From anthologies to graphic novels, fantasies to realistic tales depicting everyday issues, there are so many rich stories and themes to explore in the classroom with your students during Black History Month (February) and any time of the year. All kids deserve to see themselves represented in the books they read, and all kids can benefit from reading books about people unlike themselves. There’s something to offer every type of reader in each of these stories. These book recommendations offer windows into the world of Black lives and can lead to greater understanding and empathy.

Grades K-2

The Undefeated
by Kwame Alexander

Originally performed for ESPN’s The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to Black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world’s greatest heroes. Robust back matter at the end provides valuable historical context and additional detail for those wishing to learn more.

I Am Every Good Thing
by Derrick D. Barnes

An upbeat, empowering picture book from the team that created the award-winning Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut. “I am a nonstop ball of energy. Powerful and full of light. I am a go-getter. A difference maker. A leader.” The confident Black narrator of this book is proud of everything that makes him who he is. He’s got big plans, and no doubt he’ll see them through. He’s creative, adventurous, smart, funny and a good friend. Sometimes he falls, but he always gets back up. Other times he’s afraid because he’s so often misunderstood and called what he is not. So slow down and really look and listen when somebody tells you – and shows you – who they are. There are superheroes in our midst!

ABCs Of Black History
by Rio Cortez

A beautiful alphabet picture book that presents key names, moments and places in Black history with text lyrically written by poet Rio Cortez. This is an opportunity for children to learn their ABCs to the sound of words beyond apple, boy and cat, as well as an opportunity for young thinkers to prepare for big ideas.

A Place Inside of Me
by Zetta Elliott

From award-winning author, Zetta Elliott, and rising star illustrator, Noa Denmon, comes a beautiful #OwnVoices poetic picture book about a brown child discovering and accepting their emotional landscape. Summertime is filled with joy – skateboarding and playing basketball – until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace.

Hair Love
by Matthew A. Cherry

Zuri’s hair has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils and curls every which way. Zuri knows it’s beautiful. When Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn. But he LOVES Zuri, and he’ll do anything to make her and her hair happy. Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to self-confidence, loving your natural hair and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere.

Black Is A Rainbow Color
by Angela Joy

A child reflects on the meaning of being Black in this moving and powerful anthem about a people, a culture, a history and a legacy that lives on. From the wheels of a bicycle to the robe on Thurgood Marshall’s back, Black surrounds our lives. It is a color to simply describe some of our favorite things, but it also evokes a deeper sentiment about the incredible people who helped change the world and a community that continues to grow and thrive.

Respect: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul
by Carole Boston Weatherford

Aretha Franklin was born to sing. The daughter of a pastor and a gospel singer, her musical talent was clear from her earliest days in her father’s Detroit church. Aretha sang with a soaring voice that spanned more than three octaves. Her incredible talent and string of hit songs earned her the title “Queen of Soul.” This Queen was a multi-Grammy winner and the first female inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to being a singer, songwriter and pianist, she was also an activist. Her song “Respect” was an anthem for people fighting for civil rights and women’s rights.

Grades 3-5

Tristan Strong Punches A Hole in The Sky
by Kwame Mbalia

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 in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom 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 wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, 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 that are hunting the inhabitants of this world. Who will win the battle and how will Tristan get home?

28 Days: Moments in Black History That Changed the World
by Charles R. Jr. Smith

A picture book that examines the lives of many of the men and women who revolutionized life for African Americans throughout history. Each day features a different influential figure from Crispus Attucks, the first man shot in the Boston Massacre, sparking the Revolutionary War, to Madame C. J. Walker, who after years of adversity became the wealthiest Black woman in the country, to Barack Obama, the country’s first African American president.

