37 Books Published by Holiday House on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Who do you see when you look in the mirror? One mother’s account of her experience as the only Black child in school serves as an empowering message to her own daughter and children of color everywhere.

Life can be hard for the only brown girl in a classroom full of white students. When the teacher talks about slavery, she can feel all of her classmates staring at her. When they talk about civil rights, she is the one that other kids whisper about on the playground. In those moments, she wants to slip away or seep into the ground; and she wonders, is that all you see when you look at me?

What really matters is what she sees when she looks at herself. She is a reflection of the courage, strength, intelligence, and creativity that’s been passed down from generation to generation through her ancestors.

Inspired by her daughter’s experience in school as well as her own, Adrea Theodore’s debut picture book is a powerful testament to the past as well as a benediction for the future.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Jimi Hendrix’s talent was epic, and so is this fifty-six-page lyrical account of his life, with spectacular artwork by Edel Rodriguez— including a poster underneath the jacket!

From his turbulent childhood through his epical appearance at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals, Charles R. Smith Jr. covers it all in this rich and rhythmic account of a singular life, accompanied by the psychedelic splendor of Edel Rodriguez’s acid-tinged artwork.

Let me tell you a story,
a story ’bout a boy,
who became a man,
a git-tar man,
named Jimi.

Written as a series of verses beginning with intro and ending with outro, this unique mix of rhythm and rhyme captures the essence of rock icon Jimi Hendrix and his struggle to live life on his own terms.

Backmatter, including a select discography, timeline of Hendrix’s life, and a personal essay from the author, is included.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year
A CSMCL Best Multicultural Children’s Book of the Year
An Evanston Public Library Great Books for Kids pick!

An awe-inspiring African American woman! A talented seamstress, born a slave, bought freedom for herself and her son.

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was born in 1818, enslaved to a Virginian plantation owner. As a teenager, Lizzy was sent to work as the only slave on a small plantation, where the work was endless, and the masters treated her with unspeakable cruelty. A new master, learning Lizzy could sew, sent her to work for a tailor, who paid the master, not Lizzy, for Lizzy’s work.

The beautiful gowns that Lizzy created were displayed in the tailor’s window and soon attracted the attention of the wealthiest women in Virginia. Among them was Mrs. Jefferson Davis who also introduced Lizzy to Mary Todd Lincoln. Though Lizzy first had to borrow money from her wealthy patrons to buy her freedom, once she was free, she was able to earn money of her own and pay them all back.

Connie Morrison writes with straightforward honesty and clarity. This inspiring story about an unsung hero is beautifully illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon with mixed media including oil paint, paper, fabric, ribbon, embroidery, lace, and appliqué.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

The final novel in the award-winning Finding Langston trilogy from Coretta Scott King Author Honoree and Scott O’Dell Award medalist Lesa Cline-Ransome.Clem can make anybody, even his grumpy older sisters, smile with his jokes. But when his family receives news that his father has died in the infamous Port Chicago disaster, everything begins to fall apart. Clem’s mother is forced to work long, tough hours as a maid for a wealthy white family. Soon Clem can barely recognize his home—and himself. Can he live up to his father’s legacy?In her award-winning trilogy, Lesa Cline-Ransome masterfully recreates mid-twentieth century America through the eyes of three boys: Langston, Lymon, and, now, Clem. Exploring the impact of the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, Jim Crow laws, and much more, Lesa’s work manages at once to be both an intimate portrait of each boy and his family as well as a landscape of American history.  A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of the YearA Chicago Public Library Best Book of the YearA CCBC ChoiceA Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book!A CSMCL Best Multicultural Children’s Book of the YearA Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection—Praise for Finding Langston, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book and winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction"There aren’t any explosions in this spare story. Nor is there a happy ending. Instead, Langston discovers something more enduring: solace."—The New York Times* "This crisply paced book is full of historical details of the Great Migration and the role a historic branch library played in preserving African American literary culture."—The Horn Book, Starred Review* "This is a story that will stay with readers long after they’ve finished it."—School Library Journal, Starred Review* "The impact on the reader could not be more powerful. A memorable debut novel."—Booklist, Starred Review* "A fascinating work of historical fiction … Cline-Ransome at her best."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review* "Finding Langston is about cultural heritage and personal growth and, at its heart, about finding home wherever you land."—Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

Ruth Ellen’s odyssey on the New York Bound Silver Meteor is the start of a new life up North that she can’t begin to imagine in this gorgeously illustrated picture book.

