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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Find titles using a keyword search below (e.g. adoption, birthday, holidays, etc.), or by selecting one or a combination of filters on the left-hand sidebar below.
938 matching books
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Picture Book 783
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Early Reader 15
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Dominant Main 938
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Secondary 772
The Best Friend Bracelet
“At Hurston Middle School, best friendship is a big deal. And Zariah Brown makes the best best friendship bracelets in town. Business is booming; Zariah can hardly keep up with orders. The problem is, Zariah doesn’t have a best friend of her own. As the entire seventh grade gears up for their big Pajama Jam weekend, it seems as if everyone else is paired up except her. So Zariah pours her heart and soul into making the ultimate friendship bracelet, using a set of beads gifted to her by a mysterious woman. But the bracelet turns out to be a tiny bit magical. In fact, anyone who puts it on instantly becomes Zariah’s best friend! Now all she has to do is find the perfect best friend and get the bracelet on them! Easy, right? It turns out finding the ideal friend isn’t so simple, and things quickly spin out of control. Will Zariah ever find her true BFF, or is she destined to be alone forever?” — publisher
Sparking Peace
“Broken into beautiful. A story of friendship and healing. After breaking a neighbor’s window, a young child discovers friendship, transformation, and new beginnings in an unlikely story of peace. Gentle and moving, this poetic tale offers readers a hopeful path in the face of gun violence and despair, showing kids how peacemaking can turn conflict into friendship and new beginnings—and forge guns into garden tools. Children grow up with lockdowns and gun violence as part of their reality. As parents, caregivers, and educators, how should we respond? Sparking Peace provides a springboard for those seeking to discuss gun violence and trauma with children in a safe way that highlights help rather than harm. This picture book helps children learn about conflict while also carefully addressing gun violence and peacemaking. It includes resources that equip parents and educators to talk about gun violence and trauma, using a story of a broken window to show kids how conflict can be transformed through acts of peace. ” — publisher
Merry Christmas, Anna Hibiscus!
“Anna Hibiscus has never been away from her big white house in Nigeria, where baby brothers, many cousins, parents, aunties, uncles, and grandparents are always nearby. But now she’s flying overseas on her own to visit Granny Canada and see snow for the first time! When she lands at the airport, Anna finds herself amid a sea of white faces in a place that is breathtakingly cold. Canada is very different, but Anna learns how to pull on toasty layers of clothing, warms up to Granny’s large dog (who does not live in a pack and bite people), hones her new talent for sledding, and celebrates cozy Christmas rituals—all while keenly missing her cousins.” — publisher
My Smock Is a Story
“When a young boy receives his first smock as a gift, his Dada tells him that every smock has a special story. Will his smock make him as joyful as a harvest dancer? Or as powerful as his royal elders, the Dagomba? In his smock, what will his story be?” — publisher
Gone Wolf
“In the future, a Black girl known only as Inmate Eleven is kept confined—to be used as a biological match for the president’s son, should he fall ill. She is called a Blue—the color of sadness. She lives in a small-small room with her dog, who is going wolf more often—he’s pacing and imagining he’s free. Inmate Eleven wants to go wolf too—she wants to know why she feels so blue and what is beyond her small-small room. In the present, Imogen lives outside of Washington DC. The pandemic has distanced her from everyone but her mother and her therapist. Imogen has intense phobias and nightmares of confinement. Her two older brothers used to help her, but now she’s on her own, until a college student helps her see the difference between being Blue and sad, and Black and empowered.” — publisher
If You Knew My Name
“Mason Zy’Aire Tyndall has big dreams. Dreams of sick beats, epic mic-drops, sold out stadiums. Mason’s going to be a rap star—and you don’t become a rap star by hitting up BLM protests with your mom or sitting at a desk. Mason wants to get out there and make a name for himself, but he’ll have to graduate high school first. And he can’t do that if he fails his senior year. Convinced his poetry class is a waste of time, Mason’s teacher helps him see just how valuable a couplet and a rhyme can be. But when an unarmed Black man is killed by the police in his city, tensions start to rise—among the cops, the community, and even Mason’s peers. Caught in the middle of increasingly violent conflicts, Mason will have to find a way to use his voice for change…and fast.” — publisher
Mid-Air
“It’s the last few months of eighth grade, and Isaiah feels lost. He thought his summer was going to be him and his boys Drew and Darius, hanging out, doing wheelies, watching martial arts movies, and breaking tons of Guinness World Records before high school. But now, more and more, Drew seems to be fading from their friendship, and though he won’t admit it, Isaiah knows exactly why. Because Darius is…gone. A hit and run killed Darius in the midst of a record-breaking long wheelie when Isaiah should have been keeping watch, ready to warn: “CAR!” Now, Drew can barely look at Isaiah. But Isaiah, already quaking with ache and guilt, can’t lose two friends. So, he comes up with a plan to keep Drew and him together—they can spend the summer breaking records, for Darius. But Drew’s not the same Drew since Darius was killed, and Isaiah, being Isaiah, isn’t enough for Drew anymore. Not his taste in clothes, his love for rock music, or his aversion to jumping off rooftops. And one day something unspeakable happens to Isaiah that makes him think Drew’s right. If only he could be less sensitive, more tough, less weird, more cool, less him, things would be easier. But how much can Isaiah keep inside until he shatters wide open?” — publisher
Leon: Worst Friends Forever (Leon #2)
“After saving his classmates from The Monocle, and now that he has access to tons of cool crime-fighting gadgets, Leon is the superhero his school needs. Or at least… he thinks he is. Leon’s vigil-antics make Mom and Principal Principle angry, but even worse, they cause a conflict with his best friend, Carlos, who starts to draw mean comics about Leon. Meanwhile, Leon struggles to keep his mom’s superhero identity a secret. Can Leon dig deep and rediscover his heart and common sense? Or will his bad behavior reach a point of no return?” — publisher
Becoming a Ballerina: The Story of Michaela Mabinty DePrince
In a Sierra Lione dust storm, ballet swooped into Michaela Mabinty DePrince’s life and never let her go. After her adoption brought her to the US, ballet continued to be the consoling hand that filled Michaela with a joy and hope that flowed from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes. Over time, Michaela’s love for ballet only grew, and with it, her dream of becoming a ballerina. However, there were peers who told Michaela she didn’t belong in the ballet world, that her skin and vitiligo made her too different. However, ballet had stirred in Michaela a faith and determination that would help her turn her dreams into a reality.
Me and the Boss: A Story About Mending and Love
“”I know big sisters. Zora, the boss, she’s mine,” explains Lee as he and Zora head to the library, where Mrs. C is teaching the children how to sew. Though Zora sews a beautiful flower on her cloth square, little Lee makes a mess out of the half-moon he is trying to stitch. That night, when he can’t sleep, he gives sewing another try…and succeeds, even mending the hole in his pants pocket! The next morning, he sneaks into Zora’s room and sews the ear back on Bess, her stuffed bear. When Zora discovers Bess, she wraps Lee in her special big sister hug–for just a moment–and then is back to being the boss once again.” — publisher
