Children’s Literature by Black Authors
A selection of books by Black authors and Illustrators for children of all ages
Large Print
Large Print
Time’s Memory
Child fiction book, and large print. Ekundayo, a Dogon spirit brought to America from Africa, inhabits the body of a young African American slave on a Virginia plantation, where he experiences loss, sorrow, and reconciliation in the months preceding the Civil War. Age: 12-16.
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Spanish Language
Spanish Language
Last Stop on Market Street
Child picture book, e-book, DVD, e-video, and audiobook on CD. Also available in Spanish. Illustrated by Christian Robinson. A young boy rides the bus across town with his grandmother and learns to appreciate the beauty in everyday things. Age: 3-6.
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Fiction
Fiction
Booked
Child fiction book, e-book, audiobook on cd, and e-audiobook. Twelve-year-old Nick loves soccer and hates books, but soon learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams. Age: 10-15.
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Fiction
The Crossover
Child fiction book, e-book, e-audiobook, and graphic novel. Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health. Age: 10-15.
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Fiction
Hurricane Child
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. Born on Water Island in the Virgin Islands during a hurricane, which is considered bad luck, twelve-year-old Caroline falls in love with another girl--and together they set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother. Age: 8-12.
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Fiction
Like Vanessa
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. It is 1983 and Vanessa Martin, a thirteen-year-old African American girl in Newark's public housing, dreams of following in the footsteps of the first black Miss America, Vanessa Williams; but the odds are against her until a new teacher at school organizes a beauty pageant and encourages Vanessa to enter. Age: 10+
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Fiction
So Done
Child fiction book. “When best friends Metai and Jamila are reunited after a summer apart, their friendship threatens to combust from the pressure of secrets, middle school, and looming auditions for a potentially life-changing new talented-and-gifted program."-- Provided by publisher. Age: 10-13.
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Fiction
Finding Langston
Child fiction book, e-book and audiobook. Discovering a book of Langston Hughes' poetry in the library helps Langston cope with the loss of his mother, relocating from Alabama to Chicago as part of the Great Migration, and being bullied. Age: 8-11.
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Fiction
My Name is Phillis Wheatley: A Story of Slavery and Freedom
Child fiction book. A novelization of the life and hardships faced by Phillis Wheatley, whose home on the edge of the African desert was destroyed by slave traders. After she is sold to Susanna Wheatley, Phillis is taught to read and write poetry. Age: 10-13.
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Fiction
Bud, not Buddy
Child fiction book, e-book, audiobook on cd, and e-audiobook. Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids. Age: 10 - 13.
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Fiction
Elijah of Buxton
Child fiction book, e-book, audiobook on CD, e-audiobook, and large print. In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom. Age: 9-13.
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Fiction
The Journey of Little Charlie
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. When his poor sharecropper father is killed in an accident and leaves the family in debt, twelve-year-old Little Charlie agrees to accompany fearsome plantation overseer Cap'n Buck north in pursuit of people who have stolen from him; Cap'n Buck tells Little Charlie that his father's debt will be cleared when the fugitives are captured, which seems like a good deal until Little Charlie comes face-to-face with the people he is chasing. Age: 9-12.
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Fiction
The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963
Child fiction book, e-book, audiobook on cd, and e-audiobook. The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963. Age: 10-13.
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Fiction
Blended
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. Piano-prodigy Isabella, eleven, whose black father and white mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged, and she and her stepbrother are stopped by police. Age: 9-12.
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Fiction
Stella by Starlight
Child fiction book, e-book, audiobook on cd, and e-audiobook. When a burning cross set by the Klan causes panic and fear in 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina, fifth-grader Stella must face prejudice and find the strength to demand change in her segregated town. Age: 9-12.
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Fiction
Dragons in a Bag
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. First book in the Dragons in a Bag series. In Brooklyn, nine-year-old Jax joins Ma, a curmudgeonly witch who lives in his building, on a quest to deliver three baby dragons to a magical world, and along the way discovers his true calling. Age: 7-10.
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Fiction
Jazmin’s Notebook
Child fiction book. Jazmin, an Afro-American teenager who lives with her older sister in a small Harlem apartment in the 1960s, finds strength in writing poetry and keeping a record of the events in her sometimes difficult life. Age: 10-14.
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Fiction
House of Dies Drear
Child fiction large print, and e-audiobook. A black family tries to unravel the secrets of their new home which was once a stop on the Underground Railroad. Age: 10-13.
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Fiction
The Parker Inheritance
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. Twelve-year-old Candice Miller is spending the summer in Lambert, South Carolina, in the old house that belonged to her grandmother, who died after being dismissed as city manager for having the city tennis courts dug up looking for buried treasure--but when she finds the letter that sent her grandmother on the treasure hunt, she finds herself caught up in the mystery and, with the help of her new friend and fellow book-worm, Brandon, she sets out to find the inheritance, exonerate her grandmother, and expose an injustice once committed against an African American family in Lambert. Age: 8-12.
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Fiction
Standing Against the Wind
Child fiction. As she tries to escape her poor Chicago neighborhood by winning a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school, shy and studious eighth-grader Patrice discovers that she has more options in life than she previously realized. Age: 11-14.
