20 Bestselling Children’s Books for May/June - 2020

AALBC’s Bestselling Book SealOur bestsellers list has been published continuously since 1998. Learn More ▶

Fiction: Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone, which was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the “Top 10 Literary Fiction” titles for the fall of 2019, dominated fiction sales.

Nonfiction: Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist is the overall bestselling book for this period. In fact, it is the bestselling book for any period, of the almost 23-year history of our bestsellers list!

Children’s Books: Whose Knees Are These? by Jabari Asim is a 6-time AALBC bestseller and is the bestselling board book on AALBC this year.

Poetry: Reginald Dwayne Betts’ book of poetry Felon leads a list of excellent poetry books sold this period — the best period of poetry sales all year.

View a printer-friendly version and a collage of the book covers. Also, check out links to more great books. Enjoy

#2

Book cover of Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o

Sulwe

by Lupita Nyong’o

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#5

Book cover of Layla’s Happiness by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie

Layla’s Happiness

by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie

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#7

Book cover of Baby Says by John Steptoe

Baby Says

by John Steptoe

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#8

Book cover of Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi

Antiracist Baby

by Ibram X. Kendi

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#10

Book cover of I Am Loved by Nikki Giovanni

I Am Loved

by Nikki Giovanni

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#11

Book cover of A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

A is for Activist

by Innosanto Nagara

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#12

Book cover of The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander

The Undefeated

by Kwame Alexander

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#13

Book cover of Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

Hidden Figures

by Margot Lee Shetterly

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#14

Book cover of New Kid by Jerry Craft

New Kid

by Jerry Craft

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#15

Book cover of Sing to the Moon by Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl

Sing to the Moon

by Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl

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#17

Book cover of Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee

Please, Baby, Please

by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee

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#18

Book cover of One Love by Cedella Marley

One Love

by Cedella Marley

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#19

Book cover of Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Brown Girl Dreaming

by Jacqueline Woodson

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#20

Book cover of African by Peter Tosh

African

by Peter Tosh

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More About our Bestsellers List


You will learn about books selling well, in the Black community, that may never show up on lists published by corporate entities. Spread the word about our list; don’t let one or two lists, which we don’t control, determine which books are important.

We collect our bestselling titles from all our sales channels. The majority of our sales come from this website and our in-person events. We also include sales generated through our affiliate relationships, including Bookshop.org, Libro.fm (audiobooks), Black History 365 Education, and Amazon.com*.

We aggregate all formats of a book sold (print, ebook, and audio) into one format, usually the most popular print format

*For a few years, we actively boycotted Amazon but have discontinued this practice, as many of our authors have made their books exclusively available from Amazon. While we discourage giving Amazon the exclusive right to sell a book, we do not want this to be a reason to exclude an author from our site. Amazon also has an effective monopoly on eBooks and out-of-print books, which we highlight on this site.


The Most Critically Acclaimed Books

Bestselling Books By Year May be Found Here

Our All-Time Bestselling Books May be Found Here