Books of African American Interest

titles featuring African or African American characters
or based upon African or African American tales

Young Adult
A Little Love – Virginia Hamilton
The First Part Last – Angela Johnson
Day of Tears – Julius Lester
Othello – Julius Lester
White Lilacs – Carolyn Meyer
The Beast – Walter Dean Myers
Fallen Angels – Walter Dean Myers
Handbook for Boys – Walter Dean Myers
Hoops – Walter Dean Myers
Monster – Walter Dean Myers
Scorpions – Walter Dean Myers
Shooter – Walter Dean Myers
Somewhere In the Darkness – Walter Dean Myers
The Road to Memphis – Mildred D. Taylor
Every Time a Rainbow Dies – Rita Williams-Garcia
No Laughter Here – Rita Williams-Garcia
I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This – Jacqueline Woodson

Juvenile Fiction
Singing With Momma Lou – Linda Jacobs Altman
Sounder – William H. Armstrong
Ajeemah and His Son – James Berry
Mansa Musa: The Lion of Mali – Khephra Burns
The Stories Julian Tells – Ann Cameron
Storm Warriors – Elisa Carbone
Bucking the Sarge – Christopher Paul Curtis
Bud, Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis
The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 – Christopher Paul Curtis
Just Like Martin – Ossie Davis
The Slave Dancer – Paula Fox
Bluish: A Novel – Virginia Hamilton
Cousins – Virginia Hamilton
Drylongso – Virginia Hamilton
The House of Dies Drear – Virginia Hamilton
M.C. Higgins the Great – Virginia Hamilton
Plain City – Virginia Hamilton
Time Pieces: The Book of Times – Virginia Hamilton
Willie Bea and the Time the Martians Landed – Virginia Hamilton
Bird – Angela Johnson
Heaven – Angela Johnson
Looking for Red – Angela Johnson 
The Old African – Julius Lester
Letters From a Slave Boy: The Story of Joseph Jacobs – Mary E. Lyons
Letters From a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs – Mary E. Lyons
The Dark Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural – Patricia C. McKissack
Nzingha, Warrior Queen of Matamba – Patricia McKissack
Jubilee Journey – Carolyn Meyer
Darnell Rock Reporting – Walter Dean Myers
Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam – Walter Dean Myers
Smiffy Blue, Ace Crime Detective: The Case of the Missing Ruby and Other Stories – Walter Dean Myers
Almost to Freedom – Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Circle Unbroken: The Story of a Basket and Its People – Margot Theis Raven
The Color of Fire – Ann Rinaldi
The Friendship – Mildred D. Taylor
The Gold Cadillac – Mildred D. Taylor
Mississippi Bridge – Mildred D. Taylor
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Mildred D. Taylor
Song of the Trees – Mildred D. Taylor
The Well: David's Story – Mildred D. Taylor
Freedom On the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins – Carole Boston Weatherford
Brothers In Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan – Mary Williams
Hush – Jacqueline Woodson
Miracle's Boys – Jacqueline Woodson

