The very best books celebrating African American culture and values, by African American authors and/or illustrators, from 1970 to the present.
![Book cover of An American story](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2024/48806d2f74d7b3d6fa5e8ed0c7cb9983.jpg?itok=qrpbUVf-)
![Book cover for Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2023/24c09b1f1f0d6ec9d51f9655da5b08c5.jpg?itok=JNDQFw-8)
Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual
![Book cover for Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2022/036d2f6cd9ddfca9ca4a612980b71135.jpg?itok=ZyuG_t6s)
![Book cover for R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2021/639adaccfdec204da8efbef997fe9e0e.jpg?itok=a0fpe-0y)
![Book cover for The Undefeated](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/d52732ebaff7b9dc799d831e799f83d9.jpg?itok=G31jbEvt)
![Book cover for The Stuff of Stars](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/8547c463d5742a6bd7abf0c36b23c553.jpg?itok=EzeK3csH)
![Book cover for Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/3de0ff9037750cbbe1c5ba462cc3c8c2.jpg?itok=UIF436Ws)
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
Presents a collection of twenty poems written in tribute to well-known poets from around the world.
![Book cover for Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/4f9b1e46a741aac2ed729d557619935f.jpg?itok=mJEBkWB2)
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
Author and Illustrator Javaka Steptoe paints brightly colored scenes of Basquiat’s life and artistic career on textured pieces of wood. This book won the Caldecott medal in 2017 and combines an artist’s biography with the message to children that they can create art based from their own stories and life experiences.
![Book cover for Trombone Shorty](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/c8370a2fcc6f25929769468e8b8b32b3.jpg?itok=XjuSZyqI)
Trombone Shorty
![Book cover for Firebird: Ballerina Misty Copeland Shows a Young Girl How to Dance Like the Firebird](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/e4a68d3908ccbe7ee056a6f815fef525.jpg?itok=A1zUvdlV)
Firebird: Ballerina Misty Copeland Shows a Young Girl How to Dance Like the Firebird
(Gr. K-2) American Ballet Theater soloist Misty Copeland encourages a young ballet student, with brown skin like her own, by telling her that she, too, had to learn basic steps and how to be graceful when she was starting out, and that someday, with practice and dedication, the little girl will become a firebird, too. Includes author's note about dancers who led her to find her voice.
![Book cover for Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream For Me](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/0d6d9f71da9f5147eb8d0a5c385fdda2.jpg?itok=NU4m7HVA)
![Book cover for I, Too, Am America](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/bff3e26c0c0093c90a673a12684e4f27.jpg?itok=b63BEfdR)
Underground
(Grades K - 3) A family uses the Underground Railroad to escape slavery. Sparsely worded but powerful.
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave
Grades K - 4
![Book cover for My People](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/e3d646593daba0bdf70e469d1dc26bf0.jpg?itok=AxdU8Ecf)
![Book cover for The Blacker the Berry...](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/00f1432cecfe9f76899657c05c4f2724.jpg?itok=Fle-Xo11)
![Book cover for Let It Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/84e1883e78e896ff700214c1b38a3bb9.jpg?itok=Tohzg8jf)
![Book cover for Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/f52442ce2c0127fa6d5850b8b8ec9b82.jpg?itok=AlUyzHmP)
Rosa
(Gr. 3-5) Sometimes the smallest act galvanizes people into decisive action. In this case, it was a woman refusing to give up her seat on a bus and a bus boycott that lasted nearly a year before the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was illegal. Includes one fold-out spread. A handsomely illustrated look at a watershed event.
Ellington Was Not a Street
Gr. 3 and up. Shange's poem "Mood Indigo" pays tribute to several African American men who made important contributions to 20th century culture: Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, Ray Barretto, Dizzy Gillespie, "Sonny Til" Tilghman, Kwame Nkrumah, and Duke Ellington. Includes brief biographies of each.
![Book cover for Beautiful Blackbird](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/75ebb275c385c7a444861efac24f06ce.jpg?itok=7tfOqE20)
![Book cover for Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/c75f48e5460845a7963a2becc0498b09.jpg?itok=iblB2dqb)
Goin' Someplace Special
Gr. 3-5. In segregated 1950s Nashville, TN, a young African American girl braves a series of obstacles to get to the public library, one of the few integrated places in the town.
![Book cover for Uptown](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/5e91633eddc72099e0f6f58c83a85357.jpg?itok=8wJJ6oJ-)
![Book cover for In the Time of the Drums](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/73ab541071e77bb6aef8f272b704d72b.jpg?itok=JqPyeYaQ)
![Book cover for I See the Rhythm](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/ef41d285f6470deb5b7418559474d242.jpg?itok=9OEFyLuj)
![Book cover for In Daddy's Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2024/008b99b5cb34030daa676058a1f33d0a.jpg?itok=fAduyCzf)
![Book cover for Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/603729c826392a6834948057a948ff9e.jpg?itok=P3v7T0SV)
![Book cover for The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/594333b1447539a5966229f93375a854.jpg?itok=ppCZJP4m)
![Book cover for The Creation](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/58ea794055d8e5e9d023bfa3b0a6a7fd.jpg?itok=f2QFUFlC)
![Book cover for Soul Looks Back in Wonder](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/22899eaf8e1484f9d05ae073bb6336b8.jpg?itok=NaisWCS8)
![Book cover for The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/84219f725c5cc5ca09acd55854db1959.jpg?itok=lCBJP4iy)
![Book cover for Night on Neighborhood Street](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/b66602b496016ec4c487a71c92baee85.jpg?itok=krWk-2Jg)
![Book cover for Aida](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/3d6df879ed0593db407ec63665bed3dd.jpg?itok=i7JlJfNi)
![Book cover for Nathaniel Talking](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/1543f4ac24c4e458d3170cf532ac273a.jpg?itok=mkzfD5lF)
![Book cover for Mirandy and Brother Wind](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/489a35f72c2658e4f7920adc3ca0a712.jpg?itok=iwX-ik0Z)
![Book cover for Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/bd858f75a4a4d91e52c0a7b7ba520426.jpg?itok=2UWwSXMI)
![Book cover for Half a Moon and One Whole Star](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/fb6f394feafaa84cf3fa437d9d506954.jpg?itok=lM_pTF_X)
![Book cover for The Patchwork Quilt](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/ddfcd6ab13b25c239632d35675ca250e.jpg?itok=5uZDw7u0)
![Book cover for My Mama Needs Me](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/6cedf5589fbbbf2bea686009cf0f07a1.jpg?itok=4OhAfAy0)
![Book cover for Black Child](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/86e93f76afd41dafcf96c62c7fd98d52.jpg?itok=GNmkiR9a)
![Book cover for Mother Crocodile = Maman-Caiman](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/40520fce9c13250bf297d7e63a74f1b0.jpg?itok=wopThIw1)
![Book cover for Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/b537525dea1a5096049a76f51372c5c4.jpg?itok=hPg7lvJu)
![Book cover for Cornrows](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/4461b712ff5208b784c551789393fc20.jpg?itok=JbuXG1TY)
![Book cover for Something on My Mind](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/mind.jpg?itok=RT6oux7V)
![Book cover for Africa Dream](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/3f677e67d59a92a7d2fa53f1e8ecfd15.jpg?itok=TL6O4aHG)
![Book cover for Ray Charles](https://www.lapl.org/sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/422578cfefbcc16e101ce580e5c56df2.jpg?itok=UkI-A7oM)