Picture Book Biographies

This groovy, bebopping, music picture book biography chronicles legendary jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins’s search for inspiration on the Williamsburg Bridge after quitting the jazz scene in 1959.

Rollins is one of the most prolific sax players in the history of jazz, but, in 1959, at the height of his career, he vanished from the…

In the spirit of I Am Enough, this is a moving and lyrical tribute to and affirmation of Black children around the world—by an exciting new author and illustrator team.

Dear Black Child,

We are here to remind you of your glory…

An inspiring love letter to Black…

The life of civil rights icon Angela Davis is illuminated in an extraordinary picture book biography. Booklist praised this profound exploration of American history, activism, the civil rights movement, and the power of the people as a one that “should be part of all social studies curricula.” For fans of Maya’s Song, Nina, and <span class="a-text-bold…

Take a journey through Black history and find your greatness in this stunning book from the award-winning team behind the New York Times bestsellers Crowned and Glory.

Discover the hidden figure who created the first comprehensive computer program to design ships for the US Navy.

Girls like Raye Montague weren’t supposed to like math or science, or go to engineering school. But tenacious Raye had a plan, one that eventually took her all the way to the US Navy. There, she…

A powerful and vibrantly illustrated account of the resilience and dedication of the unsung Black heroines who played a major role in World War II. Perfect for fans of Hidden Figures, Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free, and Tyler Perry’s blockbuster film The Six Triple Eight.

In 1944, the United States was…

Traci Todd (A) and Christian Robinson (ILT)

List Price $18.99 (Hardwood – Singer / Pianist / Activist – Civil Rights – 2021)

This illuminating and defining picture book biography illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Christian Robinson, tells the story of little Eunice who grew up to become the acclaimed singer Nina Simone and her…

Jamia Wilson (A) and Andrea Pippins (ILT) 

List Price:  $23.99 (Hardcover –  Biographies / Black Movers and Shakers –  2019)

“…to be revisited again and again…The candy-colored pages and straightforward stories are hard to resist…” –The New York Times

“…diverse collection of iconic figures…vibrantly illustrated…beautifully crafted volume…” –Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“…exuberant…exquisitely designed…a…

In this timely follow-up to the best-selling, genre-defining Young, Gifted and Black, you can meet 52 more Black icons from around the world – this time spanning even more countries and including inspiring figures from as far back as the 1500s right up to present-day heroes.

Featuring the stories of recent changemakers such…

A picture book biography about the barber shop of woodcarver Elijah Pierce, recipient of the highest folk art honor in the United States.

“Creeeeak!” goes the screen door to self-taught artist Elijah Pierce’s barbershop art studio. A young boy walks in for an ordinary haircut and walks out having discovered a lifetime of art.

…

Lisa Cline Ransome (A) and James E. Ransome (ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Leader / Abolitionist / Orator – 2012)

The inspirational, true story of how Frederick Douglass found his way to freedom one word at a time.

This picture book biography chronicles the youth of Frederick Douglass, one of…

People, BIG DREAMS series Vol 27, discover the life of Wilma Rudolph, the remarkable sprinter and Olympic champion.

Wilma was born into a family with 22 brothers and sisters, in the segregated South. She contracted polio in her early years and her doctors said she would never walk again. But Wilma persisted with…

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…

Laban Carrick Hill (A) and Theodore Taylor III (ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover –  Biography / Music / Hip Hop Era – 2013)

Before there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc.

On a hot day at the end of summer in 1973 Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at a park…

Chris Barton (A) and Eukua Holmes (ILT) 

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover –  Biography / Congresswoman Barbara Jordan – 2017) 

When Barbara Jordan talked, we listened.” —Former President of the United States, Bill Clinton

Congresswoman Barbara Jordan had a big, bold, confident voice—and she knew how to use it! Learn all about her…

Kadir Nelson (A and ILT)

List Price: $21.99 (Hardcover – Sports / Negro League Baseball – 2008)

2010 Coretta Scott King Author Award and Illustrator Honor Award

We are the ship; all else the sea. Rube Foster, founder of the Negro National League

The story of…

Carole Boston Weatherford (A) and Ekua Holmes (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Poetry / Freedom Fighter – 2015)

