Black History Month Reading List

1

47 (Mosley)

2

A Band of Angels: A Story Inspired by the Jubilee Singers (Hopkinson)

3

A Middle School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams (Wynn 2007)

4

An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting (Schroff 2012)

5

Away West (McKissack 2006)

6

Backyard Animal Show, The (Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs #5) (Draper 2006)

7

Bad News for Outlaws (Nelson)

8

Barack (Winter)

9

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope (Grimes)

10

Begging for Change (Flake 2004)

11

Between Madison and Palmetto (Book #3) (Woodson 2002)

12

Bird in a Box (Pinkney)

13

Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson (Smith)

14

Black Pioneers of Science and Invention (Haber 1992)

15

Bud, Not Buddy (Curtis 2004)

16

Buried Bones Mystery, The (Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs #1) (Draper 2006)

17

Catching the Dream: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream (Hubbard 2010)

18

Chess Rumble (Neri 2007)

19

Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love (McKissack 2000)

20

Curtis Aikens and the American Dream (Rather)

21

Darnell Rock Reporting (Myers 1996)

22

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave (Hill)

23

Don’t Quit – Inspirational Poetry (Wynn 1998)

24

Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama (Obama 2004)

25

Elijah of Buxton (Curtis, 2007)

26

Every Little Thing: Based on the song ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley (Marley 2012)

27

Follow Your Dreams: Lessons That I Learned in School (Wynn 2000)

28

Forged by Fire (Draper, 1998)

29

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins (Weatherford 2007)

30

Friendship for Today, A (McKissack 2007)

31

Ghetto Cowboy (Neri)

32

Gifted Hands, Kids Edition: The Ben Carson Story (Lewis 2009)

33

Glory Be (Scattergood)

34

Go for It! (Ervin “Magic” Johnson/Novak)

35

Goin’ Someplace Special (McKissack)

36

Grandfather and I (Buckley)

37

Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America (Pinkney 2012)

38

Handbook for Boys (Myers 2003)

39

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands (Nelson 2005)

40

Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad (Levine)

41

Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat (Giovanni 2008)

42

Home-Run King (Scraps of Time) (McKissack 2009)

43

Hoops (Myers 1983)

44

Hot, Salty, Sweet, Sour (Smith 2003)

45

How to (Almost) Ruin Your School Play (Willimena Rules! Book #4) (Wesley 2005)

46

How to Face Up to the Class Bully (Willimena Rules! Book #6) (Wesley 2007)

47

Hush (Woodson 2002)

48

I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This (Woodson 2010)

49

I love The Skin I’m In (Flake 1998)

50

I Survived #7: I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 (Tarshis 2013)

51

It’s Crunch Time! (Brewer 2011)

52

Jackson Jones and Mission Greentop (Book #1) (Quattlebaum 2005)

53

Jackson Jones and the Curse of the Outlaw Rose (Book #3) (Quattlebaum 2008)

54

Jackson Jones and the Puddle of Thorns (Book #2) (Quattlebaum 2005)

55

John Henry (Lester)

56

Jones Family Express, The (Steptoe 2005)

57

Julian’s Glorious Summer (Cameron 1987)

58

Junebug in Trouble (Mead 2003)

59

Juneteenth: Freedom Day (Branch)

60

Keena Ford and the Field Trip Mix-Up (Thomson 2009)

61

Keena Ford and the Second-Grade Mix-Up (Thomson 2008)

62

Keeping the Night Watch (2008)

63

Laugh with the Moon (Burg)

64

Letters to Young Black Men (Whyte, III)

65

Lift Every Voice and Sing (Johnson)

66

Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship (Giovanni)

67

Locomotion (Woodson 2003)

68

Looking Like Me (Myers)

69

Lost in the Tunnel of Time (Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs #2) (Draper 2006)

70

Love to Langston (Medina)

71

March: Book 1 (Rep. John Lewis & Andrew Aydin 2013)

