AGES 9-12 / GRADES 4-5

Linda Williams Jackson (A)

List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover – Social Justice/ Decision Making – 2018)

After the murder of Emmett Till, thirteen-year-old Rose is struggling with her decision to stay in Mississippi. Torn between the opinions of Shorty, a boy who wants to meet violence with violence, and Hallelujah, her best friend who…

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (A) and R. Gregory Christie (ILT)

List Price: $19.99  (Library Binding – Biography Law Enforcement / U.S. Marshall – 2009)

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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.

…

Nnedi Okorafor (A)

List Price: $11.99 (Paperback – Fantasy / Futuristic Africa / Price of Knowledge – 2015)

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy.…

Jerry Craft (A) 

List Price: $15.99 (Paperback – 7th Grade / New School – 2019)

Winner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature!

Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school…

Sarah Fabiny (A) Who HQ (A) and Ted Hammond (ILT)

 List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Journalist / Activist- Exposed Lynching -2020) 

The story of how a girl born into slavery became an early leader in the civil rights movement and the most famous black female journalist in nineteenth-century America.

Born into slavery in 1862, Ida…

Meg Belviso (A), Pamela D. Pollack (A) and Stephen Marchesi (ILT)

List Price: $5.57 (Paperback – Biography / South African / Leader – 2014)

As a child he dreamt of changing South Africa; as a man he changed the world. Nelson Mandela spent his life battling apartheid and championing a peaceful revolution. He…

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…

Praised as “a story of perserverance and love” in a starred review by Kirkus, here is a story about keeping dreams alive.

Onyx lives with his mother, who is showing signs of early-onset dementia. He doesn’t want to bring attention to his home — if Child Protective Services finds out, they’ll put him into foster…

Jason Reynolds (A) 

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – 10 Stories – 2019) 

A National Book Award Finalist!
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
An NPR Favorite Book of 2019
A New York Times Best Children’s Book of 2019
A Time Best Children’s Book of 2019
A Today Show Best Kids’ Book of 2019
A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2019
A School Library…

After twelve-year-old aspiring superstar, Sparkle Moore, is diagnosed…

Help kids grow their executive functioning skills with activities for ages 6 to 9

Executive functioning is the name for the skills we use to pay attention, complete tasks, and remember important things. But that’s a lot for a brain to do every day―especially for kids. TheExecutive Functioning Workbook for Kids helps them train…

Andrea Davis Pinkney (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Friendship – 2012)

In a small upstate New York town during the Great Depression, three children–Hibernia, Willie, and Otis–are about to meet.

Hibernia dreams of becoming a famous singer and performing at Harlem’s swanky Savoy Ballroom.
Willie is recovering from a tragedy that prevents…

Varian Johnson (A) Who HQ (A) and Steven Marchesi (ILT)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Sports / Baseball Pioneers – 2020) 

This baseball league that was made up of African American players and run by African American owners ushered in the biggest change in the history of baseball.

In America during the early twentieth century,…

Sharon M. Draper (A) and Jesse Joshua Watson (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Adventure / Lost In The Tunnel – 2011)

Ziggy, Rashawn, Jerome, and Rico — the Black Dinosaurs — are thrilled to discover that their hometown was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Even more exciting, their new…

William Kamkwamba (A) and Bryan Mealer (A)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover) – Malawi / Young Inventor – 2014)

The New York Times bestselling memoir of the heroic young inventor who brought electricity to his Malawian village adapted for young readers. Now available in paperback!

When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba’s tiny village…

Nikole Hannah Jones (A) and Renee Watson (A) and Nikkolas Smith (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Retells The Journey of An Enslaved People to the US – 2021)

The 1619 Project’s lyrical picture book in verse chronicles the consequences of slavery and the history of Black resistance in the United States, thoughtfully rendered…

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…

Doreen Rappaport (A) and Shane W. Evans (ILT)

List Price: $9.99 (Paperback- African American History / Civil Rights Era – 2006)

In the summer of 1955, Moses Wright braved mortal danger to testify against three white men accused of murdering Emmett Till – a brutal event that helped to spur the…

Rita Williams Garcia (A)

List Price: $9.99 ( Paperback – Series Book 1 / Fiction / Missing Parent / Summer Camp / Self Discovery – 2011)

Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and…

Kwame Mbalia (A) 

List Price:$17.99 (Hardcover – Fantasy, Action and Mythology – 2019) 

Coretta Scott Award Winner – Handpicked by Amazon kids’ books editor, Seira Wilson, for Prime Book Box – a children’s subscription that inspires a love of reading.

