NEA Kids Book List of 100 Titles About African American Heritage

NEA List
A celebration of heritage, tradition, and achievement
Timed to coincide with Black History Month, the National Education Association (NEA) has released a comprehensive reading list of 100 titles that celebrate African American heritage, tradition, and achievement. NEA President Reg Weaver says, "Taken together, these titles provide an overview of the civil rights movement and its leaders, as well as the trials, triumphs, and traditions of a heritage that has played -- and continues to play -- a vital role in our nation's history."

A. Philip Randolph: Union Leader and Civil Rights Crusader (African-American Biographies) by Catherine Reef. (Grades 5-8)

The Adventures of Midnight Son by Denise Lewis Patrick. (Grades 4-8)

All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African American Spirituals by Ashley Bryan (All grades)

Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Grades 1-4)

Arthur Ashe by Caroline Evensen Lazo (Grades 5-8)

Aunt Clara Brown, Official Pioneer by Linda Lowery (Grades 2-4)

One More Valley, One More Hill: The Story of Aunt Clara Brown by Linda Lowery (Grades 6 and up)

Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by James Ransome (Grades K-3)

Bigmama's by Donald Crews (Grades PreK-2)

The Black Cowboys by Gina De Angelis (Grades 5-8)

The Black Snowman by Phil Mendez (Grades 3-5)

Black Wheels by Michael Halperin (Grades 8 and up)

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Grades 11 and up)

Booker T. Washington: A Modern Moses by Lois P. Nicholson (Grades 4-7)

Born in Sin by Evelyn Coleman (Grades 7 and up)

Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea by Joyce Carol Thomas (All grades)

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Grades 4-7)

Carter G. Woodson: The Man Who Put "Black" in American History by James Haskins (Grades 4-6)

Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson (Grades 6 and up)

Cassie's Word Quilt Faith Ringgold (Grades PreK-K)

Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali by James Haskins (Grades 3-6)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Grades 10 and up)

Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America by James Haskins and Kathleen Benson (Grades 6 and up)

Don't Say Ain't by Irene Smalls (Grades 2-4)

Ellington Was Not a Street by Ntozake Shange (All grades)

Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America by Francis Bok (Grades 8 and up)

Especially Heroes by Virginia L. Kroll (Grades 3-5)

The Fire Next Time by James A. Baldwin (Grades 10 and up)

Fishing Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Grades K-3).

Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriett Gillem Robinet (Grades 4-7)

Frederick Douglass: Leader against Slavery Patricia and Fredrick McKissack (Grades 1-4)

Freedom River by Doreen Rappaport (Grades 2-5)

Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan (Grades 5-9)

Goin' Someplace Special by Pat McKissack (Grades 2-5)

Hold Fast to Dreams by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Grades 5 and up)

Hush by Jacqueline Woodson (Grades 7 and up)

I Dream of Trains by Angela Johnson (Grades PreK-2)

I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley (Grades PreK-2)

Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement by Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin (Grades 5 and up)

In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers illustrated by Javaka Steptoe (Grades 3 and up)

In My Momma's Kitchen by Jerdine Nolan (Grades K-3)

In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems by Eloise Greenfield (Grades 2-6)

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Grades 11 and up)

Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom by Charles A. Taylor (Grades 4-7)

Kings and Queens of West Africa by Sylviane Anna Diouf (Grades 4-7)

The Land by Mildred D. Taylor (Grades 6 and up)

A Lesson for Martin Luther King Jr. by Denise Lewis Patrick (Grades K-2)

Like Sisters on the Homefront Rita Williams-Garcia (Grades 8 and up)

Lookin' for Bird in the Big City by Robert Burleigh (Grades 1-3)

Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America by Nathan McCall (Grades 10 and up)

Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers (Grades 5 and up)

Mansa Musa by Khephra Burns (Grades 3-6)

Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport (Grades PreK-3)

Masai and I by Virginia Kroll (Grades 2-4)

Me and Uncle Romie: A Story Inspired by the Life and Art of Romare Bearden by Claire Hartfield. (Grades 1-4)

The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson (Grades 11 and up)

Money Hungry by Sharon G. Flake (Grades 7-9)

More than Anything Else by Marie Bradby (Grades K-3)

Native Son by Richard Wright (Grades 11 and up)

A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew A. Henson (Grades 8 and up)

Night Golf by William Miller (Grades 2-4)

Oh Lord, I Wish I Was a Buzzard by Polly Greenberg (Grades PreK-K)

Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth by Anne Rockwell (Grades 2-5)

Papa's Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert (Grades 1-3)

Pass it on: African-American Poetry for Children edited by Wade Hudson (Grades K-5)

The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton (All grades)

Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women by Maya Angelou (Grades 8 and up)

Pictures for Miss Josie by Sandra Belton (Grades K-4)

Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles-Think of That by Leo and Diane Dillon.(Grades PreK-2)

The Return of Gabriel by John Armistead (Grades 5-8)

Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller (Grades 2-5)

Rock of Ages : A Tribute to the Black Church by Tonya Bolden (Grades K-3)

Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley (Grades 11 and up)

Separate but Not Equal: The Dream and the Struggle by James Haskins (Grades 7 and up)

Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela Shelf Medearis (Grades 2-5)

Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth (Grades 2-4)

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois (Grades 10 and up)

Sounder by William H. Armstrong (Grades 4-7)

Stealing Freedom by Elisa Carbone (Grades 6-10)

A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson by Michelle Y. Green (Grades 4-7)

Sukey and the Mermaid by Robert D. San Souci (Grades K-3)

Summer Snow: Reflections from a Black Daughter of the South by Trudier Harris (Grades 11 and up)

Sunday Week by Dinah Johnson. Henry Holt, 1999 (Grades PreK-2)

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson (Grades K-3)

Taking Liberty: The Story of Oney Judge, George Washington's Runaway Slave by Ann Rinaldi (Grades 6 and up)

Talkin' About Bessie by Nikki Grimes (Grades 3-6)

Talking With Tebé: Clementine Hunter, Memory Artist by Mary E. Lyons (Grades 5 and up)

Tambourine Moon by Joy Jones (Grades K-2)

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (Grades 11 and up)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Grades 10 and up)

Through My Eyes: The Autobiography of Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges (Grades 4 and up)

To Be a Slave by Julius Lester (Grades 5 and up)

Tree of Hope by Amy Littlesugar (Grades K-3)

Twelve Travelers, Twenty Horses by Harriette Gillem Robinet (Grades 5-7)

Uncle Jed's Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell (Grades PreK-3)

Virgie Goes to School With Us Boys by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard (Grades 2-5)

Vision of Beauty: the Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker by Kathryn Lasky (Grades 3-6)

Visiting Langston by Willie Perdomo (Grades 2-4)

The Watsons Go To Birmingham- 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis (Grades 4-7)

When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Munoz Ryan (Grades K-3)