Picture Books
black is brown is tan – Arnold Adoff
Where Does the Trail Lead? – Burton Albert
Dancing In the Wings – Debbie Allen
Ten, Nine, Eight – Molly Bang
Saturday At The New You – Barbara E. Barber
Pictures for Miss Josie – Sandra Belton
Fatuma’s New Cloth – Leslie Bulion
Flower Garden – Eve Bunting
Smoky Night – Eve Bunting
Hoops – Robert Burleigh
Grandma's Purple Flowers – Adjoa J. Burrowes
Jamari’s Drum – Eboni Bynum & Roland Jackson
Mama Panya’s Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya – Mary & Rich Chamberlin
All Us Come Across the Water – Lucille Clifton
Everett Anderson's Goodbye – Lucille Clifton
Everett Anderson's Nine Months Long – Lucille Clifton
Full, Full, Full of Love – Trish Cooke
Palm Trees – Nancy Cote
Two Old Potatoes and Me – John Coy
Shortcut – Donald Crews
For You Are a Kenyan Child – Kelly Cunnane
Big Friends – Margery Cuyler
Once Upon a Time – Niki Daly
Where’s Jamela? – Niki Daly
An Enchanted Hair Tale – Alexis De Veaux
Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles-Think of That! – Leo & Diane Dillon
I’d Really Like to Eat a Child – Sylviane Donnio
Hot Day On Abbott Avenue – Karen English
The Patchwork Quilt – Valerie Flournoy
Yesterday I Had the Blues – Jeron Ashford Frame
David Gets His Drum – David “Panama” Francis & Bob Reiser
The Genie In the Jar – Nikki Giovanni
First Pink Light – Eloise Greenfield
The Village That Vanished – Ann Grifalconi
Going North – Janice N. Harrington
Me and Uncle Romie: A Story Inspired by the Life and Art of Romare Bearden – Claire Hartfield
Nappy Hair – Carolivia Herron
Amazing Grace – Mary Hoffman
The Color of Home – Mary Hoffman
A Band of Angels: A Story Inspired by the Jubilee Singers – Deborah Hopkinson
Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) – Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
Lulu's Birthday – Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
Tickle, Tickle – Dakari Hru
Earth Mother – Ellen Jackson
Daddy Calls Me Man – Angela Johnson
Do Like Kyla – Angela Johnson
Down the Winding Road – Angela Johnson
I Dream of Trains – Angela Johnson
Lily Brown’s Paintings – Angela Johnson
Just Like Josh Gibson – Angela Johnson
Violet's Music – Angela Johnson
Peter's Chair – Ezra Jack Keats
The Snowy Day – Ezra Jack Keats
Whistle for Willie – Ezra Jack Keats
Anansi and the Magic Stick – Eric A. Kimmel
Faraway Home – Jane Kurtz
In the Small, Small Night – Jane Kurtz
Beautiful Bananas – Elizabeth Laird
Albidaro and the Mischievous Dream – Julius Lester
Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story – Julius Lester
Shining – Julius Lester
What a Truly Cool World – Julius Lester
Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of "Brave Bessie" Coleman – Reeve Lindbergh
Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti – Gerald McDermott
Flossie & the Fox – Patricia C. McKissack
Goin' Someplace Special – Patricia McKissack
A Million Fish-More or Less – Patricia C. McKissack
Mirandy and Brother Wind – Patricia C. McKissack
Lola at the Library – Anna McQuinn
A Good Night for Freedom – Barbara Olenyik Morrow
The Spider Weaver: A Legend of Kente Cloth – Margaret Musgrove
Wings – Christopher Myers
The Blues of Flats Brown – Walter Dean Myers
Thunder Rose – Jerdine Nolen
The Bake Shop Ghost – Jacqueline K. Ogburn
Peggony-Po: A Whale of a Tale – Andrea Davis Pinkney
Sleeping Cutie – Andrea Davis Pinkney
Shades of Black: A Celebration of Our Children – Sandra L. Pinkney
Chicken Sunday – Patricia Polacco
John Philip Duck – Patricia Polacco
Yo! Yes? – Chris Raschka
Night Boat to Freedom – Margot Theis Raven
Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad In the Sky – Faith Ringgold
Tar Beach – Faith Ringgold
Ragtime Tumpie – Alan Schroeder
Dancing the Ring Shout! – Kim L. Siegelson
My Pop Pop and Me – Irene Smalls
Baby Says – John Steptoe
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale – John Steptoe
The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom – Bettye Stroud
Sweet Music in Harlem – Debbie A. Taylor
Probuditi! – Chris Van Allsburg
Up the Learning Tree – Marcia Vaughan
Alec’s Primer – Mildred Pitts Walter
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom – Carole Boston Weatherford
Elsina’s Clouds – Jeanette Winter
Coming On Home Soon – Jacqueline Woodson
The Other Side – Jacqueline Woodson
Sweet, Sweet Memory – Jacqueline Woodson
Visiting Day – Jacqueline Woodson
We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past – Jacqueline Woodson

