AGES 9-12 / GRADES 4-5

Arlisha Norwood (A)

List Price: $14.99 (Paperback – Black Leaders In History  – 2020)

Meet extraordinary black heroes throughout history―biographies for kids ages 8 to 12

You’re invited to meet ancient Egyptian rulers, brilliant scientists, legendary musicians, and civil rights activists―all in the same book! Black Heroes introduces you to 51 black…

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…

NIcole D. Collier (A)

List Price: $9.99 (Paperback – Needs to Break Out of Her Shell – 2023)

In this heartfelt middle grade novel…

Virginia Hamilton (A) and Leo and Dianne Dillon (ILT)

List Price: $25.99 (Hardcover – African American Folktales / Fairy Tales – 1995)

Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner

In the tradition of Hamilton’s The People Could Fly and In the Beginning, a dramatic new collection of 25 compelling tales…

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…

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…

Epic Athletes: Serena Williams is an inspiring middle-grade biography of the most celebrated women’s tennis player ever from acclaimed sports journalist Dan Wetzel!

Featuring comic-style illustrations by Sloane Leong!

Serena Williams is no stranger to overcoming obstacles. From growing up in a tough neighborhood to combatting racism to weathering severe health issues,…

Ellen Labrecque (A), Dede Putra (ILT), Nancy Harrison (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Biography / Author / Poet – 2016)

Born in Missouri in 1928, Maya Angelou had a difficult childhood. Jim Crow laws segregated blacks and whites in the South. Her family life was unstable at times. But much like her…

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…

Discover the inspiring true story of extraordinary professional cyclist Major Taylor in this nonfiction picture book from Coretta Scott King Award winners Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome.

In 1891, Marshall Taylor could ride his bike forward, backward, even perched on the handlebars. When his stunts landed him a job at the famous…

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…

Yona Zeldis McDonough (A), Nancy Harrison (ILT) and Stephen Marchesi (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Biography – Activist /Civil Rights Leader – 2010)

In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. This seemingly small act triggered civil rights protests across America and earned…

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…

Paul Von Blum (A) and Elizabeth Von Notias & Ramsess (ILT)

List Price:$16.99 (Paperback – Biography / Activist / Singer/ Actor / Athlete – 2013)

Paul Robeson, despite being one of the greatest Renaissance figures in American history, still remains in relative anonymity. An exceptional scholar, lawyer, athlete, stage and screen actor, linguist,…

Tony Medina (A) and R. Gregory Christie (ILT)

List Price: $10.95 (Paperback – Biography / Langston Hughes -2006)

Fourteen original poems offer young readers an exciting glimpse into the life of Langston Hughes, one of America most beloved poets. Each of Medina engaging poems explores…

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

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Leader / Revolutionary – 2003)

“I believe in recognizing every human being
as a human being, neither white, black, brown, nor red.”

This was just one of the messages that Malcolm X brought to people of…

Ta-Nehisi Coates (A) and Wilfredo Torres (ILT)

List Price: $16.98 (Paperback – Graphic Novel / Black Super Hero – 2017)

Where next for the Black Panther? Find out as a sensational new arc begins! Eons ago – before Black Panthers, before Wakanda, before time itself – there were only the Orishas! The pantheon…

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…

Nikki Giovanni (A) and Ashley Bryan (ILT) 

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Poetry / The Importance of Being Loved – 2018)

Newbery Award honoree Ashley Bryan has hand-selected a dozen of National Book Award winner Nikki Giovanni’s poems to illustrate with his inimitable flourish.

There is nothing more important to a child than to feel…

Kekla Magoon (A)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Friendship Story – 2018) 

★ An Amazon Best Children’s Book of the Year selection
Meet Caleb and Bobby Gene, two brothers embarking on a madcap, heartwarming, one-thing-leads-to-another adventure, for fans of As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds, Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina, Front Desk by Kelly Yang, and One…

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…

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…

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

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Adventure / Stars on Stage – 2012)

The Clubhouse kids compete for a big prize—and make some creative moves—in this repackaged and talent-filled tale from bestselling author Sharon Draper.