In poems, illustrated with collage art, a perceptive girl tells the story of her train journey from North Carolina to New York City as part of the Great Migration. Each leg of the trip brings new revelations as scenes out the window of folks working in fields give way to the Delaware River, the curtain that separates the colored car is removed, and glimpses of the freedom and opportunity the family hopes to find come into view.

Overground Railroad offers a window into a child’s experience of the Great Migration from the award-winning creators behind Finding Langston, Before She was Harriet, Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson, and Just a Lucky So and So.

Behind every bad boy is a story worth hearing and at least one chance for redemption. It’s 1946 and Lymon, uprooted from his life in the Deep South and moved up North, needs that chance.

Lymon’s father is, for the time being, at Parchman Farm—the Mississippi State Penitentiary—and his mother, whom he doesn’t remember all that much, has moved North. Fortunately, Lymon is being raised by his loving grandparents. Together, Lymon and his grandpops share a love of music, spending late summer nights playing the guitar.

But Lymon’s world as he knows it is about to dissolve. He will be sent on a journey to two Northern cities far from the country life he loves—and the version of himself he knows. In this companion novel to the Coretta Scott King Honor wining Finding Langston, readers will see a new side of the bully Lymon in this story of an angry boy whose raw talent, resilience, and devotion to music help point him in a new direction.

A girl follows clues that lead to Mommy! This Level D book is perfect for new readers.

A girl, her mother, and their cat are snuggled up on a couch and reading a book. The girl falls asleep, and when she wakes up, Mommy is gone. Where could she be? The girl searches the house, picks up clues (including a recipe for kale and a sunhat and gardening gloves that come and go). And she figures out where Mommy is—in the garden!

Level D, for late kindergarten, features longer sentences and greater variety in sentence structure than levels A, B, and C. May include questions. When Level D is mastered, follow up with Level E.

What do you do when an octopus captures Grandma? Put on your superhero cape and rescue her! Two stories in one from award-winning Afro-Latino artist Eric Velasquez.

The octopus Grandma is cooking has grown to titanic proportions. "�Tenga cuidado!" Ramsey shouts. "Be careful!" But it’s too late. The octopus traps Grandma!

Ramsey uses both art and intellect to free his beloved abuela.

Then the story takes a surprising twist. And it can be read two ways. Open the fold-out pages to find Ramsey telling a story to his family. Keep the pages folded, and Ramsey’s octopus adventure is real.

This beautifully illustrated picture book, drawn from the author’s childhood memories, celebrates creativity, heroism, family, grandmothers, grandsons, Puerto Rican food, Latinx culture and more.

With an author’s note and the Velasquez family recipe for Octopus Stew!

"Barry Wittenstein’s poetic text provides the cadences and repetition of a preacher, while Pinkney’s detailed, kinetic pencil and watercolor art incorporates bits of torn maps and sheet music and blurry period photos of marchers."—The New York Times

★ "Wittenstein’s free-verse narrative perfectly captures the tension leading up to the speech as each adviser urged his own ideas while remaining a supportive community. Pinkney’s trademark illustrations dramatize this and the speech, adding power and further illuminating the sense of historical importance. Gives readers a fresh and thrilling sense of what it took to make history." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

★ "The urgency of the text, underscored by boldface type marking the relentless passing of the hours, is complemented beautifully by Pinkney’s more contemplative art… . This is essential American history, distilled into one of the most powerful picture books of the year." —The Horn Book, Starred Review

★ "Wittenstein’s free verse, beautifully subdued, flows crisp and clear, leaving room for Pinkney to shine. Collage artwork gives the impression of torn fabric—a striking metaphor—with holes being patched by old photographs of hymnals, maps, marchers, and flags, adding texture and tension to the expressive pencil and watercolor renderings."—Booklist, Starred Review

★ "Wittenstein’s riveting story shows that historical moments—and movements—are not inevitable; they’re shaped and changed by many hands and voices. In emphatic phrases and art alternatingly warm and tense, the creators’ moving portrait of the civil rights leader in consultation with others is an invaluable addition to the shelf of King biographies." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

★ "an evocative study in King’s speechwriting process. A work that takes a familiar topic and shapes it into a moving portrait of -undeterred determination and conviction."—School Library Journal, Starred Review

"a vivid snapshot of a moment of creative, collaborative, persuasive energy that takes the topic far beyond ’didja know’-style trivia about a historic event and focuses on the subtle elements that can change a speech forever. Pinkney’s familiar watercolor portraiture takes on a new level here from the addition of graphite and colored-pencil textures and collage notes; captions to identify inspirations and attending luminaries float softly like benedictions, while sign lettering, both segregationist and protest, cuts sharply through cloudy backgrounds."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"[The] book, illustrated with enormous heart and rich textures by Jerry Pinkney, presents Dr. King’s inspiring words as part of an outsize pageant, featuring King, the crowds and others on the stage, including Mahalia Jackson, who urged King, ’Tell them about the dream!’"—The Washington Post

