AGES 4-8 / GRADES K-3

This remarkable picture book is a lyrical, inspirational exploration of growing up Black, written by award-winning illustrator Dapo Adeola, and brought to life by some of the most exciting Black artists of today.

Remember to dream your own dreams
   Love your beautiful…

Angela Joy (A) and Ekua Holmes (ILT) 

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Expressing Being Black ABC -2020)

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.

Red is a rainbow color.
Green sits next…

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Ready to Read: Living In India (Level 2) 

List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover Living In India – 2016)

Discover what it’s like to grow up in India in this fascinating, nonfiction Level 2 Ready-to-Read, part of a series all about kids just like you in countries around the world!

Namaskār!…

Ysaye M. Barnwell (A) and Synthia Saint James (ILT)

List Price: $10.99 (Paperback – Book and CD / Self Pride – 2005)

The beauty in the cracked and crowded hallway, the beauty in her own dark skin, the beauty in the outside world – it all in her Nana eyes.…

Robert Liu Trujilo (A and ILT)

List Price: $16.95 (Hardcover – Bi-Lingual / Haircut – Self Esteem –  2016)

Description: Furqan Moreno wakes up and decides that today he wants his hair cut for the first time. His dad has just the style: a flat top fade!…

ESPN SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan and Corretta Scott King Illustrator Honoree Laura Freeman team up in this moving ode to Duncan’s daughter that will resonate with mothers and daughters everywhere.

I will wrap my arms around you, so you will know comfort.
And when you’re ready to leave, I’ll be…

Carole Boston Weatherford (A) and R. Gregory Christie (ILT)  

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – African American History / New Orleans / Congo Square – 2016)

This poetic, nonfiction story about a little-known piece of African American history captures a human’s capacity to find hope and joy in difficult circumstances and demonstrates how…

Derrick Barnes (A) and Gordon C. James (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Young Black Male Empowerment – 2020)

An upbeat, empowering, important picture book from the team that created the award-winning Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut

I am
a nonstop ball of energy.
Powerful and full…

An endearing and empowering story that demonstrates that a learning difference like dyslexia doesn’t define who you are.

Despite her struggles with reading and writing, Beatrice is a natural and brilliant storyteller. With the help of a kind-hearted teacher, Beatrice uses an old-fashioned tape recorder so she can speak her words and then play…

This sweet picture book celebrates a parent’s love and support of a child through life’s milestones, from learning to walk to the first day of school and all the highs and lows in between.

From the night you arrive to your first night away,
from learning to…

Public Domain, E.B.. Lewis (ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Song / African American Spiritual – 2005)

A great visual interpretation of a a popular African-American spiritual. It is morning when the book opens, and readers are greeted by a smiling boy. Throughout the day, he spreads his own special…

Julius Lester (A) and Karen Barbour (A) and (ILT) 

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Race / Similarities and Differences – 2005)

This gorgeous book—great to read with kids of any age—allows for open-ended conversation and questions.” (Brightly.com)

In this acclaimed book, the author of the Newberry Honor Book To Be a Slave shares his…

Chris Barton (A) and Don Tate (ILT) 

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Inventor –  2016)

You know the Super Soaker. It’s one of top twenty toys of all time. And it was invented entirely by accident. Trying to create a new cooling system for refrigerators and air conditioners, impressive inventor Lonnie…

Jenny Lombard (A)

List Price $7.99 (Paperback – Teen Fiction / Friendship / Ethnic Background – 2006)

Drita and her family come to New York as refugees from war-torn Kosovo. Even though she barely speaks English, Drita can’t wait to start school and make a new…

Ntozake Shange (A) and Kadir Nelson (A) and (ILT) 

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Family / Duke Ellington / Harlem Renaissance Legends – 2004)

In a reflective tribute to the African-American community of old, noted poet Ntozake Shange recalls her childhood home and the close-knit group of innovators that often gathered…

Adapted from one of Bob Marley most beloved songs, One Love brings the joyful spirit and unforgettable lyrics of his music to life for a new generation.

