Black Lives Matter
Join us as we look back through the years into our Best Of lists. We aim to find titles on specific topics to create starter book lists for you and your kids!
The Best Of Lists provide recommendations to educators, librarians, parents, guardians, and kids for the best children’s books each year. Some are selected by kids across the US and others by educators, check them all out.
A Collection of Black Creators and Stories from our Best Of Lists
Children’s Choices List (CHC):
- Booked by Kwame Alexander (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers) – ChC 2017
- Odell Beckham Jr. by K.C. Kelley (Bearport Publishing) – ChC 2017
- Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes (Boyds Mills Press / Wordsong) – ChC 2017
- Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams-Garcia. Ill. Frank Morrison. (HarperCollins / Amistad) – ChC 2018
- Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History by Walter Dean Myers. Ill. Floyd Cooper. (HarperCollins) – ChC 2018
- Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out! Games, Songs, and Stories From an African American Childhood by Patricia C. McKissack. Ill. Brian Pinkney. (Random House Children’s Books / Schwartz & Wade) – ChC 2018
- Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) – ChC 2019
- Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. Ill. Laura Freeman. (HarperCollins Children’s Books) – ChC 2019
- Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard; illus. by Jennifer Zivoin. (Magination Press) – ChC 2019
- New Kid by Jerry Craft (HarperCollins / Quill Tree Books) – ChC 2020
- The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander. Ill. Kadir Nelson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / Versify) – ChC 2020
Young Adults’ Choices List (YAC):
- Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (Scholastic) – YAC 2016
- The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (Random House Children’s Books / Delacorte) – YAC 2017
- Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson (HarperCollins) – YAC 2018
- How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child by Sandra Uwiringiyimana with Abigail Pesta (HarperCollins) – YAC 2018
- Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing / Atheneum) – YAC 2018
- Loving vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell; illus. By Shadra Strickland (Chronicle Books) – YAC 2018
- Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson (Bloomsbury Children’s Books) – YAC 2018
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray) – YAC 2018
- Rebound by Kwame Alexander (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) – YAC 2019
- The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe (HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray) – YAC 2020
- On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray) – YAC 2020
- Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan (Bloomsbury YA) – YAC 2020
Notable Social Studies Trade Books List (NSSTB):
- A Thirst for Home by Christine Ieronimo; illus. by Eric Velasquez (Bloomsbury Children’s) – NSSTB 2015
- Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi by Susan Goldman Rubin (Holiday House) – NSSTB 2015
- Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela DePrince and Elaine DePrince (Random House Children’s Books) – NSSTB 2015
- 28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World by Charles R. Smith Jr.; illus. by Shane W. Evans (Roaring Brook Press) – NSSTB 2016
- The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch by Chris Barton; illus. by Don Tate (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing) – NSSTB 2016
- All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (Simon & Schuster) – NSSTB 2016
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer; illus. by Elizabeth Zunon (Penguin Young Readers / Dial Books) – NSSTB 2016
- The Girl Who Buried Her Dreams in a Can: A True Story by Tererai Trent; illus. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Penguin Young Readers / Viking BYR) – NSSTB 2016
- Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Coope (Capstone Young Readers) – NSSTB 2016
- Lillian’s Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by Jonah Winter; illus. by Shane W. Evans (Schwartz & Wade) – NSSTB 2016
- Mixed Me! by Taye Diggs; illus. by Shane W. Evans (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group) – NSSTB 2016
- Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip through Motown Sound by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Roaring Brook Press) – NSSTB 2016
- This Side of Home by Renée Watson (Bloomsbury) – NSSTB 2016
- Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews; illus. by Bryan Collier (Abrams Books for Young Readers) – NSSTB 2016
- Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery, Elspeth Leacock, and Susan Buckley; illus. by PJ Loughran (Penguin Young Readers / Dial Books) – NSSTB 2016
- X: A Novel by Kekla Magoon and Ilyasah Shabazz (Candlewick) – NSSTB 2016
- Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) – NSSTB 2017
- Baby Goes to Market by Antinuke; illus. by Angela Brooksbank (Candlewick Press) – NSSTB 2018
- Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome; illus. by James E. Ransome (Holiday House) – NSSTB 2018
- Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins; illus. by Bryan Collier (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) – NSSTB 2018
- Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song by Kathryn Erskine; illus. by Charly Palmer ( Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR) – NSSTB 2018
- The March Against Fear: The Last Great Walk of the Civil Rights Movement and the Emergence of Black Power by Ann Bausum (National Geographic Children’s Books) – NSSTB 2018
- Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters by Michael Mahin; illus. by Evan Turk (Simon & Schuster) – NSSTB 2018
- Now or Never: 54th Massachusetts Infantry’s War to End Slavery by Ray Anthony Shepard (Boyds Mills Press/ Calkins Creek) – NSSTB 2018
- The Quilts of Gee’s Bend by Susan Goldman Rubin and various illustrators (Abrams Books for Young Readers) – NSSTB 2018