Nonfiction
All the Colors of the Race: Poems – Arnold Adoff
In for Winter, Out for Spring – Arnold Adoff
The Lion’s Share: A Somali Folktale – Said Salah Ahmed
Wiley and the Harry Man – Molly Bang
New Year Be Coming! A Gullah Year – Katharine Boling
The Night Has Ears: African Proverbs – Ashley Bryan
One Child, One Seed: A South African Counting Book – Kathryn Cave
The Black Soldier: 1492 to the Present – Catherine Clinton
Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case – Chris Crowe
Ananse and the Lizard: A West African Tale – Pat Cummings
Black Heroes of the American Revolution – Burke Davis
Escape to Freedom: A Play about Young Frederick Douglass – Ossie Davis
Brother Anansi and the Cattle Ranch – James de Sauza
The Magic Gourd – Baba Waguι Diatkitι
Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book – Muriel Feelings
Slaves Who Dared: The Stories of Ten African-American Heroes – Mary Garrison
Only One Cowry: A Dahomean Tale – Phillis Gershator
Ego-Tripping and Other Poems for Young People – Nikki Giovanni
Night on Neighborhood Street – Eloise Greenfield
The All Jahdu Storybook – Virginia Hamilton
The Girl Who Spun Gold – Virginia Hamilton
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales – Virginia Hamilton
Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom – Virginia Hamilton
The People Could Fly: The Picture Book – Virginia Hamilton
When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing: The Adventures of Bruh Sparrow, Sis Wren, and Their Friends – Virginia Hamilton
The Harlem Renaissance – Jim Haskins
The Fire: An Ethiopian Folk Tale – Heinz Janisch
Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Pictorial Tribute to the Negro National Anthem – James Weldon Johnson
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock – Eric A. Kimmel
Anansi Goes Fishing – Eric A. Kimmel
Trouble – Jane Kurtz
The Royal Drum: An Ashanti Tale – Mary Dixon Lake
The Blues Singers: Ten Who Rocked the World – Julius Lester
From Slave Ship to Freedom Road – Julius Lester
John Henry – Julius Lester
Let's Talk About Race – Julius Lester
The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit – Julius Lester
Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories – Ellen Levine
The History of the Black Church – Norma Jean Lutz
African-American Inventors – Patricia & Fredrick McKissack
African-American Scientists – Patricia & Fredrick McKissack
There Comes a Time: The Struggle for Civil Rights – Milton Meltzer
The Spider Weaver: A Legend of Kente Cloth – Margaret Musgrove
Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom – Walter Dean Myers
Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse – Walter Dean Myers
Harlem: A Poem – Walter Dean Myers
Now Is Your Time! The African-American Struggle for Freedom – Walter Dean Myers
Toussaint L'Ouverture: The Fight for Haiti's Freedom – Walter Dean Myers
Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requieum – Marilyn Nelson
A Wreath for Emmett Till – Marilyn Nelson
Head Body Legs: A Story from Liberia – Won-Ldy Paye & Margaret H. Lippert
Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile – Won-Ldy Paye & Margaret H. Lippert
The Talking Vegetables – Won-Ldy Paye & Margaret H. Lippert
Visiting Langston – Willie Perdomo
Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters – Andrea Davis Pinkney
Aida – Leontyne Price
Black Fighting Men: A Proud History – Catherine Reef
This Our Dark Country: The American Settlers of Liberia – Catherine Reef
Words With Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art – Belinda Rochelle
ellington was not a street – ntozake shange
Master Man: A Tall Tale of Nigeria – Aaron Shepard
Just Listen to This Song I'm Singing: African-American History Through Song – Jerry Silverman
Perfect Harmony: A Musical Journey with the Boys Choir of Harlem – Charles R. Smith, Jr.
The Hard-Times Jar – Ethel Footman Smothers
The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott – R. Conrad Stein
Sense Pass King: A Story from Cameroon – Katrin Tchana
Tiger Soup: An Anansi Story from Jamaica – Frances Temple
Brown Honey In Broomwheat Tea: Poems – Joyce Carol Thomas
The Six Fools – Joyce Carol Thomas
The Gospel Cinderella – Joyce Carol Thomas
Locomotion – Jacqueline Woodson

Biography
A Picture Book of Jackie Robinson – David A. Adler
A Picture Book of Jesse Owens – David A. Adler
A Picture Book of Rosa Parks – David A. Adler
A Picture Book of Thurgood Marshall – David A. Adler
Knockin’ On Wood: Starring Peg Leg Bates – Lynne Barasch
Young Rosa Parks: Civil Rights Heroine – Anne Benjamin
Fly High! The Story of Bessie Coleman – Louise Borden & Mary Kay Kroeger
Through My Eyes: The Autobiography of Ruby Bridges – Ruby Bridges
Major Taylor, Champion Cyclist – Lesa Cline-Ransome
My Family Shall Be Free! The Life of Peter Still – Dennis Brindell Fradin
The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights – Russell Freedman
Hank Aaron: Brave In Every Way – Peter Golenbock
The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students – Suzanne Jurmain
Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman – Kathleen Krull
Escape North! The Story of Harriet Tubman – Monica Kulling
Peaceful Protest: The Life of Nelson Mandela – Yona Zeldis McDonough
Booker T. Washington: Leader and Educator – Patricia & Fredrick McKissack
Paul Robeson: A Voice to Remember – Patricia & Fredrick McKissack
Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? – Patricia C. & Fredrick McKissack
Mary McLeod Bethune: A Photo-Illustrated Biography – Margo McLoone
Coming Home: A Story of Josh Gibson, Baseball's Greatest Home Run Hitter – Nanette Mellage
Langston Hughes – Milton Meltzer
The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft – Cathy Moore
Brave Harriet: The First Woman to Fly the English Channel – Marissa Moss
Bad Boy: A Memoir – Walter Dean Myers
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali – Walter Dean Myers
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary – Walter Dean Myers
Mahalia: A Life in Gospel Music – Roxanne Orgill
Bill Picket, Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy – Andrea D. Pinkney
Dear Benjamin Banneker – Andrea Davis Pinkney
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra – Andrea Davis Pinkney
Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa – Andrea Davis Pinkney
Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. – Doreen Rappaport
If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks – Faith Ringgold
Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth – Anne Rockwell
When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson, the Voice of a Century – Pam Muρoz Ryan
Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman – Alan Schroeder

titles last updated July 11, 2008

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