Black History Month/African American Favorites

Before the Ships is a powerful and poetic celebration of the early roots of Black history.

This visually stunning portrait of Black photographer Roy DeCarava, a child of the Harlem Renaissance and an artistic collaborator of Langston Hughes, takes readers through 1940s Harlem where beauty is everywhere as he immortalizes and documents the lives of ordinary Black people. Provided by publisher.

Welcome to the mystical land of Afronia, where life is good and full of color. The Afro Unicorns can't wait to celebrate the annual Festival of Crowns. But on the way to the festival, Divine and Unique come across Castle Monotonic, which is home to the mysterious Madame Imperious who wants to drain all the color from Afronia. Madame Imperious has already started draining the color from a young Afrosaurus. It's up to Unique and Divine to save Afronia...

Twelve-year-old Kwame Powell refuses to acknowledge any feelings about his grandmother's passing. And he certainly doesn't want to accompany his parents to her celebration of life ceremony in Ghana, where he knows he'll have to face his feelings about her death head-on. But when an aboatia -- a mischievous monkey from Akan mythology -- steals Kwame's grandmother's dashiki, his last physical reminder of her, Kwame decides to take matters into his own...

On the night of May 13th, 1862, as the Civil War raged on in the United States, 16 enslaved people decided they would reach freedom or die trying. Filled to the brim with suspense, this true story details how Robert Smalls commandeered a Confederate ship through the Charleston harbor toward liberation at the Union blockade. Experience both determination and triumph with this picture book biography written by Robert Small's great-great grandson, Michael...

A graphic novel trilogy based on the life of civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis.

Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocked to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art work had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own introduce young readers...

Eight-year-old Isla Verde loves living on the ever-adventurous island of Sol with her best friend, a gecko named Fitz, but when a new girl moves next door, Isla has a hard time keeping her big secret--that she can talk to animals!

As Frances helps her grandmother with New Year's Day dinner, Grandma teachers her the origins of the different dishes and soul food they prepare together. Includes a recipe for Fay's Fabulous Pralines.