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Fiction
Time’s Memory
Child fiction book, and large print. Ekundayo, a Dogon spirit brought to America from Africa, inhabits the body of a young African American slave on a Virginia plantation, where he experiences loss, sorrow, and reconciliation in the months preceding the Civil War. Age: 12-16.
Where to Find:
Fiction
For Black Girls Like Me
Child fiction book. Eleven-year-old Makeda dreams of meeting her African American mother, while coping with serious problems in her white adopted family, a cross-country move, and being homeschooled. Age: 9-12.
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Fiction
The Season of Styx Malone
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. Caleb Franklin and his younger brother, Bobby Gene, spend an extraordinary summer with their new, older neighbor, Styx Malone, a foster boy from the city. Age: 9-12.
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Fiction
Tight
Child fiction book. After his quick-tempered father gets in a fight and is sent back to jail, sixth-grader Bryan, known for being quiet and thoughtful, snaps and follows new friend Mike into trouble. Age: 10+
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Fiction
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. Seventh-grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up and steals Eddie's notebook. Tristan chases after it, and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to get it away from the creature, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves? Age: 8-12.
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Fiction
Kingston and the Magician's Lost and Found
Child fiction book. Returning to Brooklyn, where his magician-father disappeared years before, twelve-year-old Kingston learns that magic is real and that if he enters the Realm, he might get his father back. Grade: 4+
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Fiction
Ikenga
Child fiction book, and e-book. In southeastern Nigeria, twelve-year-old Mnamdi is determined to avenge his police chief father, who was murdered while tryng to rid the town of criminals, but Nnamdi feels powerless until he receives a magical object which gives him superpowers. Grade: 4+
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Fiction
The Red Pencil
Child fiction book, and e-audiobook. “After her tribal village is attacked by militants, Amira, a young Sudanese girl, must flee to safety at a refugee camp, where she finds hope and the chance to pursue an education in the form of a single red pencil and the friendship and encouragement of a wise elder."-- Provided by publisher. Age: 10-13.
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Fiction
A Good Kind of Trouble
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. After attending a powerful protest, Shayla starts wearing an armband to school to support the Black Lives Matter movement, but when the school gives her an ultimatum, she is forced to choose between her education and her identity. Age: 8-12.
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Fiction
Ghost
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. First book in the Track series. “Ghost, a naturally talented runner and troublemaker, is recruited for an elite middle school track team. He must stay on track, literally and figuratively, to reach his full potential."-- Provided by publisher. Age: 10-13.
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Fiction
Look Both Ways : A Tale Told in Ten Blocks
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. “A collection of ten short stories that all take place in the same day about kids walking home from school."-- Provided by publisher. Age: 10-14.
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Fiction
Black Brother, Black Brother
Child fiction book. Suspended unjustly from elite Middlefield Prep, Donte Ellison studies fencing with a former champion, hoping to put the racist fencing team captain in his place. Age: 10-13.
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Fiction
Ghost Boys
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. “After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a white police officer, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till."-- Provided by publisher. Age: 10+
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Fiction
The Hero Two Doors Down : Based on the True Story of Friendship between a Boy and a Baseball Legend
Child fiction book, and e-audiobook. Eight-year-old Steve Satlow is thrilled when Jackie Robinson moves into his Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn in 1948, although many of his neighbors are not, and when Steve actually meets his hero he is even more excited--and worried that a misunderstanding over a Christmas tree could damage his new friendship. Age: 8-10.
Where to Find:
Fiction
Betty before X
Child fiction book, and e-audiobook. Raised by her aunt until she is six, Betty, who will later marry Malcolm X, joins her mother and stepfamily in 1940s Detroit, where she learns about the civil rights movement. Age: 10-14.
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Fiction
Black Panther : The Young Prince
Child fiction book, e-book, and e-audiobook. “He felt the mesh of the Vibranium under his fingertips, smooth yet hard at the same time. It almost seemed like it pulsed. Like it wanted to be worn. ‘This is the suit of the Black Panther,’ T'Challa whispered. ‘The suit of my father and his father before him’. He let the fabric fall from his hands and unfurl toward the floor. ‘I have to do this,’ he said. ‘I have no choice.’” Age: 8-12.
Where to Find:
Fiction
Flygirl
Child fiction book. During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Age: 11+
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Fiction
Clean Getaway
Child fiction book, and e-book. An 11-year-old boy confronts the realities of race relations, past and present, and the mysterious agenda of his unconventional grandmother during an unplanned spring break road trip through the once-segregated American South. Age: 8-12.
Where to Find:
Fiction
Celeste's Harlem Renaissance
Child fiction book. In 1921, thirteen-year-old Celeste leaves North Carolina to stay with her glamorous Aunt Valentina in Harlem, New York, where she discovers the vibrant Harlem Renaissance in full swing, even though her aunt's life is not exactly what she was led to believe. Age: 9-12.
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Fiction
Let the Circle Be Unbroken
Child fiction book. Part of the Logan Family Saga, this is the sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Four black children growing up in rural Mississippi during the Depression experience racial antagonisms and hard times, but learn from their parents the pride and self-respect they need to survive. Age: 11-13.
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