Black History Month 2010
African-American Art - A Look at Our Past; A Glimpse into Our Future
2010 Recommended Black History Reading from Just Read, Florida!
Information coming soon.
This recommended reading list, in celebration of Florida's Black History Month, highlights African-American literature. This list provides an excellent source of suggested books for children of all ages. Just Read, Florida! makes reading a priority in Florida's public schools and among the community groups and volunteer organizations that support them. For more information about Just Read, Florida! please visit www.justreadflorida.com.
Elementary (Grades PreK-3)
- I Dream of Trains, Angela Johnson
- The Moon Over Star, Dianna Hutts Aston
- Let It Shine, Ashley Bryan
- Before John Was a Jazz Giant - Carole Boston Weatherford
- Uptown, Bryan Collier
- I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Walter Dean Myers
- Papa's Mark, Gwendolyn Battle Lavert
- In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems, Jan Spivey Gilchrist
- Almost to Freedom, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
- Thunder Rose, Jerdine Nolen
- Visiting Langston, Bryan Collier
- Freedom River, Doreen Rappaport
- In Daddy's Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, Alan Schroeder
- Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry, Ashley Bryan
- Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman, Alan Schroeder
- Running the Road to ABC, Denize Lauture
- Neeny Coming, Neeny Going, Karen English
- Little Eight John, Jan Wahl
- All Night, all Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals, Ashley Bryan
- When I Am Old With You, Angela Johnson
- The Patchwork Quilt, Valerie Flournoy
- Bright Eyes, Brown Skin, Cheryl Hudson & Bernette Ford
- Something Beautiful, Sharon Wyeth
- The Quilt, Ann Jonas
- Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin Cowboy, Andrea Pinkney & Brian Pinkney
- Drylongso, Virginia Hamilton
- I Am Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks & James Haskins
- Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Doreen Rappaport
- Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Deborah Hopkinson
- The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, Langston Hughes & Brian Pinkney
- The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children, Gregorie Christie
- The Invisible Hunters: A Legend from the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua, Harriet Rohmer, et al
- Africa Dream, Eloise Greenfield
- Mary McLeod Bethune, Eloise Greenfield
- Ray Charles, Sharon Bell Mathis
- Jazzy Miz Mozetta, Brenda C. Roberts
- Family Plays Music, Judy Cox
- The Moon Ring, Randy DuBurke
- Freedom Summer, Deb Wiles
- The Piano Man, Debbie Chocolate
Elementary (Grades 4-5)
- Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories, Jan Greenberg
- Against All Odds: Artist Dean Mitchell's Story, Betty R. James
- Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, Nikki Grimes
- Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojouner Truth, Anne Rockwell
- I Have Heard of a Land, Joyce Carol Thomas
- Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, Andrea Davis Pinkney
- The Hunterman and the Crocodile, Baba Waguè Diakitè
- The Singing Man, Angela Shelf Medearis
- Meet Danitra Brown, Nikki Grimes
- Soul Looks Back in Wonder, Phyllis Fogelman
- The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth, David A. Anderson
- Night on the Neighborhood Street, Eloise Greenfield
- The Road to Memphis, Mildred Taylor
- Aida, Leontyne Price
- Nathaniel Talking, Eloise Greenfield
- Mirandy and Brother Wind, Patricia McKissack
- Under the Sunday Tree, Eloise Greenfield
- Storm in the Night, Mary Stolz
- Maritcha, Tonya Bolden
- Ellington Was Not a Street, Ntozake Shange & Kadir Nelson
- The Bat Boy and His Violin, Gavin Curtis
- The Great Migration: An American Story, Jacob Lawrence
- Harlem, Walter Dean Myers
- Circle of Gold, Candy Dawson Boyd
- A Little Love, Virginia Hamilton
- The Strange New Feeling, Julius Lester
- Rainbow Jordan, Alice Childress
- Skates of Uncle Richard, Carol Fenner
- Something on My Mind, Nikki Grimes
- Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, R. Gregory Christie
- Fly High!: The Story of Bessie Coleman, Louise Borden & Mary Kay Kroeger
Middle School (Grades 6-8)
- The Legend of Buddy Bush, Sheila P. Moses
- Days of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue, Julius Lester
- Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl, Tonya Bolden
