Books for Kids on African American History and Culture

Not my pithiest title, is it? Oh well.

I went through Nat's pile of picture books with tearable pages (still hiding in the closet until she stops eating books) and pulled some of my favorites. Without further ado, here's an annotated bibliography (subject to revision--this is just a start).

For Smaller Children

Shades of Black by Sandra and Miles Pinkney
This is a photo book of Black children with all different shades of skin and eyes and types of hair. The focus is on claiming Black identity regardless of how your body looks. "I am Black, I am unique" is the recurring motif. I bought this book strictly because when I flipped through the pages I saw a child pictured with locs and it's hard to find photos of children with locs (which Nat will have in a couple of years). But I also like the message that Nat has a right to claim her racial heritage even if she has white parents.
Edited to point out that these authors have a number of great books for and about Black children and their families. We have some of their others too.

Visiting Langston by Willie Perdomo
A lovely introduction for a young child to Langston Hughes both as a historical figure and as a poet. Beautiful illustrations accompanied by brief, lovely text make it good for small children.

Nappy by Charisse Carney-Nunes
This is one of two books I got in DC that are autographed (I'm a sucker for collectable books). As the mother combs her daughter's hair, she connects her to Black women's historical experiences through hair. At the end of the book are brief, factual introductory profiles of some important women in Black history.

No Mirrors in My Nana's House by Ysaye M. Barnwell
This is the second of my autographed DC haul. It's a beautifully illustrated rhyming memory of the narrator's grandmother and how she constructed beauty and worth through something other than shallow appearance.

Updated 20 December 2006

We found a couple of wonderful books this weekend at Reading Reptile children's bookstore in Kansas City.

Bintou's Braids by Sylviane Diouf
I generally prefer books about African American culture to books about African culture, but I had to get this one because Bintou's hair is exactly like Nat's: "four little puffs." I also like that because it is set in Africa it assumes Black hair as the norm--not something compared to white hair, but compared to other Black hair. Bintou wants beautiful braids like the older girls and women, but only has little girl hair. It's got highly appealing illustrations, too.

Earth Mother by Ellen Jackson is another book that is really based on African culture, but is presented in this book in a fairly universal way. I used to get Old Turtle for everyone for baby gifts. I still like it, but it has officially been bumped now, in favor of Earth Mother. As Earth Mother walks the world, caring for all its creatures, the Man thanks her for the frogs he eats but complains about the mosquitoes. He suggests the world would be perfect with more frogs and no mosquitoes. Guess what Frog and Mosquito suggest? It's a beautiful image of God and a wise lesson about ecology that does not hammer itself at the reader. Earth Mother just smiles quietly at everyone's suggestions and the reader sees for herself how short sighted her creatures are. It features a beautiful Black woman with dark skin and a soft afro as the Goddess herself. In a world short on beautiful images of women who look like Nat, this is a must-have book not just for my daughter, but for every little girl.

We also found bell hooks' Happy to Be Nappy in board book form (huzzah! for Nat who is tough on books) at the Peace Nook in Columbia, where we stopped for supper on our drive home.

Updated February 2008

Lately, Nat's favorite book is So Much by Trish Cooke and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. It's the story of a mother and a baby welcoming family members one at a time until Daddy finally arrives for his surprise birthday party. The language is Carribean-inflected English and the pictures are great, as Helen Oxenbury's always are!

Updated July 2008

We found a new ABC book in Chicago over Selina's birthday weekend. It's D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet. Every letter of the alphabet is a piece of African American history or culture. What I like best about it is that it has three built-in levels for reading aloud. First, you can just say, "A is for Abolitionists; B is for Buffalo Soldier..." etc. Second, you can read the short rhyming text for each letter's entry and third, there is a longer piece (two or three paragraphs) on each entry that gives a bit more extensive background on the subject of each letter. So what can begin as a toddler's introduction to certain words or concepts can grow with a child's understanding and curiosity. Right now, Nat is getting more and more interested in who has brown skin and who has pale skin and who is African American and who is white. This book is a good vehicle for discussing those things. R is for "roots" and it features Africa. I say "R is for roots. African American people have roots in Africa. White people have roots in Europe. But really, most of us have roots in more than one place." Nat has no idea what that means, but she will come to understand it and can ask her questions as we continue to read this beautifully illustrated book.

Not about Black History and Culture Per Se, but also Good

People by Peter Spier
I love this book and used to teach it to my preschoolers. It is full of illustrations of people and various people-parts, like eyes, noses, mouths, hair, skin, etc. and pictures of housing, transportation...everything about people all over the world. It basically introduces race and culture in a neutral, "wow look at the variety" kind of way. My only quibble with it is that in the opening pages, there's a sort of Eden-esque picture of a man and a woman in a big beautiful outdoor space and they are...white and blonde. Heh, I don't think so. I got a brown marker and colored them in. Then I got a black marker and made their hair black and curly. Then I did the same for the family representing the typical "USA" family.

