Our collection of picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC) is available to the public. *Inclusion of a title in the collection DOES NOT EQUAL a recommendation.* Click here for more on book evaluation.
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22 matching books
Show FiltersGood-bye, Havana! Hola, New York!
When five year old Gabriella hears talk of Castro and something called revolution in her home in Cuba, she doesn't understand. Then when her parents leave suddenly and she remains with her grandparents, life isn't the same. Soon the day comes when she goes to live with her parents in a new place called the Bronx. It isn't warm like Havana, and there is traffic, not the ocean, outside her window. Their life is different- it snows in the winter and the food at school is hot dogs and macaroni. What will it take for the Bronx to feel like home? ~from publisher
Starting over in Sunset Park
"Jessica and her mom, Camila, must live in their cousins' crowded apartment until Camila finds work making holiday decorations and they can afford their own place. Isolated on the playground and baffled in class, unable to understand her teacher's instructions, Jessica is intensely homesick. But little by little, things get better. She begins to learn English, and she loves the cats she and her mom care for to earn extra money. Left behind by traveling owners, the cats make the best of their situation, inspiring Jessica to do the same."-- Amazon
My grandparents and I / Mis abuelos y yo
Illustrations and rhyming text describe all the special things a Puerto Rican boy enjoys doing with his grandparents throughout the year.
All the way to Havana
A boy helps his father keep their very old car running as they make a trip to Havana for his newborn cousin's zero- year birthday. Includes author's note about cars in Cuba
¡Fiesta!
Describes a festival or holiday celebrated in Latin America for each month of the year, from the feast of Saint Anthony in January through Mexico's Cinco de Mayo, an Inca festival in Peru in June, and a ritual of African origin in Brazil in September
Calling the water drum
"A young boy loses both parents as they attempt to flee Haiti for a better life, and afterward is only able to process his grief and communicate with the outside world through playing the drums. Includes author's note"-- |cProvided by publisher
Schomburg: The man who built a library
Where is our historian to give us our side? Arturo asked. Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance stood an Afro-Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg. This law clerk's life's passion was to collect books, letters, music, and art from Africa and the African diaspora and bring to light the achievements of people of African descent through the ages. When Schomburg's collection became so big it began to overflow his house (and his wife threatened to mutiny), he turned to the New York Public Library, where he created and curated a collection that was the cornerstone of a new Negro Division. A century later, his groundbreaking collection, known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has become a beacon to scholars all over the world
A New Kind of Wild
"This sweet author-illustrator debut celebrates imagination, the magic of friendship, and all the different ways we make a new place feel like home. For Ren, home is his grandmother’s little house, and the lush forest that surrounds it. Home is a place of magic and wonder, filled with all the fantastical friends that Ren dreams up. Home is where his imagination can run wild. For Ava, home is a brick and cement city, where there’s always something to do or see or hear. Home is a place bursting with life, where people bustle in and out like a big parade. Home is where Ava is never lonely because there’s always someone to share in her adventures. When Ren moves to Ava’s city, he feels lost without his wild. How will he ever feel at home in a place with no green and no magic, where everything is exactly what it seems? Of course, not everything in the city is what meets the eye, and as Ren discovers, nothing makes you feel at home quite like a friend. Inspired by the stories her father told her about moving from Puerto Rico to New York as a child, Zara González Hoang’s author-illustrator debut is an imaginative exploration of the true meaning of “home.”" -- publisher
The Lesson Box
"One summer afternoon Rebecca (Becca) and her friend Khalid go on a simple errand and find a mysterious, shiny box that seems to have appeared out of nowhere. What should they do? Leave it where they have found it? Take it home? Tell their parents? Read The Lesson Box and find out how these two seven-year olds handle the situation, never suspecting the consequences of their decision, much less what the beautiful box contains! The Lesson Box is a fun story that your child will love. It is a valuable tool for parents and teachers who struggle to instill good values in young children and to provide them a sound moral foundation." -- publisher
Coquí in the City
"A heartfelt picture book based on the author-illustrator’s own experiences, about a boy who moves to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico and realizes that New York City might have more in common with San Juan than he initially thought. Miguel’s pet frog, Coquí, is always with him: as he greets his neighbors in San Juan, buys quesitos from the panadería, and listens to his abuelo’s story about meeting baseball legend Roberto Clemente. Then Miguel learns that he and his parents are moving to the U.S. mainland, which means leaving his beloved grandparents, home in Puerto Rico, and even Coquí behind. Life in New York City is overwhelming, with unfamiliar buildings, foods, and people. But when he and Mamá go exploring, they find a few familiar sights that remind them of home, and Miguel realizes there might be a way to keep a little bit of Puerto Rico with him—including the love he has for Coquí—wherever he goes." -- publisher