AGES 9-12 / GRADES 4-5

Cheryl Hudson (A) and Erin K.Robinson

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – African American Women Leaders – 2020)

Published in collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, discover over fifty remarkable African American women whose unique skills and contributions paved the way for the next generation of young people. Perfect for…

Laura Hamilton Waxman (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Science – Aerospace Engineer – 2015) 

Have you ever built a cool science project? In middle school, Aprille Ericsson won second place in a science fair. She knew she wanted to keep creating amazing science projects. As an adult, she became an…

Rachelle Burke (A) 

List Price $6.99 (Paperback – Biography / Gymnastics Star -2021)

Simone Biles has been called the greatest gymnast of all time, winning five Olympic and 25 World Champion medals by age 22. Before she wowed the world with her incredible gymnastics skills, Simone was an energetic young girl who dreamed of becoming…

Kari Cornell (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Science – Urban Biologist- 2016 )

After earning degrees studying animal behavior, Danielle Lee wanted to share her love of science with young people. Through urban outreach she has brought budding scientists into professional labs. She’s walked them through the steps of the…

Christopher Paul Curtis (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Fiction / Foster Child – 2004)

It 1936 Flint, Michigan during the Depression. Times may be hard, and 10-year-old Bud may be an orphan, but Bud got a few things going for him: 1. He has his own suitcase full…

Allison Lassieur (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Science – Astronaut – 2016 )

While watching Star Trek on television as a child, Mae Jemison was certain she would one day visit space.  Then she became the first black female NASA astronaut. Find out how Jemison’s passion for science…

Mildred D. Taylor (A)

List Price: $9.99. (Paperback – Logan Family Saga #2 – 1976)

With the land to hold them together, nothing can tear the Logans apart. Why is the land so important to Cassie family? It takes the events of one turbulent year – the year of the night…

Lamar Giles (A)

The highly anticipated sequel to the instant #1New York Times bestseller Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy—a boldly original and suspenseful fantasy adventure by one of the most popular and imaginative voices of this generation, Angie Thomas.

All of Nic’s dreams have come true. After years of living…

Kwame Mbalia (Editor) 

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – 17 Voices Sharing Their Joy – 2021)

THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FIVE STARRED REVIEWS

Celebrate the joys of Black boyhood with stories from seventeen bestselling, critically acclaimed Black authors—including Jason Reynolds, Jerry Craft, and Kwame Mbalia!

★ “Pick up Black Boy Joy for a heavy…

Nnedi Okorafor (A) 

List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover –  SciFi / Fantasy / Super Powers – 2019)

An NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

An AMAZON BEST CHILDREN’S BOOK OF 2020
 
Nnedi Okorafor’s acclaimed first novel for middle grade readers introduces a boy who can access super powers with the help of the…

Barbara Kramer (A) and Who HQ and Dede Putra (ILT) 

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback –  Biography  – Entertainer /  Movie Mogul Extraordinaire – 2019) 

The story of how a young Southern girl who was raised on a pig farm became one of the most influential and inspiring people in the world.

We all know Oprah…

Ty Allen Jackson (A) & Nicole Miles (ILT)

List price: $14.99 (Paperback – Money Self Help & Motivation – 2021)

Saving money for something? Then this is the book for you! Danny Dollar, the “King of Cha-Ching,” will teach you to make money, save money, and spend money wisely—and to dream big! Maybe you get…

A stunning repackage of a companion to Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, with cover art by two-time Caldecott Honor Award winner Kadir Nelson!

