I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes, Gordon C. James, Hardcover. * “A much-needed book for Black children when society demonstrates otherwise.
The Kirkus Prize–, Coretta Scott King Honor–, Newbery Honor–, and Caldecott Honor–winning team behind Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut return for another celebration of Black excellence. In a text brimming with imagination and Black-boy joy, Barnes lays the foundation for young Black readers to go forth into the world filled with confidence and self-assurance. . . . Simultaneously, he opens a window for non-Black readers to see Black boys’ humanity. They have dreams, feel pain, are polite and respectful—the list of qualities goes on.
Barnes also decides to address what is waiting for them as they experience the world. . ★ 2020-06-30A much-needed book for Black children when society demonstrates otherwise.The Kirkus Prize–, Coretta Scott King Honor–, Newbery Honor–, and Caldecott Honor–winning team behind Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut (2017) return for another celebration of Black excellence. All Aboard!: Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine by Monica Kulling, Bill Slavin, Paperback. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Monica Kulling is a poet who has published many books for children, including picture books, adaptations of classic novels, and biographies.
Known for introducing biography to children who are just learning to read, she has written about Harriet Tubman, Houdini, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Amelia Earhart, among others. Her book It's a Snap! George Eastman's First Photograph, illustrated by Bill Slavin, was the first in Tundra's Great Idea Series, followed by All Aboard! Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine and In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up. : The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra: The Sound of Joy Is Enlightening (9780763658069): Raschka, Chris, Raschka, Chris: Books. The Unstoppable Garrett Morgan: Inventor, Entrepreneur, Hero by Joan DiCicco, Ebony Glenn, Hardcover. Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell, Christian Robinson, Hardcover. "Powell and Robinson create a biography of a woman whose life and art are inseparable.
"—Shelf Awareness for Readers, starred review—-"Scrupulously researched, high-spirited celebration of the color-line-crossing dancer. "—Los Angeles Times—-"Some books strike you as more than a book. The words and artwork refuse to stay on the page. They lift up and dance on your tongue, fill your ears with music, and send motion pictures before your eyes - swooping you away to another time and place like magic. So it is with JOSEPHINE . " ★ 2013-10-20A life devoted to self-expression through dance and racial harmony is celebrated in this lavish, lengthy picture book.
Dear Benjamin Banneker by Andrea Davis Pinkney, Brian Pinkney, Brian Davis Pinkney, Paperback. No slave master ever ruled over Benjamin Banneker as he was growing up in Maryland along the Patapsco River.
He was as free as the sky was wide, free to count the slugs that made their home on his parents' tobacco farm, free to read, and to wonder: Why do the stars change their place in the sky from night to night? What makes the moon shine full, then, weeks later, disappear? How does the sun know to rise just before the day? Benjamin's mother, Mary, grew up a free woman. His daddy, Robert, a former slave, gained his freedom long before 1731 when Benjamin was born. But even as a free person, Benjamin had to work hard. Benjamin worked long hours to make sure his farm would yield healthy crops.
But over the course of many years, Benjamin managed to teach himself astronomy at night while everyone else slept. There were many white scientists in Benjamin's day who taught themselves astronomy and published their own almanacs. Benjamin wanted to prove folks wrong. Philadelphia, Aug. 30. 1791. Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills by Renee Watson, Christian Robinson, Hardcover. RENÉE WATSON is the author of the children’s picture book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen (Random House, June 2010), which was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
Her middle grade novel, What Momma Left Me debuted as the New Voice for 2010 in middle grade fiction by The Independent Children's Booksellers Association. Renée has worked as a teaching-artist for more than 10 years, teaching creative writing and theater to elementary, middle, and high school students. She also uses writing and drama therapy to work with youth and adults. Renée lives in New York, NY. Christian Robinson is “one of the most exciting children’s book artists working today,” according to the New York Times. Sweet Dreams, Sarah by Vivian Kirkfield, Chris Ewald, Hardcover. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford, Ekua Holmes, Paperback.
A welcome addition to civil rights literature for children ...
