Black people do not solely exist in the narratives of slavery or #BlackExcellence. Thus, this February 2021 and Black History Month, our theme is "Everyday Blackness". Here are 25 titles ranging from children's board books to Adult non-fiction on the everyday Black experience that you can add to your library today.
Black History Month seems to be a place for tremendous success or significant struggle, but what about the in-between?
MAR Recommends: 25 Books of Everyday Blackness
February is Black History Month. Typically, acknowledgement of this means two things: celebrating Black excellence and/or lamenting over injustice and atrocities endured in the past by the Black community. Harriet Tubman. Martin Luther King Jr. Barack Obama. Viola Desmond. Jazz and Blues musicians. Star athletes. Slavery. The Underground Railroad. Segregation. The Civil Rights Movement. I could go on, but I assume you get the idea. Black History Month seems to be a place for tremendous success or significant struggle, but what about the in-between? What about what it means to be Black every day? What about the everyday experience of regular people? I am by no means suggesting that we erase history, as there is undoubtedly vital importance to acknowledging and learning about the past, but perhaps we need to do a better job of also acknowledging the everyday and the here and now. As well, perhaps the celebration of Black heroes and important figures should not just be reserved for February, but become embedded in our everyday lives.
As I began compiling this month’s booklist, my feelings and thoughts on what it means to be Black every day have changed. Initially, I approached this topic with a bit of trepidation. As a white woman, how could I possibly write on this subject and do it proper justice? How could I write about what it means to be Black every day when it is not my experience and not my story to tell? I began by looking for books with Black protagonists, written by Black authors, sharing stories of regular everyday people doing regular everyday things. I wanted books where race wasn’t the central focus, but where the characters were just living their regular lives and happened to be Black. If you’re starting to roll your eyes a bit at my thought process, stay with me here because I quickly had an “aha” moment. I first began to wonder if I was having trouble locating these books because of a gap in the publishing industry, but then it hit me. I was approaching this completely the wrong way, and certainly from a place of white privilege. Because, you see, the experience of being Black every day cannot be removed from the experiences of microaggressions, systemic racism, and racial injustice. These are the everyday experiences Black people are living. Here. Now. Not just in the past. Sure, books exist where the characters just happen to be Black. But many of these books are not written by Black authors. Books with Black characters written by authentic Own Voices authors are not like those with predominantly white characters, because their lived experiences are not like ours, and we have a VERY long way to go on our antiracism journey before injustice can be removed from the everyday. And so, instead of even attempting to continue a description of a lived experience which is not mine, I hope I’ve done justice in letting these Black authors do the talking this month.
You’ll find a variety of “everyday” experiences on this month’s list of recommended reads. To my surprise, I had slightly less difficulty finding board books with representation allowing Black babies and toddlers to see faces which look like their own within the pages, telling everyday stories of families and love. The picture book list contains two titles about Black hair: one in which a young girl learns important lessons about boundaries and consent, and the other which reads like a love letter to the Black barbershop. The YA and Adult lists contain some overlap, in that both audiences may find appealing titles on either of these lists, and I have endeavoured to include diverse experiences on both.
Happy reading, and Happy Black History Month.
