I don’t know what to do or what to say. All I know is that doing and saying nothing is indefensible. Lately, I have been hearing so many people say that actions speak louder than words. This is often true. Still, I believe that words are powerful and that stories can change people’s hearts and minds. The action that I can take today is to lift the voices of individuals who have lived and are living Black lives. Because Black lives are beautiful. Black lives are honorable. BLACK LIVES MATTER.
(I know this list is woefully short. It represents only a few of the voices that need to be lifted. Please share more with each other, with your students, and with me.)
Picture Books:
Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis written by Jabari Asim and illustrated by E.B. Lewis
The Undefeated written by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Hair Love written by Matthew A. Cherry and illustrated by Vashti Harrison
Little Leaders and Little Legends written and illustrated by Vashti Harrison
Let’s Talk about Race written by Julius Lester and illustrated by Karen Barbour
Julian is a Mermaid written and illustrated by Jessica Love
Don’t Touch My Hair! written and illustrated by Sharee Miller
Thank You, Omu! written and illustrated by Oge Mora
Wings written and illustrated by Christopher Myers
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down written by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Coretta Scott written by Ntozake Shange and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World written by Charles R. Smith Jr. and illustrated by Shane Evans
Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills written by Renee Watson and illustrated by Christian Robinson
Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Eric Velasquez
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Ekua Holmes
This is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by James Ransome
Middle Grade:
Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender
Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
The Watson’s Go to Birmingham and many other books by Christopher Paul Curtis
Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson
The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon
Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men who Changed America written by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Ghost (Book 1 of the Track series) by Jason Reynolds
The Land (entire Logan family saga) by Mildred D. Taylor
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi
Young Adult:
Solo by Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess
We are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson with Tonya Bolden (and other works by Tonya Bolden)
Little and Lion and other works by Brandy Colbert
Tyler Johnson was Here by Jay Coles
Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History by Joel Christian Gill
Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes
Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson
A Certain October and anything else written by Angela Johnson
How it Went Down and other works by Kekla Magoon
How I Discovered Poetry written by Marilyn Nelson with illustrations by Hadley Hooper
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty written by G. Neri and illustrated by Randy DuBurke
When I Was the Greatest and all other works by Jason Reynolds
Dear Martin and other books by Nic Stone
On the Come Up and other works by Angie Thomas
If You Come Softly and other works by Jacqueline Woodson
American Street and other books by Ibi Zoboi
