Browse Items · Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

Search: African American books

1
2
3
4
5
Next
Last

Sort by:

Jimmy's rhythm & blues: The extraordinary life of James Baldwin

Meadows, Michelle

James Baldwin, or "Jimmy" as his friends and family would call him, grows up in Harlem New York and graduates from a high school in the Bronx. He writes songs, poems, plays, and stories because writing flows freely out of him, just like the dreams he imagines for his future. Jimmy loves to read and goes to church, museums, movies, and plays --- and he enjoys the encouragement of many mentors. Through the power of his words and his stories, Jimmy moves to Paris, France, but he eventually returns to America to interview southerners about the changing times known as the civil rights movement. His book, The Fire Next Time, deepens American's understanding of racism, and then Jimmy moves back to France to serve as a haven for those of all backgrounds and experiences.

Tags

anger, art, books, careers, church, city, civil rights, discrimination, dreams, encouragement, equality, family, fear, feelings, france, freedom, goal setting, identity, imagination, justice, library, love, movies, multicultural, museum, music, oppression, park, perspective, poetry, racism, reading, school, segregation, song, spiritual, storytelling, theatre, truth, violence, writing

Monster hands

Kane, Karen//McMillan. Jonas

When Milo reads book after book before bed, he does not expect to find a book on monsters. Milo should not have read that book because now he is afraid! Through the window, he uses a flashlight to summon his neighbor who is also his best friend, Mel. In a series of exchanges, the two discuss how to scare the monster by words and gestures. When they both make monster hands, the monster is gone! Now Milo feels braver, and the two gesture a hug from window to window.

Tags

body parts, books, fear, feelings, friendship, monster, neighbors, nonverbal communication, onomatopoeia, reading

A girl like me

Johnson, Angela

Girls with African American heritage are excited to dream into their futures with visions of being themselves in different clothing, hats, and scarves in places that bring them joy and success. The happy girls are at the beach with nature, music, books, and balls empowered by their ideas and a sense of community.

Tags

african american, ball, bodies of water, books, buildings, careers, clothing, community, differences, dreams, identity, imagination, instruments, multicultural, music, nature, ocean, parents, photograph, swimming

Yatandou

Whelan, Gloria

A young Mali girl, Yatandou, is eight years old and sits with women in her village for three hours to pound sticks against the millet kernels to make one day's food. Yatandou takes her goat to graze. Her brother, Madou, goes into the thickets to bring back another goat lost from the village. He gets thorns on his clothes which Yatandou pulls off. Madou and their father work the onion fields in the scorching heat and blowing red sand. Mother makes two journeys to the well each day -- morning and night. On the eve of getting a machine to grind millet in the village, a woman comes from the city to teach the girls and the women. Father complains that the women will become idle. But Madou climbs the rocks and brings home a bag of bats from the caves. Mother makes bat stew for dinner, and Father is happy.

Tags

african, anger, animals, author's note, body parts, clothing, desert, education, family, feelings, food, garden, goat, grandparents, hunger, market, money, mood, parents, shadows, sheep, time, travel, trees, village

My hair is a book

Oso, Maisha

The hair of Black people has many ways to describe it. You can part hair, pack hair, and call it curly, kinky, and coarse. Hair can be pinned, twisted, woven, and waved. Whether the hair is in corn rows, ponytails, or naturally long or short, the hair of black people is beautiful.

Tags

analogy, author's notes, beauty, body part, books, clothing, differences, famous, food, history, leadership, mood, sports

Lin's uncommon life

Shackelford, Scott//Castle, Emily

Elinor Ostrom, also known as Lin, worked "little by little, bit by bit, family by family" in order that the world could become a better place. Lin wanted to study the way that people could share resources because she believed that "so much good can be done on so many levels". Lin was discouraged from going to graduate school but she did and studied hard until she earned her PhD degree in political science. She wanted to create a research center where people could work together and ask hard questions. With her husband, they established the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at the University of Indiana. With their groundbreaking research, Elinor taught people how to share common resources around the world. She also earned the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences - the first woman to do so.

