Children's Books with Black Protagonists

Looking for Black representation in your children's books? These books may not always get the attention they're due, but that doesn't mean that children's books books with Black representation aren't out there. In this resource, you'll find general fiction, biographies and other nonfiction, books that highlight STEM, adventurous fantasy, and more. The books below are sorted according to age. If you come across books that you think should be added to this list or a future resource, send your suggestions to contact.undergroundbookshelf@gmail.com for review.

**Please note that I have not read all of these books. I encourage you to do your own research to find the book/s right for you and your family and to use this resource merely as a guide.

Image Description: An assortment of children's books stacked on wooden shelves. One, yellow shelf takes up the center with featured books.

Credit: Zoshua Colah / Unsplash via Webador

Ages 0+

Dream Big, Little Leader by Vashti Harrison
B Is for Baby by Atinuke, Angela Brooksbank
Baby Goes to Market by Atinuke, Angela Brooksbank
Catch That Chicken by Atinuke, Angela Brooksbank
Brown Sugar Baby by Kevin Lewis, Jestenia Southerland
Baby Says by John Steptoe
Woke Baby by Mahogany L. Browne
The Meteorologist in Me by Brittney Shipp

Ages 1+

Homemade Love by Bell Hooks
Whose Knees Are These? by Jabari Asim, LeUyen Pham
The Old Truck by Jerome Pumphrey, Jarrett Pumphrey
Bob Marley by Chronicle Books (series) by Cedella Marley, Bob Marley
Mary Had a Little Glam by Tammi Sauer
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Shady Baby by Gabrielle Union-Wade, Dwayne Wade Jr.
Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
An ABC of Equality by Chana Ginelle Ewing
Happy Hair by Mechal Renee Roe
I Promise by LeBron James
Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora
Bippity Bop Barbershop by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley

Ages 2+

Rocket Says... (series) by Nathan Bryon, Dapo Adeola
You Matter by Christian Robinson
Don't Touch My Hair! by Sharee Miller
The ABCs of Black History by Rio Cortez
We're Going to Find the Monster by Malorie Blackman, Dapo Adeola
Lola Reads (series) by Anna McQuinn
Princess Cupcake Jones (series) by Ylleya Fields
Max and the Tag-Along Moon by Floyd Cooper
Parker Curry Books (series) by Parker Curry
I Got the Rhythm by Connie Schofield-Morrison
Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins
Mixed Me! by Taye Diggs
Chocolate Me! by Tae Diggs
I Know I Can! by Veronica N. Chapman
I Believe I Can by Grace Byers

Ages 3+

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña, Christian Robinson
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o, Vashti Harrison
Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora
Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Change Sings: A Children's Anthem by Amanda Gorman
M Is for Melanin by Tiffany Rose
Look Up! by Nathan Bryon, Dapo Adeola
Black Is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy
Saturday by Oge Mora
Reading Beauty by Deborah Underwood
The Questioneers (series) by Andrea Beaty
The New Small Person by Lauren Child
The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds
Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen
Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe
Callaloo (series) by Marjuan T. Canady
Beautiful You, Beautiful Me by Tasha Spillett
All Because You Matter by Tami Charles
Being You by Alexs Pate
Skin Like Mine by Latashia M. Perry
Catch That Goat! by Polly Alakija
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama
Swift Walker by Verlyn Tarlton

