Great reads for Black History Month

I have merged previous lists with this one and am now adding all new updates to the same place. Enjoy! 

The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch (Secular, picture book)... This one is a great, short picture book biography that'll fuel a great discussion about slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. 

American Girl’s Addy series (secular, middle grade)- This was my very favorite girl in the American Girl series growing up. My mom helped me make Addy’s doll, Ida Bean, which won me a ticket to my school library’s American Girl tea party. It was my first true glimpse into the horror that was slavery and the fearful courage that had to go with escaping… not to mention the realization that securing freedom did not suddenly make everything okay. I recently re-read the series because I’m always trying to grow my list of books I know I’m for sure okay with my kids reading. I admit it’s of course heavy subject matter but I still think it’s a wonderful series and I’m very grateful to have all six books for my own girls to read when they’re ready. The series is no longer in print but you can find it used and can usually find it through the library, too.

American Girl's Claudie books (secular, middle grade)... There were only two books in this series when i read it so if there are more now you'll have to check them for yourself. I enjoyed these stories though, set during the Harlem Renaissance. 

American Girl's Melody series (secular, middle grade)... I really liked the faith and family values in the first Melody book, set during the Civil Rights movement. I have not yet read book 2 or the Melody mysteries. 

Bad News for Outlaws (secular, picture book)... We were quite fascinated by the story of Bass Reeves, first black US Marshal, during our "wild west" American history unit. This picture book was a hit for my kids. 

Black Cowboy, Wild Horses (secular)... This is an account of Bob Lemmons and it was very well-done. Also a hit during our wild west unit. 

Brave Ballerina (secular, picture book)... We love this short, simple rhyming book about Janet Collins. It's a great way to see the history of race in ballet.  

Breakthrough (secular, upper middle grade, nonfiction)... This is a short, fascinating look at the beginning of heart surgery for blue babies and has an interesting race/segregation component that'll make for an awesome Black History Month read. 

Brown Girl Dreaming (secular, middle grade, novel in verse)- I would classify this as a middle grade memoir in verse! It was well-done and one of the first novels in verse I ever tried. I plan to try other work by this author, too. 

The Gold Cadillac (secular)... Mildred D Taylor is such a fantastic author. I really felt our main protagonist's stress which I think is impressive for such a slim chapter book. 

I Have a Dream (secular, chapter book)- This biography, written for I think the fifth-ish-grade crowd, is so well-done! There were quite a few pictures included but the writing was good and the information shared was perfect for the age group. MLK is quite the inspiration, isn’t he? 

Heart and Soul: the story of America and African Americans- This one is so beautifully written! It looks like a nice, lovely picture book but does contain heavy subject matter so parents will want to read it for themselves before deciding if their children are ready. 

Heroes in Black History: True Stories in the Lives of Christian Heroes (Christian, middle grade)- I read this one on my own and really liked it. It’s been a while since I read it but Ben Carson’s story in particular still resonates with me.

Hidden Figures: Young Reader edition (secular, middle grade)... We loved this space race book! There is a movie I also enjoyed but i haven't yet read the adult version. 

How Do You Spell Unfair? (Secular, picture book)... This is the story of MacNolia Cox and the 1936 National Spelling Bee! 

Mae Among the Stars (secular, picture book)... Love this Mae Jemison picture book and its beautiful illustrations! 

March (secular, YA, graphic novel)... These three graphic novels by John Lewis are painful at times but so inspiring. I added them to our high school list since some illustrations will be uncomfortably graphic for younger readers. 

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (secular, picture book)- This book! We have borrowed this one from the library quite a few times and it always sparks some really awesome discussion. I also love how well it translates her faith into the entire story. If you’re going to talk at all about Harriet Tubman, this one just cannot be missed! 

Ron's Big Mission (secular, picture book)... This is a great look at segregation and the voices it took to fight it on small-scale, local levels. 

Show Way (secular, picture book)... This is such a great look at how quilts were used as a map for escaping slavery. 

Stella by Starlight (secular, middle grade)- I read this one last year and really liked it, about a young girl named Stella accidentally discovering a secret KKK meeting, and all that transpires because of it. This one was probably best for fifth or sixth graders but would also make a great read-aloud.

Uncle Jed's Barbershop (secular, picture book)... I particularly love the loving community spirit in this one, all about segregation and the extremely hard work it took to move forward.  

Under the Tulip Tree (Christian, adult, historical fiction)... this historical fiction was a five-star read for me. This is the story of a young lady from a well-to-do family who lost everything in the Great depression. She takes a journalist job interviewing former slaves despite that not being appropriate for a girl of her social status, at least in her mother's eyes. The interviews of course got painful to read but I felt that the author did a really good job here. My sensitive heart never felt like quitting. I want to say so many things but I also don't want to say anything that will spoil even a bit of this beautiful book. I'll just say again that it was a five-star read for me, how about that?