William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of The Underground Railroad
by Don Tate

William Still’s parents escaped slavery but had to leave two of their children behind, a tragedy that haunted the family. As a young man, William went to work for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, where he raised money, planned rescues and helped freedom seekers who had traveled north. And then one day, a strangely familiar man came into William’s office, searching for information about his long-lost family. Could it be? Motivated by his own family’s experience, William began collecting the stories of thousands of other freedom seekers. As a result, he was able to reunite other families and build a remarkable source of information, including encounters with Harriet Tubman, Henry “Box” Brown and William and Ellen Craft.

Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration
by Samara Cole Doyon

Magnificent Homespun Brown is an exploration of the natural world and family bonds through the eyes of a young, mixed-race narrator: a living, breathing, dazzlingly multi-faceted, exuberant masterpiece, firmly grounded in her sense of self-worth and belonging. This is a story – a poem, a song, a celebration – about feeling at home in your own beloved skin.

Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History
by Vashti Harrison

Author-illustrator Vashti Harrison shines a bold, joyous light on Black men through history. This beautifully illustrated volume educates and inspires as it relates true stories of Black men in history. Illuminating text paired with irresistible full-color art bring to life both iconic and lesser-known figures.

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
by Vashti Harrison

Featuring forty trailblazing Black women in American history, Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of breaking boundaries and achieving beyond expectations. Among these biographies, readers will find bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come. Whether they were putting pen to paper, soaring through the air or speaking up for the rights of others, the women profiled in these pages were all taking a stand against a world that didn’t always accept them.

A Black Woman Did That! 40 Boundary-Breaking, Bar-Raising, World-Changing Women
by Malaika Adero

This book spotlights vibrant, inspiring Black women whose accomplishments have changed the world for the better. It is a celebration of strong, resilient, innovative and inspiring women of color. With a vibrant mixture of photography, illustration, biography and storytelling, author Malaika Adero will spotlight well-known historical figures and women who are pushing boundaries today. Readers will recognize some names in the book but will also be introduced to many important Black women who have changed history or who are reshaping the cultural landscape.

Grades 6-8

One Last Word
by Nikki Grimes

From the New York Times bestselling and Coretta Scott King award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes an emotional, special new collection of poetry inspired by the Harlem Renaissance paired with full-color, original art from today’s most exciting African American illustrators.

Before the Ever After
by Jacqueline Woodson

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson’s stirring novel explores how a family moves forward when their glory days have passed. For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone’s hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he’s as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ’s house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ’s mom explains it’s because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that, but it doesn’t make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name. As ZJ contemplates his new reality, he has to figure out how to hold on tight to family traditions and recollections of the glory days.

Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter
by Shani King

From the author of Have I Ever Told You? comes a bold, new book about Black lives throughout history. This is a book of pride and history for young readers – a critical testament to the BLM movement. It’s a window into the Black experience and a mirror to the honorable path that Black leaders have paved. The book will include short biographies of each figure mentioned.

Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace
by Ashley Bryan

In May 1942, at the age of eighteen, Ashley Bryan was drafted to fight in World War II. For the next three years, he would face the horrors of war as a Black soldier in a segregated army. He endured the terrible lies white officers told about the Black soldiers to isolate them from anyone who showed kindness – including each other. He received worse treatment than even Nazi POWs. He was assigned the grimmest, most horrific tasks, like burying fallen soldiers but was told to remove the Black soldiers first because the media didn’t want them in their newsreels. For the next forty years, Ashley would keep his time in the war a secret. But now, he tells his story. The story of the kind people who supported him. The story of the bright moments that guided him through the dark. And the story of his passion for art that would save him time and time again.

Ghost Boys
by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that’s been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing. Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey towards recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father’s actions. Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today’s world, and how one boy grows to understand American Blackness in the aftermath of his own death.

Lifting as We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for The Ballot Box
by Evette Dionne

For African American women, the fight for the right to vote was only one battle. An eye-opening book that tells the important, overlooked story of Black women as a force in the suffrage movement, even though fellow suffragists did not accept them as equal partners in the struggle. Women of color, especially African American women, were fighting for their right to vote and to be treated as full, equal citizens of the United States. Their battlefront wasn’t just about gender. African American women had to deal with white abolitionist-suffragists who drew the line at sharing power with their Black sisters. They had to overcome deep, exclusionary racial prejudices that were rife in the American suffrage movement. Lifting as We Climb is the empowering story of African American women who refused to accept all this.