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…

Tiki & Ronde Barber with Paul Mantell (A)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Sports / Jr. High Football / Siblings / Teamwork and Perseverance – 2007)

Tiki and Ronde twelfth summer is winding down — the nights are getting shorter and the evenings cooler. That means two things: The first day…

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…

Cynthia Leitich Smith (EDIT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Anthology of Native American Stories – 2021)

Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride.

Native…

Andrea Pinkney (A) and Stephen Alcorn (ILT)

List Price: $9.99 (Paperback – Biographies / Women Leaders / Activists – 2013)

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus and sparked a boycott that changed America. Harriet Tubman helped more than three hundred slaves escape the South on…

John Lewis (A), Andrew Aydin (A) and Nate Powell (ILT)

List Price: $14.95 (Paperback – Graphic Novel / Biography /African American History – Civil Rights Era – 2015)

Declaration: Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence…

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…

Life Skills for Kids is the perfect gift for boys and girls!

With the help of this guide, kids can learn foundation skills such as the basics in…

From award-winning author and spoken-word artist Harold Green III, a reminder of the power of language and an inspiring guide to “using our words” to effect the change we want to see—and be—in the world.

Harold Green III’s Words Are My Superpower offers practical advice for younger readers on how the words they choose have…

Penelope Arlon (A) 

List Price: $11.99 (Paperback – Ancient Egypt Guide – 2014)

A visual guide to ancient Egypt for newly confident readers.

This book is packed with exclusive photos so that kids can see ancient Egypt like never before! The images are accompanied by time lines, step-by-steps, and cross-section graphics for…

Jason Reynolds (A) 

List Price: $7.99  (Paperback  – Track & Field, Friendships and Winning – 2017)

A National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Ghost wants to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school track team, but his…

Marne Ventura (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Science – Astro Physicist and Space Advocate – 2014)                                               

“Have you ever stared into the night sky, full of stars…

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…

Gail Herman (A), Who HQ (A) and Gregory Copeland (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Biography / Civil Rights Leader – 2017) 

The wife of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King was a civil rights leader in her own right, playing a prominent role in the African American struggle for racial equality…

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…

Kelly J. Baptist (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – An Uplifting Affirming Story – 2021)

A coming-of-age tale about a boy who proves that with superhero courage–and a few great sidekicks–you can take on even the toughest of odds. Adapted from a story that first appeared in Flying Lessons & Other Stories…

Coe Booth (A) 

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Abuse and Generational Family Secrets – 2022)

From the groundbreaking author of Tyrell, an astonishing middle-grade novel about a girl overcoming the secrets and abuse of her past.

This should be an exciting time for Caprice. She has…

Tonya Bolden (A) 

List Price: $10.99 (Paperback – Young Girl Seeking A Better Life – 2020)

As a young black woman in 1880s Savannah, Essie’s dreams are very much at odds with her reality. Ashamed of her beginnings, but unwilling to accept the path currently available to her, Essie is trapped between…

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…

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

For David Logan, a time of distress means taking the higher road.

During a drought, the Logan family shares their well water with their neighbors, black and white alike. But David’s brother…

Frederick Douglass (A)

List Price: $6.00 (Paperback – Autobiography / Former Slave / Self Taught / Abolitionist – 1995)

Former slave, impassioned abolitionist, brilliant writer, newspaper editor and eloquent orator whose speeches fired the abolitionist cause, Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) led an astounding life. Physical abuse, deprivation and tragedy plagued his early years, yet…

Eden Royce (Author)

List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover – A Story of Love, Bravery and Friendship – 2021)

“A poignant, necessary entry into the children’s literary canon, Root Magic brings to life the history and culture of Gullah people while highlighting the timeless plight of Black Americans. Add in a fun,…

Ta-Nehisi Coates (A) and Chris Sprouse  (ILT)

List Price: $15.99 (Paperback – Graphic Novel / Black Super Hero – 2017)

Dark times for the Black Panther, as Ta-Nehisi Coates chronicles the fi nal days of the kingdom of Wakanda! As Zenzi and the People poison Wakanda’s populace against their king, a cabal of…

Jacqueline Woodson (A)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Poetic Verse / Writer’s Childhood – 2015)

National Book Award Winner

Jacqueline Woodson, one of today’s finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each…

Walter Dean Myers (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Teen Fiction / Gangs / Drugs / Relationships – 1995)

Lately everybody is messing with Jamal. His teachers, the kids at school, even his dad. And now that Jamal brother Randy in the slam, Crazy Mack has a crazy idea. He wants…

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…

Jewell Parker Rhodes (A)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Plantation / Friendship – 2014)

Ten-year-old Sugar lives on the River Road sugar plantation along the banks of the Mississippi. Slavery is over, but laboring in the fields all day doesn’t make her feel very free. Thankfully, Sugar has a knack for finding her…

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…