Years ago, we wrote a post about books featuring characters of color, but a reader pointed out that some of those authors were white. So! Today, we wanted to feature great children’s books written by Black authors. Here are 15 we like…
Any others to add to the list? We’d love to hear…
P.S. Children’s books with female characters, and five books to teach kids kindness.
(Top illustration by Bryan Collier from the book Trombone Shorty.)
It seems a little obnoxious to suggest my own books, but here I go anyway! A Good Kind of Trouble, Something to Say and MapMaker are all appropriate for 8-13 year old readers. And I highly recommend books by sister/friends: Alicia D. Williams, Mariama Lockington, Janae Marks, Karen Strong and India Hill Brown.
Anyone have good recommendations of children’s books with multiracial families? I’m white and my husband is black, and I’d love to add a few books to our shelf that can reflect our family to our daughter. One I love is “Sonya’s Chickens” by Phoebe Wall!
Pat Cummings is the author of over 35 books for young readers. A board book treasure is her “My Aunt Came Back” a colorful rhyming tale of travel. She also writes picture books, middle school, non-fiction and educational books. http://www.patcummings.com/books
Please, Baby, Please and Please, Puppy, Please are classic children’s literature and belong on every bookshelf! There are my go to baby shower books. Others ones we love are here: https://beyondthesnowyday.blogspot.com/search/label/Black%20Author
Love this list! I’m working on my first children’s book and could really use the wisdom and insight from other authors. Anyone know of writing communities and forums to join?
My 12 year old daughter Kelsey Thomas has written a epic fantasy called “Call of the Wolves”. It’s is for sale on Amazon.com. The cover is a picture of a girl who looks like a wolf. Kelsey has finished writing her second book and is looking for a publisher.
Since many black families are dealing with grief this year, I suggest “My Forever Guardian” by Kristina Jones. The book helped my son heal from the loss of so many people and things this year. Highly recommend. https://www.amazon.com/My-Forever-Guardian-Healing-friends/dp/1734814217/ref=nodl_
Love this list! I don’t have kids of my own but am always looking for gift ideas for friends’ kids.
Adding a book to the list by a friend’s grandmother. She wrote “How Old is Grandma?”. It’s a sweet, intergenerational story–-great for young kids to read with their grandparents!
http://nanasbookshelf.com/where-to-buy/
Check out The Brown Bookcase (https://www.thebrownbookcase.com/about)! From their About page:
“The Brown Bookcase is an independent bookstore founded by 9 year old, Rylei, in order to display diversity in children and teen books.
‘I was having trouble finding books to read with characters that look like me and that I could relate to. So, I wanted to start a bookstore for kids to be able to find books they are able to identify with.'”
I love Grandma’s Tiny House by JaNay Brown-Wood, Grandma’s Purse by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Brown Baby Lullaby by Tameka Fryer Brown, both Saturday and Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora, anything illustrated by Christian Robinson, and Bedtime for Sweet Creatures by Nikki Grimes. Andrea Pinkney wrote a book about Ezra Jack Keats called a Poem for Peter.
Some folks were looking for baby books and Gabrielle Union wrote Welcome to the Party which looks very sweet. Donald Crews’ board books are essential though.
Then as for chapter fun chapter books: anyone a fan of the Little Shaq series by Shaquille O’Neal? They’re popular at our library! Christopher Myers is a profilic writer of sports-themed chapter books. The Last, Last Day of Summer by L. R Giles is a fun chapter book.
I bought ‘Don’t touch my hair’ after it was listed here. Lovely book about consent which my kids have asked for again and again.
Tar Beach made a big impression on me when I was a kid, especially in my school of mostly non-black students.
Beautiful Beautiful Me.
A book written by Ashley Sirah Chea and illustrated by Vanessa Newton. Its about diversity, love, family and skin tone with playful poems for kids to read.
donald crews is a favorite in our house (kids are 4 & 2)—freight train, ten black dots, and flying are frequently pulled from the shelves.
Grace Byers – I Believe I Can and I am Enough.
Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican-American author of YA books – I’ve been enjoying her books recently! I read With the Fire on High and Poet X earlier this year and currently have Clap When You Land on hold at my library :)
All of Ashley Bryan’s books are phenomenal. He is a gifted artist, writer, and illustrator who calls a small island in Maine his home. https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Ashley-Bryan/706174
Thank you for featuring books written by black authors- and thanks for naming how you didn’t do that last time. I’ve been thinking recently about how the concept of “growth mindset” can apply to white people learning how to be anti-racist. We actually can get better at this. No white person has to be stuck where they are now or where they were yesterday. Naming how you didn’t get it quite right last time around shows that growth mindset. And that’s powerful. Thank you.
I would suggest Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea, by Meena Harris. I heard great positive things about it.
here’s one from a New Zealand / Pacific writer: Mophead: How Your Difference Makes a Difference by Selina Tusitala Marsh https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/mophead-how-your-difference-makes-a-difference/
Although the story itself isn’t written by a black author, The Talking Eggs by Robert Souci, is a Creole folktale and illustrated by Caldecott-award winner Black illustrator Jerry Pinkney. It’s a beautiful book!
Yes! This is one of my very favorite books from childhood.
Anything by Nicola Yoon, Angie Thomas, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Nic Stone, Kwame Alexander.
Also, PET is a newer release by a black non-binary author. I haven’t read it yet but it is high on my list!
Would love to see more young adult options!!
Please baby please was one of my boys’ favorites. Any book by or illustrated by Kadir Nelson is a treasure to own.
Please check out Cree Wins the Day (linking on Amazon, sorry: https://www.amazon.com/Cree-Wins-Day-Lora-Bynum/dp/0692872736/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=cree+wins+the+day&qid=1591724388&sr=8-1).
I went to college with the author, Ti, and would love to see her get a wave of books sold, plus the reviews are great!
We bought a bunch of new books by Black authors and our favorites are ,” Mufaro’s beautiful daughters,” (its won a caldecott award and was by the 1st Black children’s illustrator) and a new one, “A good kind of trouble” for my 13 year old and she loves it!!
I would add Belle, the last mule at Gee’s Bend and The Green Book by Calvin Ramsey…I read these to my 3rd and 4th graders every year. Also, I know the author is white, but I just love Jabari Jumps….by Gaia Cornwall.
I would love some recommendations for children’s books with Asian and/or Latinx authors and characters. My daughter and I love Eva Chen’s books.
Soup Day by Melissa Iwai was a favorite of my daughter’s :)
Hi Jamie,
Pat Mora is an amazing Chicana writer, and all her books have Latinx characters. She wrote several children’s books but also several poetry collections, and a wonderful memoir called House of Houses, if you’re interested!
I second Pat Mora! Please check out books by Yuyi Morales, Duncan Tonatiuh, Matt de la Peña, Alma Flor Ada, Isabel Quintero and Juana Martinez-Neal. There are so many more, enjoy!
Mahogany books (mahoganybooks.com) is a black-owned bookstore which has a great selection, and have an online store.
https://www.mahoganybooks.com/children/
They also curate bundles, such as this one for young readers:
https://www.mahoganybooks.com/yabundle-1
Thanks for the links! I just ordered four books for my kids (ages 0-4). I can’t wait to read them together!
Someone may have already posted this, but if you missed it, watch the KidsLit4BlackLives Rally from last Thursday, put on by the Brown Bookshelf (https://thebrownbookshelf.com/). Link to the rally: https://youtu.be/fElXu_MdRrs
Donald Crews is a wonderful Black illustrator and author. He has been making books for decades. His artwork is distinctive, simple and beautiful. I’d bet many of your readers here have checked his books out from the library and/or would recognize them even if they didn’t realize he was the author. Some of our family’s faves are “Freight Train,” “Shortcut” & “Night at the Fair.”
I submitted “Freight Train” last night but it must not have gone through. We love Donald Crews books too.
The great Virginia Hamilton, who died in 2002, wrote 35 books for children and young adults. She won every major children’s literature award and the American Library Assn gives an annual award in her memory. Her books include Zeely, The House of Dies Drear, MC Higgins the Great, The Planet of Junior Brown, and The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales.
Sam and the tigers by Julius Lester (a retelling and reimagining of an old racist book that he turns into a beautiful story about a smart and brave black boy)
For older readers, the “Children of Blood and Bone” books by Tomi Adeyemi stand out.
Here is a great resource: https://thebrownbookshelf.com/
All of Kwame Alexander’s books. He writes in a fantastic rhythm with great stories and messages.
