With lyrical verse and dazzling illustrations, this joyful ode to Black hair will empower readers ages 4–8 to celebrate the historical, cultural, and emotional significance of their natural hair.

★ “This testament to Black beauty is destined to be a classic and a favorite; everyone needs this book.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

This riveting found poem for kids based on Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Street Sweeper” speech is creatively interpreted in this nonfiction picture book written by acclaimed author Alice Faye Duncan, accompanied by gorgeous artwork by award-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis.

★ ”It’s a work poised to offer crucial guidance on how to build a meaningful life and contribute to the world.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ ”The Dream Builder’s Blueprint is a model for writing with precision and intent, and a tribute to a man who knew the power of words—by an author who clearly does as well.”—Booklist, starred review

Meet Alice Dunnigan, a pioneering Black journalist, who spoke truth to power—and earned the respect of President Harry S. Truman. An inspiring nonfiction picture book for kids ages 7–10 from award-winning author and illustrator Peggy Thomas and Tonya Engel.

“A timely reminder about the power of words.”–Kirkus Reviews

Here is the story of Henrietta Wood, who was enslaved twice—but who demanded justice and was awarded the largest reparations ever granted for enslavement. A nonfiction book for ages 9–12 that puts a human face on the current issue of reparations.

“Told through a series of poems, this illustrated biography sheds light on a little-known historical figure, pairing powerful verse with striking illustrations to underline the humanity of those who lived through the atrocities of slavery and their ability to hope and fight for a better life.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

In this powerfully written and beautifully illustrated picture book by Children’s Literature Legacy Award winner Carole Boston Weatherford and multi-award winning illustrator E. B. Lewis, Mother Africa addresses her offspring of all colors in all corners of the earth, reminding us of our timeless bond.

Written as a letter from a mother to her beautiful child, the inspiration for the story comes from an actual experience the author had with her daughter, who once claimed as a toddler she wanted to be pink. Brownness is a topic every parent of Black and Brown children knows they must discuss eventually. This book is an affirmation that this topic doesn’t have to be explored alone, but instead with the guidance and love of a trusted guardian.

Beautifully written in African American Vernacular English, this poetic picture book includes back matter with information about how plastic winds up in our oceans and examples of people—some of them kids, like Kenzie—who have worked to protect the sea. Mermaid Kenzie celebrates the ways that all of us, no matter how small, can make a difference.

A School Library Journal Best Book

★★ Two Starred Reviews ★★

Award-winning author Nikki Grimes’s beloved novel in verse Garvey’s Choice is now a graphic novel, imaginatively and dramatically illustrated by Little Shaq artist Theodore Taylor III. 

Garvey’s father has always wanted Garvey to be athletic, but Garvey is interested in astronomy, science fiction, reading—anything but sports. Feeling like a failure, he comforts himself with food. Garvey is kind, funny, smart, a loyal friend, and he is also overweight, teased by bullies, and lonely. When his only friend encourages him to join the school chorus, Garvey’s life changes. The chorus finds a new soloist in Garvey, and through chorus, Garvey finds a way to accept himself and a way to finally reach his distant father—by speaking the language of music instead of the language of sports.

A NYPL Top 10 Books for Kids
NPR Book Concierge Favorite Books of 2020
2021 ALA Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List
2021 Great Graphic Novels for Teens, Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)
A 2020 VLA Graphic Novel Diversity Award Honor Book
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

This graphic novel by James Otis Smith celebrates the extraordinary true tales of three black heroes who took control of their destinies and stood up for their communities in the Old West. Born into slavery in Tennessee, Mary Fields became famous as “Stagecoach Mary,” a cigar-chomping, cardplaying coach driver who never missed a delivery. Bass Reeves, the first black Deputy US Marshal west of the Mississippi, was one of the wiliest lawmen in the territories, bringing thousands of outlaws to justice with his smarts. Bob Lemmons lived to be 99 years old and was so good with horses that the wild mustangs on the plains of Texas took him for one of their own.

“These biographical comics are entertaining overviews that disrupt Wild West mythology.”—The New York Times

Winner, 2023 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award

Capturing the shock and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through the eyes of Garvey, a beloved character, Nikki Grimes’s novel in verse shows readers how to find hope in difficult times.

