African American Booklist
A Celebration of Heritage, Tradition, and Achievement
Timed to coincide with Black History Month, the National Education Association (NEA) has released a comprehensive reading list of 100 titles that celebrate African American heritage, tradition, and achievement.
- A. Philip Randolph: Union Leader and Civil Rights Crusader (African-American Biographies) by Catherine Reef. (Grades 5-8)
- The Adventures of Midnight Son by Denise Lewis Patrick. (Grades 4-8)
- All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals by Ashley Bryan (All grades)
- Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Grades 1-4)
- Arthur Ashe by Caroline Evensen Lazo (Grades 5-8)
- Aunt Clara Brown, Official Pioneer by Linda Lowery (Grades 2-4)
- One More Valley, One More Hill: The Story of Aunt Clara Brown by Linda Lowery (Grades 6 and up)
- Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by James Ransome (Grades K-3)
- Bigmama's by Donald Crews (Grades PreK-2)
- The Black Cowboys by Gina De Angelis (Grades 5-8)
- The Black Snowman by Phil Mendez (Grades 3-5)
- Black Wheels by Michael Halperin (Grades 8 and up)
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Grades 11 and up)
- Booker T. Washington: A Modern Moses by Lois P. Nicholson (Grades 4-7)
- Born in Sin by Evelyn Coleman (Grades 7 and up)
- Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea by Joyce Carol Thomas (All grades)
- Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Grades 4-7)
- Carter G. Woodson: The Man Who Put "Black" in American History by James Haskins (Grades 4-6)
- Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson (Grades 6 and up)
- Cassie's Word Quilt Faith Ringgold (Grades PreK-K)
- Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali by James Haskins (Grades 3-6)
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Grades 10 and up)
- Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America by James Haskins and Kathleen Benson (Grades 6 and up)
- Don't Say Ain't by Irene Smalls (Grades 2-4)
- Ellington Was Not a Street by Ntozake Shange (All grades)
- Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America by Francis Bok (Grades 8 and up)
- Especially Heroes by Virginia L. Kroll (Grades 3-5)
- The Fire Next Time by James A. Baldwin (Grades 10 and up)
- Fishing Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Grades K-3).
- Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriett Gillem Robinet (Grades 4-7)
- Frederick Douglass: Leader against Slavery Patricia and Fredrick McKissack (Grades 1-4)
- Freedom River by Doreen Rappaport (Grades 2-5)
- Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan (Grades 5-9)
- Goin' Someplace Special by Pat McKissack (Grades 2-5)
- Hold Fast to Dreams by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Grades 5 and up)
- Hush by Jacqueline Woodson (Grades 7 and up)
- I Dream of Trains by Angela Johnson (Grades PreK-2)
- I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley (Grades PreK-2)
- Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement by Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin (Grades 5 and up)
- In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers illustrated by Javaka Steptoe (Grades 3 and up)
- In My Momma's Kitchen by Jerdine Nolan (Grades K-3)
- In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems by Eloise Greenfield (Grades 2-6)
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Grades 11 and up)
- Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom by Charles A. Taylor (Grades 4-7)
- Kings and Queens of West Africa by Sylviane Anna Diouf (Grades 4-7)
- The Land by Mildred D. Taylor (Grades 6 and up)
- A Lesson for Martin Luther King Jr. by Denise Lewis Patrick (Grades K-2)
- Like Sisters on the Homefront Rita Williams-Garcia (Grades 8 and up)
- Lookin' for Bird in the Big City by Robert Burleigh (Grades 1-3)
- Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America by Nathan McCall (Grades 10 and up)
- Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers (Grades 5 and up)
- Mansa Musa by Khephra Burns (Grades 3-6)
- Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport (Grades PreK-3)
- Masai and I by Virginia Kroll (Grades 2-4)
- Me and Uncle Romie: A Story Inspired by the Life and Art of Romare Bearden by Claire Hartfield. (Grades 1-4)
- The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson (Grades 11 and up)
- Money Hungry by Sharon G. Flake (Grades 7-9)
- More than Anything Else by Marie Bradby (Grades K-3)
- Native Son by Richard Wright (Grades 11 and up)
- A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew A. Henson (Grades 8 and up)
- Night Golf by William Miller (Grades 2-4)
- Oh Lord, I Wish I Was a Buzzard by Polly Greenberg (Grades PreK-K)
- Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth by Anne Rockwell (Grades 2-5)
- Papa's Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert (Grades 1-3)
- Pass it on: African-American Poetry for Children edited by Wade Hudson (Grades K-5)
- The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton (All grades)
- Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women by Maya Angelou (Grades 8 and up)
- Pictures for Miss Josie by Sandra Belton (Grades K-4)
- Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles-Think of That by Leo and Diane Dillon.(Grades PreK-2)
- The Return of Gabriel by John Armistead (Grades 5-8)
- Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller (Grades 2-5)
- Rock of Ages : A Tribute to the Black Church by Tonya Bolden (Grades K-3)
- Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley (Grades 11 and up)
- Separate but Not Equal: The Dream and the Struggle by James Haskins (Grades 7 and up)
- Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela Shelf Medearis (Grades 2-5)
- Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth (Grades 2-4)
- The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois (Grades 10 and up)
- Sounder by William H. Armstrong (Grades 4-7)
- Stealing Freedom by Elisa Carbone (Grades 6-10)
- A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson by Michelle Y. Green (Grades 4-7)
- Sukey and the Mermaid by Robert D. San Souci (Grades K-3)
- Summer Snow: Reflections from a Black Daughter of the South by Trudier Harris (Grades 11 and up)
- Sunday Week by Dinah Johnson. Henry Holt, 1999 (Grades PreK-2)
- Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson (Grades K-3)
- Taking Liberty: The Story of Oney Judge, George Washington's Runaway Slave by Ann Rinaldi (Grades 6 and up)
- Talkin' About Bessie by Nikki Grimes (Grades 3-6)
- Talking With Tebé: Clementine Hunter, Memory Artist by Mary E. Lyons (Grades 5 and up)
- Tambourine Moon by Joy Jones (Grades K-2)
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (Grades 11 and up)
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Grades 10 and up)
- Through My Eyes: The Autobiography of Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges (Grades 4 and up)
- To Be a Slave by Julius Lester (Grades 5 and up)
- Tree of Hope by Amy Littlesugar (Grades K-3)
- Twelve Travelers, Twenty Horses by Harriette Gillem Robinet (Grades 5-7)
- Uncle Jed's Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell (Grades PreK-3)
- Virgie Goes to School With Us Boys by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard (Grades 2-5)
- Vision of Beauty: the Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker by Kathryn Lasky (Grades 3-6)
- Visiting Langston by Willie Perdomo (Grades 2-4)
- The Watsons Go To Birmingham- 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis (Grades 4-7)
- When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Munoz Ryan (Grades K-3)
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