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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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33 matching books

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The Probability of Everything

2023

by Sarah Everett

“Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It’s how she understands the world and her place in it. Kemi knows her odds of being born were 1 in 5.5 trillion, and that the odds of her having the best family ever were even lower. Yet somehow, Kemi lucked out. But everything Kemi thought she knew changes when she sees an asteroid hover in the sky, casting a purple haze over her world. Amplus-68 has an 84.7% chance of colliding with Earth in four days, and with that collision, Kemi’s life as she knows it will end. But over the course of the four days, even facts don’t feel true to Kemi anymore. The new town she moved to that was supposed to be “better for her family” isn’t very welcoming. And Amplus-68 is taking over her life, but others are still going to school and eating at their favorite diner like nothing has changed. Is Kemi the only one who feels like the world is ending? With the days numbered, Kemi decides to put together a time capsule that will capture her family’s truth: how creative her mother is, how inquisitive her little sister can be, and how much Kemi’s whole world revolves around her father. But no time capsule can change the truth behind all of it, that Kemi must face the most inevitable and hardest part of life: saying goodbye.” — publisher

Any Child/Teen Cross Group Oppression & Resilience

Just Right Jillian

2023

by Nicole D. Collier

“Fifth-grader Jillian will do just about anything to blend in, including staying quiet even when she has the right answer. After she loses a classroom competition because she won’t speak up, she sets her mind on winning her school’s biggest competition. But breaking out of her shell is easier said than done, and Jillian has only a month to keep her promise to her grandmother and prove to herself that she can speak up and show everyone her true self.” — publisher

Any Child/Teen

Beware the Heartman

2024

“For once, everything in twelve-year-old Josephine’s life is going according to plan. She’s finally proved that girls belong on the cricket team and earned a spot as a starting player! And she’s confident that she and her best friend, Ahkai, will both be accepted to their dream secondary school. Nothing can stop Jo now — not even the memory of the vengeful sea spirit she vanquished last year. But then a series of disasters strike. Ahkai suddenly seems to have a new best friend — the annoyingly perfect Lynne. Then Jo isn’t accepted to the same school as Ahkai! Even worse, Jo keeps having eerie encounters with a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows — a figure who bears an unsettling resemblance to the fearsome Heartman rumored to steal children’s hearts… Jo doesn’t know where to turn. With Daddy away, the only person who’ll believe her is Ahkai, but Jo is too proud to ask for help after being replaced. By the time she musters the courage to approach him, it’s too late. Ahkai has disappeared without a trace. He’s been taken by the Heartman. None of the adults believe Jo. The Heartman is just a legend, after all. But Jo knows that the fearsome creature is real and that if she doesn’t find his lair soon, Ahkai will be lost forever.” — publisher

Centering Culture & Identity Folklore

In the Key of Us

2022

“In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Andi is grappling with grief following the death of her mother. Zora is exhausted by trying to please her success-oriented parents. Both feel very much alone. Until a summer music camp brings them together. The only two Black girls at camp in a sea of white children, Andi and Zora slowly begin to connect and reveal their deepest fears and dreams. While Andi is a natural on trumpet, Zora doesn’t know if she wants to be a floutist since she also loves to dance. As Andi and Zora struggle to figure out who they really are, they may just come to realize what they really need: each other.” — publisher

Centering Culture & Identity Cross Group

Moonflower

2022

by Callender: Kacen

“Moon’s depression is overwhelming. Therapy doesn’t help, and Moon is afraid that their mom hates them because they’re sad. Moon’s only escape is traveling to the spirit realms every night, where they hope they’ll never return to the world of the living again. The spirit realm is where they have their one and only friend, Wolf, and where they’re excited to experience an infinite number of adventures. But when the realm is threatened, it’s up to Moon to save the spirit world. With the help of celestial beings and guardians, Moon battles monsters and shadows, and through their journey, they begin to learn that a magical adventure of love and acceptance awaits them in the world of the living, too.” -publisher

Any Child/Teen

We Deserve Monuments

2022

by Jas Hammonds

“What’s more important? Knowing the truth or keeping the peace? Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she’s uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two. While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved. As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty’s health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she’s built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.” — publisher

Biography/Autobiography Oppression & Resilience Race/Culture/Identity Concepts

Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay

2023

by Kelly McWilliams

“Harriet Douglass lives with her historian father on an old plantation in Louisiana, which they’ve transformed into one of the South’s few enslaved people’s museums. Together, while grieving the recent loss of Harriet’s mother, they run tours that help keep the memory of the past alive. Harriet’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of mother and daughter Claudia and Layla Hartwell—who plan to turn the property next door into a wedding venue, and host the offensively antebellum-themed wedding of two Hollywood stars. Harriet’s fully prepared to hate Layla Hartwell, but it seems that Layla might not be so bad after all—unlike many people, this California influencer is actually interested in Harriet’s point of view. Harriet’s sure she can change the hearts of Layla and her mother, but she underestimates the scale of the challenge…and when her school announces that prom will be held on the plantation, Harriet’s just about had it with this whole racist timeline! Overwhelmed by grief and anger, it’s fair to say she snaps. Can Harriet use the power of social media to cancel the celebrity wedding and the plantation prom? Will she accept that she’s falling in love with her childhood best friend, who’s unexpectedly returned after years away? Can she deal with the frustrating reality that Americans seem to live in two completely different countries? And through it all, can she and Layla build a bridge between them?” — publisher

Centering Culture & Identity Cross Group

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