A 2016 Caldecott Honor Book
A 2016 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
A 2016 John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award Winner

Stirring poems and stunning collage illustrations combine to celebrate the life…

Troy Andrews (A) and Bryan Collier (ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Musician Bio – 2015)

“Winner of both a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award, this beautiful picture book for older kids is an inspirational look at overcoming our circumstances to follow our dreams, in this case that of a young musician…

Jonah Winter (A) and Bryan Collier (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Supreme  Court Justice / Brilliant Lawyer – 2019)  

Thurgood Marshall–the first black justice on the Supreme Court and a giant of the civil rights movement–jumps to life in this inspiring picture-book biography from an award-winning author and six-time Coretta Scott…

The inspirational true story of Ruby Bridges.

Please, God, try to forgive those people. Because even if they say those bad things, They dont know what theyre doing. This is the true story of an extraordinary 6-year-old who helped shape history when she became the first African-American sent to first grade in an…

Julia Finley Mosca (A) and Daniel Rieley (ILT)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Scientist /  Cured Blindness -2017)

Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Selection
NSTA Best STEM Books for K-12 Selection
A Mighty Girl Book of the Year

If you like to think big, but some say you’re too…

William Kamkwamba (A), Bryan Mealer (A) and Elizabeth Zunon (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Ingenuity /African Village / Making A Windmill / Believing In Self – 2012

When fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba’s Malawi village was hit by a drought, everyone’s crops began to fail. Without enough money for food, let alone school, William…

Kamala Harris (A) and Mechal Renee Roe (ILT)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Senator and Presidential Candidate – 2019)

From Senator Kamala Harris comes a picture book with an empowering message: Superheroes are all around us–and if we try, we can all be heroes too. Now a #1 New York…

“A brilliant introduction to a powerful Black female politician and voting rights activist. Todd and Freeman bring this to life in their creative biography of Georgia-based politician Abrams.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred reviews)

“Freeman’s airbrush-style digital art leans into portraiture while visually bridging the astral divide, evoking yearning, frustration, and sisterly…

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

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Biography / African American Leader / Abolitionist and Feminist – 2009)

A dynamic portrait of the freed slave whose physical and spiritual strength made her one of America most powerful abolitionist voices.

Synopsis:She was big. She was black. She was…

Gary D. Schmidt (A) and Daniel Minter (ILT) 

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Abolitionist/ Feminists / Leader – 2018)

From celebrated author Gary D. Schmidt comes a picture book biography of a giant in the struggle for civil rights, perfectly pitched for readers today.

Sojourner Truth was born into slavery but possessed a mind and…

Audrey Vernick (A) and Don Tate (ILT) Harper Collins

List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Baseball – 2010)

Effa always loved baseball. As a young woman, she would go to Yankee Stadium just to see Babe Ruth’s mighty swing. But she never dreamed she…

Jeanette Winter (A and I) 

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Sisters / International Tennis Champs – 2019)

Celebrated picture book biographer Jeanette Winter shares the story of champion tennis players—and sisters—Venus and Serena Williams.

Before they were famous tennis stars, Venus and Serena Williams were sisters with big dreams growing up in Compton,…

A timely picture book biography about Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress, who sought the Democratic nomination to be the president of the United States.

Shirley Chisholm famously said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” This dynamic biography illuminates how Chisholm was a doer,…

Carole Boston Weatherford (A) Eric Velasquez (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Black Library Pioneer and Historian – 2017) 

In luminous paintings and arresting poems, two of children’s literature’s top African-American scholars track Arturo Schomburg’s quest to correct history.

Where is our historian to give us our side? Arturo asked.

Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and…

Lesa Cline-Ransome (A) and James E. Ransome (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Sport / Baseball – 2005)

This book examines the life of the legendary baseball player, who was the first African-American to pitch in a Major League World Series. Some say Leroy Paige was born six…

Heidi Tyline King (A) and Ekua Holmes (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Environmental Story / Activism – 2021)

This heartfelt picture book biography illustrated by the Caldecott Honoree Ekua Holmes, tells the story of MaVynee Betsch, an African American opera singer turned environmentalist and the legacy she preserved.MaVynee loved going to the beach. But…

Deloris Jordan (A) and Kadir Nelson (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback- Biography / Sports / Basketball – 2000)

Young Michael Jordan, who is smaller than the other players, learns that determination and hard work are more important than size when playing the game of basketball. (32 pgs) Ages 4-8

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In this book from the highly acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Rosa Parks, the “Mother of the Freedom Movement.”