An award-winning retelling of the Biblical creation story from a star of the Harlem Renaissance and an acclaimed illustrator

James Weldon Johnson, author of the civil rights anthem "Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing," wrote this beautiful Bible-learning story in 1922, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Set in the Deep South, The Creation alternates breathtaking scenes from Genesis with images of a country preacher under a tree retelling the story for children. The exquisite detail of James E. Ransome’s sun-dappled paintings and the sophisticated rhythm of the free verse pay tribute to Black American oral traditions of country sermonizing and storytelling: As far as the eye of God could see/ Darkness covered everything/ Blacker than a hundred midnights/ Down in a cypress swamp… .

This beautiful new edition of the classic Coretta Scott King Award winner features a fresh, modern design, a reimagined cover, and an introduction of the remarkable life of James Weldon Johnson. Beneath the dust jacket, the case features a detail of Ransome’s beautiful night sky, spangled with stars.

A Junior Library Guild selection!

In a debut historical novel about the Great Migration a boy discovers Chicago’s postwar South Side and the poetry of Langston Hughes.

When 11-year-old Langston’s mother dies in 1946, he and his father leave rural Alabama for Chicago’s brown belt as a part of what came to be known as the Great Migration. It’s lonely in the small apartment with just the two of them, and at school Langston is bullied. But his new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the local public library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston, a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.

A lush and lyrical biography of Harriet Tubman, written in verse and illustrated by an award-winning artist.
We know her today as Harriet Tubman, but in her lifetime she was called by many names. As General Tubman she was a Union spy. As Moses she led hundreds to freedom on the Underground Railroad. As Minty she was a slave whose spirit could not be broken. An evocative poem and opulent watercolors come together to honor a woman of humble origins whose courage and compassion make her larger than life.


A Junior Library Guild Selection

Louis Armstrong has been called the most important improviser in the history of jazz. Although his New Orleans neighborhood was poor in nearly everything else, it was rich in superb music. Young Louis took it all in, especially the cornet blowing of  Joe "King" Oliver. But after a run in with the police, 11-year-old Louis was sent away to the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys where he became a disciplined musician in the school’s revered marching band. By the time he returned to his neighborhood, the "King" himself became his mentor and invited Armstrong to play with him in Chicago. Here is a joyful tribute to the virtuoso musician and buoyant personality who introduced much of the world to jazz.

Where could Bongo be? Help a young boy find his beloved toy—and figure out how he got lost to begin with.

The boy knows Bongo was right there with him this morning—but suddenly, Bongo is missing. He asks his whole family if they’ve seen the stuffed toy. Yo no sïe, says abuela, I don’t know.

Mom and Dad haven’t seen him either. And Gato just meows and runs away.

When he finds Bongo, the boy is thrilled—but he still doesn’t understand how his toy ended up there. So he sets a trap to catch the Bongo thief… .

Eric Velasquez’s detailed, expressive illustrations follow the boy’s investigation throughout his home, giving a glimpse at a warm, multi-generational family.

A Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year

Set in the South during the time of segregation, this lushly illustrated picture book brings the civil rights era to life for contemporary readers as two young girls find an inventive way to foil Jim Crow laws. When her brother’s hand-me-down shoes don’t fit, it is time for Ella Mae to get new ones. She is ecstatic, but when she and her mother arrive at Mr. Johnson’s shoe store, her happiness quickly turns to dejection. Ella Mae is unable to try on the shoes because of her skin color. Determined to fight back, Ella Mae and her friend Charlotte work tirelessly to collect and restore old shoes, wiping, washing, and polishing them to perfection. The girls then have their very own shoe sale, giving the other African American members of their community a place to buy shoes where they can be treated fairly and ""try on all the shoes they want.""

Mounting his horse, cold-hearted John Leep smiles as he anticipates evicting the widow Mayes for nonpayment of rent. When she comes up with the rent after all, Leep, unwilling to be disappointed, knocks her coins to the floor and hides one of them in his boot. The widow is evicted; but as he departs, Leep is pursued by an unseen stalker.

As Leep rides faster, so does his pursuer-clippity-cloppity, clippity-cloppity—until Leep reaches his home. Is John Leep safe at last or is Ol’ Clip-Clop gonna SWALLOW HIM WHOLE?!!!!!