Tags

argument, baking, behavior, books, careers, community, continent, curiosity, divorce, economics, education, family, garden, government, grandparents, hard work, investigation, music, nature, parents, perspective, research, respect, rules, school, stuttering, teamwork, timeline, travel, writing

Before, now

Salmieri, Daniel

Tags

animals, balloon, beach, bicycles, birds, bodies of water, books, buildings, car, careers, change, concert, dog, five senses, food, life, lightning, microscope, music, opposites, park, picnic, planet, playing, sand, technology, train, transportation, tree, umbrella, weather

Where are my books?

Ohi, Debbie Ridpath

Spencer loves to read books every night at bedtime. He always puts the book back on the shelf before sleep. One morning, he noticed that his book was gone. A different book was missing the next day and the next day. Spencer finds his books being read by squirrels , so he helps them pick out their first book to read from his collection and also teaches them how to return books at the library so they can keep borrowing books to read. Spencer reads a book out loud to his sister and the squirrels - and everyone is happy.

Tags

animals, books, habit, library, literacy, lost, missing, parents, reading, rules, squirrel

My name is sangoel

Williams, Karen Lynn//Mohammed, Khadra

Sangoel feels homesick after leaving his Sudanese homeland where his father died in the war. With his mother and sister, Sangoel arrives to the United States to start a new life where they learn so many things about technology, escalators, cooking stoves, and televisions. With a clever use of writing in his new school classroom, Sangoel helps his teacher and classmates learn how to pronounce his name. He will always be a Sangoel just like "his father and grandfather and his father" before him in Africa.

Tags

african, author's note, careers, change, culture, drawing, family, grandparents, identity, learning, parents, problem solving, refugee, school, sudanese, technology, television, transition, travel

Ruth and the green book

Ramsey, Calvin Alexander

Ruth and her parents drive from Chicago to Alabama to visit her grandma. Along the way, they saw signs that said "White Only" where they couldn't eat in the restaurants or use the bathroom inside. Ruth's mother had food packed for the trip, and they sang songs along the way to stay happy. They also visited a friend, Eddy, in Tennessee where Eddy and Ruth's daddy played music together. When the family drove into Georgia, a man explained "The Negro Motorist Green Book" which would list places in different states that would welcome black people who were traveling. Ruth and her family learns how to use the Green Book to find places to sleep, eat, shop, and get a haircut on their travels because Jim Crow laws were unfair and discriminatory against black people. When a 'tourist home' welcomes them for free, Ruth learns that it is important to help each other and treat others like a big family. After this lesson, she gives her Brown Bear to a little boy who was traveling away from home with his mother for the very first time. Ruth said that she no longer needed Brown Bear because she was too old now, then she told his mother about buying a Green Book for her travels.

Tags

african american, anger, author's note, books, car, conversation, discrimination, family, fear, feelings, food, friendship, grandparents, happiness, instruments, law, learning, literacy, map, multicultural, music, oppression, parents, reading, signs, singing, storytelling, toy, transportation, travel

Schomburg: The man who built a library

Weatherford, Carole Boston

Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance stood an Afro-Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg. This law clerk's life's passion was to collect books, letters, music, and art from Africa and the African diaspora and to bring light to the achievements of people of African descent through the ages. When Schomburg's collection became so big it began to overflow his house (and his wife threatened to mutiny), he turned to the New York Public Library, where he created and curated a collection that was the cornerstone of a new Negro Division. A century later, his groundbreaking collection, known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has become a beacon to scholars all over the world.

Tags

african american, art, books, careers, generations, history, library, multicultural, numbers, puerto rican, reading, research, respect

Someone builds the dream

Wheeler, Lisa

Many skilled workers, craftsmen, and tradesmen help to build each dream of a community in order for it to become a house, a park, or a bridge. After many many examples of how dreams are made and constructed, you learn how an author and illustrator are also a dream team that makes a book for you.

Tags

books, bridge, buildings, careers, computer, construction, dreams, energy, hard work, library, machines, playground, reading, science, teamwork, technology, tools, tractor, transportation, truck

"L" is for library

Terry, Sonya

Children with a friendly tabby cat, a dog, and ducklings move through the library stacks from A-Z as they discover many things to do and see in a library. You can learn about the Caldecott award, the Dewey Decimal System, and URL Web address.

