Our 150 All-Time Favorite African-American Children’s Books

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These books, published between 1972 and 2019, are the all-time favorites of authors, booksellers, avid readers, and AALBC. Some of these titles are out of print, but are shared with you to celebrate our legacy of quality books featuring Black children. Read more about this list ▶.

Check out these other excellent sources for children’s books;

Books 1 to 22 (of 149)


Click for more detail about Layla’s Happiness by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie
Click for more detail about Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o
Click for more detail about Black, White, Just Right! by Marguerite W. Davol
Click for more detail about Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry
Click for more detail about The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
Click for more detail about Whose Knees Are These? by Jabari Asim
Click for more detail about New Kid by Jerry Craft
Click for more detail about Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
Click for more detail about A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks by Alice Faye Duncan
Click for more detail about Baby Says by John Steptoe
Click for more detail about The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake
Click for more detail about The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon
Click for more detail about Sing to the Moon by Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl
Click for more detail about So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom by Gary D. Schmidt
Click for more detail about Sisters and Champions: The True Story of Venus and Serena Williams by Howard Bryant
Click for more detail about Mommy’s Khimar by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Click for more detail about Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy by Tony Medina
Click for more detail about I Can Be Anything! Don’t Tell Me I Can’t by Leo & Diane Dillon
Click for more detail about Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
Click for more detail about I Am Loved by Nikki Giovanni
Click for more detail about The Middle Passage: White Ships/ Black Cargo by Tom Feelings
Click for more detail about Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson


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We know children and young readers will enjoy most, if not all, of these books, because they have already brought joy to countless children. We recommend printed books for young readers, or when reading to a child.

If you feel strongly about uplifting children through books please read and share, “Ten Steps to Promote Diversity in Children’s Literature.” Also, be sure to check out The Brown Book Shelf a great source to discover children’s books and authors.