It was an honor and a thrill to meet author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Ekua Holmes of Voices of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. Did you know that Voices of Freedom won: 2016 Caldecott Honor Book 2016 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book 2016 John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award…
Category: African American Children’s Books
21 Picture Books about African-American Female Musicians
March is Women’s History Month so I’ve started off with a video of a musician that is new to me, Hazel Dorothy Scott, a jazz prodigy who was prominent during the 1930s and 1940s. I could not find a picture book biography on her (yet) but here’s hoping that someone will write out. In the…
Gordon Parks: Black History Month
Parks at the Civil Rights March on Washington, 1963 from Wikipedia I had seen a photography exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts last year and had taken a few photos of Gordon Parks photos because they seemed really important somehow. I knew nothing about Gordon Parks then. In researching female pioneering musicians, I came…
5 Picture Books about African Americans Who Excelled in the Arts
Please welcome my guest blogger today, Glenda Armand, the author of Ira’s Shakespeare Dream. If you agree about #OscarsSoWhite now in 2016, imagine how difficult it would be for people of color to succeed in the theater more than 100 years ago! #OscarsSoWhite analysis by Time Magazine: See the Entire History of the Oscars Diversity Problem…
Civil Rights Movement Books for 4th Grade and MLK Day
In honor of Martin Luther King, Junior Day, I wanted to share my son’s 4th grade Civil Rights Movement project. His teacher created a really great timeline that I hope will be helpful as well. p.s. Related posts: Civil Rights Movement Book Lists for Kids Civil Rights Movement Art #BlackLivesMatter Civil Rights for Kids…
5 Feel-Good Books About Africa
I know very little about the continent of Africa so today I wanted to explore it through picture books. These five books show different perspectives from the story of a young Masaii girl who wants to touch the moon to visiting family in Tanzania and The Gambia. I was surprised to learn that the people…
Children’s Book Study: Patricia McKissack for Booking Across the USA’s Tennessee
I am thrilled to be co-posting with Valarie Budayr of Jump Into A Book for the Book Across America blog tour. I was late to the sign up to my birth state of California was already taken, as well as Massachusetts where I now reside. No matter. Tennessee was open where Valarie lives so I…