Hamer's determination, perseverance, and unwavering resolve come through on every page. Holmes' quiltlike collage illustrations emphasize the importance Hamer placed on community among African-Americans. Young readers who open this book with just a vague notion of who Fannie Lou Hamer was will wonder no more after absorbing this striking portrait of the singer and activist. Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson, Paperback. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, Kadir Nelson, Hardcover. Carole Boston Weatherford has written more than fifty books, including the Caldecott Honor recipients Freedom in Congo Square; Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement; and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom.
She won a Coretta Scott King Author Honor for Becoming Billie Holiday, NAACP Image Awards for Moses and for Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America, the Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for The Legendary Miss Lena Horne, and an SCBWI Golden Kite and We Need Diverse Books Walter Award for Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library. Baltimore-born, Weatherford teaches at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. Kadir Nelson is the Caldecott Medal-winning artist of The Undefeated and a two-time Caldecott Honor recipient for Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford and Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine. Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine, Kadir Nelson, Hardcover. How did people escape on the Underground Railroad?
What was it like to land on Ellis Island? How did it feel to travel the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon? Ellen Levine has revealed worldsof fascinating adventure with her nonfiction books for young readers. Although Ellen Levine enjoys reading and writing fiction, most of her books for young readershave been nonfiction. “Writing nonfiction lets me in behind the scenes of the story. “Real heroes,” Levine says, “aren't necessarily on TV or in the news. When she's not writing, Levine likes to share the excitement of research and the importance ofaccuracy with young readers.
George Crum and the Saratoga Chip by Gaylia Taylor, Frank Morrison, Paperback. Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford, R. Gregory Christie, Hardcover. 10/05/2015Located in what is now the Treme neighborhood, Congo Square was the one place where the slaves and free blacks of New Orleans were allowed to gather on Sundays, a legally mandated day of rest.
There they could reconnect with the dance and music of their West and Central African heritages and feel, at least for a few hours, that they were in “a world apart,” where “freedom’s heart” prevailed. Weatherford hits a few flat notes with her rhyming (“Slaves had off one afternoon,/ when the law allowed them to commune”), but she succeeds in evoking a world where prospect of Sunday becomes a way to withstand relentless toil and oppression: “Wednesday, there were beds to make/ silver to shine, and bread to bake./ The dreaded lash, too much to bear./ Four more days to Congo Square.” Coretta Scott King Honorees Weatherford and Christie have created a gorgeously artistic and poetic homage to the birthplace of jazz and a people whose legacy is too often ignored. Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill, Bryan Collier, Hardcover.
Laban Carrick Hill is the author of more than thirty books, including the 2004 National Book Award Finalist Harlem Stomp!
, a book he researched for nearly a decade, and America Dreaming, which examines the legacy of the 1960s. He has taught writing at Columbia University, Baruch College, and St. Michael's College and is currently teaching at the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program at Pine Manor College in Massachusetts. He is also the cofounder and codirector of the Writers Project of Ghana, based in the US and Ghana. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, Gordon C. James, Hardcover. Praise for Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut:“The swagger is on a million. The sauce is drippin’. . . . This book oozes with black cool and timely, much-needed black joy, using the unique and expansive experience of the barbershop to remind young boys that their inner lives have always mattered there.
All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson, E.B. Lewis, Hardcover. Angela Johnson has won three Coretta Scott King Awards, one each for her novels The First Part Last, Heaven, and Toning the Sweep. The First Part Last was also the recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award. She is also the author of the novels Looking for Red and A Certain October. Her books for younger readers include the Coretta Scott King Honor Book When I Am Old with You, illustrated by David Soman; Wind Flyers and I Dream of Trains, both illustrated by Loren Long; and Lottie Paris Lives Here and its sequel Lottie Paris and the Best Place, both illustrated by Scott M.
Fischer. E.B. Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice by Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, Olivia Gatwood, Theodore Taylor III, Hardcover. Mahogany L. William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad by Don Tate, Hardcover. This picture book biography shares the little-known story of William Still, a man who was involved in the a variety of abolitionist activities, was a key player in the Underground Railroad, and kept written records to help reunite families. He was also a successful entrepreneur, and this brief book gives readers a glimpse into his historical context, family history, and personal accomplishments.