★ “What kids in school had to go through – seeing their parents scared and/sick, missing their friends, and watching the world fall to complete disarray – is an almost impossible scenario, and Nikki Grimes captures it in well-written, poignant poetry.” —Youth Services Book Review, starred review

Winner, Newbery Honor Award
Winner, Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award

This biography in verse is about George Washington Carver, who is associated with the creation of peanut butter, yet his true motivations and achievements are often left unsaid. Carver was driven by scientific curiosity, devotion to the betterment of Black Americans, and his Christian faith to discover better ways to farm. Beautiful prose and photographs throughout give readers a detailed look at Carver as a scientist, as well as the tools he used and the world he lived in.

★ “An unmatchable picture not only of Carver’s life but also of his impact within his time as well as in history.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review

Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
Boston Globe/Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book
Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for Teens

★★Six Starred Reviews★★

This memoir from award-winning author Nikki Grimes takes place during Grimes’s tumultuous childhood in the 1950s and 1960s. It gives young readers a first-person perspective to the drama of Grimes’s family’s life as it unfurls during critical moments in the Civil Rights-era New York City area.

★★Two Starred Reviews★★

A poignant collection of powerful poems weaves together multiple voices to tell the story of the March on Washington, DC, in 1963. Each character in the book brings a unique perspective to their experience of being at the march—walking shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers, hearing Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech, heading home inspired.

2024 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List

This lyrical picture book explores the birth of Black America, focusing on the little-known men and women who fought for justice and for an America where freedom truly rang for all. We’re familiar with the founding fathers of white America, but who are the founding fathers (and mothers!) of Black America?

★ “A necessary addition to all classrooms and libraries.” —Booklist, starred review

Shortlist, Goddard Riverside/CBC Young People’s Book Prize for Social Justice 
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature (CSMCL) Best Book of 2022
Bank Street Best Book of the Year
International Literacy Association’s Literacy and Social Responsibility Special Interest Group Social Justice Literature Award

With a story told through the eyes of a child, this critical civil rights book for middle-graders examines Tennessee’s Fayette County Tent City Movement in the late 1950s and reveals what is possible when people unite and fight for the right to vote. Powerfully conveyed through interconnected stories, Evicted! combines poetry, prose, and stunning illustrations to shine light on this forgotten history.

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Booklist Editors’ Choice
Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Book
Booklist Top 10 Diverse Books for Middle Grade or Older Readers
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books

★★Five Starred Reviews★★

This multiple award-winning picture book will help young readers understand the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It tells the story of a nine-year-old girl who in 1968 witnessed the Memphis sanitation strike—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final stand for justice before his assassination—when her father, a sanitation worker, participated in the protest.

ALSC Notable Children’s Book
CCBC Choices 2023
A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids 
Bank Street Best Book of the Year

★★Three Starred Reviews★★

In this dramatic Civil War story, a courageous enslaved fugitive teams up with a cunning Union general to save a Union fort from the Confederates–and triggers the end of slavery in the United States. This is the first children’s nonfiction book about the unsung Black hero who remains relevant today and to the Black Lives Matter movement. 

2025 NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Book Winner
A Bank Street Best Book 2025
2025 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List

Here is the little-known story of Florence Beatrice “Bea” Price, who faced many obstacles, including systemic racism and sexism, as she pushed forward to become one of the greatest Black classical composers.

2025 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List
2025 Rise: A Feminist Book Project Title
2025 NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Book Winner

Young readers will root for Toni “Tomboy” Stone, the first woman (and the first Black woman) to break into professional baseball—taking over Hank Aaron’s roster spot—in this nonfiction picture book biography.

A Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book
A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Best Picture Book of the Year
A Kirkus Best Picture Book Biography
CCBC Choices 2025
A Kirkus Reviews Most Anticipated Book of 2024
The New York Public Library Best Books for Kids 2024 (Top 10)

★★Four Starred Reviews★★

A child of the Harlem Renaissance and an artistic collaborator of Langston Hughes, Roy DeCarava is an unsung hero of Black history. Convinced that the lives of ordinary Black people deserved to be immortalized and documented in photos, Roy celebrated Black people through his art, a process that the incomparable author Gary Golio and illustrator E. B. Lewis capture in this beautiful picture book.