Board Books
Hey, Baby! A Baby’s Day in Doodles By Andrea Pippins
“Follow a baby throughout the day, from napping to snacking to playing–and everything in between! High contrast, lively illustrations combine with gorgeous, colorful photographs to showcase the warmth and tenderness between a mommy and her baby. This affectionate look at babyhood is sure to appeal to new parents and grandparents, who will recognize their own little one in the pages.” - Penguin Random House
Full, Full, Full of Love by Trish Cooke
“Jay Jay’s mother drops him off on her way to pick up his father, so he and Grannie, whose face is as soft and warm as a down comforter, wait for the other guests. Cooke portrays Jay Jay’s anticipation in true child form as he repeatedly asks if dinner’s ready yet and watches restlessly out the window. The focus on Jay Jay and Grannie in the beginning might lead the reader to expect more of a story about their relationship rather than a celebration of ritual and family, but a celebration it is. Cars full of relatives finally pull up and out tumble tired, but cheerful parents and excited kids.” - Kirkus Reviews
Whose Toes Are Those? and Whose Knees Are These? By Jabari Asim
“A vibrant, playful verse that celebrates a beautiful brown baby’s sweet little knees, for fans of Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. Snuggle with a child on your lap with this companion title to the popular board book Whose Toes Are Those?. With lush, adorable pictures from New York Times bestselling illustrator LeUyen Pham, reminiscent of the beloved work of Ezra Jack Keats, this interactive rhyme full of toddler appeal is a perfect baby gift for parent-child playtime.” - Hachette Book Group
Peekaboo Morning and Peekaboo Bedtime by Rachel Isadora
“First spying someone over the mound of blankets heaped on the bed, it is “Peekaboo! I see . . . my mommy.” Peering over the edge of another bed, “Peekaboo! I see . . . my daddy.” Again and again, this smiling child sees someone else, even spying her own diapered image in the mirror.” - Kirkus Reviews
One Love by Cedella Marley
“As she did in Three Little Birds (Tuff Gong, 2006), Cedella Marley adapts a song by her late father, reggae musician Bob Marley. She takes liberties with the lyrics: other than the song’s chorus (“One love, one heart, let’s get together and feel all right!”), the prose bears no resemblance to the original song. Marley replaces religious references with nature-based reflections on love: ‘One love, what the flower gives the bee./ One love, what Mother Earth gives the tree.’” - Publishers Weekly
Picture Books
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
“Without being heavy-handed or didactic, it teaches the value, and fun, of acceptance, generosity, appreciation, and imagination in a less than perfect world. Nana, a strong, graceful African-American grandmother, believes in finding beauty in the world around her. And she lives by what she believes. By answering her grandson's questions, she gently imparts her wisdom to him on a crosstown bus trip that takes them from church to the soup kitchen where they help out each Sunday after church. The language is simple and poetic, the warm-hued artwork vibrantly energetic, and the tone lovingly accepting. This is a quiet book with an amazingly powerful message about learning to live comfortably amid the diversity of ordinary life.” - Common Sense Media
Don’t Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller
“Aria is an African-American girl who’s proud of her show-stopping hair “that grows up toward the sun like a flower.” But people keep confusing admiration with acquiescence: strangers, she laments, “are so curious about my hair that they try to touch it without even asking for permission!” It feels like the entire universe has lost its sense of boundaries. In a series of wonderfully expressive, humorous cartoons that mix full-page and spot art, Aria imagines encountering underwater creatures, forest animals, and even aliens who reach for her curls while cooing, “How do you get it so big?” She contemplates hiding; she loses her temper (“That’s it. That’s enough. DON’T TOUCH MY HAIR!”). Then she resolves to set limits, and, in speaking up for herself, she begins to feel free, respected, and in charge of her own body again.” - Publishers Weekly
Not Quite Snow White by Ashley Franklin
“Tameika is a bubbly, outgoing singer and dancer who loves the stage. She has played various roles, such as a cucumber, a space cowgirl, and a dinosaur, but never a princess. This charming tale tackles the complex subject of biases around race and body image when Tameika overhears her classmates’ whispers: “She can’t be Snow White”; “She’s much too chubby”; “And she’s too brown.” Tameika goes on a journey of self-acceptance as she grapples with her feelings about wanting to be a princess.” - Kirkus Reviews
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
“With striking, oil-based paintings by Gordon C. James that showcase different hairstyles and personalities, it celebrates black barbershop culture and the transformative effects of a "fresh cut." Readers as young as 3 will be able to follow along and enjoy it as an introduction to the concept of haircuts, and kids 5 and up will understand the sophisticated language and swagger and really get it. Older reluctant readers can read it and not feel embarrassed to be reading a little-kid book -- it's that cool.” - Common Sense Media
All Because You Matter by Tami Charles
“Tami Charles is not the first author of a picture book to talk about mattering and Black children, and she won’t be the last, but in her book All Because You Matter she fights to tell the words in an entirely new way. To do this, she steps back and thinks about the very matter of the universe itself. She conjures worlds and galaxies and then dives down deep into the reality of the moment in which kids today live. There are plenty of inspiring picture books out there for kids. Few understand their purpose as perfectly as this book does.” - School Library Journal
Middle Grades
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