Up from Slavery (secular, YA/adult... I never read this in high school so I finally read through it last year! I got the TGTB version with its lovely cover. 

What Were the Negro Leagues (secular, middle grade)...  My son got really into baseball for a little while and we both enjoyed this one.

Who was Jackie Robinson (secular, middle grade)... My son got really into baseball for a little while and we both enjoyed this one.

Who Was Jesse Owens (secular, middle grade)... Not my favorite of this series but still a good read. 

You Should Meet: Katherine Johnson (secular, leveled reader)- I admittedly hadn’t heard of Katherine Johnson (a seriously brilliant mind for NASA in the 50s) before this book but this woman was amazing! 

You Should Meet: Misty Copeland (secular, leveled reader)- I definitely knew about Misty Copeland from my dance days so when ballerina-obsessed B chose this as her prize from a recent library event, we came home and read it together right away.

Adult Christian Fiction with Teenage Main Characters

I have been a bookworm my whole life but I have not always read Christian books. I didn't really enjoy YA (young adult) novels as a teen so I read maybe ten of them during my teenage years, otherwise adult books.

I wish I hadn't read most of what I read back then but alas, I did. If I could go back, if love to recommend these adult novels to my teenage self! These are all clean Christian fiction novels featuring teenage main characters. 

The Alliance... I've talked about this Amish apocalyptic story, set immediately after an EMP, a few times. This one is edgier than most Christian fiction as there is violence (people in the outside world want to take out the Amish community or their resources) and non-graphic talk about a person who used to use and sell drugs. There's also non-graphic about people fearing someone may have been sexually assaulted. I found this story (and it's sequel, The Divide) quite compelling. This one is told from the perspective of a 19-year-old young woman in the Amish community (with lots of emphasis on her 15-year-old brother she's a guardian for) and the Englisher (non-Amish) young man who happens upon her community at the start of the EMP so it will be of interest to teen boys and girls alike. 

Dear Mr Knightley... My bet is that our main protagonist, Samantha, is about 19 years old, maybe 20. She's given a scholarship to a prestigious journalism program but the caveat is she must write progress letters to her anonymous benefactor, whom she calls Mr Knightley. She tells him everything and things get a little crazy! This is an epistolary novel, told all in letters, and it's a retelling of classic novel Daddy Long Legs. 

Even Now... This Karen Kingsbury novel is the exact kind of dramatic teen pregnancy cautionary tale I loved in middle school. In this one our heroine, who is around 17 or 18, has been raised by her grandparents. She discovers her mother's old journals, from she was a pregnant teen in the 80s, and uses the clues found there to search for her estranged parents. The sequel, Ever After, is about the daughter's relationship with her new boyfriend and something that will be a spoiler to the first one. I liked both.  

The Key to Everything... This one will also work well for teen boys. Set in the 1940s, out 15-year-old male protagonist sets off on a bike ride down the coast of Florida, both in remembrance of his recently deceased father who once took the same bike ride and in search of the girl he's fallen for. All the main characters in this one are very sweet and almost flawless. I like the sweet mother-son relationship. 

The Moonlight School... This one is set in 1911 Appalachia. Our primary protagonist is 20ish-year-old Lucy, sent to stay with her aunt Cora and help bring literacy to the hills of Appalachia. I also enjoyed the perspective of teenage Angie, who is sweet on a boy who's sweet on this young new teacher. Atmospheric and fun. 

The Nature of Small Birds... This book was really interesting, at least from a writer's perspective, because it's essentially a story about Mindy that's told in alternating timelines and from her family's perspectives... But we never actually hear from Mindy herself! The 1988 storyline is from Mindy's sister during their teenage years. Mindy was adopted from Saigon, Vietnam in the 1975 Babylift. As an adult she's going back to meet her birth mother and it brings lots of things to the surface.  

No Ocean Too Wide... This is a story about the McAllister children who are separated when their mother takes ill. This based-on-true-events book is set in the early 1900s and is about the children's attempt to reunite the family despite seemingly impossible circumstances. 

The Shunning... Katie is kind of a rebel Amish girl, always stretching a toe over the line and wishing for things she knows aren't suited for Amish women. She crosses the line and is subject to a shunning, but also unearths a family secret and goes to great lengths to track it down. I don't normally love Amish fiction or Beverly Lewis' writing style but I still liked this enough to finish the series! 

Whose Waves These Are... This timeslip, set in sleepy Maine, is one of my favorites. There's a contemporary anthropologist heroine unraveling the story of an old man's young adult past, which we get to see from his own perspective just after WWII. This is a novel about grief, unconventional families, forgiveness, courage... Love it so much! 

Also on my radar: Children of the Stars // The Choice // A Long Time Comin' // Set the Stars Alight // Stars of Alabama // Under the Magnolias // Under the Tulip Tree // When Stars Rain Down