- Dark Sons, Nikki Grimes
- The Road to Paris, Nikki Grimes
- Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, Ben Carson
- Days of Jubilee: The End of Slavery in the United States, Patricia C. and Frederick L. McKissack
- Locomotion, Jacqueline Woodson
- The Battle of Jericho, Sharon Draper
- The Red Rose Box, Brenda Woods
- The Land, Mildred Taylor
- Miracle's Boys, Jacqueline Woodson
- Let It Shine! Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, Andrea Davis Pinkney
- Francie, Karen English
- Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African American Whalers, Patricia C. & Frederick L. McKissack
- Bayard Rustin: Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement, James Haskins
- Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters, Patricia C. and Frederick L. McKissack
- The Captive, Joyce Hansen
- Now is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom, Walter Dean Myers
- A Thief in the Village and Other Stories, James Berry
- Which Way Freedom, Joyce Hansen
- Junius Over Far, Virginia Hamilton
- The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King
- Forged by Fire, Sharon M. Draper
- Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, Virginia Hamilton
- Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York's African Burial Ground, Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan
- I See the Rhythm, Toyomi Igus
- Heaven, Angela Johnson
- The Other Side: Shorter Poems, Angela Johnson
- Toning the Sweep, Angela Johnson
- Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts, Patricia C. and Frederick L. McKissack
- Soujourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman?, Patricia C. and Frederick L. McKissack
- Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World, Mildred Pitts Walter
- Let the Circle Be Unbroken, Mildred D. Taylor
- Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir, Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little
- Andrew Young: Young Man With a Mission, James Haskins
- The Way a Door Closes, Hope Anita Smith
- The Skin I'm In, Sharon Flake
- Another Way to Dance, Martha Southgate
- Elijah of Buxton, Christopher Paul Curtis
- Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali, Charles R. Smith, Jr.
- We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, Kadir Nelson
- Keeping the Night Watch, Hope Anita Smith
- Maizon at Blue Hill, Jacqueline Woodson
High School (Grades 9-12)
- Copper Sun, Sharon Draper
- The Magnificent Twelve: Florida's Black Junior Colleges, Walter L. Smith, Ph.D.
- Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem, Marilyn Nelson
- Carver: A Life in Poems, Marilyn Nelson
- Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, Walter Dean Myers
- Mississippi Challenge, Mildred Pitts Walter
- Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Movement, Lillie Patters
- We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Led to Success, Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt and Sharon Draper
- Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers
- Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave, Virginia Hamilton
- Trouble's Child, Mildred Pitts Walter
- The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl, Virginia Hamilton
- Lena Horne, James Haskins
- The Middle Passage: White Ships Black Cargo, Tom Feelings
- This Life, Sidney Poitier
- Don't Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday, Alexis De Veaux
- The Young Landlords, Walter Dean Myers
- James Van Der Zee: The Picture Takin' Man, James Haskins
- Let the Lion Eat Straw, Ellease Southerland
- Cornrows, Camille Yarborough
- Benjamin Banneker, Lillie Patterson
- Barbara Jordan, James Haskins
- Darkness Before Dawn, Sharon Draper
- Coretta Scott King, Lillie Patterson
- The Story of Stevie Wonder, James Haskins
- Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of Booker T. Washington, Ruth Ann Stewart
- The Legend of Africana, Dorothy Robinson
- I Never Had It Made: the Autobiography of Jackie Robinson, as told, Alfred Duckett
- My Chill Wind, Janet McDonald
- Lou in the Limelight, Kristin Hunter
- Movin' Up, Berry Gordy
- Marvin and Tige, Frankcina Glass
- Black Troubador: Langston Hughes, Charlemae Rollins
- Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace, Lillie Patterson
- Monster, Walter Dean Myers
- The First Part Last, Angela Johnson
- Just Another Hero, Sharon M. Draper
- Remember: The Journey to School Integration, Toni Morrison
- Becoming Billie Holiday, Carole Boston Weatherford
