Children's Books by African American Authors

Ten-year-old Dreenie feels both intrigued and frightened when she thinks about the girl nicknamed Bluish, whose leukemia is making her pale and causing her to use a wheelchair. Ages 8 to 12

Concerned that her grandmother may die, Cammy is unprepared for the accidental death of another relative. Ages 10-14

Although the other animals also feel threatened by the encroachment of humans, only Rundi and Coati journey north in search of a safer place to live. Ages 9 and up

Pretty Pearl, a spirited young African god child eager to show off her powers, travels to the New World where, disguised as a human, she lives among a band of free blacks who have created their own separate world deep inside a vast forest. Ages 11 and up

Twelve-year-old Buhlaire, a "mixed" child who feels out of place in her community, struggles to unearth her past and her family history as she gradually discovers more and more about her long-missing father. Ages 11-13

Already a leader in New York's underground world of homeless children, Buddy Clark takes on the responsibility of protecting the overweight, emotionally disturbed friend with whom he has been playing hooky from eighth grade all semester. Ages 8 and up
Newbery Honor Medal

Fourteen-year-old Tree, resentful of her working mother who leaves her in charge of her intellectually disabled brother, encounters the ghost of her dead uncle and comes to a deeper understanding of her family's problems. Ages 8-12
Newbery Honor Medal

Mama Luka of Harlem had told Lee Edward many stories about Jahdu, including a story with a strong taste, a heavy story, and a story full of mischief, but not until the cool and fresh story does Jahdu assume even a temporary identity. Ages 8 and up

A much-honored author succeeds brilliantly at a new task--telling it like it is at an inner-city magnet school, where black Talley's best friend is white Didi Adair, in love with a drug addict . . . (The characters are) vivid and plausible. . . . Hamilton demonstrates that a popular YA novel can also be a serious literary work of beauty, complexity, and depth.--Kirkus Reviews.

Various people at a backyard picnic offer their comments on a young girl's tightly curled, "nappy" hair.
Ages 3-7

An illustrated story of children from diverse backgrounds who learn and celebrate the fact that we all have a heritage and that we have a lot in common. Ages 5-10

Sara and Susan share tea, cookies, crab cakes, and stories about hats when they visit their favorite relative, Aunt Flossie. Ages 5-8

This luminous and energetic picture book follows a young boy who takes his younger sister on her first trip to school in the Reconstruction-era South. "Papa, Mama, can I go too?" Virgie was always begging to go to school with us boys. My brothers had doubts. School was seven miles away--a long way from Mama. Virgie was scarcely big as a field mouse. How could she make the trip? And girls didn't really need school. But I got to thinking: Virgie was free like we were. Free to learn. And didn't girls need to know how to write and add, too? Mama and Papa thought so. And one summer, they decided to do something about it. That was the year Virgie came to school with us boys. And she sure showed us!

Inspired by his family experiences and his father's paintings, a young boy creates four poems.
Ages 5-9

A young girl and her mother remember together all the girl's favorite stories about her mother's childhood.
Ages 4-8

While visiting his grandfather, Peter hears a story about his father's boyhood that helps him understand his father. Ages 5-9

A novel of social protest that chronicles the lives of the Youngblood family and their friends in Crossroads, Georgia, from the turn of the century to the Great Depression.

A father and son in the low country of South Carolina share special feelings as they spend time together in a variety of activities. Ages 4-8

Long before the sun even thinks of rising the Haitian children run to school where they learn the letters, sounds, and words of their beautiful books. Ages 5-8

A toddler's antics keep his mother busy as she tries to feed him, watch him on the playground, give him a bath, and put him to bed.
Ages 2 and up

Emma has taken care of the Butler children since Sarah and Frances's mother, Fanny, left. Emma wants to raise the girls to have good hearts, as a rift over slavery has ripped the Butler household apart. Now, to pay off debts, Pierce Butler wants to cash in his slave "assets", possibly including Emma. Ages 12 to 15
Coretta Scott King Award

In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam Childs is caught in a conflict between his father's nonviolent approach to seeking civil rights for African Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black Panther Party. Ages 9-14

Michael's love for his great-great-aunt who lives with them leads him to intercede with his mother who wants to toss out all her old things.
Newbery Medal Honor. Ages 6 and up

During the Depression, three young sisters get one baby doll for Christmas and must find a way to share.
Ages 4-8

A collection of ghost stories with African American themes, designed to be told during the Dark Thirty--the half hour before sunset--when ghosts seem all too believable.
Ages 8 and up
Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award

In segregated 1950s Nashville, a young African American girl braves a series of indignities and obstacles to get to one of the few integrated places in town: the public library. Ages 4 and up

Bessey finally cleans up her messy room. Ages 6 and up

A boy learns that the truth is often stretched on the Bayou Clapateaux, and gets the chance to tell his own version of a bayou tale when he goes fishing. Ages 3-7

Through the powers of a magical kente, a black snowman comes to life and helps young Jacob discover the beauty of his black heritage as well as his own self-worth. Ages 4-8

Despite serious obstacles and setbacks Sarah Jean's Uncle Jed, the only black barber in the county, pursues his dream of saving enough money to open his own barbershop. Ages 4-9

A black cat wanders through the streets of a city. Ages 8-11

Ikarus Jackson, the new boy in school, is outcast because he has wings. But his resilient spirit inspires one girl to speak up for him in this thought provoking story about celebrating individuality. Ages 4-8

This 1989 Coretta Scott King Award winner is the story of one young man's tour of duty in Vietnam as well as a testament to the thousands of young people who lived and died during the war.

In 1871 Joshua Loper, a sixteen-year-old black cowboy, records in his journal his experiences while making his first cattle drive under an unsympathetic trail boss. Ages 9 and up

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken. Ages 13 and up
Coretta Scott King Honor Award

Sixteen-year-old Greg Slam Harris can do it all on the basketball court. His grades aren't so hot, though. And when his teachers jam his troubles in his face, Slam blows up. He never doubted himself on the court until he found himself going one on one with his future.

A teenage boy accompanies his father, who has recently escaped from prison, on a trip that turns out to be an, often painful, time of discovery for them both. Ages 13 and up
Newbery Award

Robin Perry, from Harlem, is sent to Iraq in 2003 as a member of the Civilian Affairs Battalion, and his time there profoundly changes him. Ages 12 and up

The acclaimed tale of a lost little bear searching for home from Caldecott Medalist and Coretta Scott King Award winner Kadir Nelson. Baby Bear is lost and afraid. All the other animals try to help: Trust yourself. Sing a song. Retrace your steps. As Baby Bear gains courage with every step, he realizes he was never far from home after all. With poetic text and stunning illustrations, Baby Bear is an impressive addition to the canon of timeless picture book classics. Kadir Nelson's acclaimed books include The Undefeated, winner of the Caldecott Medal as the most distinguished picture book of the year, Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom.

Unusual from the day she is born, Thunder Rose performs all sorts of amazing feats, including building fences, taming a stampeding herd of steers, capturing a gang of rustlers, and turning aside a tornado. Ages 5-8