Start planning now for Black History Month with some amazing children’s books that are perfect to share with your elementary students. While Black History Month doesn’t begin until February 1st, it runs the entirety of the month and offers teachers a great opportunity to discuss history. The books below are sure to hold your students’ attention and give you an easy starting point for class discussion.
20 Children’s Books for Black History Month
- Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day by Linda Lowery
- Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King Jr. by Doreen Rappaport
- We March by Shane W. Evans
- Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
- Molly Bannaky by Alice McGill
- I Am Rosa Parks by Rosa Parks and James Haskins
- A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams
- Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
- Something Beautiful by Sharon Wyeth
- Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson
- The Quilt by Ann Jonas
- Who Is Barack Obama? by Roberta Edwards
- Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold
- Jackie Robinson by Stephanie McPherson
- Harriet Tubman by Laurie Calkhoven
- Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco
- The Beatitudes by Carole Boston Weatherford
- Freedom’s Fruit by William H. Hooks
- Dear Benjamin Banneker by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Create a literature study in your classroom library in February with the books above. Display the books and write teasers about each. You might also want to create video blurbs about each book and put them on an iPad for students to watch while they select their books. Better yet, have students create the video blurbs as book report alternatives!
What are some of your favorite children’s books for Black History Month? Share them with us below!