“Most interesting is the family dynamic that informs so much of the narrative, which always reveals, never tells. While Josh relates the story, readers get a full picture of major and minor players. The basketball action provides energy and rhythm for a moving story. Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch.” - Kirkus Reviews
From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
“This is one of only a small handful of middle grade novels to explore the experience of having a parent in prison, and the subject is handled with grace and sensitivity. It also exposes the important and timely issue of racial bias in the prison system in a way that is approachable to a middle grade audience. Zoe is a bright, compassionate protagonist for whom readers will root. She is supported by a loving family whose viewpoints differ yet who all want the best for her. The baking subplot will have readers itching to try out Zoe’s recipes.” - School Library Journal
The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon
“A baby sister for a bag of fireworks. What could go wrong? When Caleb and Bobby Gene make a deal with the local bully (who has always wanted a baby sis) they never thought they’d be left holding the bag (literally). But at the end of the day their sister is returned, the fireworks are theirs, and they have no idea what to do with them. It takes a chance encounter in the woods behind their house to make their path clear. Enter, Styx Malone. He’s mysterious. He’s trouble. He’s a teenager. And he makes impossible promises with a tongue smooth as silver. It isn’t long before Caleb falls completely under Styx’s sway. Caleb has always believed that he was destined for bigger, better things. Now with Styx at his side the future is shiny, bright, and involves a motorized scooter that can take him far far away. Trouble is, there may be far more to Styx than meets the eye. And it’s not all good.” - School Library Journal
Blended by Sharon M. Draper
“Timely and genuine, this novel chronicles a biracial girl’s struggle to define her identity and find her voice amid personal and societal expectations. After her parents’ divorce, competitive pianist Isabella, 11, divides her time between her white diner-waitress mother and her wealthy black father. The constant back and forth and her family’s tense weekly exchanges cause her intense stress, as do the microaggressions Isabella experiences regularly. When a history class discussion about student protests and the history of lynching ends with a noose being placed in a black classmate’s locker, Isabella’s awareness of racist behavior skyrockets, as does her need to define who she is for herself.” - Publishers Weekly
As Brave as You by Jason Reynolds
“Eleven-year-old Brooklynite Genie has “worry issues,” so when he and his older brother, Ernie, are sent to Virginia to spend a month with their estranged grandparents while their parents “try to figure it all out,” he goes into overdrive. First, he discovers that Grandpop is blind. Next, there’s no Internet, so the questions he keeps track of in his notebook (over 400 so far) will have to go un-Googled. Then, he breaks the model truck that’s one of the only things Grandma still has of his deceased uncle. And he and Ernie will have to do chores, like picking peas and scooping dog poop. What’s behind the “nunya bidness door”? And is that a gun sticking out from Grandpop’s waistband? Reynolds’ middle-grade debut meanders like the best kind of summer vacation but never loses sense of its throughline.” - Kirkus Reviews
Young Adult
Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant
“After moving to Long Beach, Calif., biracial Black junior and aspiring romance author Tessa Johnson, 16, enrolls in the creative writing conservatory at prestigious Chrysalis Academy. But even as her social life flourishes at the private art school—with new friends, including her supportive, blond baker neighbor Sam—she can’t surmount a serious case of writer’s block and imposter syndrome, brought on by her first encounter with workshop environments.To alleviate Tessa’s fear of embarrassment and lack of romantic experience, childhood best friend Caroline Tibayan suggests Tessa create her own love story with Nico, a rich, popular white classmate. Anxious and self-conscious, Tessa knows that outsiders judge her older brother, who has athetoid cerebral palsy and cognitive impairment, and hold preconceptions about the siblings’ biracial Black and white identity.” - Publishers Weekly
Black Boy White School by Brian F. Walker
“Anthony “Ant” Jones is anxiously awaiting word whether he will leave his East Cleveland neighborhood to begin his freshman year at a boarding school in Maine. His mother has decided that he must go if he is to have a better future, and when his best friend is killed, Anthony looks forward to a different experience. Life at Belton Academy reinforces his concerns about a nearly all-white environment, though, and challenges many of the ideas he carried. Some of the racism is almost casual, and school administrators seem clueless. However, his roommate, Brody, is not what he expected, and some black students have adopted coping strategies that puzzle Anthony. A complicating factor is the presence of Somali refugees in the small town surrounding the school, triggering racist responses directed at all people of color.” - Kirkus Reviews
When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris
“This deftly written tale peels back the layers of a much-maligned neighborhood and its vibrant, complex residents—and exposes the dark, violent underbelly of White America. Ultimately, Jay’s community proves to be stronger and more powerful than any bad reputation. Harris’ book shines a light on the repercussions of institutionalized racism on Black communities and the plight of missing Black girls. Readers will ponder this story long after they turn the final page. A powerful story about misperceptions, reality, and the lives lived in between.” - Kirkus Reviews
Who Put This Song On by Morgan Parker
