Ella Queen of Jazz by Helen Hancocks (Ages 5-8):Ella Fitzgerald sang the blues and she sang them good. Ella and her fellas were on the way up! It seemed like nothing could stop her, until the biggest club in town refused to let her play… and all because of her colour. But when all hope seemed lost, little did Ella imagine that a Hollywood star would step in to help.
Hair Love by
Josephine: The dazzling life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell and illustrated by Christian Robinson, Chronicle Books (Ages 10-13): Josephine Baker, possibly one of the most iconic figures of the Jazz Age in the 1920s, was a singer and entertainer who advocated for Civil Rights. This picture book depicts how Josephine worked her way through the slums of St. Louis to the grandest stages in the world.
Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey to the Ballot Box by Michael S. Brandy and Eric Stein and illustrated by James E. Ransome, Candlewick Press (Ages 5-8):Life on the farm with Granddaddy is full of hard work, but despite all the chores, Granddaddy always makes time for play, especially fishing trips. Even when there isn’t a bite to catch, he reminds young Michael that it takes patience to get what’s coming to you. One morning, when Granddaddy heads into town in his fancy suit, Michael knows that something very special must be happening.
Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, Scholastic Press (Ages 4-8): A stirring, dramatic story of a slave who mails himself to freedom by a Jane Addams Peace Award-winning author and a Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist. Henry Brown doesn’t know how old he is. Nobody keeps records of slaves’ birthdays. All the time he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is torn from his family and put to work in a warehouse. Henry grows up and marries, but he is again devastated when his family is sold at the slave market. Then one day, as he lifts a crate at the warehouse, he knows exactly what he must do: He will mail himself to the North. After an arduous journey in the crate, Henry finally has a birthday — his first day of freedom.
The Year We Learned to Fly by
Africa is my Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monica Edinger and illustrated by Robert Byrd, Candlewick Press (Ages 10+): Magulu, born in Africa, was taken captive aboard the Amistad, a Spanish slavery ship when she was nine years old. This first-person narrative is a fictional tale about loss, courage, love and forgiveness.
Black Birds in the Skyby A searing new work of nonfiction from award-winning author Brandy Colbert about the history and legacy of one of the most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre. Winner, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. In the early morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob marched across the train tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and into its predominantly Black Greenwood District—a thriving, affluent neighborhood known as America’s Black Wall Street. They brought with them firearms, gasoline, and explosives.
