Celebrate Black History With These Books
“MOM!” The anguished scream of a child tears through every mother’s heart. That plea – with its universality, but more so, specificity – calls us to adhere to Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s idea that books serve as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors.
Windows to look out into the world beyond our own.
Mirrors to see ourselves reflected in the pages.
Sliding glass doors to allow us to enter different worlds and feel empathy for the characters.
“Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of a larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books… When there are enough books available that act as both mirrors and windows for all our children, they will see that we can celebrate both our differences and our similarities, because together they are what makes us all human.” - Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop
Books provide insight into the identities, experiences, and motivations of others. They have the power to move students toward more nuanced perceptions of the world around them… perhaps even toward a world where no other child needs to scream “MOM!”
Book Recommendations
Just a few books to read this month… and throughout the year: (There are many more)
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o
Our Gracie Aunt by Jacqueline Woodson
Nina: A Story of Nina Simone by Traci N.Todd
The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles
New Shoes by Susan Lynn Meyer
This is the Rope: A Story of the Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
What Are You? by Christian Trimmer
Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
ABCs of Black History by Rio Cortez
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia C. McKissack
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
Teammates by Peter Golenbock
It Might Have Been Different
Amy Ludwig Vanderwater is one of my favorite children’s poets. If you haven’t yet visited her site yet, be sure to check it out. Her latest post is a beautiful one about snow as a gift and how a writer gets an idea.
