Black History Month for Young Children

A selection of picture books for young children by Black Canadian authors.

Updated January 6, 2024
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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 . . .<...
I promise
Hernández, Catherine
Paper Book
Featuring tender-hearted illustrations by renowned artist Syrus Marcus Ware, I Promise captures with love and honesty the intimate moments of parenting in all their messy glory - from dealing with a kid who doesn't want to brush their teeth to looking under the bed for monsters to cuddling after a...
Music from the sky
Gillard, Denise
Paper Book
On an early-morning adventure, a young girl and her grandpa make their way through a marsh. Along the way the girl daydreams about the first concert she ever attended. She also tells her grandfather about the music she once heard playing in the sky. Soon they find what they are searching for --...
The only way to make bread
Quintero, Cristina
Paper Book
A delicious exploration of all kinds of breads, from sourdough to bannock to bao, that will tickle your taste buds and warm your heart. What's the only way to make bread?   You might use white flour in your bread, or whole wheat flour or corn flour.  ...
Snowy mittens : a winter adventure
Grant, Shauntay
Paper Book
The picture bookSnowy Mittens: A Winter Adventure isa celebration of Black joy and the simple pleasures of a day in the snow from award-winning poet and picture book author Shauntay Grant. Follow along as a young boy spends the day...
When I wrap my hair
Grant, Shauntay
Paper Book
In the vein of I Am Enough and Hold Them Close, this inspiring and beautiful picture book celebrates how hair wrapping ties together past and present. When I wrap, my roots run deep. As deep as an African marketplace or a city sidewalk or the...
A likkle Miss Lou : how Jamaican poet Louise Bennett Coverley found her voice
Hohn, Nadia L.
Paper Book
A Kirkus Reviewsmost anticipated picture book of fall 2019 by Nadia L. Hohn, named one of CBC's "6 Black Canadian writers to watch" Louise Bennett Coverley, better known as Miss Lou, was an iconic poet and entertainer known for popularizing the use of patois in music and poetry...
The stone thrower
Richardson, Jael Ealey
Paper Book
The African-American football player Chuck Ealey grew up in a segregated neighborhood of Portsmouth, Ohio. Against all odds, he became an incredible quarterback. But despite his unbeaten record in high school and university, he would never play professional football in the United States. ...
Oscar lives next door : a story inspired by Oscar Peterson's childhood
Farmer, Bonnie
Paper Book
Long before Oscar Peterson became a virtuoso jazz pianist, he was a boy who loved to play the trumpet. When childhood tuberculosis weakened his lungs, Oscar could no longer play his beloved instrument. He took up piano and the rest is history: Oscar went on to become an international jazz piano...
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,...

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