Books to talk about race with your child

Are you looking to open a discussion about race with your child? It’s especially topical right now, but always important. Here are some books that may help:

 

Title: This Book is Anti-Racist

Author: Tiffany Jewell

Illustrator: Aurelia Durand

ISBN; publication date: 9780711245211; Jan 2020

Description: Gain a deeper understanding of your anti-racist self as you progress through 20 chapters that spark introspection, reveal the origins of racism that we are still experiencing, and give you the courage and power to undo it. Each chapter builds on the previous one as you learn more about yourself and racial oppression. Twenty activities get you thinking and help you grow with the knowledge. All you need is a pen and paper. 

 

Title: Step Into Your Power: 23 lessons on how to live your best life

Author: Andrea Pippins

Illustrator: Jamia Wilson

ISBN; publication date: 9781786035868; Mar 2019

Description: Listen up! You’ve heard about heroes and read about the greats, but maybe you’re not feeling so great yourself right now? Learn from the lived experience of author Jamia Wilson and illustrator Andrea Pippins as they mentor you through growing up in the modern world, and teach you how to Step Into Your Power. 

 

Title: Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-ins

Author: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

Illustrator: Jade Johnson

ISBN; publication date: 9781633224988; Aug 2018

Description: More than a year before the Greensboro sit-ins, a teacher named Clara Luper led a group of young people to protest the segregated Katz drugstore by sitting at its lunch counter. With simple, elegant art, Someday Is Now tells the inspirational story of this unsung hero of the Civil Rights movement.

 

Title: Young, Gifted and Black

Author: Jamia Wilson

Illustrator: Andrea Pippins

ISBN; publication date: 9781786031587; Feb 2018

Description: Meet 52 icons of color from the past and present in this celebration of inspirational achievement—a collection of stories about changemakers to encourage, inspire, and empower the next generation of changemakers.  

 

Title: An ABC of Equality

Author: Chana Ginelle Ewing

Illustrator: Paulina Morgan

ISBN; publication date: 9781786037428; Sept 2019

Description: A is for Ability, B is for Belief, C is for Class. All people have the right to be treated fairly, no matter who they are, what they look like, or where they come from. An ABC of Equality introduces complicated concepts surrounding social justice to the youngest of children.

 

Title: A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story

Author: Sharon Langley, Amy Nathan, Floyd Cooper

ISBN; publication date: 9781419736858; Jan 2020

Description: When Sharon Langley was born in the early 1960s, many amusement parks were segregated, and African-American families were not allowed entry. This book reveals how in the summer of 1963, due to demonstrations and public protests, the Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Maryland became desegregated and opened to all for the first time. Co-author Sharon Langley was the first African-American child to ride the carousel.

 

Title: Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM

Author: Tonya Bolden

ISBN; publication date: 9781419707346; Mar 2020

Description: Award-winning author Tonya Bolden explores Black women who have changed the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in America.

 

Title: Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks

Author and Illustrator: Suzanne Slade

ISBN; publication date: 9781419734113; April 2020

Description: A picture-book biography of celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Series: Little People, BIG DREAMS

Author: Francis Lincoln

Titles: Martin Luther King, Jr. (9780711245679; Jan 2020); Rosa Parks (9781786030184; Sept 2017); Harriet Tubman (9781786032270; June 2018); Ella Fitzgerald (9781786030870; Mar 2018); Josephine Baker (9781786032287; July 2018); Maya Angelou (9781847808899; Aug 2016)

Description: Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

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