The son of a prosperous landowner and a former slave, Paul-Edward Logan is unlike…

Jayson Reynold (A), Ibram X. Kendi (A)Sonja Sheryll-Paul (Adapter) & Rachelle Baker (ILT)

List Price: $15.99 (Hardcover – Racism  and Antiracism for Youth – 2021)

This chapter book edition of the groundbreaking #1 bestseller by luminaries Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds is an essential introduction to the history of racism and antiracism in America<br…

Sunbul Ali Karamali (A)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Introduction to Islam  for Teens – 2013)

Author Sumbul Ali-Karamali offers her personal account, discussing the many and varied questions she fielded from curious friends and schoolmates while growing up in Southern California from diet, to dress, to prayer and holidays and everything in…

Eloise Greenfield (A) and Leo and Diane Dillon (ILT)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Poetry – 1986)

Love don’t mean all that kissing
Like on television
Love Means Daddy
Saying keep your mama company till I get back
And me doing it

Sixteen poems tell of love and…

Christopher Paul Curtis (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Fiction / Depression Era / Family – 2013)

We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful” is the motto of Deza Malone’s family. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a…

Last Stop on Market Street gets a jazzy twist in this finger-licking good celebration of music, food, and family.

Struttin’ with Auntie Nina down to a club,
We’re gonna hear some music and then eat some grub.
Wanna get up close, but we’re…

Laurie Halse Anderson (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Historical Fiction / Escape to Freedom – 2008)

As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight…for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a…

William Loren Katz (A)

List Price: $14.99 (Paperback – Native American /African American History – 1997)The compelling teen nonfiction account of how two heritages united in their struggle to gain freedom and equality in America.

The first paths to freedom taken…

Fans of the Netflix reboot of The Babysitters Club will delight as four new sisters band together in the heart of New York City. Discover this jubilant novel about the difficulties of change, the loyalty of sisters, and the love of family from a prolific award-winning author.   “[A]…

A “2020 NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People” Selection

A vibrantly illustrated and compelling collection of profiles about women and men who revolutionized politics, policy, commerce and activism.

You likely know that Barack Obama was the first African American president of the United States. And you…

Walter Dean Myers (A)

List Price: $9.99 (Paperback – Leader / African American / Politics – 1994)

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book and an ALA Notable Children Book.

In this highly praised, award-winning biography, Walter Dean Myers portrays Malcolm X as prophet, dealer, convict, troublemaker, revolutionary, and…

Jason Reynold (A)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Track and Field / Competition – 2019)

Sunny tries to shine despite his troubled past in this third novel in the critically acclaimed Track series from National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds. 

Ghost. Patina. Sunny. Lu. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds, with personalities that…

Roberta Edwards (A), Nancy Harrison (ILT) and John O’Brien (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Biography / Leader / President of the United States – 2009)

As the world now knows, Barack Obama has made history as our first African-American president. With black-and-white illustrations throughout, this biography is perfect for primary graders looking…

Jewell Parker Rhodes (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Family / Katrina Tragedy / Survival – 2012)

Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in a tight-knit community in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. She doesn’t have a fancy house like her uptown family or lots of friends like the other kids on her street. But what she…

Andrea Davis Pinkney (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Africa / Sudan / Refugee – 2016)

The powerful story of one girl’s triumphant journey, inspired by true tales of life in Sudan — now in paperback.

Life in Amira’s peaceful Sudanese village is shattered when Janjaweed attackers arrive, unleashing unspeakable horrors. After losing…

A moving novel about how a girl’s family and friendships are turned upside down—just as the world is changing in 1970s Los Angeles, for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia and Renée Watson.

Stevie’s life is fluctuating rapidly. She’s starting over in a brand new middle school. Quiet and observant, it’s hard for her to…

April Jones Prince (A) and Robert Squier (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Biography / Abolitionist / Orator – 2014)

Born into slavery in Maryland in 1818, Frederick Douglass was determined to gain freedom–and once he realized that knowledge was power, he secretly learned to read and write to give himself an advantage.…

Langston Hughes (A) and Bryan Collier (ILT)

List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover – Poetry / Equality – 2012)

Winner of the Coretta Scott King illustrator award, I, Too, Am America blends the poetic wisdom of Langston Hughes with visionary illustrations from Bryan Collier in this inspirational picture book that carries the promise of equality.