- That Is My Dream! by Langston Hughes; illus. by Daniel Miyares (Random House Children’s Books / Schwartz & Wade) – NSSTB 2018
- Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961 by Larry Dane Brimner (Boyds Mills Press / Calkins Creek) – NSSTB 2018
- Shackles from the Deep: Tracing the Path of a Sunken Slave Ship, a Bitter Past, and a Rich Legacy by Michael H. Cottman (National Geographic Children’s Books) – NSSTB 2018
- Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song by Gary Golio; illus. by Charlotte Riley-Webb (Lerner Publishing Group / Millbrook Press) – NSSTB 2018
- The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson; illus. by Vanessa Brantley Newton (Simon & Schuster / Atheneum BYR) – NSSTB 2018
- Attucks!: Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team That Awakened a City by Phillip Hoose (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR) – NSSTB 2019
- Between The Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery by Sandra Neil Wallace; illus. by Bryan Collier (Simon & Schuster / Paula Wiseman Books) – NSSTB 2019
- Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Renée Watson (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR) – NSSTB 2019
- Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (HarperCollins / Katherine Tegen Books) – NSSTB 2019
- Chasing King’s Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Assassin by James L. Swanson (Scholastic / Scholastic Press) – NSSTB 2019
- Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 by Helaine Becker; illus. by Dow Phumiruk (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Henry Holt and Co. BYR) – NSSTB 2019
- Finding Langston, by Lesa Cline-Ransome (Holiday House) – NSSTB 2019
- Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams by Lesa Cline-Ransome; illustrated by James E. Ransome (Simon & Schuster / Paula Wiseman Books) – NSSTB 2019
- History vs Women: The Defiant Lives that They Don’t Want You to Know by Anita Sarkeesian & Ebony Adams (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Feiwel & Friends) – NSSTB 2019
- Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults): A True Story of the Fight for Justice Bryan Stevenson (Random House Children’s Books / Delacorte Press) – NSSTB 2019
- Martin Rising: Requiem For a King by Andrea Davis Pinkney; illus. by Brian Pinkney (Scholastic / Scholastic Press) – NSSTB 2019
- Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan; illus. by R. Gregory Christie (Boyds Mills Press / Calkins Creek) – NSSTB 2019
- Mommy’s Khimar by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow; illus. by Ebony Glenn (Simon & Schuster / S&S Books For Young Readers) – NSSTB 2019
- No Small Potatoes: Junius G. Groves and His Kingdom in Kansas by Tonya Bolden; illus. by Don Tate (Random House Children’s Books / Alfred A. Knopf BFYR) – NSSTB 2019
- Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-ins by Olugbemisola Rhuday -Perkovich; illus. by Jade Johnson (The Quarto Group / Walter Foster Jr.) – NSSTB 2019
- So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom by Gary D. Schmidt; illus. by Daniel Minter (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Roaring Brook Press) – NSSTB 2019
- Struttin’ With Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong Becomes the First Lady of Jazz by Patricia Hruby Powell; illus. by Rachel Himes (Charlesbridge) – NSSTB 2019
- Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present by Jamia Wilson; illus. by Andrea Pippins (The Quarto Group / Wide Eyed Editions) – NSSTB 2019
- The Boy Who Grew A Forest: The True Story of Jadev Payeng Sophia Gholz; illus. by Kayla Harren (Sleeping Bear Press) – NSSTB 2020
- Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America edited by Ibi Zoboi (HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray) – NSSTB 2020
- Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins. Michelle Meadows; illus. by Ebony Glenn (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Henry Holt and Co. BYR) – NSSTB 2020
- Follow Chester!: A College Football Team Fights Racism and Makes History by Gloria Respress-Churchwell; illus. by Laura Freeman (Charlesbridge) – NSSTB 2020
- Freedom Soup by Tami Charles; illus. by Jacqueline Alcántara (Candlewick Press) – NSSTB 2020
- Going Down Home With Daddy by Kelly Starling Lyons; illus. by Daniel Minter (Peachtree Publishing Company Inc.) – NSSTB 2020
- Ida B. Wells: Discovering History’s Heroes by Diane Bailey (Simon & Schuster / Aladdin) – NSSTB 2020
- On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray) – NSSTB 2020
- A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation by Barry Wittenstein; illus. by Jerry Pinkney. (Holiday House / Neal Porter Books) – NSSTB 2020
- Slay by Brittney Morris (Simon & Schuster / Simon Pulse) – NSSTB 2020
- Sweet Dreams, Sarah: From Slavery to Inventor by Vivian Kirkfield. illus. by Chris Ewald (Creston Books) – NSSTB 2020
- Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan (Bloomsbury YA) – NSSTB 2020
Outstanding Science Trade Books List (OSTB):
- Whoosh! by Chris Barton; illus. by Don Tate (Charlesbridge) – OSTB 2017
- Bat Count by Anna Forrester; illus. by Susan Detwiler (Arbordale) – OSTB 2018
- Chasing Space: Young Readers’ Edition by Leland Melvin (HarperCollins / Amistad) – OSTB 2018
- Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed; illus. by Stasia Burrington (HarperCollins) – OSTB 2019
- Starstruck The Cosmic Journey of Neil deGrasse Tyson by Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer; illus. by Frank Morrison (Random House Children’s Books / Crown BFYR) – OSTB 2019
Best STEM Books List (BSB):
- Wangari Maathai by Franck Prévot and Aurélia Fronty (Charlesbridge) – BSB 2017
- Hidden Figures: Young Readers’ Edition by Margot Lee Shetterly (HarperCollins) – BSB 2018
- Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington; illus. by Theodore Taylor III (Boyds Mills & Kane / Calkins Creek) – BSB 2020
- A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon by Suzanne Slade; illus. by Veronica Miller Jamison (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) – BSB 2020
Check out more anti-racist resources here.