72

Meet Danitra Brown (Grimes 1997)

73

Miami Sees it Through (Miami Jackson series) (McKissack 2001)

74

Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman (Schroeder 2000)

75

Mister and Me (Holt 2000)

76

More Stories Julian Tells (Cameron 1989)

77

More Than Anything Else (The Story of Booker T. Washington) (Bradby 1995)

78

My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Christine King Farris)

79

My Life as a Rhombus (Johnson 2008)

80

My Man Blue (Grimes 2002)

81

Nelson Mandela (Kadir 2013)

82

Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of “Brave Bessie” coleman (Lindbergh)

83

One Crazy Summer (Williams-Garcia 2011)

84

Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth (Rockwell)

85

Out of My Mind (Draper 2010)

86

P.S. Be Eleven (Williams-Garcia 2013)

87

Peace, Locomotion (Woodson 2009)

88

Percy Julian: Forgotten Genius (Agard)

89

Pink and Say (Polacco 1994)

90

Remember: The Journey to School Integration (Morrison)

91

Richard Wright and the Library Card (Miller)

92

Rock of Ages: A Tribute to the Black Church (Bolden)

93

Romiette and Julio (Draper 2001)

94

Rosa (Giovanni)

95

Ruby Flips for Attention (Ruby and the Booker Boys) (Barnes 2009)

96

Ruth and the Green Book (Ramsey 2010)

97

Shadows of Caesar’s Creek (Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs #3) (Draper 2006)

98

Shimmershine Queens (Yarbrough 1996)

99

Show Way (Woodson 2005)

100

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down (Pinkney)

101

Slumber Party Payback (Ruby and the Booker Boys) (Barnes 2008)

102

Song for Harlem (McKissack 2006)

103

Sounder (Armstrong 2002)

104

Space Mission Adventure, The (Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs #4) (Draper 2006)

105

Sparrow (Smith 2008)

106

Spellbound (McDonald 2001)

107

Stars and Sparks Onstage (Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs #6) (Draper 2007)

108

STAT: Standing Tall and Talented #1 (Stoudemire 2012)

109

Street Love (Myers 2007)

110

Sunrise Over Fallujah (Myers 2008)

111

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (Hopkinson 2003)

112

Sweet Hereafter (Heaven Trilogy #3) (Johnson 2010)

113

Sweet Music In Harlem (Taylor 2004)

114

Taking the Lead (Moore 2012)

115

Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman (Grimes 2002)

116

Tears of Tiger (Draper 1994)

117

The Bat Boy and His Violin (Curtis 2001)

118

The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street (Flake 2007)

119

The Colors of Us (Katz 2002)

120

The Eagles who Thought They were Chickens (Wynn 1999)

121

The Other Half of My Heart (Frazier)

122

The Pact (Jenkins, Hunt, Davis, 2002)

123

The poem, “Our Deepest Fear” (Williamson 1992)

124

The Story of Ruby Bridges (Coles)

125

The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill)

126

The Village That Vanished (Nelson 2004)

127

There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America (Kotlowitz 1992)

128

Trivia Queen, 3rd Grade Supreme (Ruby and the Booker Boys) (Barnes 2008)

129

Under the Quilt of Night (Hopkinson 2005)

130

Vision of Beauty: The Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker (Lasky 2003)

141

Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963 (Curtis 2000)

142

Way a Door Closes, The (Smith 2003)

143

We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Led to Success (Davis, Jenkins, Hunt 2006)

144

We March (Evans)

145

What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors (Abdul-Jabbar 2012)

146

When Harriet Met Sojourner (Clinton 2007)

147

When Marian Sang (Ryan 2003)

148

Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art (Rochelle)

149

You Can Do It! (Dungy 2008)

150

Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty (Neri 2010)

1

Yo, Little Brother: Basic Rules of Survival for Young African American Males. Anthony C. Davis and Jeffrey W. Jackson. (1998).