Tags

alphabet, animals, birds, books, calendar, cat, children, computer, dog, duck, library, onomatopoeia, sequence, technology

A land of books: Dreams of young Mexihcah word painters

Topnatiuh, Duncan

Aztec artists living in Mesoamerica painted beautifully crafted books to keep the knowledge, culture, and history of the Mexihcah (also known as the Aztec). The process of making paper and obtaining dyes from plants, animals, and rocks is explained, then the way that a painter of words and images will share their work to be sung by a reader in a land of books.

Tags

art, author's note, books, calendar, careers, colors, culture, history, images, interpretation, language, native american, nature, sequence

The tower of life: How Yaffa Eliach rebuilt her town in stories and photographs

Stiefel, Chana

Yaffa loved helping her Grandma Alte in her photography studio in Poland. Many people had their photographs made during special events and celebrations, then they were mailed overseas to relatives before the Jewish New Year. After the Holocaust when 3500 Jewish souls were murdered by Nazi soldiers, Yaffa worked for 17 years to recover 6000 photographs and stories about people from Eishyshok, which is now a different town in Lithuania. Yaffa became a professor of history who rebuilt the lives of those lost by connecting with their loved one's photographs from six continents.

Tags

books, careers, chicken, children, communication, correspondence, death, history, museum, photograph, photography, Poland, polish, time, travel, united states, war

Blue

Seeger, Laura Vaccaro

A boy and his dog go through their lives together and experience different things associated with the color blue. Whether they are playing with blue butterflies or picking blue blueberries together, they love spending time with each other. One day, the boy’s dog passes away and, with time, he gets a new puppy to share his life with.

Tags

activities, animals, baby, balloon, beach, birds, bodies of water, books, butterfly, cardinal, colors, companion, death, dog, feelings, insects, loss, love, play, rain, reading, relationship, running, sadness, sea, sledding, sleep, snow, transportation, wagon, weather

All-of-a-kind family hanukkah

Jenkins, Emily

Gertie, the youngest of five children, wants to help her mother cook for their family dinner on the first night of Hanukkah in New York City’s Lower East Side. After many attempts of trying to help in the busy kitchen, Gertie is sent to her room by her mother and is eventually called down for dinner by her dad. In order to get her to come downstairs, Gertie’s father asks for her helping to light the candles of the menorah for the first time and Gertie happily accepts the offer.

Tags

author's note, body parts, books, celebration, cooking, family, fire, food, freedom, frustration, hanukkah, hebrew, helping, history, holidays, illustrator's note, Jewish, learning, numbers, nutrition, parents, preparation, siblings, singing, traditions

A library book for bear

Becker, Bonny

Although he sees no need for more books to read, Bear agrees to accompany Mouse to the library.

Tags

adventures, animals, bear, books, five senses, library, mouse, skating, sounds

The museum of everything

Perkins, Lynne Rae

Through the eyes and thoughts of a child, an imagination opens up to wonderment and original dreams. Many things can be happening all at once and that can be overwhelming. Places for hiding and spaces for shadows makes this geographical experience an artistic escape depicting a museum of everything.

Tags

activities, art, awareness, bodies of water, books, concepts, construction, creativity, daydreaming, geography, imagination, investigation, island, museum, perspective, seasons, shadows, sizes, uniqueness

Seven spools of thread

Medearis, Angela

Whether working on their family farm or eating dinner, the seven Ashanti brothers always fight amongst themselves to the dismay of their father. However, when their father passed away, the seven Ashanti brothers were tasked with creating gold from seven different color spools of thread. After completing this seemingly impossible task by working together, the brothers taught their community the value of the lessons they learned.

Tags

african, argument, author's note, colors, communication, community, culture, fable, farm, ghana, language, peace, problem solving, siblings, success, support, teamwork, vocabulary, weaving

Lola loves stories

McQuinn, Anna

Lola and her dad go to the library on Saturdays to pick out books to read during the week. Every time Lola reads a book, she acts it out the next day. If she reads about building, she becomes a builder. If Lola reads a book about fairies, she becomes a fairy. What will Lola be next?

