The Bat Boy & His Violin
10 best books like The Bat Boy & His Violin (Gavin Curtis): Follow the Drinking Gourd, January's Sparrow, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Jazz On A Saturday Night (Coretta Scott King Honor Book), Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane, Goin' Someplace Special, Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation, She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story, Uncle Jed's Barbershop, Dad, Jackie, and Me
| Author | Jeanette Winter |
| ISBN | 0679819975 |
Illus. in full color. "Winter's story begins with a peg-leg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the Underground Railroad. While working for plantation owners, Peg Leg Joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper). A couple, their son, and two others make their escape by...
| Author | Patricia Polacco |
| ISBN | 0399250778 |
Patricia Polacco's most powerful book since Pink and Say. In the middle of the night, The Crosswhites--including young Sadie--must flee the Kentucky plantation they work on. Dear January has been beaten and killed by the plantation master, and they fear who may be next. But Sadie must leave behind...
| 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 | Leo Dillon |
| ISBN | 0590478931 |
Celebrated illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon have won the Caldecott Medal twice, and now they present stunning illustrations of an evening of jazz music, complete with a special CD.
If you have ever been lucky enough to hear great jazz, then you will understand the pure magic of this book. Leo...
| 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 | Patricia C. McKissack |
| ISBN | 0689818858 |
'Tricia Ann is going to her favorite place in the world today. It's the first time she's been allowed to go there all by herself. In a lovely dress that looks like spring, she leaves the house. Her grandmother cautions her to "hold yo' head up and act like you b'long to somebody."
But holding...
| Author | Andrea Davis Pinkney |
| ISBN | 0060821183 |
This story begins with shoes.
This story is all for true.
This story walks. And walks. And walks.
To the blues.
Rosa Parks took a stand by keeping her seat on the bus. When she was arrested for it, her supporters protested by refusing to ride. Soon a community of thousands was coming...
She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story
| Author | Audrey Vernick |
| ISBN | 0061349208 |
"A wonderful picture book biography. Little girls will be inspired."*
Effa always loved baseball. As a young woman, she would go to Yankee Stadium just to see Babe Ruth’s mighty swing. But she never dreamed she would someday own a baseball team. Or be the first—and only—woman ever inducted...
| Author | Margaree King Mitchell |
| ISBN | 0689819137 |
Summary/A Thoughtful Review:
In the last line of Margaree King Mitchell’s text she writes: “He taught me to dream, too.” These few words summarize the story Mitchell has written that tells of the love and determination of one man, Jedediah Johnson. Told though the eyes of Sarah Jean, his...
| 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 | Walter Dean Myers |
| ISBN | 0823415457 |
There's a crazy syncopation /and it's tearing through the nation / and it's bringing sweet elation / to every single tune./ It's Jazz
Fifteen poems, infused with the rhythm and wordplay of jazz music, are paired with bold, stylized illustrations of performers and dancers to convey the history...
Toni Morrison has collected a treasure chest of archival photographs that depict the historical events surrounding school desegregation. These unforgettable images serve as the inspiration for Ms. Morrison’s text—a fictional account of the dialogue and emotions of the children who lived...
| Author | Peter Golenbock |
| ISBN | 0152006036 |
This book is about the crazy road of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese. It does a great job talking about how hard it was for Jackie to get into the major leagues and how much he had to go through to play the sport that he loved. As time went on, he was on the team and Pee Wee Reese had to stand up for whats right and...
| Author | Robert Andrew Parker |
| ISBN | 0375839658 |
Regardless of whether they’ve heard of jazz or Art Tatum, young readers will appreciate how Parker uses simple, lyrical storytelling and colorful and energetic ink-and-wash illustrations to show the world as young Art Tatum might have seen it. Tatum came from modest beginnings and was nearly...
| Author | Virginia Fleming |
| ISBN | 0399219935 |
Be Good to Eddie Lee is a book about a girl named Christy and a boy in her neighborhood named Eddie Lee. Eddie Lee is a child with down syndrome, who is not always well liked by Christy and her friend. One day Christy decides to go down to the river with her friend, and Eddie Lee tags along much to her disappointment....
| 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...
Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up To Become Malcolm X
Malcolm X grew to be one of America’s most influential figures. But first, he was a boy named Malcolm Little. Written by his daughter, this inspiring picture book biography celebrates a vision of freedom and justice.
Bolstered by the love and wisdom of his large, warm family, young Malcolm...
Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman
| Author | Nikki Grimes |
| ISBN | 0439352436 |
Soar along with Bessie Coleman in this inspirational tale of a woman whose determination reached new heights.
Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman was always being told what she could & couldn't do. In an era when Jim Crow laws and segregation were a way of life, it was not easy to survive. Bessie...
| 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...
| Author | Ashley Bryan |
| ISBN | 0689847327 |
With a kaleidoscope of color and cut paper, Hans Christian Anderson Award nominee and two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan celebrates three favorite spirituals: "This Little Light of Mine," "Oh, When the Saints Go Marching In," and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." The power...
