Black History Month for Kids

A selection of novels by Black Canadian authors and non-fiction books featuring Black Canadians in history.

Updated January 25, 2025
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Africville
Grant, Shauntay
Paper Book
Winner of the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award Winner of the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration Finalist for a Governor General's Literary Award, Young People's Literature - Illustrated Books Finalist for a Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Books...
I am big
Sadu, Itah
Paper Book
In the middle of the ice, a young Black hockey player finds joy in his talent and confidence in the cheers of his family, his coach, and the other players. Their support gives him the power to face down those who see him as a threat and to focus on the thrill of the game. Young people of...
Dreamer
Aliu, Akim
Paper Book
This honest, engrossing graphic memoir tells the story of professional athlete and activist Akim Aliu's incredible life as a hockey prodigy in Canada. Akim Aliu -- also known as "Dreamer" -- is a Ukrainian-Nigerian-Canadian professional hockey player whose career took him all around the...
Hockey night in Kenya
Mutinda, Danson
Paper Book
Key Selling Points Kitoo dreams of someday playing real ice hockey and Nigosi helps him realize that sometimes dreams can come true. Hockey Night in Kenya is ultimately a story about friendship, support and having big dreams. This book addresses abandonment, parental death...
The hockey skates
Subban, Karl
Paper Book
It was almost the first day of winter, and PK still has no skates to wear. This time, PK waited impatiently for one more week before his skates arrived in the mail. With a knock, knock, knock on the door, the mailman delivered the skates in a box. PK couldn't wait to open it . . .<...
The journey of Little Charlie
Curtis, Christopher Paul
Paper Book
Twelve-year-old Charlie is down on his luck: His sharecropper father just died and Cap'n Buck -- the most fearsome man in Possum Moan, South Carolina -- has come to collect a debt. Fearing for his life, Charlie strikes a deal with Cap'n Buck and agrees to track down some folks accused of stealing...
Julie and the mango tree
Smith, Sade?
Paper Book
Coupled with Sayada Ramdial's bright and colorful artwork, Julie and the Mango Tree by Sadé Smith will have readers of all ages giggling--and craving a mango of their own!Julie loves all kinds of fruit, but mangoes are her absolute favorite. One sticky summer afternoon, Julie goes to the big mango...
Malaika, carnival queen
Hohn, Nadia L.
Paper Book
Malaika learns about her father, who came to Canada as a migrant farm worker when she was just a baby and who shared her love of carnival. Malaika dreams about a man with a basket of fruit and guesses that the dream is about her father. Mummy explains that her daddy passed away long ago,...
My hair is beautiful
Grant, Shauntay
Paper Book
Natural, knotty, fluffy, frizzy, twisted, tangled, pony, puffed! A celebration of natural hair, from afros to cornrows and everything in between, My Hair is Beautiful is a joyful board book with a powerful message of self-love. Governor General's Award-nominated author...
The probability of everything
Everett, Sarah
Paper Book
A heart-wrenching middle grade debut about Kemi, an aspiring scientist who loves statistics and facts, as she navigates grief and loss at a moment when life as she knows it changes forever. Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how...
Swim team
Christmas, Johnnie
Paper Book
"Combines wonderful characters and history to create a story that will make you want to dive right in!" JERRY CRAFT, author of the Newbery Medal-winning New Kid A splashy, contemporary middle grade graphic novel from bestselling comics creator Johnnie Christmas! Bree can't wait for...
Viola Desmond won't be budged!
Warner, Jody
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2011 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction "On behalf of the Nova Scotia government, I sincerely apologize to Mrs. Viola Desmond's family and to all African Nova Scotians for the racial discrimination she was subjected to by the justice system ... We...
The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963 : a novel
Curtis, Christopher Paul
Paper Book
During one of the most important times in the civil rights movement, one unforgettable family goes on a road trip in this Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree, from author Christopher Paul Curtis, recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. ...
Welcome to the cypher
Dill, Khodi
Paper Book
Words burn bright in this joyful celebration of rap, creativity, and self-expression. "Welcome to the cypher! Now huddle up nice and snug. You feel that circle around you? Well, that's a hip hop hug!"  Starting with beatboxes and fingersnaps, an exuberant...

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