Tags

acting, african american, animals, baby, bedtime, books, buildings, clothing, companion, cow, creativity, Days of The Week, family, imagination, library, love, multicultural, parents, reading, relationship, routine, royalty, shoes, storytelling, tiger, tools, travel, wilderness

The coquies still sing: A story of home, hope, and rebuilding

Gonzalez, Karina Nicole

After a terrible hurricane, the family garden is gone and there's no electricity or running water. The mango tree still stands brown and bare, and the native tree frogs stop singing their song. As the family starts the island clean up around their Puerto Rican home, the native coqui's song begins a slow resurgence months after the devastation of Hurricane Maria.

Tags

amphibians, animals, author's note, books, destruction, electricity, emergency, feelings, frog, garden, grandparents, hope, hurricane, illustrator's note, light, love, neighbors, plants, puerto rico, radio, rain, seed, song, stars, tree, weather

Farmhouse

Blackall, Sophie

A farmhouse where twelve children grow up holds evidence of their stories long after they are gone.

Tags

animals, art, author's note, bedtime, books, chores, conflict, correspondence, cow, family, farm, food, home, instruments, music, photography, plants, playing, seasons, siblings, sleep, tree

The key from Spain: Flory Jagoda and her music

Levy, Debbie

Just as her ancestors were forced to leave Spain during the Inquisition, Flory flees Europe for a new life in the United States, bringing with her a precious harmonica and a passion for Ladino music.

Tags

american, Bosnian, christians, Croatian, dancing, generations, gymnastics, history, instruments, Jewish, ladino, language, multicultural, music, muslim, neighbors, numbers, prayers, pretend, refugee, sewing, ship, singing, song, spain, storytelling, time, train, transportation, war

What happens next

Hughes, Susan

Bully B. makes a student feel uncomfortable at school by making fun of him and calling him mean names. This student goes home and acts like he is fine, but his mother is able to tell that this is not true and she suggests that her son talks to the bully. With this advice, he talks to Bully B. and expresses how her behavior makes him feel and explains how similar they actually are, ending their negative relationship.

Silent days, silent dreams

Say, Allen

Bob shares the life story of his Uncle Jim, a deaf artist with immense talent and determination to find ways to communicate. During his childhood, Uncle Jim’s parents were unsupportive of his passion for art and they sent him to the Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind with his sister. Bob never learned to speak, read, write, or use sign language. Ultimately, Bob went to art school where he shared his Uncle Jim’s work which was displayed in a gallery and sold to the public.

Tags

accomplishment, alphabet, art, author's note, beauty, biography, books, communication, coping, correspondence, deafness, dedication, determination, disability, farm, history, library, literacy, photograph, running away, school, siblings, signs, symbols

March on! The day my brother Martin changed the world

Farris, Christine

Christine King Farris, the sister of Martin Luther King Jr., watched her brother during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. She describes her brother’s journey from writing his “I Have a Dream” speech to joining the crowds in their demand for freedom. She was moved by her brother’s persistence and success in persuading millions to believe in and fight for a better tomorrow in which all men are created equal.

The hard-times jar

Smothers, Ethel Footman

Emma is a book-loving girl whose parents are poor migrant workers. She decides to pick apples to add money to the hard-times jar. But this year, she attends school which happens to have a whole library of books. Emma's mom reminds her of something important when she eventually follows the rules.

Tags

books, family, farmer, hard work, learning, money, parents, reading, rules, school

Sunday week

Johnson, Dinah

A community describes each day of their weekly routine. The community is constantly looking forward to their Sunday traditions. Sunday is rich with family time, the Lord, and storytelling.

Tags

african american, books, car, careers, choir, church, Days of The Week, exercise, faith, family, god, hard work, hunger, jumping, love, market, multicultural, music, neighbors, newspaper, practice, prayer, promise, quiet, reading fish, rest, routine, school, sequence, singing, spiritual, traditions, transportation, travel

One million men and me

Lyons, Kelly Starling

A young high school girl goes with her father to a march on the United States capitol during a civil rights gathering. She is surrounded by "one million men" and she experiences pride as she and her father witness history in Washington, D.C.

