Black History Month Book List for Kids, Tweens and Teens.

This book list includes a celebration of black history, achievement, and innovation of black men, women and children through the years. These children and teen information books have received starred reviews, and/or prestigious awards such as the Michael L. Printz Award, Boston Globe/Horn Book Nonfiction Award, Newbery Honor Award, Coretta Scott King Award, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year Award, ALSC Notable Children's Book to name a few. All the books on this list are available through the Sussex County Library System.

Updated February 27, 2026
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Sussex County Library System (NJ)
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Basket Ball: The Story of the All-American Game
Nelson, Kadir
Paper Book
Award-winning creator Kadir Nelson delivers the perfect gift for basketball fans of any age-a beautifully illustrated history of the game and its key players over the years-in this companion to his bestselling We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. ...
Black heroes of the wild west /
Smith, James Otis
Paper Book
"The racial and cultural diversity of the Old West gets the comic-book treatment in Smith's exploration of the lives and adventures of three Black historical figures...It's about time."-Kirkus Reviews NYPL'S TOP 10 BOOKS ​FOR KIDS A Junior Library Guild Gold...
The book itch : freedom, truth & Harlem's greatest bookstore
Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux
Paper Book
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, ALA Notable Children's Book, CCBC Best Children's Book of the Year, Jane Addams Children's Book Award, Kirkus Best Children's Books, NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts In the 1930s, Lewis's dad, Lewis Michaux Sr., had an itch he needed...
Carver, a life in poems
Nelson, Marilyn
Paper Book
Newbery Honor Book National Book Award finalist Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Flora Stieglitz Straus Award Beautiful verse explores agricultural scientist George Washington Carver's life...
Garvey's choice
Grimes, Nikki
Paper Book
This emotionally resonant novel in verse by award-winning author Nikki Grimes celebrates choosing to be true to yourself. Garvey's father has always wanted Garvey to be athletic, but Garvey is interested in astronomy, science fiction, reading--anything but sports. Feeling like a...
I have a dream
King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Paper Book
Experience history with this picture book of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic speech, including an audio CD. This Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book will inspire young readers! From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s daughter, Dr. Bernice A. King: "My father's dream...
King : a life
Eig, Jonathan
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2024 PULITZER PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY Featured on Amazon's Al Woolworth's Top 10 Books of the Past 25 Years A finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award | Named one of the ten best books of 2023 by The Washington Post<...
Melodies of the Weary Blues: Classic Poems Illustrated for Young People
Hughes, Langston
Paper Book
A gorgeously illustrated centennial of Langston Hughes' first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, this picture book includes select poems paired with vibrant artwork by more than twenty talented Black illustrators, including award-winners Oge Mora, Frank Morrison, Janelle Washington,...
Ordinary hazards : a memoir
Grimes, Nikki
Paper Book
Michael L. Printz Honor Book Robert F. Sibert Honor Book Boston Globe/Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for Teens Six Starred Reviews--★Booklist ★BCCB ★The Horn Book ★Publishers Weekly ★School Library Connection...
The teachers march! : how Selma's teachers changed history
Wallace, Sandra Neil
Paper Book
Demonstrating the power of protest and standing up for a just cause, here is an exciting tribute to the educators who participated in the 1965 Selma Teachers' March. Reverend F.D. Reese was a leader of the Voting Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama. As a teacher and principal, he...
This is the rope : a story from the Great Migration
Woodson, Jacqueline.
Paper Book
The story of one family's journey north during the Great Migration starts with a little girl in South Carolina who finds a rope under a tree one summer. She has no idea the rope will become part of her family's history. But for three generations, that rope is passed down, used for everything from...
Troubled Waters: A River's Journey Toward Justice
Weatherford, Carole Boston,
Paper Book
From Young People's Poet Laureate Carole Boston Weatherford and award-winning illustrator Bryan Collier, a stirring account of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, as witnessed by the Alabama River. Some say water is the mightiest force on earth. But the...
The Underground Railroad
Messner, Kate
Paper Book
Myths! Lies! Secrets! Uncover the hidden truth about the Underground Railroad and Black Americans' struggle for freedom. Perfect for fans of I Survived! and Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales. Before the Civil War, there was a crack team of abolitionists who used quilts...
Unequal : a story of America
Dyson, Michael Eric
Paper Book
YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award Finalist ★  New York Times bestselling author Michael Eric Dyson and critically acclaimed author Marc Favreau show how racial inequality permeates every facet of American society, through the lens of...
Working cotton
Williams, Sherley Anne
Paper Book
This child's view of the long day's work in the cotton fields, simply expressed in a poet's resonant language, is a fresh and stirring look at migrant family life. "With its restrained poetic text and impressionist paintings, this is a picture book for older readers, too."--Booklist

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