Celebrate Black History Month with These Children's Books
Updated: May 25
Read aloud our list of black history books with your kids to learn about important figures in history! Each is an excellent historical book about prominent Black figures from the past and present, and most are easily digestible for a younger audience and great for reading aloud at home or with your classroom.
Dream Big, Little One
Vashti Harrison (Ages 0-3).
Follow Your Dreams, Little One
Vashti Harrison (Ages 0-3).
Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Lisbeth Kaiser, Stanley Chow (Ages 0.
The ABCs of Black History
Rio Cortez, Lauren Semmer (Ages 5+). It’s an ABC book like no other, and a story of hope and love.
Mae Among the Stars
Roda Ahmed, Stasia Burrington (Ages 4+)
A great classroom and bedtime read-aloud, Mae Among the Stars is the perfect book for young readers who have big dreams and even bigger hearts. Little Mae’s curiosity, intelligence, and determination, matched with her parents' encouraging words––If you believe it, and work hard for it, anything is possible––paved the way for her incredible success at NASA as the first African American woman to travel in space. This book will inspire other young girls to reach for the stars, to aspire for the impossible, and to persist with childlike imagination.
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
Margot Lee Shetterly, Laura Freeman (Ages 4+)
Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were good at math…really good. They participated in some of NASA's greatest successes, like providing the calculations for America's first journeys into space. In this beautifully illustrated picture book, we explore the story of four female African American mathematicians at NASA and how they overcame barriers to succeed in a highly challenging STEM-based career.
Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood
Tony Hillery, Jessie Hartland (Ages 4+).