Ages 4+

Just Like Me by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad, S.K. Ali
The Kindest Red by Ibtihaj Muhammad, S.K. Ali
Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke
Layla's Happiness by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
Billy Bloo Is Stuck in Goo by Jennifer Hamburg
How to Trick the Tooth Fairy by Erin Danielle Russell
Shine Bright by Kheris Rogers
I Am Okay to Feel by Karamo Brown, Jason "Rachel" Brown
The Stacey Stories by Stacey Abrams
Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told by Walter Dean Myers
I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Walter Dean Myers
My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King III
Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly by Walter Dean Myers
Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History by Walter Dean Myers
When Harriet Met Sojourner by Catherine Clinton
Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter by Nadia L. Hohn
Coretta Scott by Ntozake Shange
Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens by Nina Nolan
Barack by Jonah Winter
Muhammad Ali: A Champion Is Born by Gene Barretta
Ready to Fly: How Sylvia Townsend Became the Bookmobile Ballerina by Lea Lyon, Alexandria LaFaye
Althea Gibson: The Story of Tennis' Fleet-of-Foot Girl by Megan Reid
Look Up with Me: Neil deGrasse Tyson: A Life Among the Stars by Jennifer Berne
The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver by Gene Barretta
Freedom Song: The Story of Henry "Box" Brown by Sally M. Walker
Fresh Princess by Denene Millner
We Are Shining by Gwendolyn Brooks
When Grandmama Sings by Margaree King Mitchell
I Got Next by Daria Peoples-Riley
Not Quite Snow White by Ashley Franklin
This Is It by Daria Peoples-Riley
Big Papa and the Time Machine by Daniel Berstrom
The Great Migration: An American Story by Jacob Lawrence
Harlem Renaissance Party by Faith Ringgold
Brick by Brick by Charles R. Smith Jr.
The United States V. Jackie Robinson by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Hands Up! by Breanna J. McDaniel
We March by Shane W. Evans
That Is My Dream! by Langston Hughes
My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa M. Mollel
Dear Black Boy by Martellus Bennett
A Likkle Miss Lou by Nadia Hohn
Jonathan and His Mommy by Irene Smalls
Double Bass Blues by Andrea J. Loney
Going Down Home with Daddy by Kelly Starling Lyons
Blue Moon: From the Journals of Mama Mae and LeeLee by Alicia Keys, Jessica Walton
Olivia's Doctor Adventures by Dr. Ashley Denmark

Ages 5+

Little Leaders: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
How to Be Extraordinary by Rashmi Sirdeshpande, Anabel Tempest
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, Vashti Harrison
The Silence Seeker by Ben Morley, Carl Pearce
Magic Betsey by Malorie Blackman
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
How to Write A Story by Kate Messner
The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes
MC Veggie Fresh Rocks the Mic by Shanon Morris
Firebird by Misty Copeland
Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson
A Tasty Maandazi by Kwame Nyong'o
You Can Do It! by Tony Dungy
The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard
Riley Can Be Anything by Mr.s Davina Hamilton
Freedom Soup by Tami Charles
Hip Hop Speaks to Children by Nikki Giovanni
My Pop Pop and Me by Irene Smalls
Building my Self-eSTEAM in Science (series) by Yasmine Daniels PhD

Ages 6+

Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth by Ann Turner
Donavan's Word Jar by Monalisa DeGross
Freedom's a-Callin Me by Ntozake Shange
We Troubled the Waters by Ntozake Shange
Anna Carries Water by Olive Senior
Sleepover Scientist by Kelly Starling Lyons

Ages 7+

The Extraordinary Life of Rosa Parks by Dr. Sheila Kanani, Nan Lawson
The Extraordinary Life of Serena Williams by Shelina Janmohamed, Ashely Evans
The Extraordinary Life of Katherine Johnson by Devika Jina, Maggie Cole
The Extraordinary Life of Michelle Obama by Dr. Sheila Kanani, Sarah Walsh
The Extraordinary Life of Nelson Mandela by E.L. Norry, Ashley Evans
The Extraordinary Life of Mary Seacole by Naida Redgrave, Alleanna Harris
The Magnificent Makers (series) by Theanne Griffith
Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel (series) by Nikki Grimes
Magnificent Homespun Brown by Samara Cole Doyon
I Am Unique! by Jennifer D. Vassal
How the Leopard Got His Claws by Chinua Achebe
Sasha Savvy Loves to Code by Sasha Ariel Alston
Black Women in Science by PhD Kimberly Brown Pellum

Ages 8+

Clubhouse Mysteries (series) by Sharon M. Draper
The Dream Team by Priscilla Mante
StreetCar to Justice: How Elizabeth Jennings Won the Right to Ride in New York by Amy Hill Hearth
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petry
Chasing Space Young Readers' Edition by Leland Melvin
Courage by Barbara Binns
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices by Wake Hudson
Muhiima's Quest by Rahma Rodaah
The Boy from Nine Miles: The Early Life of Bob Marley by Cedella Marley, Gerald Hausman
Adventures of Emery Jones, Boy Science Wonder by Charles Johnson, Elisheba Johnson

Ages 9+

Funky Turkeys by Ben Zephaniah
How High the Moon by Karyn Parsons
Blackberry Blue by Jamila Gavin, Richard Collingridge
Fly Me Home by Polly Ho-Yen
Pig-Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman
The Good Turn by Sharna Jackson
Black in Time by Alison Hammond, E.L. Norry
Listen, Layla by Yassmin Abdel-Magied
The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage by Walter Dean Myers
Blue Mountain Trouble by Martin Mordecai

Sources

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