2

Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out. Farrah Gray. (2005).

3

A High School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams (Wynn 2007)

4

There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America (Kotlowitz 1992)

5

Workin’ on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History. Walter Mosley. (2000).

6

The Pact (Jenkins, Hunt, Davis, 2002)

7

A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League. Ron Suskind. (1999).

8

Rite of Passage. Richard Wright. (1994).

9

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope (Grimes)

11

The Magnificent Twelve: Florida’s Black Junior Colleges, – Smith, Ph.D., Walter L.

12

Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem, – Nelson, Marilyn

13

Carver: A Life in Poems, – Nelson, Marilyn

14

Malcolm X: – Any Means Necessary, – Myers, Walter Dean

15

Mississippi Challenge, – Walter, Mildred Pitts

16

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Movement, – Patters, Lillie

17

We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Led to Success, – Davis, Sampson, Jenkins, George, Hunt, Rameck and Draper, Sharon

19

Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave, – Hamilton, Virginia

20

Trouble’s Child, – Walter, Mildred Pitts

21

The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl, – Hamilton, Virginia

22

Lena Horne – Haskins, James

23

The Middle Passage: White Ships Black Cargo, – Feelings, Tom

24

This Life, – Poitier, Sidney

25

Don’t Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday, – De Veaux, Alexis

26

The Young Landlords, – Myers, Walter Dean

27

James Van Der Zee: The Picture Takin’ Man, – Haskins, James

28

Let the Lion Eat Straw – Southerland, Ellease

29

Cornrows, – Yarborough, Camille

30

Benjamin Banneker, – Patterson, Lillie

34

I Have a Dream, – King, Martin Luther, Jr.

35

Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of Booker T. Washington, – Stewart, Ruth Ann

36

The Legend of Africana, – Robinson, Dorothy

37

I Never Had It Made: the Autobiography of Jackie Robinson, as told, – Duckett, Alfred

38

My Chill Wind, – McDonald, Janet

39

Lou in the Limelight – Hunter, Kristin

40

Movin’ Up, – Gordy, Berry

41

Marvin and Tige – Glass, Frankcina

42

Black Troubador: Langston Hughes, – Rollins, Charlemae

43

Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace – Patterson, Lillie

44

Black Boy White School – Brian F. Walker

45

The First Part Last, – Johnson, Angela

46

Just Another Hero, – Draper, Sharon M.

47

Remember: The Journey to School Integration, – Morrison, Toni

49

A Wreath For Emmett Till, – Nelson, Marilyn

50

The Freedom Business, – Nelson, Marilyn

51

Street Love, – Myers, Walter Dean

53

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing – Traitor to the Nation, – Anderson, M. T.

54

Mare’s War – Davis, Tanita S.

55

The Negro Speaks of Rivers, – Hughes, Langston and Lewis, E. B.

56

Giants: The Parallel lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, – Stauffer, John

57

College Planning for High School Students: A Quick Guide (Wynn, 2007)

58

The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream, – Davis, Sampson, Jenkins, George, Hunt, Rameck, with Page, Lisa Frazier

59

Black, Blue, and Gray: African Americans in the Civil War, Haskins, Jim

60

Black Boy, Wright, Richard

61

A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry, Lorraine

62

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston, Zora Neale

63

Mining for Freedom: Black History Meets the California Gold Rush, Roberts, Sylvia Alden

64

Letters to Young Black Men (Whyte, III)

65

Copper Sun – Sharon M. Draper

66

The Skin I’m In – Sharon G. Flake

67

Madame Lilly, Voodoo Priestess – Dormaine G. –

68

Tears of a Tiger – Sharon M. Draper –

69

November Blues – Sharon M. Draper –

70

Romiette and Julio – Sharon M. Draper –

71

Forged – Fire – Sharon M. Draper –

72

Games We Play: A Novel – Toni Westbrooks

73

Begging for Change – Sharon G. Flake

74

Money Hungry – Sharon G. Flake

75

Bronx Masquerade – Nikki Grimes

76

The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcolm X

77

Monster – Walter Dean Myers

78

Day of Tears – Julius Lester

79

Who Am I Without Him?: A Short Story Collection about Girls and Boys in Their Lives – Sharon G. Flake