For the 50th anniversary of the march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Newbery Medalist Russell Freedman has written a riveting account of this pivotal event in the history of civil rights. In the early 1960s, tensions in the segregated South intensified. Tired of reprisals for attempting to register to vote, Selma’s black community began to protest. The struggle received nationwide attention when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a voting rights march in January, 1965, and was attacked by a segregationist. In February, the shooting of an unarmed demonstrator by an Alabama state trooper inspired a march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. The march got off to a horrific start on March 7 as law officers attacked peaceful demonstrators. Broadcast throughout the world, the violence attracted widespread outrage and spurred demonstrators to complete the march at any cost. On March 25, after several setbacks, protesters arrived at the end of the fifty-four-mile march to a cheering crowd of 25,000 supporters. Illustrated with more than forty photographs, this is an essential chronicle of events every American should know. Includes timeline, source notes, photo credits, bibliography, index.

This riveting account of the murder of three civil rights crusaders in Mississippi offers new interviews with volunteers from that fateful summer and many never-before-seen photographs.

A stunning picture book celebrates the first widely seen integrated jazz performance: the debut of the Benny Goodman quartet with Teddy Wilson in 1936 Chicago.

Acclaimed writer Walter Dean Myers celebrates the people of Harlem with these powerful and soulful first-person poems in the voices of the residents who make up the legendary neighborhood: basketball players, teachers, mail carriers, jazz artists, maids, veterans, nannies, students, and more. Exhilarating and electric, these poems capture the energy and resilience of a neighborhood and a people.

This smash-hit picture book of jazz music poems, from award-winning father-don team Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers, is now available in paperback. There’s a crazy syncopation /and it’s tearing through the nation / and it’s bringing sweet elation / to every single tune./ It’s Jazz/ From bebop to New Orleans, from ragtime to boogie, and every style in between, this collection of Walter Dean Myers’s energetic and engaging poems, accompanied by Christopher Myers’s bright and exhilarating paintings, celebrates different styles of the American art form, jazz. "JAZZ" takes readers on a musical journey from jazz’s beginnings to the present day. Includes time line and jazz glossary.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus and give up her seat to a white man. This refusal to give up her dignity sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a yearlong struggle, and a major victory in the civil rights movement. Source notes, map, bibliography, index.

From bebop to New Orleans, from ragtime to boogie, and every style in between, this collection of Walter Dean Myers’s energetic and engaging poems, accompanied by Christopher Myers’s bright and exhilarating paintings, celebrates different styles of the American art form, jazz. Jazz takes readers on a musical journey from jazz’s beginnings to the present day. Includes time line and jazz glossary.

Bundle up and follow Bunny and his brothers and sisters as they tiptoe out into the wonderous world of the first snow of winter. Everything looks new and fresh as chipmunk gathers pinecones and children build snowmen. Yet danger persists as well as owl swoops overhead. A simple but eloquent text and tender illustrations invite readers out into the night to explore the silent magic of snow.

A poem based on the story of creation from the first book of the Bible.

A musical family with talents for playing a variety of instruments enjoys getting together to celebrate.

From apples to cows, kettles to scarecrows, warm country images abound in this delightful alphabet poem.

A Chinese-American boy’s family observes a cherished tradition.

Describes life on a Crow Indian reservation in Montana, and the importance these tribes place on buffalo, which are once again thriving in areas where the Crow live.

Presents the history, traditions, and significance of Hanukkah as it is celebrated by a Jewish family in San Francisco.

Every year, Muslims all over the world celebrate the coming of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar. It was during that month, 14 centuries ago, that Allah first began revealing the holy book of Islam, the Quran, to Muhammed. Ghazi’s clear and informative description of one boy’s celebration of Ramadan is skillfully brought to life by Omar Rayyan’s warm and joyful illustration.

The diary of a third-grade class of Japanese-American children being held with their families in an internment camp during World War II.

A biography of the Oglala leader who relentlessly resisted the white man’s attempt to take over Indian lands.

A couple’s youngest son is forced to leave his West African village because he chooses music over the more practical occupations of his brothers, but years later he returns to show the wisdom of his choice.

Text and photographs depict how a Chicago family celebrates the African American holiday, Kwanzaa.

A young Cochiti Indian girl living with her grandparents in the Cochiti Pueblo near Santa Fe, New Mexico, describes her home and family and the day-to-day life and customs of her people.

More than 30 paintings and drawings by artist-adventurers who traveled West in the 1800s illustrate Freedman’s vivid account of the Great Plains Indians’ buffalo hunts.