ART, DANCE, MUSIC AND POETRY

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…

Monica Brown (A) and Rafael Lopez (ILT) 

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Musician / Drummer – 2013)

In this vibrant bilingual picture book biography of musician Tito Puente, readers will dance along to the beat of this mambo king’s life. Tito Puente loved banging pots and pans as a child, but what he really…

Whoopi Goldberg (A) and Deborah Underwood (ILT)

List Price: $10.99 (Paperback – Dance / Ballet / Lead Dancer – 2022)

The sixth book of the award-winning and bestselling Sugar Plum Ballerinas series by Whoopi Goldberg—now featuring brand-new illustrations!

At the Nutcracker School of Ballet in Harlem, young dancers learn to chassé, plié, and…

Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts (A) and Christopher Myers (ILT)

List Price: $18.95 (Hardcover – Bio / Artist / Harlem Renaissance – 2015)

Jake Makes a World follows the creative adventures of the young Jacob Lawrence as he finds inspiration in the vibrant colors and characters of his community in Harlem. From his mother’s apartment, where he…

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…

Walter Dean Myers (A) and Christopher Myers (ILT) 

List Price:  $18.95 (Hardcover – Jazz Poetry – 2008)

There’s a crazy syncopation /and it’s tearing through the nation / and it’s bringing sweet elation / to every single tune./ It’s Jazz
 
Fifteen poems, infused with the rhythm and…

Ty rocks out with friends in this new book in the Geisel Honor–winning series!

Join Ty on his imaginative adventures in Ty’s Travels: Showtime, a My First I Can Read story by acclaimed author and illustrator team Kelly Starling Lyons and Niña Mata. Music, imagination, and play are highlighted, making this perfect for sharing…

Kadir Nelson (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Family Spending Quality Time / Father/ Son – 2008)

What began as a spiritual has developed into one of America best-known songs, and now for the first time it appears as a picture book, masterfully created by award-winning artist Kadir Nelson. Through sublime…

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…

Whoppi Goldberg (A) and Deborah Underwood (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Ballet / Friendship / Honesty / Materialism and Forgiveness.- 2022)

The second book of the award-winning and bestselling Sugar Plum Ballerinas series by Whoopi Goldberg—now featuring brand-new illustrations!

At the Nutcracker School of Ballet in…

Debbie Allen (A) and Kadir Nelson (ILT)

List Price:$8.99 (Paperback – Performance / Dancing – 2000)

Sassy worries that her too-large feet, too-long legs, and even her big mouth will keep her from her dream of becoming a star ballerina. So for now she just dancing in the wings, watching…

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…

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…

Javaka Steptoe (A)

When it was released in 2004, Harlem Stomp! was the first trade book to bring the Harlem Renaissance alive for young adults!

Meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated, the book is a veritable time capsule packed with poetry, prose, photographs, full-color paintings, and reproductions of historical documents. Now, after more than…

George Gershwin (A) and Mike Wimmer (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback / Plantation Life – 2002)

This lavish picture book is based on the beloved folk opera Porgy and Bess features Wimmer lush, epic oil paintings which reveal a vision of plantation life that extends the lyrics of this enormously popular…

A picture-book biography of celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize

A 2021 Coretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor Book
A 2021 Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor Book
A 2021 Association of Library Service to…

Misty Copeland (A)

List Price:$17.99 (Hardcover – Courage / Following Your Dreams – 2020l

Instant New York Times bestselling series opener inspired by prima ballerina and author Misty Copeland’s own early experiences in ballet.

From prima ballerina and New York Times bestselling author Misty Copeland comes the story of a young…

Nina Crews (A) and (PHOTO)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Poetry – 2003)

Every day, children the world over sing, shout, and celebrate Mother Goose rhymes. And now there a new reason to cheer: Nina Crews has added her own remarkable, jazzy style of illustration to a collection of forty-one…

Amber Barbee Pickens (A and ILT)

List Price: $24.95 (Paperback -Activity Book / Dancers – 2021)

Blooming in Motion is a coloring book celebrating Black history through the performing art of dance. The original illustrations by Amber Barbee Pickens honor trailblazing dance legends by paying tribute to the sacrifice, perseverance, fearlessness, discipline…

Debbie Allen (A) and Kadir Nelson (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Dancing – 1999)

This modern fable by actress-producer Debbie Allen is a hip retelling of the classic tale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Reverend Knight is at his wits end. Why are his twelve sons shoes worn to thread…

Whoppi Goldberg (A) and Deborah Underwood (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Dance / Ballet / Stage Fright)

The first book of the award-winning and bestselling Sugar Plum Ballerinas series by Whoopi Goldberg—now featuring brand-new illustrations!