Tags

african american, american, author's note, bus, careers, civil rights, community, faith, family, feelings, future, history, hope, marching, money, multicultural, music, parents, peace, pride, responsibilities, subway, train, transportation, verbal communication

Annie Rose is my little sister

Hughes, Shirley

A little boy and his baby sister do everything together. They each have friends of their own, but spend time doing things mostly with one another.

Tags

anger, beach, bodies of water, books, diving, exercise, exploration, family, feelings, flowers, friendship, games, happiness, love, ocean, parents, reading, relationship, siblings, swimming, toys, verbal communication

Arturo escribe un cuento

Brown, Marc

A teacher gives Arthur and his class a writing assignment. Arthur goes from one topic to the next, thinking each one is not exciting enough. Each new topic becomes more funny than the last, until he writes his last copy.

Tags

aardvark, animals, books, critical thinking, family, grandparents, language, letters, library, parents, rabbit, restaurant, school, siblings, spanish, writing

A day with daddy

Girimes, Nikki

A young African American boy living with his mother spends the day with his father. They spend time together doing a variety of activities that leave the boy satisfied with his life.

Tags

african, baseball, basketball, family, food, happiness, memories, neighbors, nutrition, parents, play, playground, relationship, role model, sleep, sports, understanding

Guji Guji

Chen Chih-Yuan

A rolling egg finds a home in a duck nest. It wasn't until three crocodiles find Guji Guji that she may not be a duck. The crocodiles ask Guji Guji to trap his family for them to eat. Instead Guji Guji, with the help of his duck family, drop heavy rocks into the crocodiles open mouths.

Tags

animals, birds, books, comparisons, crocodile, duck, family, feelings, fight, food, loyalty, reading

My librarian is a camel: How books are brought to children around the world

Ruurs, Margriet

Examine many different kinds of libraries from all around the world. Unlike the typical library room or building, many libraries are a bus, boat, train, or camel. Each type is different, but they all serve the same important purpose of delivering books to people, no matter where they live.

Sense pass king: A story from cameroon

Tchana, Katrin

Ma'antah is an exceptional girl who has many abilities, such as cooking and talking to animals. The villagers call her Sense Pass King because she has more sense than the king. The king is frustrated by her and tries to kill her but she outsmarts him. Later, she works in the palace and is able to make the country better.

Tags

african, anger, assertiveness, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, feelings, helping, jealousy, monsters, multicultural, mythical, royalty, ship, stress management, transportation, verbal communication, village

Big jabe

Nolan, Jerdine

Momma Mary goes back in time and tells stories of a unique young man named Jabe, who is responsible for creating magic among the slaves of the Plenty Plantation. He is described as a hero with the strength of fifty men, a big heart, and a wondrous gift at leading slaves away to freedom.

Tags

african, african american, animals, bee, chicken, cow, fable, fantasy, feelings, fish, fishing, flood, food, freedom, generations, happiness, heroism, horse, hunger, magic, multicultural, mystery, nonverbal communication, plants, recreation, river, slavery, storytelling, tornado, tree, uniqueness, unselfish, weather, wind

The shaking bag

Battle-Lavert, Gwendolyn

Though Miss Annie Mae doesn't always have much food for herself or her dog Effie Lucille, she faithfully feeds the birds in the lawn. One day a stranger comes to visit. He shakes many special surprises for her out of the old seed bag to reward her for all her generosity.

Tags

african american, animals, birds, books, dog, fantasy, fire, food, hunger, kindness, multicultural, noise, nutrition, plants, poverty, raven, sharing, sounds, spiritual, unselfish

Please bury me in the library

Lewis, J. Patrick

This unique collection of prose utilizes a variety of poetry styles and play on word techniques. Learn about reading, words, and libraries as gardens with unsurpassed growing excitement.

Tags

books, imagination, library, poetry, reading, rhyme, rhythm, vocabulary

Hip, hug, hooray!

