It’s Black History Month, and this is the stack of incredible books we are reading! Top to bottom, here we go:
The gorgeous board book Be Boy Buzz by bell hooks and illustrated by Chris Raschka is a poetic celebration of boyhood. hooks shows the multifaceted ways that boys exist- loud and quiet, thoughtful and full of movement, always affirming all the ways of being. Raschka’s images capture the action and the solitude perfectly.
Vashti Harrison’s books are always a success for our family, so I knew these two would be favorites. We’ve been reading Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History and Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History to learn more about influential Black people in our world. These books are pretty dense, so we’ve been reading them a little at a time, savoring the details of each person’s life. Harrison always finds the way to balance detailed information about the life and achievements of the subjects with the density of the text so young readers stay engaged.
Your Life Matters by Chris Singleton and illustrations by Taylor Barron is a powerful affirmation of all the ways that Black lives are important. It brilliantly pairs an important quality like courage or a contribution like words with a person in Black culture who exhibited those as well. It serves as a powerful way to show the way those things have made an impact in our world (and will again as the next generation embodies them as well. It also connects current generations to past, reminding kids that they aren’t alone, even when they feel that they are or when world events and racist people make them question their worth.
Misty Copeland and Setor Fiadagbey created the beautiful Bunheads to tell about how Misty’s first ballet class and first balled, Coppélia inspired her to work hard and pursue her dream of becoming a ballerina. It also shows her sweet friendship with a girl in her ballet class. The two provided support and competition to each other, pushing the other to be better. It’s a great story of friendship, hard work, and success. My kids especially loved the vignette sharing the details of the ballet Coppélia.
You probably know that I try not to play favorites, but this book is my favorite of this stack. The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson is beautiful in it’s images as well as the precise, beautiful, poignant text. We absolutely loved the walk through both history and important Black people, both famous and not, in our world. As we build our knowledge of each figure, we found the descriptions of the pages in the back of the book, which shows the names of the people and a brief description of them, to be exactly the right amount of information for my 8 and 5 year olds.
My youngest kid enjoys art, so I wanted to be sure to read Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat with her this month. We found it to be a really amazing blend of high-interest, dense images and just thhe right amound of text to keep her interest and also give wonderful insight into his life, goals, and inspiration. We found the pieces about his relationship with his mother and the impact that had on his artwork fascinating.
The People Remember is one I read with my older kid because of how dense the text is. It’s a powerful telling of the journey of those who were enslaved from when they were taken from their homes to their lives in America, to the ways in which Black people have been forced to come together and found ways to be successful, despite literally all odds. One incredible feature is that Zoboi uses the 7 principles of Kwanzaa to highlight the ways that Black people have found a way in the world.
We would love to know what books you’re reading also this month- and every month about Black Americans and history. As always, if you’re looking to purchase any of these books, the links will take you to my Bookshop page! Thanks for your support!