…

James Buckley Jr. (A) Who HQ (A) and Jake Murray (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Black Leader/ Business / Education  – 2020)

Learn how a slave became one of the leading influential African American intellectuals of the late 19th century.

African American educator, author, speaker, and advisor to presidents of the…

Michelle Y. Green (A), Kadir Nelson (ILT), Mamie Johnson (Introduction)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Biography / Female / Sports / Negro Leagues / Pitcher – 2004)

Motivated by her love for the game and inspired by the legendary Jackie Robinson, Mamie Johnson is determined to be a professional baseball pitcher.…

In this middle grade solar punk novel set in an alternate Egyptian universe, twelve-year-old Ash must compete to become the Shadow–and protector–of the prince.

FIVE DEADLY TESTS, ONLY ONE SHADOW PRINCE

Growing up as an orphan in a remote village in the Egyptian desert, Ash’s life is pretty…

Yona Zeldis McDonough (A) and Jim Eldridge (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Biography / Evangelist / Feminist – 2015)

Almost 100 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, Sojourner Truth was mistreated by a streetcar conductor. She took him to court–and won! Before she was Sojourner Truth, she…

Chrystal D. Giles. (A)  

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Community and Gentrification – 2021)

“This book made me want to step aside, hand over the mic, and listen to Wes. A must-read.” –Mariama J. Lockington, author of For Black Girls Like Me

Brand-new kicks, ripped denim…

Margot Lee Shettterly (A) 

List Price: $9.99 (Paperback – Biography / Science – Aerospace Engineer – 2015) 

This inspiring biography tells the story of Katherine Johnson, an African American mathematician. An inspiring figure in the history of STEM, she eventually worked on the mission to send a man to the moon.  Her story…

Margarita Engle (A) and Rafael Lopes (A)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Poetic  Biographies – 2017)

Musician, botanist, baseball player, pilot―the Latinos featured in this collection, Bravo!, come from many different countries and from many different backgrounds. Celebrate their accomplishments and their contributions to a collective history and a community that continues to…

Lamar Giles (A)

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…

Renee Watson (Author)

List Price $16.99 (Hardcover – A Novel About Family And Forgiveness – 2019)

From Newbery Honor- and Coretta Scott King Author Award-winning, New York Timesbestselling author Renée Watson comes a heartwarming and inspiring novel for middle schoolers about finding deep roots and exploring the past, the present, and the places that make…

Yona Zeblis McDonough (A) and John OBrien (ILT) and Nancy Harrison (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Biography / Musician / Trumpet – 2004)

If not for a stint in reform school, young Louis Armstrong might never have become a…

Chris Crowe (A) and Tim Okamura (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Fictionalized True Story / Emmett Till – 2002)

Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black teenager from Chicago, was unused to the mores of the segregated South. While visiting his uncle in the summer of 1955, he allegedly made flirtatious remarks…

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…

Ashley Bryan (A and ILT)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – The Lives of 11 African American Slaves – 2016) 

Newbery Honor Book
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book

Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, Ashley Bryan offers a moving and powerful picture book that contrasts…

John Steptoe (A and ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover Fiction / African Folktale – 1987)

Mufaro was a happy man. Everyone agreed that his two daughters were very beautiful. Nyasha was kind and considerate as well as beautiful, but everyone — except Mufaro — knew that Manyara was selfish, bad tempered, and spoiled.

…

Walter Dean Myers (A)

List Price : $7.99 (Paperback – Teen Fiction / Western Adventure / Friendship and Revenge – 1994)

Fifteen-year-old Artemis journeys from New York City to Tombstone, Arizona, in 1882, to avenge the murder of his uncle.

Another powerful story in the Logan Family Saga and companion to Mildred D. Taylor’s Newbery Award-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

With the depression bearing down on her family, there isn’t much that Cassie Logan can count on anymore. 

But there is one thing that hasn’t changed—the whispering trees outside…