Take a Picture of Me, James Van Der Zee!
10 best books like Take a Picture of Me, James Van Der Zee! (Andrea J. Loney): Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery, So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth's Long Walk Toward Freedom, Strange Fruit, The World Is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid, Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines, Dorothea's Eyes: Dorothea Lange Photographs the Truth, Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist, Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code, Danza!: Amalia Hernández and El Ballet Folklórico de México, Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber
| Author | Sandra Neil Wallace |
| ISBN | 1481443879 |
Discover the true story of NFL star Ernie Barnes—a boy who followed his dreams and became one of the most influential artists of his generations—with this beautifully illustrated nonfiction picture book.
When Ernie Barnes was growing up in North Carolina in the 1940s, he loved to draw....
| Author | Gary D. Schmidt |
| ISBN | 1626728720 |
Her biography is absolutely breathtaking artwork combined with a thoughtful sentence interspersed throughout a lengthier picture book biography that educates those that don't know how influential she was as a "first female", one that made a tremendous impact and was listed in Smithsonian magazine's...
| Author | Gary Golio |
| ISBN | 1467751235 |
This is a tough one. “Strange Fruit,” a protest song about the lynching of Black Americans, was Billie Holiday’s powerful signature. In concert and on record, her rendition was chilling and emotional.
So, Gary Golio’s attempt to develop a picture book based on Billie Holiday’s...
A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2017
Parents’ Choice Recommended
Get to know Zaha Hadid in this nonfiction picture book about the famed architect’s life and her triumph over adversity from celebrated author-illustrator Jeanette Winter.
Zaha Hadid grew up...
| Author | Jeanne Walker Harvey |
As a child, Maya Lin loved to study the spaces around her. She explored the forest in her backyard, observing woodland creatures, and used her house as a model to build tiny towns out of paper and scraps. The daughter of a clay artist and a poet, Maya grew up with art and learned to think with her hands as well...
After a childhood bout of polio left her with a limp, all Dorothea Lange wanted to do was disappear. But this desire not to be seen helped her learn how to blend into the background and observe others acutely. With a passion for the artistic life, and in spite of her family’s disapproval, Dorothea pursued...
Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist
| Author | Susan Wood |
| ISBN | 1580896731 |
Juan Garcia Esquivel was born in Mexico and grew up to the sounds of mariachi bands. He loved music and became a musical explorer. Defying convention, he created music that made people laugh and planted images in their minds. Juan’s space-age lounge music—popular in the fifties and sixties—has...
“If you’ve got a good idea, and you know it’s going to work, go ahead and do it.” The picture book biography of Grace Hopper—the boundary-breaking woman who revolutionized computer science.
Who was Grace Hopper? A software tester, workplace jester, cherished mentor, ace inventor,...
| Author | Duncan Tonatiuh |
| ISBN | 1419725327 |
Award-winning author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh tells the story of Amalia Hernández, dancer and founder of El Ballet Folklórico de México.
Published in time for the 100th anniversary of Hernández’s birth, Danza! is the first picture book about the famous dancer and choreographer.
Danza!...
| Author | Sue Macy |
| ISBN | 1481401203 |
From beloved author Sue Macy comes an illustrated biography of Mary Garber, one of the first female sports journalists in American history!
While sitting in the bleachers of a Soap Box Derby in the 1950s, Mary Garber overheard two African-American boys in the following exchange: “See that...
| Author | Chris Barton |
| ISBN | 1580892973 |
A cool idea with a big splash.
You know the Super Soaker. It’s one of top twenty toys of all time. And it was invented entirely by accident. Trying to create a new cooling system for refrigerators and air conditioners, impressive inventor Lonnie Johnson instead created the mechanics for the...
| Author | Jen Bryant |
| ISBN | 0449813371 |
An inspiring picture-book biography of Louis Braille—a blind boy so determined to read that he invented his own alphabet.
Louis Braille was just five years old when he lost his sight. He was a clever boy, determined to live like everyone else, and what he wanted more than anything was to...
As soon as Ann Cole Lowe could walk, her momma and grandma taught her to sew. When her mom died, Ann continued sewing dresses. It wasn't easy, especially when she went to design school and had to learn alone, segregated from the rest of the class. But the work she did set her spirit soaring, as evidenced in...
| Author | Donna Janell Bowman |
| ISBN | 1620141485 |
William -Doc- Key had a special way with animals. Growing up enslaved in Tennessee, Doc was sent to plantations around the state to care for sick and wounded animals. When the Civil War ended and Doc was freed, he began to dream of breeding a winning racehorse. But those dreams were dashed when his colt...
| Author | Jonah Winter |
| ISBN | 1419725599 |
To become the first female Jewish Supreme Court Justice, the unsinkable Ruth Bader Ginsburg had to overcome countless injustices. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s and ’40s, Ginsburg was discouraged from working by her father, who thought a woman’s place was in the home. Regardless, she went...
| Author | Phil Bildner |
| ISBN | 0763673080 |
A fascinating dual biography of tennis greats Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert celebrates the power of equality, respect, and sportsmanship.
Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert come from completely different places and play tennis in completely different ways. Chrissie is the all-American...
| Author | Carole Boston Weatherford |
In luminous paintings and arresting poems, two of children's literature's top African-American scholars track Arturo Schomburg's quest to correct history.
Where is our historian to give us our side? Arturo asked.
Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance...
Frederick's Journey: The Life of Frederick Douglass (A Big Words Book)
| Author | Doreen Rappaport |
| ISBN | 1423114388 |
Frederick Douglass was born a slave. He was taken from his mother as a baby, and separated from his grandparents when he was six. He suffered hunger and abuse, but miraculously, he learned how to read. Frederick read newspapers left in the street, and secretly collected spellings from neighborhood...
Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton
| Author | Don Tate |
| ISBN | 1561458252 |
It seemed rather poignant that I read this book. With the last few months showing that sadly racism has not died I thought it important to introduce my son to dark time in our history...Slavery. I doubt that my son will ever understand white privilege (sadly most white people don't). But I'm happy to say...
Sewing Stories: Harriet Powers' Journey from Slave to Artist
| Author | Barbara Herkert |
| ISBN | 0385754620 |
Harriet Powers learned to sew and quilt as a young slave girl on a Georgia plantation. She lived through the Civil War and Reconstruction, and eventually owned a cotton farm with her family, all the while relying on her skills with the needle to clothe and feed her children.
Later she began...
Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History
| Author | Walter Dean Myers |
| ISBN | 0060277092 |
In this picture book biography, the late New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and acclaimed artist Floyd Cooper take readers on an inspiring journey through the life of Frederick Douglass.
Frederick Douglass was a self-educated slave in the South who grew up to become...
Lift Your Light a Little Higher: The Story of Stephen Bishop: Slave-Explorer
Grab your lantern and follow the remarkable and world-famous Mammoth Cave explorer—and slave—Stephen Bishop as he guides you through the world’s largest cave system in this remarkable homage to the resilience of human nature.
Welcome to Mammoth Cave. It’s 1840 and my name’s...