Ziggy, Jerome, Rashawn, and Rico are sure they’re going…

Ramona T. Nickens (A) and Yvetta Doll Franklin (A) and Tammy Artis (ILT)

List Price: $12.00 (Paperback – Friendship / Communication / Slang vs Standard English – 2012)

A tender naive friendship is challenged when both girls become valedictorian candidates. One young girl emulates street talk and the other articulates Standard…

Jacqueline Woodson (A) 

List Price: $17.99 ( Hardcover – Middle Students / Support Group / Friendships – 2018)

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

Jacqueline Woodson’s first middle-grade novel since National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of…

B is For Black Wealth is an ABC book for children designed to expose them to entrepreneurial concepts and business terminology.

This exposure is meant to build confidence in our children while simultaneously educating the adults that love them. This book is intentional about teaching concepts related to group economics, business ownership and…

Mildred D.Taylor (A)

List Price: $10.99 (Paperback – Logan Family Saga #3 – 2016)

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!

It is a frightening and turbulent time for the Logan family. First, their friend…

Ben Carson (A)

List Price: $7.95 (Paperback – Biography / Medicine / Brain Surgeon – 2014)

From Inner-City Nobody to Brilliant Neurosurgeon

When Ben Carson was in school, his classmates called him the class dummy. Many—including Ben himself—doubted that he would ever amount to anything. But his mother never let him quit.…

Virginia Hamilton (A) and Diane Dillon and Leo Dillon (Cover) Symmeon Shimin (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Small Town /Farm / Friendships – 2006)

Well spend the whole summer on the farm with Uncle Ross. I ought to make up something special just because we’ve…

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…

Langston Hughes (A)

List Price:$11.99 (Paperback – Poetry / Harlem Renaissance – 1996)

Illustrated in black-and-white. This classic collection of poetry is available in a handsome new gift edition that includes seven additional poems written after The Dream Keeper was first published. In a larger format, featuring Brian Pinkney’s scratchboard art on every…

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…

Victoria Bond (A) and T.R. Simon (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Historical Non-Fiction/Biography / Life of Young Nora Neal Hurston / Literary Giant / Coming of Age Adventure – 2010)

Winner of the 2011 John Steptoe New Talent (Author) Award

Racial duplicity threatens an…

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

List Price: $9.99 (Paperback – African American History / Free Black / Scientist Engineer / Genius – 1998)

Benjamin Banneker was born free when most blacks in this country were still enslaved. But it troubled him that not all blacks were not…

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.…

Jada Sly, a hilarious and spunky artist and spy, explores New York City on a mission to find her mom in this “fast paced, fun” illustrated novel from an acclaimed author (School Library Connection).

Ten-year-old Jada Sly is an artist and a spy-in-training. When she isn’t studying the art from her…

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…

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…

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (A) and Ray Obstfeld (A) and A.G. Ford (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – African American History / Scientists – 2013)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball legend and the NBA’s all time leading scorer, champions a lineup of little-known African-American inventors in this lively, kid-friendly book.

Did you know that James West invented…

Kofi A. Annan (A), Dudley J. Thompson (A) and Barrington A. Watson (ILT)

List Price: $15.00 (Paperback – Biographies / Pan Africanists – 2005)

This book celebrates the lives of seventeen Black leaders who have made outstanding contributions to the liberation, unity and solidarity of Africa and African peoples throughout…

Megan Stine (A) and John O’Brien (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Biography / First Lady – 2014)

Born into a close knit family inChicago, Michelle Robinson was a star student who graduated from Princeton and Harvard Law. Then in 1992, she married another promising young lawyer and the rest, as they say,…

Lamar Giles (A)

Ronde Barber (A), Tiki Barber (A) and Paul Mantell (ILT)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Series: Football / Identical Twins / New Coach / Team Spirit – 2008)

It Tiki and Ronde second year on their junior high school football team, the Hidden Valley Eagles. The eighth-grade season is here, and the boys…

Margaret Musgrove (A) Leo Dillon (ILT) and Diane Dillon (ILT)

List Price $21.99 (Hardcover – 26 African Tribes / Traditions – 1992)

From A to Z, an authentic portrait of 26 African tribes, stunningly illustrated by winners of the 1976 & 1977 Caldecott Medal. The magnificently composed pictures are warm with the tones…

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…

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…

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…

Robert Edwards (A) and True Kelley (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Biography / Egyptian / Pharaoh – 2006)

Ever since Howard Carter uncovered King Tutankhamun tomb in 1922, the young pharaoh has become a symbol of the wealth and mystery of ancient Egypt. Now, a…