Showing titles in Black & African American

In this semiautobiographical debut novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin's real-life reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey, is a far cry from the glamorous Miss America stage. She struggles with an incarcerated mother she barely remembers, a grandfather dealing with addiction, and her own battle with self-confidence. But when a new teacher at school coordinates a beauty pageant and convinces Vanessa to enter, Vanessa's view of her own world begins to change.

Valerie Flournoy and Jerry Pinkney created a warmhearted intergenerational story that became an award-winning perennial. Since then children from all sorts of family situations and configurations continue to be drawn to its portrait of those bonds that create the fabric of family life...

Knucklehead Fred is a whimsical, rhyming story about a fun-loving, energetic boy named Fred. His parents just can’t figure out how to make him sit still and listen! But when Fred finds himself in need of a favor, Mom and Dad use it as a perfect opportunity to teach him a thing or two about responsibility.

Susie King Taylor, born a slave in 1848, would learn to read at secret schools and go on to teach countless others to read and write. Follow the course of the Civil War in her own words as she remembers her work as a nurse and teacher with an Army troop of African-American soldiers.

This historical children's audiobook about the legendary Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist, and suffragist was written based on personal interviews with Tubman’s last surviving relative. A story of courage, hope, and family, The Gift of Freedom takes listeners on an inspiring journey during one of America’s darkest times.

Second-grader Keena Ford loves writing in her journal. One day, Keena accidentally leaves her journal in the apartment of her mean classmate Tiffany Harris. The next day, Tiffany informs Keena that she's read the journal and is going to tell all of Keena's secrets! Well, unless Keena does...

Fans of Jason Reynolds and Sharon M. Draper will love this oh-so-honest middle grade novel from writer and educator Maurice Broaddus. Thelonius Mitchell is tired of being labeled. He’s in special ed, separated from the “normal” kids at school who don’t have any “issues.” That’s...

Carlotta Walls LaNier, the youngest of the Little Rock Nine, shares the true story about a girl, a dress, and the historic fight to attend an all-white school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Carlotta can’t wait to wear her new dress on her first day of school. But when the moment finally arrives...

George Washington Carver wasn't just an inventor. He was also a botanist, a farmer, and a professor. Young listeners will discover how this teacher not only improved the way people farmed, but introduced the world to more than 300 uses for the peanut.

In this audiobook from the #1 New York Times bestselling series, learn how this vibrant Black neighborhood in upper Manhattan became home to the leading Black writers, artists, and musicians of the 1920s and 1930s. Travel back in time to the 1920s and 1930s to the sounds of jazz in nightclubs...

When 6-year-old Ruby Bridges and her mother went to William Frantz Elementary School on November 14, 1960, they arrived to find an angry crowd of white people shouting racist insults. For her safety, Ruby had to be escorted to school every day by U.S. Marshals. But despite the hateful attitudes of others, Ruby didn't miss a single day of school that year.

Listeners will learn how her years as a daughter, student, lawyer, wife, and mother shaped her into the influential education, healthy living, and women's rights advocate she is today.

Side-splittingly funny, spine-chillingly spooky, this companion to a Newbery Honor–winning anthology The Dark Thirty is filled with bad characters who know exactly how to charm. From the author's note that takes us back to McKissack's own childhood when she would listen to stories told on her...

One of Beyoncé’s biggest idols is Whitney Houston. The two met in a hotel lobby for the first time when she was just fifteen, but even before then, Beyoncé was influenced by Houston’s singing. Discover how both artists made it big, how they stole every stage, and more.

Lymon's father is, for the time being, at Parchman Farm - the Mississippi State Penitentiary - and his mother, whom he doesn't remember all that much, has moved North. Fortunately, Lymon is being raised by his loving grandparents. Together, Lymon and his grandpops share a love of music, spending late summer nights playing the guitar. But Lymon's world as he knows it is about to dissolve. He will be sent on a journey to two Northern cities far from the country life he loves - and the version of himself he knows.

Twelve-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher was born into a family with a rich tradition of practicing folk magic: hoodoo, as most people call it. But even though his name is Hoodoo, he can't seem to cast a simple spell. When a mysterious man called the Stranger comes to town, Hoodoo starts dreaming of the dead rising from their graves. Even worse, he soon learns the Stranger is looking for a boy named Hoodoo. The entire town is at risk from the Stranger's black magic, and only Hoodoo can defeat him.

Magic has all but disappeared in Brooklyn, but one tenacious young magician is determined to bring it back in this exciting middle grade mystery. Twelve-year-old Kingston has just moved from the suburbs back to Echo City, Brooklyn—the last place his father was seen alive. Kingston's father was...

This powerful and hopeful book—inspired by the historic election of Vice President Kamala Harris—celebrates brown and Black girls. Brown girl, brown girl, what did you see? A world that sees my skin before it sees me. Based on a viral poem by Blaxican poet and activist Leslé Honoré, and...

An exuberant debut picture book about a little girl trying to outmaneuver her mama to avoid wash day for her hair—and all the laughs and love her antics inspire—illustrated by Coretta Scott King Honor winner Kaylani Juanita. The perfect next read for fans of Hair Love and Don’t Touch My...

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book A Boston Globe–Horn Book Poetry Award Winner An “imaginative and moving” (The Horn Book, starred review) portrait of a Black family tree shaped by enslavement and freedom, rendered in searing poems by ALSC Children’s Literature Legacy Award winner Carole...