I teach 5th grade and many a reluctant reader zoomed through all of his books.
I just finished ‘Brown Girl Dreaming’ last night. It is truly beautiful and thought-provoking. I heartily recommend it. I am so excited to look up the other books in your article and in the comments. Thank you! ❤️
Anything by Vanessa Brantley Newton– She is an amazing illustrator and writer and just a totally inspiring person altogether.
My third grader also loved From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks. We had checked it out from the library but my daughter asked me to buy the book this week because she plans to re-read it “lots, mom.” So much to like about this book as Zoe navigates friendships, pursues a passion for baking, and learns about/works to correct inequality in the criminal justice system.
Try Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke. They are short chapter books with lots of pictures about a girl that lives with her extended family in Africa. My daughter loves them.
I love Atinuke’s books! We have Baby Goes to Market and B is for Baby. Both are big hits with my two year old.
We love Anna Hibiscus’s adventures, too, and Atinuke’s picture books!
LOVE LOVE LOVE Anna hibiscus series in our house. I hope Atinuke writes more!!
I LOVE that these are linked to Mahogany Books in DC. That’s where we’ve been trying to purchase from also. A very distinct choice that does not go unnoticed- when others are still linking to their Amazon affiliates. Max and the Tag Along Moon is one of our favorites!
Love this!! Thank you so much for not linking to Amazon and for choosing Mahogany Books.
Does anyone know about a black or indigenous book similar store in Canada?
I found about Raven Reads https://ravenreads.org/ an indigenous book subscription.
Has anyone signed up for it?
Thank you!!
I was coming to say the same thing!! Thank you!
Anti-Racist Baby, a board book (!) by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi – due to release on June 16th: https://www.mahoganybooks.com/9780593110416
For older kids (older-elementary, middle, and high) and/or for families to read together, the brilliant and necessary, STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Jason Reynolds (author of GHOST) and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi: https://www.mahoganybooks.com/9780316453691
Ghost by Jason Reynolds is a great book, my 11-year-old son loved to read, who is not a big reader and I also could not stop reading it.
For babies and toddlers: So Much! by Trish Cooke is wonderful – and so much fun to read! -one of our all-time family favorites! For kids a little older, When I Get Older: the Story Behind “Wavin’ Flag” by K’naan is a beautiful and timely story about K’naan’s own life as a refugee from Somalia – first to New York, then to Toronto. Love!
My 8 year old son loves The Clubhouse Mystery series.
So happy to read this! I just bought the first 3 books for my 8 year old from Ashay by the Bay bookstore <3
The animated short for Hair Love is wonderful! My 5.5 yo watched it and couldn’t stop hugging me after that.
Nathaniel Talking by Eloise Greenfield. Wonderful author, she’s 91 now and Jan Spivey Gilchrist. The two also collaborated on a few more Children’s books; such as,
For Love of the Game. Michael Jordan and me,
My Daddy and I,
Me and Neesie,
Easter Parade to name a few. Both are African American women. I was introduced to them in the late 1980s via a children’s literature class.
Honey, I Love, also by Eloise Greenfield, is one of my favourite books of children’s poetry.
Saturday by Oge Mora is wonderful! Slightly breaks and re-heals my heart each time as a working parent. Thank you Omu by the same author is lovely as well.
Yes Jason Reynolds! Ghost is fantastic. Also, he is FANTASTIC. Find any video of him being interviewed/speaking and it is inspiring. Stephen Colbert had him on a few months ago. Suitable, and I’d encourage, for tweens/teens to also view.
He does amazing ‘Brain Yoga’ for kids on his Insta: @jasonreynolds83
Look up illustrator Shane Evans’ books. A lovely delight.
My mommy’s khimar – wonderful story about a little girl and the scarves her mother wears https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Mommys-Khimar/Jamilah-Thompkins-Bigelow/9781534400597
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold is absolutely magical.
Don’t miss Kelly Starling Lyons… She’s an amazing author. Her Jada Jones series is a great early chapter book series.
Thank you so much for this list. There are some great titles here, including several that I read with my four-year-old on a regular basis.
While it’s wonderful and necessary to have diverse and affirming representations of BIPOC kids and communities (which we need more of, especially given the diversity problem in children’s literature), it’s also critical that families (and specifically white families) have access to stories that explicitly name and deal with Whiteness and White privilege, that provide parents with tools and resources to start talking with children about these topics from a young age.