Alexandrea Petrakova Johnson does not want to…

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]…

Whooppi Goldberg (A) and Deborah Underwood (ILT)

List Price: $11.99 (Paperback – Dance / Ballet / Stage Fright – 2011)

Wade and Cheryl Hudson and Various Amazing Authors, Illustrators and Poets

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Anthology of Poetic Advice to Children – 2018)

Fifty of the foremost diverse children’s authors and illustrators–including Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, and Kwame Alexander–share answers to the question, “In this divisive world, what shall we tell our…

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…

Belinda Rochelle (A)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – African American Poetry and Art – 2000)

This stunning collection pairs twenty poems by distinguished African-American poets with twenty works of art by acclaimed African-American artists, in a way that has never been done before. Poets and artists span…

Toyomi Igus (A) and Michelle Wood (ILT)

List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover –  African American Culture and  Music – 2010) 

“We free now, baby,” mama whispers as we bounce and sway with the wagon’s twists and turns over roads of clay through the land that oppressed us to a new world, a…

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…

Marilyn Singer (A) and Kristi Valiant (ILT) 

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Social Dance and Poetry –  2017)

An irresistible book of poems about dancing that mimic the rhythms of social dances from cha-cha to two-step, by the acclaimed author of Mirror Mirror

Description: Marilyn Singer has crafted a vibrant collection of poems celebrating all…

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…

Nikki Giovannni (A), Tupac Shakur (A) and Leila Steinberg (Photo)

List Price: $16.00 (Paperback – Poetry / Hip Hop – 1999)

His talent was unbounded, a raw force that commanded attention and respect. His death was tragic — a violent homage to the power of his voice.…

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…

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.

…

Whoppi Goldberg (A), Deborah Underwood (A) and Marilyn Roos (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Dance – Ballet / Finding Support – 2009)

The third book of the award-winning and bestselling Sugar Plum Ballerinas series by Whoopi Goldberg—now featuring brand-new illustrations!

Perfectionist Jerzey Mae desperately wants to…

This stunning children’s book from the photographer behind the Instagram sensation Brown Girls Do Ballet, combines irresistible photos of young ballerinas of color with inspirational text that empowers all children to express their true selves through movement and music.

When TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian went to enroll her three-year-old daughter into her first ballet class,…

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…

Amanda Gorman (Poet) and Loren Long (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Poetry / First National Youth Poet Laureate of the US 2021)

A lyrical picture book debut from presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman and #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long
 
“I can hear change humming
In its…

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…

Nikki Grimes (A) and Jerome LaGarrique (ILT)

List Price: $7.99  (Paperback – Poetry / Friendship / Mentor – 1999)

In 14 knowing, heartfelt poems, Nikki Grimes invites readers to witness the friendship that blossoms between Damon, an African-American boy without a father, and Blue, a tough-looking man who has lost…

Kelly Starling Lyons (A) and Nneka Meyers (ILT) 

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Dancing Queen – 2019)

Jada Jones is back for the fourth book of this popular, celebrated series perfect for STEM fans!
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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…

Connie Schofield-Morrison (A) and Frank Morrison (ILT)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Girl / Rhythm All Day – 2014)

On a simple trip to the park, the joy of music overtakes a mother and daughter. The little girl hears a rhythm coming from the world around her- from butterflies, to street performers, to…

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…

Misty Copeland (A) and Christopher Myers (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Ballerina – 2014)

In her debut picture book, Misty Copeland tells the story of a young girl–an every girl–whose confidence is fragile and who is questioning her own ability to reach the heights that Misty has reached. Misty encourages this young…

Maya Angelou (A) and Jean-Michel Basquiat (ILT) and Sara Jan Boyers (A)

Jim Gigliotti (A) and Who HQ (A) and Stephen Marchesi (ILT) 

List Price: $6.50 (Paperback – Biography / Singer – 2018)

Discover more about Stevie Wonder, the music prodigy whose awards include 25 Grammy Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Stevie Wonder is one of the most successful singer-songwriter-musicians of our time.…

Langston Hughes (A) and Sean Qualls (ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Lullaby Poem / Langston Hughes – 2013)

Description: “My little dark baby, / My little earth-thing, / My little love-one, / What shall I sing / For your lullaby?” With a few simple words as smooth as a song, the poet…