Celebrating Blackness in Children's Books

When Grace discovers that there has never been a female U.S. president, she decides to run for school president.

Faizah relates how she feels on the first day her sister, sixth-grader Asiya, wears a hijab to school.

American Ballet Theater soloist Misty Copeland encourages a young ballet student, with brown skin like her own, by telling her that she, too, had to learn basic steps and how to be graceful when she was starting out, and that some day, with practice and dedication, the little girl will become a firebird, too. Includes author's note about dancers who led her to find her voice.

"Izzy Gizmo loves to invent but gets frustrated when her inventions fail to work properly, so when she finds a crow with a broken wing her grandfather urges her to persist until she finds a way to help"--Provided by publisher.

Discovering that making a world takes a lot of work, God calls on his secretary Bruce and the angel Shaniqua to help him create bushes, grass, flowers, and butterflies.

Mike is the perfect mix of both his parents - his father with deep brown skin and his mother with creamy skin and honey colored hair. But when people look at his biracial family funny and say they don't match, he doesn't care because he knows he's exactly who he was meant to be.

I'm a pretty little black girl! introduces adorable Mia, who wakes with her hair "just-a-going every which-a-ways!" With her abundant energy and joy leading the way, readers follow Mia as she plays with her friends who are all shades, shapes and sizes. There's tall Kia, Keisha the reader, Charlotte her best friend, Dina Rose-Marie the artist, Imani the dancer, Anna who loves sports, Ruby the singer, and honey-haired Tracy. Mia finds that "Pretty"...

Penny wanted to wear her hair down like all of the other girls in her class. She wondered why her friends had long straight hair and she did not. Feeling different made her feel sad. Penny's mom assured her that her hair is perfect and just because her hair is different from her friends' hair, it doesn't mean that it's bad. Penny's mom decides to style her hair in puffballs. Penny learns through a series of fun adventures, that wonderful and magical...

Princess Cupcake Jones loves exploring her mom's closet and trying on shoes. In the closet, she finds herself in a transforming make-believe world of fun.

Rashaad gets his hair cut by the best barber in town who also introduces him to the joy of learning new words.