Children's Book Suggestions | Black History Month 2025

A few of our favorite books about Black Americans past and present published in 2024. For more book ideas, check out our Black History Month 2024 Picture Book and Chapter Book lists or browse the library catalog.

More great books are honored annually with the Children's Africana Book Award, Coretta Scott King Book Awards, and NAACP Image Awards.

Updated January 11, 2025
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County) Oregon City Public Library
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The belly song
Mother Moon
Paper Book
Sing along in this joyful celebration of your baby's perfect belly. Named one of the Best Books of 2024 by Chicago Public Library! "As the pages celebrate many different kinds of human bellies, they simultaneously model a wealth of loving connections...

Board Book (Age 0-2)

They call me Teach : lessons in freedom
Cline-Ransome, Lesa
Paper Book
In this stirring and powerfully illustrated story, an enslaved young man uses his ability to read and write to educate others in the pursuit of freedom. Back inside the store I write up receipts for Master's deliveries for Master's orders...

Picture Book (Age 4-8)

Brown Girl, Brown Girl
Honore, Lesle
Paper Book
This powerful and hopeful picture book--inspired by the historic election of Vice President Kamala Harris--celebrates brown and Black girls and is magnificently illustrated by a Caldecott Honor-winning artist. Brown girl, brown girl, what did you see?...

Picture Book (Age 4-8)

A terrible place for a nest
Levine, Sara (Veterinarian)
Paper Book
A child learns to settle into a new home in this lyrical and stirring picture book perfect for fans of MEMORY JARS and EVELYN DEL REY IS MOVING AWAY.Juno and his mom have just moved into a new home, and he hates everything about it - the new school, his new classmates, his new room.Just outside his...

Picture Book (Age 4-8)

My hair is a book
Oso, Maisha
Paper Book
"Oso's metaphors illustrate how Black hair tells the story of those who wear it; hair announces its wearer's beauty to the world, be it cornrowed, locked, twisted, or curled...A stellar work that belongs in every collection serving young people." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)<...

Picture Book (Age 4-8)

Summer is here
Watson, Renée
Paper Book
Celebrate iconic childhood joys in this love letter to summer featuring bright, sun-drenched art, from New York Times bestselling creators Renée Watson and Bea Jackson. Summer is here! No dark clouds in the sky, it's a perfect day for play. What joy...

Picture Book (Age 4-8)

Crowning glory : a celebration of black hair
Weatherford, Carole Boston
Paper Book
Celebrate the beauty of Black hair creations through the rhyming text and vibrant collage art of lauded Coretta Scott King Award winners Carole Boston Weatherford and Ekua Holmes. Our hair is a lioness, born to be wild. We pride ourselves on flair and style....

Picture Book (Age 4-8)

Blexi, play!
Agostini, Alliah L.
Paper Book
Description: Blexi listens to Mom, Blexi listens to Dad, but Blexi doesn't listen to Liam! In this level 1 early reader (Paw Prints Readers), watch Liam learn patience and kindness as he and family play with the new smart speaker at home.
Ready? Set. Puppies!
Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux
Paper Book
The puppies are coming! This Step 2 is perfect for readers age 4 to 6 and captures the anticipation of waiting for your best friend's dog to have puppies. Will Raymond get to keep one? Raymond and Roxy love playing together-and so do their pets! One day, Raymond learns that Roxy...

Early Reader (Level 2)

Field day!
Ransom, Candice F.
Paper Book
Get ready for some outdoor fun in this Step 1 book that's perfect for readers ages 4-6! Join the Day kids as they gear up for field day at school. What's more fun than field day? The Day kids are so excited! They gobble their breakfast and race to the bus. So many fun things are...

Early Reader (Level 1)

Gamerville
Christmas, Johnnie
Paper Book
A video gamer's championship aspirations are dashed when his parents send him to Camp Reset, where electronics are forbidden and you're forced to socialize, eat healthy, and spend time outside. Gamerville is a timely and vulnerable exploration of the importance of human connection...

Children's Graphic Novel (Grades 3-5)

The secret library
Magoon, Kekla
Paper Book
An instant New York Times bestseller! Travel through time with National Book Award Finalist Kekla Magoon in a page-turning fantasy adventure about family secrets and finding the courage to plot your own life story. Since Grandpa died, Dally's days are...

Children's Fiction (Grades 3-5)

Buckle up!
Lindell, Lawrence
Paper Book
Figuring out family is no easy street, especially in a divorce. Perfect for fans of New Kid and Smile, this contemporary graphic novel introduces a young boy navigating life with his dad, one car ride at a time. Lonnie is going through big changes in his life--with...

Children's Graphic Novel (Grades 3-5)

Blue stars. Mission 1, The vice principal problem
Magoon, Kekla
Paper Book
Two everyday superheroes set out to save the world--starting with their school--in an exciting new middle-grade graphic series from two award-winning authors and a debut illustrator. When cousins Riley Halfmoon and Maya Dawn move to Urbanopolis to live with their activist grandma...

Children's Graphic Novel (Grades 3-5)

Hip-Hop : the beat of America
Williams, Jarrett
Paper Book
MUSICAL REVOLUTION SWEEPS NATION AND BEYONDHow did a bunch of young people from the inner city create a genre of music that became a global phenomenon? From its humble origins at house parties in the Bronx, where DJs mixed old records to create new sounds, charismatic MCs let their clever lyrics...

Children's Graphic Novel (Grades 3-5)

Jax Freeman and the phantom shriek
Mbalia, Kwame
Paper Book
"I loved everything about this book."--Rick Riordan, New York Times #1 best-selling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series 12-year-old Jax Freeman discovers a secret world where a diverse group of students with unique talents wield magic by summoning the power of...

Young Teen Fiction (Grades 5-7)

The everybody experiment
Ramée, Lisa Moore
Paper Book
From the award-winning author of A Good Kind of Trouble, Lisa Moore Ramée, comes a hilarious and heartfelt young middle grade novel, in the vein of Judy Blume, about friendship, fitting in, and the ups and downs of middle school. Sure to resonate with fans of Rebecca Stead...

Young Teen Fiction (Grades 5-7)

Art club
Doucet, Rashad
Paper Book
Inspired by the author's own childhood, this contemporary graphic novel paints a picture of an aspiring young artist on a mission to prove that the arts are worth fighting for.  Dale Donavan has heard the same lecture over and over again: Art will get you...

Young Teen Graphic Novel (Grades 5-7)

Weirdo
Weaver, Tony, Jr
Paper Book
A Kirkus Best Book of the YearA School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year A People Magazine<...

Young Teen Graphic Novel (Grades 5-7)


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