This is a great book for both children and adults. It is deeply inspiring, even while it is honest and direct about the horrors of slavery and racism, and because the author provides detailed context for events instead of assuming that a reader already understands them, this is a great option for young readers who are only just beginning to learn about slavery. The author's note also provides additional details for older readers, or for parents and children to read and discuss together. There are only two things that I wish had been different. Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, Paperback. Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe, Hardcover. ★ 08/08/2016In this visually arresting and vibrantly narrated biography, Steptoe (In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall) charts the childhood of incandescent, ill-fated artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988). Although the book includes no work by Basquiat himself, Steptoe emulates 1980s street art by layering paint, paper scraps, paint tubes, and photos on found-wood panels.
The artist, Steptoe writes, learned to see art in the “messy patchwork of the city,” the “street games of little children,” and the “terrible blues” of growing up. RESPECT: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul by Carole Boston Weatherford, Frank Morrison, Hardcover. Carole Boston Weatherford has written many award-winning books for children, including Caldecott Honor winners Freedom in Congo Square; Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement; and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard, Oge Mora, Hardcover. Mary Walker was born into slavery in 1848 and always dreamed to be free.
My Rainbow by DeShanna Neal, Trinity Neal, Art Twink, Hardcover. Mamie on the Mound: A Woman in Baseball's Negro Leagues by Leah Henderson, George Doutsiopoulos, Hardcover. Leah Henderson was one of only two girls on a highly competitive "all-boys" traveling soccer team when she was young, so Mamie’s desire to play ball echoed her own. Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed, Stasia Burrington, Hardcover. This is an inspiring story about a little girl who wanted to dance in the stars. It’s about following your dreams and your passion and blocking out the nay-sayers. This is a good rule to remember for anyone who wants to follow his or her dreams. Dr. Mae Jemison was the first African American woman to travel in space. Love Is Powerful by Heather Dean Brewer, LeUyen Pham, Hardcover.
The Little Mermaid by Jerry Pinkney, Hardcover. ★ 09/07/2020Caldecott Medalist Pinkney’s (A Place to Land) recasting of Andersen’s fairy tale affirms girls’ voices and power while offering dazzling undersea magic. Melody, the Sea King’s youngest daughter, spends her time sifting through shipwrecks until a forbidden trip to the ocean’s surface offers her a glimpse of Zion, a human girl she yearns to meet. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson, Paperback. Gracias, Omu! (Thank You, Omu!) by Oge Mora, Paperback. FUSHHH!: El chorro de inventos super humedos de Lonnie Johnson by Chris Barton, Don Tate, Paperback. Ahora en español, la verdadera historia del juguete favorito de todos los niños en el verano, la Súper Pistola de Agua, y cómo fue inventado por accidente. Mientras trataba de crear un sistema de enfriamiento para refrigeradores, Lonnie Johnson inventó sin quererlo el mecanismo de este emblemático juguete.
Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton, Don Tate, Paperback. ♦ A tinkering African-American boy grows up to become the inventor of a very popular toy. Lonnie Johnson always tinkered with something. As a kid, he built rockets and launched them in the park amid a crowd of friends. Firebird by Misty Copeland, Christopher Myers, Hardcover. From the Publisher. All Because You Matter by Tami Charles, Bryan Collier, Hardcover. Praise for All Because You Matter:* "Two accomplished creators invite Black children to take up their spaces in the world... the journey from beginning to end of the book sends a message that is nurturing, nourishing, loving, and reassuring, expanding and deepening the words of the movement it echoes.
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, Kadir Nelson, Hardcover. ★ 02/20/4Performed first on the ESPN show of the same name, this magnificent anthem to the courage and genius of black Americans has been turned into a picture book with stunning portraits by Nelson (Blue Sky, White Stars). “This is for the unforgettable,” Alexander (Out of Wonder) opens, “The swift and sweet ones/ who hurdled history/ and opened a world/ of possible.” Last Stop on Market Street (Newbery Medal Winner) by Matt de la Peña, Christian Robinson, Hardcover.