“In the vein of powerful reads like The Hate U Give and The Poet X, comes poet Morgan Parker's pitch-perfect novel about a black teenage girl searching for her identity when the world around her views her depression as a lack of faith and blackness as something to be politely ignored.” - Penguin Random House
Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne
“With her sister constantly criticizing her and their single mother working long hours, Black teen Skyy loves nothing more than retreating to the basketball court, despite her male peers’ aggression, and spending time with her best friend of two years, Lay Li. But when the girls have a falling-out over the boy Lay Li is dating, who calls Skyy “black/ & ugly & stupid,” she must figure out how to face the world solo—navigating a romance of her own, considering her bond with Lay Li and male-driven narratives surrounding other young women, and slowly learning to gauge her own self-worth.” - Publishers Weekly
Adult
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
“The powerful story of a father’s past and a son’s future. Atlantic senior writer Coates (The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood, 2008) offers this eloquent memoir as a letter to his teenage son, bearing witness to his own experiences and conveying passionate hopes for his son’s life. “I am wounded,” he writes. “I am marked by old codes, which shielded me in one world and then chained me in the next.” Coates grew up in the tough neighborhood of West Baltimore, beaten into obedience by his father. “I was a capable boy, intelligent and well-liked,” he remembers, “but powerfully afraid.” His life changed dramatically at Howard University, where his father taught and from which several siblings graduated. Howard, he writes, “had always been one of the most critical gathering posts for black people.” He calls it The Mecca, and its faculty and his fellow students expanded his horizons, helping him to understand “that the black world was its own thing, more than a photo-negative of the people who believe they are white.” - Kirkus Reviews
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
“Reinvention and erasure are two sides of the same coin. Bennett asks us to consider the meaning of authenticity when we are faced with racism, colorism, sexism and homophobia. What price do we pay to be ourselves? How many of us choose to escape what is expected of us? And what happens to the other side of the equation, the side we leave behind? “The Vanishing Half” answers all these questions in this exquisite story of love, survival and triumph.” - The Washington Post
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
“Brown passionately rejects facile reliance on “hope,” stating that “in order for me to stay in this work, hope must die” and “[t]he death of hope gives way to a sadness that heals, to anger that inspires, to a wisdom that empowers me.” An eloquent argument for meaningful reconciliation focused on racial injustice rather than white feelings.”—Booklist
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
“What we have here is an exquisitely wrought tale of two urban black families — one headed by a prosperous, devoted couple, the other by a struggling single mother — whose lives become permanently intertwined when their only children conceive a child in their teens. Perfect for the legions of young women who have graduated from Woodson's middle grade and adolescent fiction, this compact novel focuses on the decisions we make in life, often under duress, or before we can fully understand their consequences.” - NPR
More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth
“Welteroth moves beyond the headlines and highlight reels to share the profound lessons and struggles of being a barrier-breaker across so many intersections. As a young boss and often the only Black woman in the room, she’s had enough of the world telling her—and all women—they’re not enough. As she learns to rely on herself by looking both inward and upward, we’re ultimately reminded that we’re more than enough.” - Penguin Random House
A Note to the Adults:
There is a phrase commonly used by educators and children’s librarians striving to promote diverse representation which speaks of books as “mirrors and windows”. An inclusive library collection should provide both mirrors where children can see themselves represented in books, as well as windows where children are provided with a view into the lives of others. Mirrors allow children to feel valued, seen, and validated in their own identity, while windows build empathy and understanding for others.
Children’s books are one of the most powerful tools which can be utilized by parents and educators to initiate conversations on important topics such as racism and racial injustice. A good book can provide a gateway to open a conversation, guide dialogue, and prompt questions from children. Particularly for young children, curling up and having a caregiver read aloud also provides ideal conditions for connection and fostering family values.
It is also recommended that parents read alongside their children in order to further discussions, particularly if these topics are new for your children. Additionally, the Middle Grades and Young Adult titles may contain more sensitive subject matter which may require further discussion with an adult. Older children and teens may be reluctant to read with a caregiver, but in this case adults can independently read the same title in order to be equipped to answer questions and spark discussions. Above all, let your child lead and guide the discussion, and listen attentively to their thoughts and ideas. Simply asking them questions such as “what do you think?”, “why do you think this happened?”, or “why do you think the character did this?” can be a good starting point.
Read any of these books with your kids? Send us their reviews and we will publish them on our Facebook page and Intsagram accounts. Show us your little Anti-Racist Readers!
If you have read a great book that you think should be on our next list, please email us at Info@MomsAgainstRacism.ca. We LOVE finding great new books!
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