Black Heroes of The Wild West
by James Otis Smith

This graphic novel celebrates the extraordinary true tales of three Black heroes who took control of their destinies and stood up for their communities in the Old West. Born into slavery in Tennessee, Mary Fields became famous as “Stagecoach Mary,” a cigar-chomping, card playing coach driver who never missed a delivery. Bass Reeves, the first Black Deputy US Marshal west of the Mississippi, was one of the wiliest lawmen in the territories, bringing thousands of outlaws to justice with his smarts. Bob Lemmons lived to be 99 years old and was so good with horses that the wild mustangs on the plains of Texas took him for one of their own.

Grades 9-12

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

This is NOT a history book. This is a book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race. The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited. Through a gripping, fast-paced and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds, this book shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.

Punching the Air
by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, because of a biased system he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated. Then, one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white. Suddenly at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words and his art.

The Black Friend: On Being A Better White Person
by Joseph Douglass

Writing from the perspective of a friend, Frederick Joseph offers candid reflections on his own experiences with racism and conversations with prominent artists and activists about theirs — creating an essential read for white people who are committed anti-racists and those newly come to the cause of racial justice. “We don’t see color.” “I didn’t know Black people liked Star Wars!” “What hood are you from?” For Frederick Joseph, life as a transfer student in a largely white high school was full of wince-worthy moments that he often simply let go. As he grew older, however, he saw these as missed opportunities not only to stand up for himself, but to spread awareness to those white people who didn’t see the negative impact they were having. Touching on everything from cultural appropriation to power dynamics, “reverse racism” to white privilege, microaggressions to the tragic results of overt racism, this book serves as conversation starter, tool kit and invaluable window into the life of a former “token Black kid” who now presents himself as the friend many readers need.

I Am Alfonso Jones
by Tony Medina

Alfonso can’t wait to play the role of Hamlet in his school’s hip-hop rendition of the classic play. But as he is buying his first suit, an off-duty police officer mistakes a clothes hanger for a gun and shoots Alfonso. When Alfonso wakes up in the afterlife, he’s on a ghost train guided by well-known victims of police shootings, who teach him what he needs to know about this subterranean spiritual world. Meanwhile, Alfonso’s family and friends struggle with their grief and seek justice for Alfonso in the streets.

Changing the Equation: 50+ Black Women in STEM
by Tonya Bolden

Award-winning author Tonya Bolden explores the Black women who have changed the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in America. Including groundbreaking computer scientists, doctors, inventors, physicists, pharmacists, mathematicians, aviators, and many more, this book celebrates more than 50 women who have shattered the glass ceiling, defied racial discrimination, and pioneered in their fields. In these profiles, young readers will find role models, inspirations and maybe even reasons to be the STEM leaders of tomorrow. These stories help young readers to dream big and stay curious.

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America
by Ibi Zoboi, Ed.

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi and featuring some of the most acclaimed, bestselling Black authors writing for teens today – Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. Black is … sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Rene Watson. Black is … three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds. Black is … Nic Stone’s bougie debutante dating a boy her momma would never approve of. Black is … two girls kissing in Justina Ireland’s story set in Maryland. Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more because there are countless ways to be Black enough.

Say Her Name
by Zetta Elliott

Inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists of that Black Lives Matter movement. Elliott engages poets from the past two centuries to create a chorus of voices celebrating the creativity, resilience and courage of Black women and girls. This collection features forty-nine powerful poems, four of which are tribute poems inspired by the works of Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni and Phillis Wheatley. This provocative collection will move every reader to reflect, respond and act.

What are your favorite titles to explore with your students during Black History Month? Tell us in the comments below!