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Books about African-American history

Reading List to Share African American History with Your Child

Books to teach kids of all ages about African American history.

No matter if your child sits on your lap and listens to you read or digs in to novels on their own, there are books to teach them about African American history and culture. Here’s a list of books from the librarians at Denver Public Library to share with your child.

Picture Books

Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out!: Games, Songs, and Stories from an African American Childhood by Patricia McKissack, illustrated by Brian Pinkney

We March by Shane W. Evans

Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Early/Middle

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton, illustrated by Don Tate

Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Teen

How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson

March Trilogy by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell

X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon

Also look for How to Build a Museum: Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture by Tonya Bolden. The book is filled with images and stories related to the development of the newest Smithsonian museum. Use it to uncover topics, events, and people significant to African American history that your family could read, and learn, more about.

Family Food

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