Readers will delight in dancing to the beat and feeling the positive groove of change when one girl enlists her community to help transform her neighborhood for…

Lupita Nyong’o (A) and Vashti Harrison (ILT) 

List Price: $17.95 (Hardcover – Self Love and Discovering Your Unique Beauty – 2019)

From Academy Award–winning actress Lupita Nyong’o comes a powerful, moving picture book about colorism, self-esteem, and learning that true beauty comes from within.

Sulwe has skin the color of midnight. She is darker…

From the mother-son duo behind the New York Times bestselling A Bucket…

Angela Johnson (A) and Loren Long (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Flying / Tuskegee Airmen – 2007)

All he ever wanted to do was fly. Three-time Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Angela Johnson and New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long invite readers to ponder a…

Shauntay Grant (Author) and Jenin Mohammad (Illustrator)

This joyful, intergenerational love story celebrates Black hair, self-care, and cultural pride. Perfect for fans of Hair Love and Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut.

It’s wash day―Tasha’s least favorite day of the week!

Wash day means stinging eyes, aching back, and water everywhere, even in Tasha’s ears!  But with…

A magical story starring three Black mermaid sisters who each wish to wear the underwater crown! Perfect for fans of Little Mermaid and Oona.

Anaya, Shante, and Kianna are sisters.

And these mermaid princesses couldn’t be more different!

One day, when a problem too big for any of them to…

H. Chuku Lee (A) and Pat Cummings (ILT)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover (No Jacket Cover) – Fairy Tale 2014)

In this remarkable retelling of Beauty and the Beast, award-winning illustrator Pat Cummings creates an enchanted fairy-tale world flavored by the art, architecture, and culture of West Africa, while writer H. Chuku Lee stays…

Maurie J. Manning (A and ILT)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Family / Dancing / Bedtime Story – 2008)

A little girl wakes in the night to mysterious, inviting noises. She rouses her brother, and they sneak downstairs and peek into the kitchen. To their amazement and delight, their parents are dancing and…

Walter Dean Myers (A) and Leonard Jenkins (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Civil Rights Movement History – 2003)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is one of the most celebrated figures of the twentieth century. A crusader for nonviolent social justice, he led African Americans in their demands for equality through peaceful…

Farhan Zia (A) and Stephanie Fizer Coleman (ILT)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Identity Story / Discovery – 2022)

A vivacious and endearing story of identification, values, and the rewards in looking closely and thinking imaginatively.
Lali finds a little feather in the field. Who might it belong to? Lali sets out to…

For fans of Matt de la Pena and Grace Byers, My Afro Is a Rising Sun is a dazzling picture book inviting BIPOC children to fully express themselves, celebrate their Blackness, and embrace their ancestry. 

Black afros are more than just afros. They are a symbol of Black joy. They remind us to…

Monica Brown (A) and Raul Colon (ILT)

List Price: $15.95 (Hardcover – Award Winning Writer  – 2007)

Can you imagine a shipwrecked sailor living on air and seaweed for eight days? Can you imagine a trail of yellow butterflies fluttering their wings to songs of love? Once, there was a little boy…

Karen Katz (A and ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Saying Peace / Various Languages – 2006)

Children everywhere wish for peace

International Peace Day is September 21. On this day and every day throughout the year, children all over the world wish for peace. Karen Katz takes readers on a bright and…

Get ready for the ride of your life, as The ABCs of Black Wall Street takes readers on a front-row, all-inclusive tour.

The ABCs of Black Wall Street Coloring Book takes readers on a nostalgic trip through the heart of Tulsa’s historic Greenwood District. From Madam C.J. Walker and O.W. Gurley, to…

Elizabeth Carpenter (A)

List Price: $11.99 (Paperback – Activity Book / Mazes / Ancient Egypt – 2010)

The first new idea in maze books since Egyptian times. Originally self- published, Mummy Mazes has won awards and seals of approval from Dr. Toy, The National Parenting Center, Independent Publishers, and Creative Child Magazine.

