A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart


Zetta Elliott - 2020
    There is a place inside of mea space deep down inside of me where all my feelings hide. Summertime is filled with joy—skateboarding and playing basketball—until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace.In her debut, illustrator Noa Denmon articulates the depth and nuances of a child’s experiences following a police shooting—through grief and protests, healing and community—with washes of color.

Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees


Franck Prévot - 2011
    Her organization planted over thirty million trees in thirty years. This beautiful picture book tells the story of an amazing woman and an inspiring idea.

Enough! 20 Protesters Who Changed America


Emily Easton - 2018
    From Samuel Adams to the students from Parkland, march through history with the heroic revolutionary protesters who changed America.

The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery


Dennis Brindell Fradin - 2013
    But the townspeople of Oberlin, Ohio, believed there that all people deserved to be free, so Price started a new life in town-until a crew of slave-catchers arrived and apprehended him. When the residents of Oberlin heard of his capture, many of them banded together to demand his release in a dramatic showdown that risked their own freedom. Paired for the first time, highly acclaimed authors Dennis and Judith Fradin and Pura Belpré award-winning illustrator Eric Velasquez, provide readers with an inspiring tale of how one man's journey to freedom helped spark an abolitionist movement.

Ella Fitzgerald


Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara - 2018
    All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. Meet Ella Fitzgerald, one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. This mini biography charts Ella's life, from her early singing days in Harlem, to her success as a jazz legend, with the message: 'It's not where you come from, but where you're going that counts'.

My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


Christine King Farris - 2003
    Martin Luther King Jr., joins with celebrated illustrator Chris Soentpiet to tell this “outstanding” (School Library Journal) and inspirational story of how one boyhood experience inspired a movement that would change the world as we know it.Mother Dear, one day I’m going to turn this world upside down. Long before he became a world-famous dreamer, Martin Luther King Jr. was a little boy who played jokes and practiced the piano and made friends without considering race. But growing up in the segregated south of the 1930s taught young Martin a bitter lesson—little white children and little black children were not to play with one another. Martin decided then and there that something had to be done. And so he began the journey that would change the course of American history.

Charlie Takes His Shot: How Charlie Sifford Broke the Color Barrier in Golf


Nancy Churnin - 2018
    Sifford had won plenty of black tournaments, but he was determined to break the color barrier in the PGA. In 1960 he did, only to face discrimination from hotels that wouldn’t rent him rooms and clubs that wouldn’t let him use the same locker as the white players. But Sifford kept playing, becoming the first black golfer to win a PGA tournament and eventually ranking among the greats in golf.

Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner


Janice N. Harrington - 2019
    Fascinated by animals, bugs, and crustaceans, Turner studied their lives. When books didn't answer his questions, he researched, experimented, and looked for answers on his own, even when faced with racial prejudice. Author Janice Harrington and artist Theodore Taylor III capture the life of this scientist and educator, highlighting his unstoppable curiosity and his passion for insects and biology. The extensive back matter includes an author's note, timeline, bibliography, source notes, and archival images.

Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You


Sonja Cherry-Paul - 2021
    Kendi and Jason Reynolds is an essential introduction to the history of racism and antiracism in America RACE. Uh-oh. The R-word. But actually talking about race is one of the most important things to learn how to do.Adapted from the groundbreaking bestseller Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, this book takes readers on a journey from present to past and back again. Kids will discover where racist ideas came from, identify how they impact America today, and meet those who have fought racism with antiracism. Along the way, they’ll learn how to identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their own lives.

Two Friends


Dean Robbins - 2016
    Anthony and Frederick Douglass, get together for tea and conversation. They recount their similar stories fighting to win rights for women and African Americans. The premise of this particular exchange between the two is based on a statue in their hometown of Rochester, New York, which shows the two friends having tea.

Barefoot: Escape On The Underground Railroad


Pamela Duncan Edwards - 1997
    The sound of the young man's racing heart is almost audible as Edwards describes his desperate predicament: "He was fearful of what lay before him. He was terrified of what lay behind." But the man has allies in the underbrush, creatures that perceive him as "the Barefoot" (in contrast to "the Heavy Boots" who come in angry pursuit). A frog signals the presence of water, which quenches the Barefoot's thirst; a scurrying squirrel turns his eye to a blanket of leaves under which he naps; a deer diverts a crew of Heavy Boots away from this hiding place; and fireflies light the way to the safe house ahead. The vigilant eyes of these deftly rendered creatures peer out from Cole's haunting paintings, cleverly skewed to invoke the animals' ground-hugging perspective on the Barefoot's flight.

I am Jackie Robinson


Brad Meltzer - 2015
    But he lived at a time before the Civil Rights Movement, when the rules weren't fair to African Americans. Even though Jackie was a great athlete, he wasn't allowed on the best teams just because of the color of his skin. Jackie knew that sports were best when everyone, of every color, played together. He became the first black player in Major League Baseball, and his bravery changed African-American history and led the way to equality in all sports in America.This engaging series is the perfect way to bring American history to life for young children, providing them with the right role models, supplemementing Common Core learning in the classroom, and best of all, inspiring them to strive and dream.

Rosa


Nikki Giovanni - 2005
    When the policeman bent down to ask “Auntie, are you going to move?” all the strength of all the people through all those many years joined in her. She said, “No.”A picture book account of Rosa Park's historic choice.

Maya Angelou


Lisbeth Kaiser - 2016
    All of them went on to achieve incredible things, yet all of them began life as a little child with a dream. The book follows Maya Angelou, from her early traumatic childhood to her time as a singer, actress, civil rights campaigner and, eventually, one of America's most beloved writers. This inspiring and informative little biography comes with extra facts about Maya's life at the back.

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History


Vashti Harrison - 2017
    Among these biographies, readers will find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things - bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come.Whether they were putting pen to paper, soaring through the air or speaking up for the rights of others, the women profiled in these pages were all taking a stand against a world that didn't always accept them. The leaders in this book may be little, but they all did something big and amazing, inspiring generations to come.