A School Library Journal Best Book
A Booklist Editors’ Choice
A Kirkus Best Book
2024 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List
Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List
Finalist, SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction Text for Older Readers
Named to the 2024 Capitol Choices list
A Bank Street Best Children’s Book
Included on the 2025 ALSC Día Reading List

★★Four Starred Reviews★★

This collective biography-in-verse of six important Black Americans from different eras, including Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama, chronicles the diverse ways each fought racism and shows how much—and how little—has changed for Black Americans since our country’s founding.

2024 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List
A Horn Book Fanfare Book
Center for the Studies of Multicultural Children’s Literature Best Book of 2023
Eureka! Nonfiction Childrens’ Honor Award
A Chicago Public Library Best Book
A Bank Street Best Children’s Book

★★Four Starred Reviews★★

Who was Coretta Scott King? Her black-veiled image at the funeral of her husband Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was moving and iconic. This book introduces readers to the woman behind the veil—a girl full of spunk and pluck, bravery and grit.

A NSTA/CBC Best STEM Book

Called “understated, fully realized, deftly written, and utterly absorbing” in a starred School Library Journal review, this nonfiction picture book focuses on the life and discoveries of Charles Henry Turner, the first Black entomologist, and his discoveries about ants, bees, and other insects.

★ “A relatively unknown entomologist comes out of oblivion in this engaging picture book biography… Harrington and Taylor have rescued a worthy scientist from obscurity.” —School Library Journal, starred review

2024 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List
NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book
NSTA-CBC Best STEM Book
A CCBC Choice
A Bank Street Best Children’s Book

Meet Charles S. Parker, an unsung yet trailblazing Black scientist who made major contributions to the fields of botany (the study of plants) and mycology (the study of fungi) in this inspiring STEM/STEAM picture book biography from the creators of Buzzing with Questions.

Booklist Editors’ Choice
NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year
Notable Book for a Global Society
Finalist, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award
Eureka! Nonfiction Silver Honor Award (California Reading Association)

★★Four Starred Reviews★★

In the 1960s, Reverend F.D. Reese was a leader of the Voting Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama. As a teacher and principal, he recognized that his colleagues were greatly respected in the city. But, could he convince them to risk their jobs—and perhaps their lives—by organizing a teachers-only march to the county courthouse to demand their right to vote? Demonstrating the power of protest and standing up for a just cause, this acclaimed picture book is an exciting tribute to the educators who participated in the 1965 Selma Teachers’ March.

A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year
NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book
ILA Children’s Book Award Nonfiction Honor
Winner of Bank Street College of Education’s Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for excellence in nonfiction
Chicago Public Library Best Informational Book for Older Readers
Shortlist for inaugural Goddard Riverside CBC Youth Book Prize for Social Justice 
Finalist, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award

★★Four Starred Reviews★★

This book focuses on the bravery and integrity of Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jennings, a Black schoolteacher, who in 1854 fought back when she was unjustly denied entry to a New York City streetcar, sparking the beginnings of the long struggle to gain equal rights on public transportation.

Award-winning author Mara Rockliff and acclaimed illustrator Michele Wood brilliantly capture the rhythms and passions of “Hot Miss Lil” Hardin Armstrong, legendary jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader—and a female pioneer on the music stage.

“Rockliff brings immediacy to her story… (and) Wood’s thickly painted acrylics bring rolling momentum to the pages. A joyful portrait of a musician who made her mark on the jazz world.” —Publishers Weekly

Like all buses in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s, bus #2857 was segregated: white passengers sat in the front, and Black passengers sat in the back. Bus #2857 was ordinary — until a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a major event in the Civil Rights moment, which was led by a young minister named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For 382 days, Black passengers chose to walk rather than ride the buses in Montgomery. This picture book is told from the point of view of the bus, telling its story from the streets where it rode, to its present home in the Henry Ford Museum.

This legendary tale introduces young readers to Molly Williams, an African American cook for New York City’s Fire Company 11, who is considered to be the first known female firefighter in U.S. history. One winter day in 1818, when many of the firefighting volunteers are sick with influenza and a small wooden house is ablaze, Molly jumps into action and helps stop the blaze, proudly earning the nickname Volunteer Number 11.