Pioneering the Future
2008 Recommended Black History Reading from Just Read, Florida!
Elementary (Grades PreK-3)
- I Dream of Trains, Angela Johnson
- I’ve Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Walter Dean Myers
- Papa’s Mark, Gwendolyn Battle Lavert
- The Hard-Times Jar, Ethel Footman Smothers
- What’s the Hurry, Fox? And the Other Animal Stories, Zora Neale Hurston
- Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl, Virginia Hamilton
- In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems, Jan Spivey Gilchrist
- God Bless the Child, Billy Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.
- Almost to Freedom, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
- Thunder Rose, Jerdine Nolen
- Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles – Think That, Leon and Diane Dillon
- Visiting Langston, Bryan Collier
- Goin’ Someplace Special, Patricia McKissack and Jerry Pinkney
- Uptown, Bryan Collier
- Freedom River, Doreen Rappaport
- Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys, Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
- My Rows and Piles of Coins, Tololwa M. Mollel
- Black Cat, Christopher Myers
- 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
- The Faithful Friend, Robert San Souci
- The Creation, James Wheldon Johnson
- Little Eight John, Jan Wahl
- Sukey and the Mermaid, Robert San Souci
- Working Cotton, Sherley Anne Williams
- All Night, all Day: A Child’s First Book of African American Spirituals, Ashley Bryan
- When I Am Old With You, Angela Johnson
- The Bells of Christmas, Virginia Hamilton
- An Enchanted Hair Tale, Alexis De Veaux
- Half a Moon and One Whole Star, Cresc Dragonwagon
- The Patchwork Quilt, Valerie Flournoy
- A Chair for My Mother, Vera Williams
- Anansi The Spider: A Tale from Ashanti, Gerald McDermott
- Bigmama’s, Donald Crews
- Bright Eyes, Brown Skin, Cheryl Hudson & Bernette Ford
- Daddy and I, Eloisse Greenfield
- Nina Bonita, Ana Machado
- 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
- Stories Huey Tells, Ann Cameron
- Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Deborah Hopkinson
- The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, Langston Hughes & Brian Pinkney
- Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales, Julius Lester
- The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children, Gregorie Christie
- The Talking Eggs, Robert San Souci
- The Invisible Hunters: A Legend from the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua, Harriet Rohmer, et al
- C.L.O.U.D.S., Pat Cummings
- My Mama Needs Me, Mildred Pitts Walter
- Black Child, Peter Mugabane
- I’m Going to Sing: Black American Spirituals, Ashley Bryan
- Just Us Women, Jeanette Caines
- Mother Crocodile: An Uncle Amadou Tale from Senegal, Rosa Guy
- Daydreamers, Eloise Greenfield
- Grandmama’s Joy, Eloise Greenfield
- Count on Your Fingers African Style, Claudia Zaslavsky
- I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf, Jean W. Peterson
- Africa Dream, Eloise Greenfield
- Mary McLeod Bethune, Eloise Greenfield
- Duey’s Tale, Pearl Bailey
- 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
- Everett Anderson’s Good-bye, Lucille Clifton
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
- In the Time of the Drums, Kim L. Siegelson
- I Have Heard of a Land, Joyce Carol Thomas
- Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, Andrea Davis Pinkney
- I Thought My Souls Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, A Freed Girl, Joyce Hansen
- 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
- Tar Beach, Faith Ringgold
- 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
- Lion and the Ostrich Chicks and Other African Folk Tales, Ashley Bryan
- All the Colors of the Race, Arnold Adoff
- What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals, Ashley Bryan
- The Bat Boy and His Violin, Gavin Curtis
- Her Stories, Virginia Hamilton
- Uncle Jed’s Barbershop, Margaree Mitchell
- Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, Joyce Carol Thomas
- 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
- Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum, Ashley Bryan
- 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
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. and 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 Gorund, Breaking SilenceL 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
- The Dark Thirty, Southern Tales of the Supernatural, Patricia A. McKissack
- 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 Dane, Martha Southgate
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 Nay 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