Our collection of picture books featuring Black and Indigenous Peoples and People of Color (BIPOC) is available to the public.
*Inclusion of a title in the collection DOES NOT EQUAL a recommendation.*
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6 matching books
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Ander & Santi Were Here
“The Santos Vista neighborhood of San Antonio, TX is all Ander Lopez has ever known. The smell of pan dulce, the laughter of kids hitting a piñata at the park, the mixture of Spanish and English filling the streets. And, especially, their job at the family’s taqueria. So as the days count down on their gap year until the day they’ll leave for art school in Chicago, their head is filled with one relentless question: am I really ready to leave it all behind? Their family, however, has the opposite worry: to keep them from becoming complacent, they “fire” Ander so they can focus on their murals and prepare for college. That is, until they meet Santiago Garcia, the hot new waiter. Ander is immediately crushing and slides back into a few shifts, desperate to spend more time with him. A couple nights closing down the restaurant together; late night drives to drop Santi off after work; falling for each other is as natural as breathing. Through Santi’s eyes, Ander finally understands everything they are and want to be as an artist, and Ander becomes Santi’s first step toward making Santos Vista and the U.S. feel like home. But they start to realize how fragile that sense of home is when vans are spotted following Santi on his walks to work. When ICE agents are waiting for them at Ander’s house. When they begin to feel like the entire world is against them. And when, eventually, the outside world starts to win.” — publisher
On Air with Zoe Washington
“Two years ago, Zoe Washington helped clear Marcus’ name for a crime he didn’t commit. Now her birth father has finally been released from prison and to an outpouring of community support. So, everything should be perfect. Right? With Zoe and Marcus now co-workers at Ari’s Cakes, it’s true life has never been better. But when Marcus reveals his lifelong dream of opening his own restaurant, Zoe becomes determined to help him achieve it—with her as his pastry chef of course. She still has a lot of new desserts to invent! However, starting a new place is much more difficult than it looks, and despite being innocent—Marcus is having a harder time re-entering society than anyone expected. Determined to find a solution, Zoe starts a podcast to bring light to the struggles exonerees experience and fundraise for their restaurant. Between hosting her show, testing recipes, managing shifting friend dynamics, and trying to make sure Marcus and her stepdad each have enough time with her—Zoe is stretched thin. She knows the power of using her voice. But with waning public interest in their story, will anyone still be listening?” — publisher
Tagging Freedom
“Kareem Haddad of Damascus, Syria, never dreamed of becoming a graffiti artist. But when a group of boys from another town tag subversive slogans outside their school, and another boy is killed while in custody, Kareem and his friends are inspired and start secretly tagging messages of freedom around their city. Meanwhile, in the United States, his cousin, Samira, has been trying to make her own mark. Anxious to fit in at school, she joins the Spirit Squad where her natural artistic ability attracts the attention of the popular squad leader. Then Kareem is sent to live with Sam’s family, and their worlds collide. As graffitied messages appear around town and all eyes turn to Kareem, Sam must make a choice: does she shy away to protect her new social status, or does she stand with Kareem?” – publisher
Stacey Abrams: Lift Every Voice
“Stacey Abrams is the daughter of two civil-rights activists. She loved going into the voting booth with her parents on Election Day, knowing that their voices mattered. She loved school, even when she was the only Black student in her gifted classes. She loved her classmates at Spelman College — a historically Black institution — and worked hard to see they received the fair treatment they deserved. And today, she brings all those experiences to her role as politician, author, and voting-rights advocate, helping to ensure that every person has a say and every vote gets counted. Stacey Abrams: Lift Every Voice follows Stacey’s life from her girlhood to the present, but it also portrays the ordinary people that Stacey fights for — the beautiful and diverse America that shows up to stand with one another. Backmatter includes a timeline of changes in US voting-rights law from the Constitution through the present day, demonstrating both how far the country has come and how far we have to go.” — publisher
Revolution in Our Time
“In this comprehensive, inspiring, and all-too-relevant history of the Black Panther Party, Kekla Magoon introduces readers to the Panthers’ community activism, grounded in the concept of self-defense, which taught Black Americans how to protect and support themselves in a country that treated them like second-class citizens. For too long the Panthers’ story has been a footnote to the civil rights movement rather than what it was: a revolutionary socialist movement that drew thousands of members—mostly women—and became the target of one of the most sustained repression efforts ever made by the U.S. government against its own citizens.” — publisher
The Awakening of Malcolm X
“A powerful fictionalized account of Malcolm X’s adolescent years in jail written by his daughter along with a 2019 Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award–winning author. No one can be at peace until he has his freedom. In Charlestown Prison, Malcolm Little struggles with the weight of his past. Plagued by nightmares, he drifts through days unsure of his future. Slowly, he befriends other prisoners and writes to his family. He reads all the books in the prison library, joins the debate team and the Nation of Islam. Malcolm grapples with race, politics, religion, and justice in the 1940s. And as his time in jail comes to an end, he begins to awaken–emerging from prison more than just Malcolm Little: Now, he is Malcolm X.” — publisher