…

Cynthia Levinson (A) and Vanessa Brantley-Newton (ILT)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Civil Rights / Protest – 2017)

Meet the youngest known child to be arrested for a civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963, in this moving picture book that proves you’re never too little to make a difference.

Nine-year-old Audrey Faye…

Meena Harris (A ) and Marissa Valdez (ILT)

List Price: $18.99  (Hardcover / Girl Empowerment – 2021)

Anyone who’s ever been underestimated or overshadowed will find inspiration in this empowering new picture book from Meena Harris, New York Times-bestselling author of Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea, which is based on a true story about her aunt,…

Toni Morrison (A) and Slade Morrison (A) and  Sean Qualls  (ILT) 

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Fable / Each One’s Greatness – 2010)

Little Cloud likes her own place in the sky, away from the other clouds. There, the sky is all hers. She is free to make her own way and…

Tolowa M. Mollel (A) and E. B. Lewis (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Tanzania / Thoughtful Child – 1999)

“I emptied my secret money box, arranged the coins in piles and the piles in rows . . .” The market is full of wonderful things, but Saruni is saving his precious coins…

Various Authors and Tom Feelings (EDIT) and ILT)

List Price: $8.99  (Paperback – Poetry / African American – 1999)

Artist Feelings invited poets whom he admired to compose original, short verses for these drawings, with breathtakingly rich and powerful results. Together they created a tribute to African-American creativity, the collection…

Frank Murphy (A) Nicole Tadgell (ILT)

List Price: $12.99 (Hardcover – Biography – 2019)

Learn about the abolitionist Frederick Douglass and his fight for freedom in this Step 3 Biography Reader!

Frederick Douglass was a keystone figure in the abolitionist movement, and his story has impacted generations of people fighting for civil…

Joyce Carol Thomas (A) and Floyd Cooper (ILT)

List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover – Poems / African American Identity – 2008)

We are color struck
The way an artist strikes
His canvas with his brush of many hues
Look closely at these mirrors
these palettes of skin
Each color is rich
in its own…

Andrea Davis Pinkney (A) and Brian Pinkney (ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – History / Civil Rights / Protest / Demonstrations and Sit Ins – 2010)

It was February 1, 1960. They didnt need menus. Their order was simple. A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side.

Courageously defying the WHITES ONLY…

YOU are your ancestors’ wildest dreams. How will you express YOUR greatness? Perfect for fans of I Am Every Good Thing, Little Legends, and All Because You Matter.

“Affirming. . . . A joyful tribute.” —<span…

Jabari Asim (A) and Bryan Collier

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Educator / Self Reliance -2012)

Booker dreamed
of making friends with words,
setting free the secrets
that lived in books.

Born into slavery, young Booker T. Washington could only dream of learning to read and write. After emancipation, Booker…

Mary Burns Knight (A) and Margey Knight and Anne Sibley OBrien (ILT)

List Price: $10.95 (Paperback – Various African Children and Countries)

Demonstrates the diversity of the African continent by describing daily life in some of its fifty-three nations.

Tells the stories of the ordinary lives of children throughout a typical day in…

Rachel Isadora (A and ILT)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback / South Africa / Children’s Love for their Fathers – 1994)

The children of a South African village eagerly gather at the crossroads to welcome their fathers, who have been away for months working in the mines. The children wait, but the men don’t…

There are different ways to show and be who you are in this affirming photographic picture book that offers a celebratory and informative look at kids and their wide-ranging gender identities.

Meet Rocket–a plucky aspiring astronaut intent on getting her community to LOOK UP! from what they’re doing and reach for the stars in this auspicious debut picture book. Honored as a Chicago Public Library 2019 Best of the Best Book!

A comet will be visible tonight,…