Bird
10 best books like Bird (Zetta Elliott): The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane, Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: a Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix, Ron's Big Mission, Visiting Day, Garmann's Summer, Dad, Jackie, and Me, Ellington Was Not a Street, The Blacker the Berry, My Abuelita
| Author | Langston Hughes |
| ISBN | 0786818670 |
Langston Hughes has long been acknowledged as the voice, and his poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, the song, of the Harlem Renaissance. Although he was only seventeen when he composed it, Hughes already had the insight to capture in words the strength and courage of black people in America.
Artist...
| Author | Carole Boston Weatherford |
| ISBN | 0805079947 |
Young John Coltrane was all ears. And there was a lot to hear growing up in the South in the 1930s: preachers praying, music on the radio, the bustling of the household. These vivid noises shaped John's own sound as a musician. Carole Boston Weatherford and Sean Qualls have composed an amazingly rich hymn...
| Author | Gary Golio |
| ISBN | 0618852794 |
Jimi Hendrix was many things: a superstar, a rebel, a hero, an innovator. But first, he was a boy named Jimmy who loved to draw and paint and listen to records. A boy who played air guitar with a broomstick and longed for a real guitar of his own. A boy who asked himself a question: Could someone paint pictures...
| Author | Rose Blue |
| ISBN | 0525478493 |
Nine-year-old Ron loves going to the Lake City Public Library to look through all the books on airplanes and flight. Today, Ron is ready to take out books by "himself." But in the segregated world of South Carolina in the 1950s, Ron's obtaining his own library card is not just a small rite of passage - it...
| Author | Jacqueline Woodson |
| ISBN | 0590400053 |
Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson has written a poignant picture book about a little girl who waits hopefully for her father's release from prison.
Only on visiting day is there chicken frying in the kitchen at 6 a.m. And Grandma in her Sunday dress, humming soft and...
| Author | Stian Hole |
| ISBN | 0802853390 |
This unique, award-winning picture book delves into the mind of a young boy who is afraid of starting school. Summer is nearly over. The old aunts have come to visit, and autumn is in the air. Everything is ready for Garmann's first day of school, but he is still nervous. And he can't believe that he hasn't...
| Author | Myron Uhlberg |
| ISBN | 1561453293 |
"It was Opening Day, 1947. And every kid in Brooklyn knew this was our year. The Dodgers were going to go all the way!"
It is the summer of 1947 and a highly charged baseball season is underway in New York. Jackie Robinson is the new first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers--and the first black player in...
| Author | Ntozake Shange |
| ISBN | 0689828845 |
In a reflective tribute to the African-American community of old, noted poet Ntozake Shange recalls her childhood home and the close-knit group of innovators that often gathered there. These men of vision, brought to life in the majestic paintings of artist Kadir Nelson, lived at a time when the color...
| Author | Joyce Carol Thomas |
| ISBN | 0060253754 |
Black is dazzling and distinctive, like toasted wheat berry bread; snowberries in the fall; rich, red cranberries; and the bronzed last leaves of summer. In this lyrical and luminous poetry collection, Coretta Scott King honorees Joyce Carol Thomas and Floyd Cooper celebrate these many shades of...
| Author | Tony Johnston |
| ISBN | 0152163301 |
Winner of a 2010 Pura Belpre Illustrator Honor!
Abuelita’s hair is the color of salt. Her face is as crinkled as a dried chile. She booms out words as wild as blossoms blooming. She stuffs her carcacha—her jalopy—with all the things she needs: a plumed snake, a castle, a skeleton, and more....
| Author | G. Neri |
| ISBN | 1584302798 |
Three moves is all it takes to change the outcome of the game.
In Marcus's world, battles are fought everyday on the street, at home, and in school. Angered by his sister's death and his father's absence, and pushed to the brink by a bullying classmate, Marcus fights back with his fists.
