BACK OF THE BUS
written by Aaron Reynolds
illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Philomel Books
ISBN: 9780399250910
Ages 6-8
32 pages

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It seems like any other winter day in Montgomery, Alabama. Mama and child are riding where they’re supposed to --- way in the back of the bus. The boy passes the time by watching his marble roll up and down the aisle with the motion of the bus, until from way up front a big commotion breaks out. He can’t see what’s going on, but he can see the policeman arrive outside and he can see Mama’s chin grow strong. “There you go, Rosa Parks,” she says, “stirrin’ up a nest of hornets. Tomorrow all this’ll be forgot.” But they both know differently.

CHILD OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
written by Paula Young Shelton
illustrated by Raul Colon
Schwartz & Wade/Random House Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780375843143
Ages 4-8
40 pages

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Paula Young Shelton, daughter of Civil Rights activist Andrew Young, brings a child’s unique perspective to an important chapter in America’s history. Paula grew up in the deep south, in a world where whites had and blacks did not. With an activist father and a community of leaders surrounding her, including Uncle Martin (Martin Luther King), Paula watched and listened to the struggles, eventually joining with her family --- and thousands of others --- in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery.

THE HALLELUJAH FLIGHT
written by Phil Bildner
illustrated by John Holyfield
Putnam Juvenile
ISBN: 9780399247897
Ages 5-8
32 pages

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During the Great Depression, the ace black pilot James Banning decided to fly from coast to coast to serve as an inspiration to people everywhere. So he fixed up the dilapidated OXX6 Eagle Rock plane with his co-pilot and mechanic, Thomas Allen, earning them the derisive nickname “The Flying Hoboes.” But with the help of friends and family, Banning and Allen made it through treacherous weather and ruthless prejudice to receive a heroes’ welcome upon landing in New York on October 9, 1932.

HENRY AARON’S DREAM
written and illustrated by Matt Tavares
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 9780763632243
Ages 8-10
40 pages

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Before he was Hammerin' Hank, Henry Aaron was a young boy growing up in Mobile, Alabama, with what seemed like a foolhardy dream: to be a big-league baseball player. He didn't have a bat. He didn't have a ball. And there wasn't a single black ball player in the major leagues. But none of this could stop Henry Aaron. In a captivating biography of Henry Aaron's young life --- from his sandlot days through his time in the Negro Leagues to the day he played his first spring training game for the Braves --- Matt Tavares offers an inspiring homage to one of baseball's all-time greats.

JANUARY’S SPARROW
written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco
Philomel Books
ISBN: 9780399250774
Ages 8-up
96 pages

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In the middle of the night, The Crosswhites --- including young Sadie --- must flee the Kentucky plantation they work on. Dear January has been beaten and killed by the plantation master, and they fear who may be next. But Sadie must leave behind her most valuable possession, the wooden sparrow carved for her by January. Through the Underground Railroad, the Crosswhites make the slow and arduous journey to Marshall, Michigan, where they finally live in freedom. And there they stay, happily, until the day a mysterious package shows up on their doorsteps. It is January’s sparrow, with a note that reads, “I found you.”

THE LITTLE PIANO GIRL: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend
written by Ann Ingalls and Maryann Macdonald
illustrated by Giselle Porter
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780618959747
Ages 4-8
32 pages

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What if you loved music more than anything? Suppose you had just learned to play the piano. Imagine that your family has to move to a new city and you have to leave your piano behind. People don’t like you in the new city because of what you look like. How will you make yourself feel better? Mary Lou Williams, like Mozart, began playing the piano when she was four; at eight she became a professional musician. She wrote and arranged music for Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and was one of the most powerful women in jazz. This is the story of Mary Lou’s childhood in Pittsburgh, where she played the piano for anyone who would listen.

MAMA MITI: WANGARI MAATHAI AND THE TREES OF KENYA
written by Donna Jo Napoli
illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
ISBN: 9781416935056
Ages 4-8
40 pages

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Wangari grew up in the shadow of Mount Kenya listening to the stories about the people and land around her. Though the trees towered over her, she had loved them for as long as she could remember. So strong, so beautiful, how the trees made her smile.
 
Wangari planted trees one by one to refresh her spirit. When the women came to her for help with their families, she told them to do the same. Soon the countryside was filled with trees. Kenya was strong once more. Wangari had changed her country, tree by tree.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
written by Marion Dane Bauer
illustrated by Jamie Smith
Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 9780545142335
Ages 4-8
32 pages

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man. His words changed the way people thought, and his actions spurred them on to change the world. With simple, lyrical text and bold, kid-friendly illustrations, this book introduces Dr. King to the youngest readers.

