton

"The well-known author retells 24 black American folk tales in sure storytelling voice: animal tales, supernatural tales, fanciful and cautionary tales, and slave tales of freedom. All are beautifully readable. With the added attraction of 40 wonderfully expressive paintings by the Dillons, this collection should be snapped up."--(starred) School Library Journal.

Ages 3–8

Andrea Davis Pinkney

"This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the ...

Ages 3–8

Thelma Lynne Godin

Kameeka yearns to continue her hula hooping competition with her rival, Jamara, rather than help prepare for Miz Adeline's birthday party, and "the itch" almost ruins the party before the girls learn who the real winner is.

Ages 3–8

Javaka Steptoe

Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own introduce young readers to the powerful message that art doesn't always have to be neat or clean--and definitely not inside the lines--to be ...

Ages 3–8

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Outlaws feared him. Law-abiding citizens respected him. Bass always got his man, dead or alive. He achieved all this in spite of whites who didn't like the notion of a black lawman. The true story of former slave Bass Reeves, is the story of a remarkable African American hero of the Old West. This biography profiles the life of Bass Reeves, a former slave who was recruited as a deputy United States Marshal in the area that was to become Oklahoma.