Rosa Parks grew up in Alabama, where she learned to stand up for herself at an early age. Rosa went on to become a civil rights activist. In 1955,…

Carole Boston Weatherford (A) and Frank Morrison (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Soul Singer / Queen of Soul – 2020)

Winner of the Coretta Scott King Illustration Award! From a New York Times bestselling author and an acclaimed illustrator comes this vibrant portrait of Aretha Franklin that pays her the R-E-S-P-E-C-T this…

Monica Brown (A) and Rudy Gutierrez (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Soccer Sports Star – 2008)

This acclaimed bilingual children’s book, Spanish/English, is a fun way to introduce simple words and phrases in both languages and is sure to be a welcome resource at home and in schools and…

Tonya Bolden (A) and Don Tate (ILT)

List Price: $18.39 (Hardcover – Farmer / Potato King – 2018)

Discover the incredible true story of how one of history’s most successful potato farmers began life as a slave and worked until he was named the “Potato King of the World”!

Junius G. Groves came from humble…

Kadir Nelson (A and ILT)

List Price: $11.99 (Paperback – African Leader / South Africa – 2013)

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book

In this picture book biography, award-winning author and illustrator Kadir Nelson tells the story of Mandela, a global icon, in poignant free verse and glorious illustrations. It is the story…

Ann Turner (A) and James Ransome (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Abolitionist / Women’s Rights Activist / Evangelists – 2015)

Here is the remarkable true story of how former slave Isabella Baumfree transformed herself into the preacher and orator Sojourner Truth, as told by acclaimed author Ann Turner and award-winning…

Monica Brown (A) and Rafael Lopez (ILT) 

List Price: $15.95 (Hardcover – Famous Cuban Singer – 2004)

This bilingual book allows young readers to enter Celia Cruz’s life as she becomes a well-known singer in her homeland of Cuba, then moves to New York City and Miami where she and others create a new…

Gene Barretta (A) and Frank Morrison (ILT) 

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Sports / Boxing Champ – 2017)

There are themes of hard work, determination, overcoming obstacles, boxing, sports, persistence, and confidence—something Muhammad Ali clearly had plenty of.”*

In this picture book biography of Muhammad Ali, author Gene Barretta and illustrator…

Carole Boston Weatherford (A) and Kadir Nelson (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – African American History / Leader / Spiritual / Bravery – 2006)

A CALDECOTT HONOR BOOK

 “I set the North Star in the heavens and I mean for you to be free.”

Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman hears these words from…

From bestselling, award-winning creators Renée Watson and Bryan Collier comes a stunningly crafted picture book chronicling the life of poet and activist Maya Angelou.

This unforgettable picture book introduces young readers to the life and work of Maya Angelou, whose words have uplifted and inspired generations of readers. The author…

 Michelle E. Thomas (A) and Donald L. Hill (ILT) 

List Price: $11.99 (Paperback – Activity and Coloring Book – 2017) 

The Marcus Garvey Activity Book is an overview of Marcus Mosiah Garvey’s life and all his great accomplishments. This book provides our youth with an introduction of Marcus Garvey in hopes of them wanting to…

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the inspiring minister and civil rights activist.

Little Martin grew up in a family of preachers: his dad was a preacher, his uncle was a preacher, his grandfather was a preacher…so maybe…

Donna Jo Napoli (A) and Kadir Nelson (ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Biography – East Africa / Visionary/ Tree Planting / Green Belt Movement – Kenya – 2010)

One woman. One seed.

One hope for the future.

Thayu nyumba — Peace, my people.

Wangari grew up in the shadow of Mount Kenya…

Kathryn Erksine (A) and Charly Parker (ILT)

List Price: $22.50 (Hardcover – South Africa / Singer / Activist – 2017)

Miriam Makeba, a Grammy Award–winning South African singer, rose to fame in the hearts of her people at the pinnacle of apartheid―a brutal system of segregation similar to American Jim Crow laws. Mama…