Black History Month – A literary journey for students

February 9, 2021

Below is a list of some great reads for students, or parents, who want to dive in and be involved in broadening their perspectives around Black History Month. Many of these books discuss racism and civil rights movements, and celebrate diversity.  All of these books have been hand picked by our Teacher Librarians, and are available in our school libraries.

Elementary

To see the complete list curated by Alice Brown Elementary Teacher Librarian Jenny Kroeker, visit here.

• A Girl Named Disaster — Nancy Farmer
• All Are Welcome — Alexandria Penfold
• All Because You Matter — Tami Charles
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind — William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer
• Breadwinner — Deborah Ellis
• Bud, Not Buddy — Christopher Paul Curtis
• Crossover — Kwame Alexander
• The Forgotten Girl — India Hill Brown
• Freedom in Congo Square — Carole Boston Weatherford
• The Gift of Ramadan — Rabiah York Lumbard
• It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood — Trevor Noah
• Jabari Jumps — Gaia Cornwall
• Last Stop on Market Street — Natt de la Peña
• Ninth Ward — Jewell Parker Rhodes
• One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia — Miranda Paul
• Ron’s Big Mission — Rose Blue & Corinne Naden
• Ruby Finds a Worry — Tom Percival
• Sit-In — Andrea David Pinkney
• Small Steps — Louis Sachar
• Stella by Starlight — Sharon M. Draper
• This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids From Around the World — Matt Lamothe
• The Undefeated — Kwame Alexander
• Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged — Jody Nyasha
• Whistle for Willie — Ezra Jack Keats

Secondary

• All American Boys — Jason Reynolds
• A Song of Wraiths and Ruin — Rosanne A. Brown
• The Black Kids — Christina Hammonds Reed
• Dear Martin — Nic Stone
• Felix Ever After — Kacen Callender
• The Field Guide to the North American Teenager — Ben Phillipe
• The Fire on High — Elizabeth Acevedo
• January’s Sparrow — Patricia Polacco
• Like Home — Louisa Onome
• Long Way Down — Jason Reynolds & Danica Novogorodoff
• Pink and Say — Patricia Polacco
• The Poet X — Elizabeth Acevedo
• Punching the Air — Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam
• Slay — Brittney Morris
• Stamped (For Kids) Racism, Antiracism, and You — Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi, Adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul & Rachelle Baker
• Surviving the City — Tasha Spillett, Illustrated by Natasha Donovan Grade
• The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love and Truth — edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson
• The Undefeated — Kwame Alexander
• Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice — Mahogany L. Browne with Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood; illustrated by Theodore Taylor III
• You Should See Me in a Crown — Leah Johnson