When I published my post, "Rise of African-American Children's Books" for Children's Book Week, which ended tonight, I decided it would be better to ask parents with young children the names of their and their children's favorite books for African-American children rather than limit selections to my choices. I stipulated that the books have positive images of black children and black families or teach a history lesson.
I also asked older parents and grandparents to submit classics. Between the two groups, which included Examiner readers, bloggers, journalists, and educators, many of whon are also members of Twitter and Facebook, I present Examiner readers with the first of a bounty of books for black children. These books are worthy of some rejoicing because, as I said in the first post, at one point in our history books for black American children did not exist.
A pre-kindergarten teacher, MsLadyDeborah, who writes at My Brown Eyed View, sent multiple titles in that she reads to her young students, and she also shared a story from her past in comments on the first post that bears repeating.
The following incident happened when she was a teen, not that many years ago in the context of our history. Her story will give some readers a sense of the frustration that black children and their parents faced when looking for books that included people who looked liked them:
I sat on a committee that worked on reforming the types of books used in our school district. (At the time I was all of fifteen years old.) My mom dragged me to the meeting with her. I listened for awhile to the adults talk about the state of Columbus Public Schools in regards to the subjects that were being taught during that time. I finally had my fill of their mis-education on the subject of literature. I decided to speak up and share my opinon. My view at that time was like a slap in the face. Because I pointed out that no one in any of the early reading books that were used looked like me or my family. Now we have stories about African Americans of all ages and in all walks of life. Which is how it should be for all groups in America."
On that note, here is the first of at least four lists of books for African-American children from bloggers, journalists, educators, Twitter members, Facebook members, and most of all, parents.
- Selina Aklo's book I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother: Recommended by Kimberly of MomInTheCity.com, this book celebrates the birth of a child of mixed-race being born into a loving family. "Baby brother or baby sister, will you look like me?," a little boy wonders, thinking of his new sibling in terms of food colors such as chocolate and lemon meringue. The Kids Lit blog also reviews this book for ages 4-6.
- Ysaye M. Barnwell wrote and Synthia St. James illustrated the book No Mirrors in My Nana's House. MsLadyDeborah of the blog My Brown Eyed View, who teaches Pre-K, said this book is one of her favorites. "There is a CD featuring Sweet Honey In The Rock singing the lyrics."
- Cheryl Chapman's Snow on Snow on Snow, is another of MsLadyDeborah's recommendations and is also illustrated by St. James. "African American children who live in the snow belt states definitely like this story. We sled and play in the snow too. She captures the world as we know it during winter," she said.
- The pre-k teacher also recommends books by Donald Crews. He's written quite a few, including Big Mama and School Bus. She said Crews is "another of my favorite author/illustrators. He has produced some excellent stories about our culture. His work is multicultural and easy for children to relate to."
- Kimberly at Mom in the City recommended a Tony Dungy book You Can Do It, saying her young children love the book.
- Eloise Greenfield's classic, Honey I Love, made it onto more than one person's list who sent recommendations for African-American children's books. Suggested for ages 9-12, illustrated by Leo And Diane Dillon, and first published in 1986, Honey I Love is an award-winning book of sixteen poems and withstands time's testing.
- Nikki Grime's book The Road to Paris is a Coretta Scott King Honor Book for children grades 4-7. RevvyRev, a minister who also blogs at That Certain Sound places the book on his list as one for pre-adolescent children aka tweens.
- The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton is also illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon of Honey I Love. MrsGrapevine owner of a celebrity news blog of the same name is the the mother of two children, ages 2 and 4, and she strongly recommends this book of African-American folktales. "When I saw it in the bookstore I instantly thought of Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, and I loved how she wove Gullah Folklore into her novel," she said. Recommended for all ages.
- Jeff from Lavezzo.com recommends the entire Jamaica series by Juanita Havil: "The most "American" kids books I know of. You could almost have made the same books without Jamaica being African-American and without Jamaica's friends being Asian-American, African-American and European-American. Almost. But then it wouldn't have looked like my neighborhood."
- Wayne Hicks, the blogger at The Electronic Village, said he and his wife were pleased to find the book Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria by Kyra Hicks. Wayne said, " One thing that we discovered in raising our children was the dearth of books with characters of color. ... This is the true story of Martha Ann Ricks ... a young Black girl born into slavery in East Tennessee. Martha Ann's story is inspirational, entertaining and true. Children and parents alike can enjoy this heartfelt and historical account of perseverance." While researching this title, I found that Hicks, the author, also has a blog, Black Threads.
This is only the first list of African-American children's books that bloggers, journalists, Twitter and Facebook members sent me during Children's Book Week, which ended tonight. You may have noticed that the list is in alphabetical order by author name. Look for at least three more lists from parents who love to read their children, which usually encourages children to read for themselves. And please read "Rise of African-American Children's Books," the introduction to this series.
Links so you can follow some of these book lovers on Twitter:
Nordette Adams is not only the African-American Book Examiner but also the New Orleans Literature Examiner and a BlogHer.com Contributing Editor.
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