One...
| Author | Nikki Giovanni |
| ISBN | 1402210485 |
Hip Hop Speaks to Children is a celebration of poetry with a beat. Poetry can have both a rhyme and a rhythm. Sometimes it is obvious; sometimes it is hidden. But either way, make no mistake, poetry is as vibrant and exciting as it gets. And when you find yourself clapping your hands or tapping your feet,...
| Author | Patricia C. McKissack |
| ISBN | 0689853955 |
If telling the truth is the right thing to do, why is the whole world mad at Libby?
“Tell the truth and shame the devil,” Libby’s mama has told her. So whatever is Libby doing wrong? Ever since she started telling only the truth, the whole world seems to be mad at her. First it’s her best friend,...
| Author | Lucia M. Gonzalez |
| ISBN | 0892392223 |
It is the winter of 1929, and cousins Hildamar and Santiago have just moved to enormous, chilly New York from their native Puerto Rico. As Three Kings' Day approaches, Hildamar and Santiago mourn the loss of their sunny home and wonder about their future in their adopted city. But when a storyteller and...
| Author | Pat Mora |
| ISBN | 0061288772 |
Take a ride in a long submarine or fly away in a hot air balloon. Whatever you do, just be sure to bring your favorite book! Rafael López's colorful illustrations perfectly complement Pat Mora's lilting text in this delightful celebration of El día de los niños/El día de los libros; Children's Day/Book...
| Author | Mary Williams |
| ISBN | 1584302321 |
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book (2006)
American Library Association Notable Book Award (2006)
This story about eight-year-old Garang is based on the real events and stories of The Lost Boys of Sudan. According to the author’s note at the beginning of the book, Sudan suffered...
| Author | Christine King Farris |
| ISBN | 0545035376 |
Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister, Christine, recounts the day of the March and his 'I Have A Dream Speech' in Washington D.C. I listened to this on audiobook and I was able to finish it in under twenty minutes, which was nice, and I'm glad I did because there were pieces from that day inserted into the audiobook...
| Author | N. Joy |
| ISBN | 1933491086 |
The premise is, Olivia tells her friend a secret, and the friend accidentally spills it, and it keeps getting spread -- and getting distorted as it spreads -- until the friend confesses to Olivia that she screwed up. The nameless friend narrates the book. It's a Coretta Scott King honor book for the illustrations.
So...
| Author | Kashmira Sheth |
| ISBN | 1561453927 |
Every day, Rupa's grandmother wears a beautiful Indian sari. Each is brightly colored and very beautiful. "Don't you ever want to wear a gray skirt and red blouse with round buttons like Mommy or a green dress like me?" Rupa asks. But Dadima prefers to wear her traditional saris. She shares with her granddaughter...
| Author | James Rumford |
| ISBN | 1596432764 |
WHEN BOMBS BEGIN TO FALL, Ali drowns out the sound of war with a pen.
Like other children living in Baghdad, Ali loves soccer, music and dancing, but most of all, he loves the ancient art of calligraphy. When bombs begin to fall on his city, Ali turns to his pen, writing sweeping and gliding words...
| Author | Karen Lynn Williams |
| ISBN | 0802853072 |
Sangoel is a refugee. Leaving behind his homeland of Sudan, where his father died in the war, he has little to call his own other than his name, a Dinka name handed down proudly from his father and grandfather before him / When Sangoel and his mother and sister arrive in the United States, everything seems...
| Author | Dianna Hutts Aston |
| ISBN | 0803731078 |
In July 1969, the world witnessed an awe-inspiring historical achievement when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon. For the young protagonist of this lyrical and hopeful picture book, that landing is something that inspires her to make one giant step toward...
Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters
| Author | Andrea Davis Pinkney |
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus and sparked a boycott that changed America. Harriet Tubman helped more than three hundred slaves escape the South on the Underground Railroad. Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The lives...
Brand New School, Brave New Ruby
| Author | Derrick Barnes |
| ISBN | 0545017602 |
Brought to you by Newbery Honor author Derrick Barnes, eight-year-old Ruby Booker is the baby sis of Marcellus (11), Roosevelt (10), and Tyner (9), the most popular boys on Chill Brook Ave. When Ruby isn't hanging with her friend, Theresa Petticoat, she's finding out what kind of mischief her brothers...