80

Darkness Before Dawn – Sharon M. Draper –

81

Miracle’s Boys – Jacqueline Woodson –

82

The Battle of Jericho – Sharon M. Draper –

83

Bud, Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis

84

Jason & Kyra – Dana Davidson

85

If You Come Softly – Jacqueline Woodson –

87

The Coldest Winter Ever – Sister Souljah

88

Feathers – Jacqueline Woodson –

90

Lady J – L. Divine –

91

Street Love – Walter Dean Myers

92

Autobiography of My Dead Brother – Walter Dean Myers

93

The Fight – L. Divine –

94

Played – Dana Davidson

95

Twelve Years a Slave – Solomon Northup

97

New Boy – Julian Houston

98

Hip-Hop High School – Alan Sitomer –

99

What is the What – Dave Eggers

100

The Battle for Jericho (Gant)

101

Bang! – Sharon G. Flake

102

47 – Walter Mosley

104

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – Frederick Douglass

105

Transformers (Foster)

106

Second Chance – L. Divine –

107

Brother Hood – Janet McDonald

108

Project Girl (McDonald)

109

Harlem Hustle – Janet McDonald

110

The Thunder in His Head – Gene Gant –

111

The Hoopster (Stiomer)

112

Bucking the Sarge – Christopher Paul Curtis

113

The Bully (Bluford, #5) – Paul Langan –

114

Emako Blue – Brenda Woods

115

What They Found: Love on 145th Street   Walter Dean Myers

117

Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers – Tanya Lee Stone –

118

The Freedom Maze – Delia Sherman

119

Fallen Angels – Walter Dean Myers

120

The Eagles who Thought They were Chickens (Wynn 1999)

121

Chameleon (Smith, Jr.)

122

Courtin’ Jayd – L. Divine –

123

Thugs and the Women Who Love Them (Thug #1) – Wahida Clark –

124

Don’t Tell Your Cousin – Veronica E. Kelly –

125

Peculiar, INC (The Charismatic Chronicles, #1) – C.S.R. Calloway –

126

Belle and the Beau – Beverly Jenkins

127

Hustlin’  – L. Divine –

128

Keep It Movin’  – L. Divine –

129

Chausiku: The Secret Gambit (Chausiku, #2) – Pamela E. Cash –

130

Geek – boy Equals (Knight)

141

The Beast – Walter Dean Myers

142

My Bondage and My Freedom – Frederick Douglass

143

Sweet Thang – Allison Whittenberg –

144

First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School (Stewart 2013)

145

Raw (Tony Hawk: Live2Skate) (Hoena 2013)

146

Tyrell – Coe Booth –

147

Re-Divining Self – Nikala Asante –

148

The Tiger Rising (DiCamillo)

149

All the Right Stuff (Myers)

150

Motown and Didi – Walter Dean Myers

After Tupac and D Foster (Woodson)

Blood is Thicker (Langan)

Boy21 (Quick)

Brothers in Arms (Langan)

Dirty Jersey (Duck)

DJ Rising (Maia)

Don’t Quit – Inspirational Poetry (Wynn 1998)

Fake ID (Giles)

First Semester (Cross, II)

Follow Your Dreams: Lessons That I Learned in School (Wynn 2000)

If I Were Your Boyfriend (Sewell)

Schooled (Langan)

Secrets in the Shadows (Schraff)

Shortie Like Mine (Simone)

Somewhere in the Darkness (Myers)

The Eagles who Thought They were Chickens (Wynn 1999)

The Fallen (Langan)

The Gun (Langan)

Transcendence (Omololu)

Until We Meet Again (Schraff)