A Family Alphabet Book by Bobbie Combs
This is an ABC book featuring illustrations of queer parents and their children. It shows a nice mix of races, ages, abilities, etc. and the family representing "L for Lunch" might even be Cole, Nat and I if you squint and imagine Cole in drag... So it's a nice book just for representation purposes.

Whistle for Willie or really anything by Ezra Jack Keats
Keats was a favorite of mine as a child and now I love reading the books to Nat. She can "read" The Snowy Day herself, in fact, her favorite part being when the snow falls..."plop! Right on Peter's head." Keats' illustrations are great not just because they feature Black children, but because they feature children living in urban spaces. These are also nice for purposes of simple representation. (I've linked to a treasury of ten stories under one cover.)

For Older Children

A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman; A Picture Book of Rosa Parks by David Adler
These have more text and are better for ealry reader-aged kids. Beautiful illustrations!

Remember: The Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison
With her typical genius, Toni Morrison writes a fictional, first-person narrative of the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of children integrating schools. It's creatively real, but perfectly age-appropriate for a child's first introduction to a tough, important part of U.S. history.

Harlem Stomp: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance by Laban Carrick Hill\
This is a really cool book! If you don't know much yourself about the Harlem Renaissance, you'll learn a lot from this book. It's a great reference for any age, but geared to older children.

Comments

[Round is Funny]

Nice! I'm printing this for my next run to the bookstore.
My mother just bought Roo Snowy Day, actually - oh, I do love that book.

[Jody]

Ooooh, I love Ezra Jack Keats. "The Snowy Day" is on my list of must-have books for new parents.

I also like "Ten, Nine, Eight" by Molly Bang, both because it's a great bedtime counting book and because it's a book with a black father. Of course the kids don't know it's subverting a dominant paradigm (especially because three different black children in Elba's class bring their fathers to class fieldtrips and parties) but it makes me happy.

Thanks for the links, I'll have to check some of these out.

[Dawn]

Thanks!

[Elise]

I've been enjoying your writing for the last few months, thank you.

I recognize that there is a pressing need for a black woman to make a decision about what to do with her hair. How did you decide on locs for Nat? Is it purely aesthetic, or are their cultural (or other) implications that also play into making the initial decision for your daughter?

[Wendy]

I was surfing through blogs and found yours. I wanted to tell you that you have a beautiful family and I wish you many blessings.

We are in the process adopting from China and it's been a long and sometimes painful process. Reading other adoption blogs gives us encouragment to keep on keeping on!

[Deb]

This is somewhat off-topic, though it IS about books.
Cartoonist Alison Bechdel (she of _Dykes to Watch Out For_ and _Fun Home_) was just appointed to the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary.
Her announcement of this on her blog has elicited the best queer-language-nerd comments I have ever read. If you care about grammar, queers, or lefty politics and you want a rueful chuckle or two, check it out at
http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/dictionary

And now back to the (most excellent) discussion of AfAm toddler lit!

[Yvette]

Great picks! You must go to Nick Jr dot com to look at the video short of "No Mirrors in My Nana's House," sung by Sweet Honey In the Rock:
http://www.nickjr.com/shows/my_world_stories/no_mirrors_video.jhtml?minibar=true

[PhoenixRising]

Please give a try to 'Why Heaven is Far Away'. I realize that Nat is quite mature, but you may have to abridge on the fly for this year. Or you could wait a year. But no one else should.

Not just because Shaniqua, the Angel in Charge of Everybody's Business, makes herself a nice cold glass of lemonade...but also because in this groundbreaking volume she invents a recipe for kosher pork chops.

My sister, who apparently took seriously my argument that her child being the only white person of her generation in our family does not actually excuse her parents from providing culturally diverse reading materials and dolls on the basis that *their* particular child is pale, sent it for the sproglet's birthday.

[cloudscome]

I have been waiting for this list! I love that Shades of Black book too, and of course Keats. Some of the others are new to me. I am going to check out those links.

[ina]

"Jalani's lock" by Lorenzo Price, now unfortunately out of print, is a book for very small kids that introduces the concepts of slavery and emancipation. I've been reading it to Esmé since she was 2. Also recommended: Max's starry night by Ken Wilson-Max, and Cherries and cherry pits (I LOVE) by Vera B. Williams.

[Robin]

Thanks for listing these great books. I'm adding some to our list too.

[rio]

Great post...

[Grace]

There's one called What a Truly Cool World (http://www.amazon.com/What-Truly-World-Julius-Lester/dp/0590864688/sr=1-3/qid=1168003600/ref=sr_1_3/002-6747381-7240809?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Julius Lester. It's kind of a creation story featuring a black God. I don't know how it would mesh with your religious beliefs, but it might be worth a look. It's a beautiful book.

[Grace]

I should have read the other comments more closely--it sounds like "Why Heaven is So Far Away" is related to "What a Totally Cool World"--same Shaniqua, Angel in Charge of Everybody's Business.

[PODO]

Great info, thanks a lot!!! I wish I will have such a writing skills.