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100 Read Aloud Books for Black History Month and Beyond 

It’s finally the second month of 2018 and also Black History Month! We celebrate Black Excellence in our home daily and our home library has expanded over the years with all sorts of amazing books, fiction and non-fiction about our history and ancestors. I make it a point to immerse my children with the knowledge of why we are great, and why our black community is known for so many amazing things. I created this list from some of the books we have on our home bookshelf and some books we’ve checked out from the library. They are great for all ages, because even my 12 year old can still benefit from listening to a story being read aloud, and use his imagination. I’m hoping this list of books will benefit your children as well!

 

100 Read Aloud Books for Black History Month

(clicking on each picture will take you to the book)

1. Trombone Shorty by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews

2. Hair Like Mine by LaTashia M. Perry

3. I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont

4. Chocolate Me! by Taye Diggs

5. Please, baby, Please by Spike Lee & Tonya Lewis Lee

6. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison

7. I Love My Hair by Natasha Tarpley

8. Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest Episode 2: The Ladek Invasion by Marti Dumas

9. The Matatu by Eric Walters

10. The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

11. Bedtime Inspirational Stories: 50 Amazing Black People Who Changed the World by L.A. Amber

12. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes

13. Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton

14. Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper

15. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

16. Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia

17. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford

18. Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson

19. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

20. A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

21. Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes

22. Harlem’s Little Blackbird by Renée Watson

23. Jazz Age Josephine: Dancer, singer—who’s that, who? Why, that’s MISS Josephine Baker, to you! by Jonah Winter

24. How the Leopard Got His Claws by Chinua Achebe

25. Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl by Tonya Bolden

26. The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

27. Anna Carries Water by Olive Senior

28. March: Book One by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin

29. Max and the Tag-Along Moon by Floyd Cooper

30. Molly, by Golly!: The Legend of Molly Williams, America’s First Female Firefighter

31. Bad News For Outlaws: The Remarkable Life Of Bass Reeves, Deputy U. S. Marshal by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

32. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe

33. Jazz by Walter Dean Myers

34. Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

35. Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove

36. Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

37. The Great Migration: An American Story by Jacob Lawrence

38. Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, And True Tales (Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner) by Virginia Hamilton

39. Only Passing Through by Anne F. Rockwell

40. Dancing In The Wings by Debbie Allen

41. Kevin And His Dad by Irene Smalls

42. Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse

43. Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron

44. Early Sunday Morning by Denene Millner

45. The People Could Fly Picture Book by Virginia Hamilton

46. Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolen

47. The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake

48. Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine

49. The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington

50. My Friend Maya Loves To Dance by Cheryl Willis Hudson

51. In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage by Alan Schroeder

52. The Nutcracker in Harlem by T. E. McMorrow

53. Sugar Hill: Harlem’s Historic Neighborhood by Carole Boston Weatherford

54. Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra by Andrea Davis Pinkney

55. Who Was Louis Armstrong? by Yona Zeldis McDonough

56. Entrance Place of Wonders: Poems of the Harlem Renaissance by Daphne Muse

57. Black Pioneers of Science and Invention by Louis Haber

58. 100 African-Americans Who Shaped American History by Chrisanne Beckner

59. Bronzeville Boys and Girls by Gwendolyn Brooks and Faith Ringgold

60. Hidden Figures – Young Readers Edition by Margot Lee Shetterly

61. We Are Shining by Gwendolyn Brooks and Jan Spivey Gilchrist

62. Zoe in Wonderland by Brenda Woods

63. Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson

64. The Poems of Phillis Wheatley: With Letters and a Memoir by Phillis Wheatley

65. The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes

66. One Hot Summer Day by Nina Crews

67. The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds

68. Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens by Nina Nolan

69. When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Munoz Ryan

70. Take a Picture of Me, James Van Der Zee! by Andrea J. Loney

71. Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford

72. Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed

73. Hijab-ista by Jamila Mapp

74. There is Greatness In Me by Ameenah Muhammad-Diggins and Amaya Diggins

75. Blacksmith’s Song by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk

76. Books and Bricks: How a School Rebuilt the Community by Sindiwe Magona & Ellen Mayer

77. Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World by Susan Hood & Sophie Blackall

78. Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly and Laura Freeman

79. Love by Matt de la Pena & Loren Long

80. Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson

81. Before She was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome

82. Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X by Ilyasah Shabazz

83. Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins

84. Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Doreen Rappaport

85. Princess Hair by Sharee Miller

86. The Princess and the Pea by Rachel Isadora

87. June Peters, You Will Change the World One Day by Alika Turner

88. The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Rachel Isadora

89. Marvelous Me: Inside and Out (All About Me) by Lisa Bullard

90. A Night Out with Mama by Quvenzhané Wallis

91. Mirror, Mirror. Who Am I?: A Book of Affirmation for Black and Brown Girls NaTasha Robinson

92. My Nana and Me by Irene Smalls

93. Bippity Bop Barbershop by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley

94. Riley Can Be Anything by Mrs Davina Hamilton and Ms Elena Reinoso

95. Dad, Who Will I Be? by G.Todd Taylor

96. What Color is My World?: The Lost History of African American Inventors by Kareem Abdul Jabar

97. Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson

98. Rapunzel by Rachel Isadora

99. The Big Bed by Bunmi Laditan & Tom Knight

100. Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass by Lesa Cline-Ransome & James Ransome

 

Hopefully this list will be a valuable resource for your family! If you need more help inspiring your children to read, please head to my blog post HERE. Happy Black History Month!

Ashley