MUHAMMAD ALI: The People’s Champion
written by Walter Dean Myers
illustrated by Alix Delinois
Collins
ISBN: 9780060291310
Ages 5-8
40 pages

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He was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., in Louisville, Kentucky. His very first boxing coach, former police officer Joe Martin, told him, “You better learn how to fight before you start challenging people.” Once considered the underdog, Cassius, later known as Muhammad Ali, would eventually win the title of heavyweight champion of the world. Acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers recounts the champ’s most famous fights and examines the depth and complexity of the larger-than-life legend. The bold, vibrant art of Alix Delinois reflects the beauty and power of the man who could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

ONE CRAZY SUMMER
Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad/HarperCollins Children’s Books
ISBN: 9780060760885
Ages 9-12
224 pages

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Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.
 
When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.

OUR CHILDREN CAN SOAR: Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change
Michelle Cook
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
ISBN: 9781599904184
Ages 4-8
32 pages

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This unique picture book is part historical, part poetry, and entirely inspirational. It takes the reader through the cumulative story of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, expanding the popular slogan beyond Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama to include more key players in the struggle for equality. Spare prose and vivid imagery make this a truly moving and accessible picture book to be savored by readers of all ages.

A SAVAGE THUNDER: Antietam and the Bloody Road to Freedom
Jim Murphy
Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9780689876332
Ages 8-12
112 pages

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In September 1862, two great armies faced off across Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, knowing that the fate of the United States and the future of millions of slaves were at stake. From behind-the-scenes conversations to the action on the front lines, renowned nonfiction writer Jim Murphy provides an in-depth look at the battle that prompted Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and changed America forever. Murphy uses photographs maps, and first-person accounts to sweep young readers into the chaos and confusion of battle.

SIT-IN: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down
written by Andrea Davis Pinkney
illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780316070164
Ages 9-12
40 pages

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This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement. Andrea Davis Pinkney uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the “whites only” Woolworth’s lunch counter. Brian Pinkney embraces a new artistic style, creating expressive paintings filled with emotion that mirrors the hope, strength and determination that fueled the dreams of not only these four young men, but also countless others.

SOJOURNER TRUTH’S STEP-STOMP STRIDE
written by Andrea Davis Pinkney
illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Disney-Hyperion
ISBN: 9780786807673
Ages 4-8
32 pages

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Born into slavery, Belle had to endure the cruelty of several masters before she escaped to freedom. And oh, was freedom sweet! But still, she knew that she wouldn’t really be free unless she was helping to end slavery and injustice in America. That’s when she changed her name to Sojourner and began traveling across the country, demanding equal rights for black people and for women.
 
A woman of towering height and a mesmerizing speaker, Sojourner began drawing mighty crowds wherever she went. Many people weren’t ready for her message --- some even threatened her. But Sojourner was brave and her truth was powerful, and people would remember what she said. And slowly, but surely as Sojourner’s step-stomp stride, America began to change.

SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM: The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World
written by Marilyn Nelson
illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
Dial Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780803731875
Ages 10-up
80 pages

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In the 1940s, as the world was at war, a remarkable jazz band performed on the American home front. This all-female band, originating from a boarding school in the heart of Mississippi, found its way to the most famous ballrooms in the country, offering solace during the hard years of the war. They dared to be an interracial group despite the cruelties of Jim Crow laws, and they dared to assert their talents though they were women in a “man’s” profession. Told in thought-provoking poems and arresting images, this unusual look at our nation’s history is deep and inspiring.

TESTING THE ICE: A True Story about Jackie Robinson
written by Sharon Robinson
illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Scholastic Press
ISBN: 9780545052511
Ages 7-10
40 pages

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When Jackie Robinson retires from baseball and moves his family to Connecticut, the beautiful lake on their property is the center of everyone's fun. The neighborhood children join the Robinson kids for swimming and boating. But oddly, Jackie never goes near the water.
 
In a dramatic episode that first winter, the children beg to go ice skating on the lake. Jackie says they can go --- but only after he tests the ice to make sure it's safe. The children prod and push to get Jackie outside, until hesitantly, he finally goes. Jackie taps on the ice's surface, when suddenly howling and roaring sounds come out of the lake. It is only then that Sharon realizes why she's never seen her father in the water --- Jackie doesn't know how to swim! But her horror changes to relief as Jackie bravely taps his way to the middle of the lake --- and declares it safe.