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Celebrate a nation of diverse readers with these recommended books, authors, and teaching resources.
Join us

Claim Freedom

Encourage students to explore how reading can be a path to personal and collective freedom. When students understand the power of education, they can challenge injustice and help shape a more equitable world.
By: National Education Association
Published: August 1, 2025

Books of the month:

Books of the month:

Elementary

They Call Me Teach: Lessons in Freedom

Book cover of They Call Me Teach showing an illustration of black children in a barn learning the letter G from a Black man

They Call Me Teach: Lessons in Freedom

by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Having secretly learned to read and write, a young Black enslaved boy surreptitiously teaches those skills to others in stables, moonlit fields, and cabins.
Learn more

Middle Grade

Will's Race for Home

Book cover or Will's Race for Home showing an black boy intensively riding a horse against an orange sky backdrop

Will's Race for Home

by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Tired of working on land they don’t get to own, Will and his father journey from Texas to Oklahoma during the land rush of 1889, racing thousands of others to stake a claim for their Black family.
Learn more

Young Adult

Up in Smoke

Book cover of Up in Smoke that shows two footprints in a gray background with the title of the book in red

Up in Smoke

by Nick Brooks

When her brother is arrested for the murder of a woman at an anti–police violence protest, Black teen poet and activist Monique teams up with her childhood friend Cooper to find the real culprit, unaware that Cooper is hiding a critical truth that could destroy them both.
Learn more

Related Events

Feb

1-28

Black History Month

Celebrate Black History Month with our Read Across America African American Booklist.

Feb

1-28

National African American Read-In

Join in by reading and sharing books by African American authors.
Celebrate a nation of diverse readers with these recommended books, authors, and teaching resources.
A woman and her son use a laptop together

Join Our Community of Readers

Are you a teacher, librarian, educator, author, or devoted book worm? Join the Read Across America Facebook group to share resources, ideas, and experiences as we celebrate a nation of diverse readers.
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