This recommended reading list, in celebration of Black History Month, highlights African-American literature. It provides an excellent source of suggested books for children of all ages.
Elementary (Grades Pre-K-3)
- Red Dancing Shoes, Denise Lewis Patrick and James E. Ransome
- I Dream of Trains, Angela Johnson
- The Moon Over Star, Dianna Hutts Aston
- Let It Shine, Ashley Bryan
- Before John Was a Jazz Giant, Carole Boston Weatherford
- Uptown, Bryan Collier
- I’ve Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Walter Dean Myers
- Papa’s Mark, Gwendolyn Battle Lavert
- In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems, Jan Spivey Gilchrist
- Almost to Freedom, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
- Thunder Rose, Jerdine Nolen
- Visiting Langston, Bryan Collier
- Freedom River, Doreen Rappaport
- In Daddy’s Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, Alan Schroeder
- Ashley Bryan’s ABC of African American Poetry, Ashley Bryan
- Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman, Alan Schroeder
- Running the Road to ABC, Denize Lauture
- Neeny Coming, Neeny Going, Karen English
- Little Eight John, Jan Wahl
- All Night, all Day: A Child’s First Book of African American Spirituals, Ashley Bryan
- When I Am Old With You, Angela Johnson
- The Patchwork Quilt, Valerie Flournoy
- Bright Eyes, Brown Skin, Cheryl Hudson and Bernette Ford
- Something Beautiful, Sharon Wyeth
- The Quilt, Ann Jonas
- Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin Cowboy, Andrea Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
- Drylongso, Virginia Hamilton
- I Am Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks and James Haskins
- Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Doreen Rappaport
- Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Deborah Hopkinson
- The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, Langston Hughes and Brian Pinkney
- The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children, Gregorie Christie
- The Invisible Hunters: A Legend from the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua, Harriet Rohmer, et al.
- Africa Dream, Eloise Greenfield
- Mary McLeod Bethune, Eloise Greenfield
- Ray Charles, Sharon Bell Mathis
- Jazzy Miz Mozetta, Brenda C. Roberts
- Family Plays Music, Judy Cox
- The Moon Ring, Randy DuBurke
- Freedom Summer, Deb Wiles
- The Piano Man, Debbie Chocolate
- Everett Anderson’s Good-bye, Lucille Clifton
Elementary (Grades 4-5)
- Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories, Jan Greenberg
- The Wagon, Tony Johnston and James E. Ransome
- Against All Odds: Artist Dean Mitchell’s Story, Betty R. James
- Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, Nikki Grimes
- Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojouner Truth, Anne Rockwell
- I Have Heard of a Land, Joyce Carol Thomas
- Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, Andrea Davis Pinkney
- The Hunterman and the Crocodile, Baba Waguè Diakitè
- The Singing Man, Angela Shelf Medearis
- Meet Danitra Brown, Nikki Grimes
- Soul Looks Back in Wonder, Phyllis Fogelman
- The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth, David A. Anderson
- Night on the Neighborhood Street, Eloise Greenfield
- The Road to Memphis, Mildred Taylor
- Aida, Leontyne Price
- Nathaniel Talking, Eloise Greenfield
- Mirandy and Brother Wind, Patricia McKissack
- Under the Sunday Tree, Eloise Greenfield
- Storm in the Night, Mary Stolz
- Maritcha, Tonya Bolden
- Ellington Was Not a Street, Ntozake Shange and Kadir Nelson
- The Bat Boy and His Violin, Gavin Curtis
- The Great Migration: An American Story, Jacob Lawrence
- Harlem, Walter Dean Myers
- Circle of Gold, Candy Dawson Boyd
- A Little Love, Virginia Hamilton
- The Strange New Feeling, Julius Lester
- Rainbow Jordan, Alice Childress
- Skates of Uncle Richard, Carol Fenner
- Something on My Mind, Nikki Grimes
- Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, R. Gregory Christie
- Fly High!: The Story of Bessie Coleman, Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger
