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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36 matching books
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Folklore 3
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Fiction 24
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Non-Fiction 12
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Boy/Man 17
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Girl/Woman 26
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Muslim 1
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Secondary 20
Planting Peace
"This picture book tells the inspiring story of Wangari Maathai, women’s rights activist and one of the first environmental warriors. Wangari began the Green Belt Movement in Kenya in the 1960s, which focused on planting trees, environmental conservation, and women’s rights. She inspired thousands across Africa to plant 30 million trees in 30 years and was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize." -- publisher
Songs on the Vanilla Trail
"An enchanting collection of 25 traditional songs pays homage to the rich cultural heritage and multilingual communities of East and Southern Africa. The resulting highly mixed musical styles that are unique to each region demonstrate how they welcomed new horizons through contact with others. A wide array of styles—skipping rope songs from Mozambique, lullabies from South Africa, counting songs from Réunion, traditional dance tunes from Madagascar—are all performed exquisitely by men, women, and children in more than a dozen languages and dialects. Vibrant compelling artwork and homegrown instruments, such as the tube zither, the kayamb, the bobre, the segakordeon and ravanne drums round off this wonderful celebration of history, language, and culture. Lyrics appear transcribed in their original language and translated to English followed by extensive notes describing the cultural background of each song and a map of East and Southern Africa. This picture book is accompanied by a CD featuring 25 recorded songs along with unique code for the digital download of the audio." -- publisher
Bibi’s Blessing
"An intricately woven story about finding the hidden blessings in everything that happens! Mwana lives in Lamu with her grandmother, Bibi. Bibi makes the best mofa bread on the island, and Mwana sells them at the market. After she trips on a stone and drops all the mofas that Bibi made, Mwana is sad and disappointed. She can't sell them anymore! Bibi tells her there are blessings in everything that happens, but will Mwana be able to see them? " -- publisher
Our Future: How Kids are Taking Action
"This picture book written and illustrated by Janet Wilson features 10 children who are social, political, and environmental activists from around the world who are making a difference in their communities, and countries. The children are concrete examples for other kids, to show that you're never too young to mitigate change. From racism to cyber bullying, from gun violence to animal protection, they don't let their youth stop them from being heard. In addition to Our Future, Janet Wilson has three other similar books about empowering kids called Our Earth, Our Heroes, and Our Rights."--
Handa’s Hen
"Every morning, Handa, a young girl from the Luo tribe, feeds breakfast to Mondi, her grandma’s black hen. This morning, however, Mondi is nowhere to be seen. So Handa and her friend Akeyo set off on a hunt, coming upon two fluttery butterflies, three stripy mice, four little lizards, five beautiful sunbirds, and many more intriguing creatures. But where could Mondi be? Is that a faint cheeping they hear under the bush? Might Mondi have a surprise in store (or maybe even ten of them)? Luminous colors depict a lush natural setting in this gentle, repetitive story perfect for reading aloud." -- publisher
Handa’s surprise
"Handa puts seven delicious fruits in a basket to take to her friend, Akeyo. Which fruit will Akeyo like best, she wonders — the yellow banana, the sweet guava, the juicy orange, the ripe mango, the spiky pineapple, the creamy avocado, or the tangy passion fruit? As Handa makes the long walk to the next village, carrying the basket on her head, a monkey, ostrich, zebra, elephant, giraffe, antelope, and parrot steal her fruits, one by one. But little do they know that Handa has an even bigger surprise in store! Ideal for reading aloud, Handa’s Surprise is available as a Big Book suited for sharing with groups of young children." -- publisher
Obama
"From birth to getting elected as president, a biography told in lyrical prose.… From his childhood in Indonesia to his teenage years in Hawaii, from his father’s homeland of Kenya to the halls of Harvard Law School and, later, the South Side of Chicago, Barack Obama searched for a place where he belonged. His search led him to the White House, where, as president, he would fight for "the god-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness." In elegant, cadenced language, award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford provides a biographical tribute to a citizen of the world who journeyed from "Barry" to "Barack" to "Mr. President" as he found, finally, the place where he belongs. Primary source quotes from speeches are included throughout." -- publisher
The International Day of the Girl
"This introduction to the International Day of the Girl and its worldwide significance encourages children to recognize their own potential to make change, providing both a perfect lesson in social justice and a celebration of girl power. The United Nations designated October 11th as the International Day of the Girl, a day to increase awareness of problems that affect girls --- and only girls --- around the world and to encourage progress toward gender equality. Nine stories inspired by the real-life experiences of girls from all over the globe bring to light the importance of this day. Each story is set in a different country and sensitively describes an inequity faced by a character and how she addressed it. The challenges include gender-based violence, illiteracy, lack of access to technology, sanitation, nutritional disparity and child marriage. Each story features a positive description of the main character --- strong, smart, creative, inventive, brave, talented, caring, funny, ambitious --- and each concludes with a realistic yet hopeful outcome, presenting the girls as more than victims of their circumstances. Their powerful, and empowering, experiences will stir the activist in every child. Jessica Dee Humphreys's well-researched and illuminating stories are both readable and age appropriate. Award-winning Simone Shin's simple, warm illustrations bring the characters and their circumstances to life. Sidebars expand on the issues covered in each story. This book is a perfect choice for social justice discussions, as well as for social studies lessons on global communities, and for character education conversations on citizenship. It includes a foreword by the Honorable Rona Ambrose, who led Canada's call for the day to be formally adopted by the United Nations. Also included are an annotated time line of the day's creation and additional statistical information. A portion of the proceeds will go to Plan International Canada." -- publisher
Handa’s Noisy Night
"A cast of nocturnal creatures are the surprise stars in a funny tale about nighttime fears, set in southwest Kenya. The latest tale in the best-selling Handa series. When Handa sleeps over at her friend Akeyo’s house, she hears lots of strange sounds in the night: snorts, chattering, rattling, squeaks, slurps, wails, a big thud. Akeyo says it’s just her family, laughing, talking, playing music, riding a bike, drinking their bedtime milk. Or maybe the baby crying. Or a door slamming. But is she right? Young readers will be happy to be in on the joke as a sequence of animals pay a visit on the facing pages: a pig, fox, porcupine, bat, pangolin, bush baby, owl, and woodpecker. Illustrated in luminous colors, Eileen Brown’s humorous take on things that go bump in the night includes endpapers picturing and naming all the nocturnal creatures." -- publisher
My Name is Blessing
Based on a true story about a young Kenyan boy whose mother left him but had named him Muthini which meant suffering because he was born with no fingers on his left hand and only two on his right. Many times he was made fun of or avoided which hurt him deeply. He lives with his very elderly grandmother, his Nyanya, along with many cousins whose parents had either died or left them. They are extremely poor and there is never enough money or food, but plenty of love. A difficult choice must be made and Muthini is the youngest child and needs to have a better chance in life, so his Nyanya takes him to an orphanage where he is blessed and his name is changed to Baraka which means blessing for he was a blessing just as his grandmother always knew