Tangvald, Christine

Do you know how many types of hugs there are? Look and learn how hugs are imporatant everywhere and everyday.

Tags

activities, affection, animals, baby, bath, beach, bedtime, birds, birthday, books, caring, celebration, church, cleanliness, climbing, dog, family, feelings, food, friendship, glasses, god, grandparents, happiness, hygiene, lake, library, love, night, parents, party, picnic, playground, rabbit, rain, reading, religion, sand, seasons, sheep, snow, soccer, sports, squirrel, storytelling, summer, swimming, tree, umbrella, weather, winter

Oh say can you say?

Seuss, Dr.

Oh say can you say is filled with tongue twisters to make the reading fun and challenging. The story features pages of rhymes ranging from animals to people.

Tags

beach, birds, boat, bones, books, christmas, colors, dinosaur, dog, duck, family, fish, island, money, monkey, music, parrot, pig, poetry, rain, reading, rhyme, storm, travel, umbrella, water, whale

The underbed

Hoellworth, Cathryn Clinton

Tucker is unable to fall asleep at night until his mom helps him scare away the underbed that Tucker says is living under his bed.

Tags

bedtime, books, counting, family, fear, feelings, gymnastics, jumping, parents, reading, sports

May'naise sandwiches & sunshine tea

Belton, Sandra

Big Mama shares family memories of her childhood with her grandchild about a special friendship she had with Bettie Jean. Little Miss and Big Mama share the pages of a scrapbook which tells the favorite story of May'naise sandwiches and sunshine tea.

Tags

african american, books, careers, clothing, dancing, dentist, doctor, dreams, flowers, food, friendship, garden, hunger, imagination, memories, nutrition, parents, photograph, picnic, play, rain, running, school, sun, teaching, technology, telephone, tree, water

Why the chameleon had two toes

Mashiri, Pascal

An older woman, named Gogo Senne, tells interesting stories to the children of a small, quiet South African village. She weaves the mythical take of how the chameleon got his two toes and red eyes. Read about the value of strong friendships, the importance of trust, communication and respecting each other.

Tags

african, chameleon, communication, companion, conflict resolution, feelings, folktale, food, friendship, loneliness, peer resistance, refusal skills, respect, trust, truth

Dangerous crossing

Krensky, Stephen

Showing no signs of fear, young Johnny Adams boards a ship with his father, the future second President of the United States, for a voyage from Massachusetts to Paris to gain support for the colonies. Their journey is depicted with vivid pictures and an exciting storyline portraying the battles, harsh weather and seasickness endured along the way by two key Presidents in U.S. history.

Alec's primer

Pitts-Walter, Mildred

Alec was a slave who wanted to be free. Ms. Josephine, one of his masters and three years older than him, told Alic if he wanted to be free he needed to learn to read. Ms. Josephine taught him to read and when Alec was old enough he couragously fights in the Civil War and obtained his freedom.

The golden rain

Mashiri, Pascal

A young child learns from his mother's stories about decision making and choices. He comes to understand that choices make some people happy and leave some disapointed. The child also realizes that help is sometimes needed for the decision making, but ultimately it is up to the individual.

Do not open this book!

Muntean, Michaela

A pig tries to dissuade the readers from opening the book because it is not finished yet. However, as the reader turns the pages, a frustrated pig realizes the book is being written after all.

Tags

accidents, animals, books, conflict, conflict resolution, disobedience, feelings, frustration, pig, reading, writing

Hannah is my name

Yang, Belle

Hannah and her family come to America from Taiwan to gain freedom. For them to become Americans and have their freedom, they must obtain their greencards. Hannah and her family's journey of over 2 years, encompasses many trials. Hannah and her family feel relief, excitement and prode as they finally receive their greencards and are now able to call American their home.

Lucy's quiet book

Medearis, Angela Shelf

An annoyed Lucy decides to go the library to get away from her brothers. The librarian gives her a book to quiet her brothers down. Once Lucy begins to read to her brothers, they quiet down and Lucy learns the positive effects of books.

1
2
3
4
5
Next
Last

Browse Items (278 items total)