Not My Idea by Anastasia Higginbotham is one such book, and I understand that Race Cars is another, but there are not many books on this topic. I think that’s telling and is, in its own way, a form of injustice and privilege. The absence of these narratives implicitly reinforces the idea that race is something that doesn’t apply to white people and centers white people as “neutral/normal”.
I would love to see more discussion on CoJ around how White families can discuss Whiteness and White privilege with their children.
A book that deals with the toxicity of racism and white supremacy is Dig by A.S. King — it’s more of a teen book than a younger children’s book, but very good for the points you bring up.
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander is a picture book that celebrates Black excellence and won the 2020 Caldecott Medal as well as a Newbery Honor. Additionally, Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson (she has so many other excellent MG/YA books as well!) received the Newbery Honor and the Coretta Scott King Author Award!
I really like ‘Baby Goes to the Market’ and ‘B is for Baby’ by Atinuke. Her stories are based in West Africa and awesome. She has one for middle school too.
This one is for older elementary, but I cannot highly enough recommend Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. I read this book over and over and over again as a kid, and have such vivid, visceral memories as a 9-year-old empathizing and trying to contemplate what growing up Black in the Jim Crow South might’ve been like and feeling like the main character Cassie was one of my friends. I buy this for every late elementary kid in my world, and I recommend for adults too!
here are a few of our ***heart-thumping favorite*** picture books (age 0-7) featuring main characters who are Black:
the chicken chasing queen of lamar county – janice harrington
grandma’s purse – vanessa brantley newton
ron’s big mission – rose blue
julian is a mermaid – jessica love
the paperboy – dav pilkey
I have sent this list to my local library!
Thank you
If you’d like some Australian content. Magabala books is a wholly Indigenous publisher with EXCELLENT children’s books as well as books for all ages. Dark Emu is well regarded and available in kids, middle, and adult reader formats.
And Fremantle Press also has an Indigenous charter. Their book, My Place is an essential read. Beautiful prose about the Stolen Generation.
Bruce Pascoe is the author of Dark Emu and Sally Morgan is the author of My Place.
A source for books representing racially diverse, LGBTQ+, and other currently underrepresented identities in children’s books is Ourshelves.com.
Many, though not all, of the authors share the identities of the characters. We get quarterly book boxes, one of my daughter’s favorite books from the box is Baby Goes to Market by Atinuke.
Christian Robinson is wonderful too! His latest You Matter is an essential read for children and adults alike.
“The Day You Begin” by Jacqueline Woodson is so beautiful
Yes! It is a book I wish I could have had for my children when they were little!
(We had the Kwela Jamela books, and they are great. I know that Niki Daly is white though)
Thank you for the list, and thank you for not linking to Amazon, but to Mahogany. Another black-owned bookstore (in the SF Bay Area) is Ashay by the Bay (www.ashaybythebay.com). Thank you for purchasing from independent booksellers and especially supporting minority-owned businesses.
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, a 1991 Caldecott winner
Just found this awesome app called “We Read Too” that has a huge list of books featuring BOPOC characters divided into age ranges from picture book to YA. Has everything listed here and a lot more. Hope this helps!
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this already in the comments, but our family would HIGHLY recommend the Audio Version of the book of New Kid as well. Our entire family (9 year old son, 7 year old daughter, 3 year old son, mom, and dad) loved it so much we wanted to listen to it again. Really well narrated and entertaining.
That is so interesting to hear. I am leading a Summer Reading Book Club on ‘New Kid’ and told students NOT to order the audio book because it’s a graphic novel. Did you read along with the text?
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. Newbery winner!
Please check out the A Kids Book About (insert a whole bunch of compelling topics) series (https://akidsbookabout.com/), founded by Portland author Jelani Memory, who wrote the first one, A Kids Book About Racism for his kids only, and then the whole company sprouted from there. The whole thing is incredible!
Just want to add Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon (more for high schoolers), Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, and Crossover by Kwame Alexander.
If you are looking for books for older kids, check out Harriette Robinet. She writes beautiful historical fiction.
It may be a lot of work, but I would love a list to books like this similar (or within) your shop page, esp. if it takes into account the wonderful suggestions in the comments. I am taking notes and saving books on a wishlist, but would love to capture these resources and refer to them again and again in the future.
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