African American Picture Books for Black History Month

Throughout Black History Month, I was trying to post a book review a day. It didn't quite work out that smoothly, but I reviewed over 30 books for the month. I'd also written a number of reviews before, in A Dozen African American Picture Books, that I've included in this list.

I put this list together when I saw that Professor Susurro had written a post about my series in her blog, Like a Whisper. She mentioned young adult fiction, which I've reviewed in another post, A Dozen Delectable African American Chapter Books. Maybe I can expand that list next year for Black History Month. If I know people are following me, I'll be able to be more diligent.

1. Freedom On the Menu, by Carole Boston Weatherford
2. Pictures for Miss Josie, by Sandra Belton
3. The Escape of Oney Judge: Martha Washington's Slave Finds Freedom, by Emily Arnold McCully
4. Henry's Freedom Box, by Ellen Levine
5. Big Jabe, by Jerdine Nelson
6a. Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, by Deborah Hopkinson
6b. Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky, by Faith Ringgold
6c. Under the Quilt of Night, by Deborah Hopkinson
6d. Show Way, by Jacqueline Woodson
6e. The Patchwork Quilt, by Valerie Flourney
7a.  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
7b. Bigmama's, by Donald Crews
8. Corduroy, by Don Freeman
9. Whistle for Willie, by Ezra Jack Keats
10. Joy, by Joyce Carol Thomas
11. Goodnight, Baby, by Cheryl Hudson
12. Baby Dance, by Ann Taylor
13. Billie and Belle, by Sarah Garland
14. Do Like Kyla, by Angela Johnson
15. Yo, Jo! by Rachel Isadora
16. Christopher Changes His Name, by Itah Sadu
17. Lily Brown's Paintings, by Angela Johnson
18. Regina's Big Mistake, Marissa Moss
19. The Car Washing Street, by Denise Lewis Patrick
20. Earth Mother, by Ellen Jackson
21. Coming On Home Soon, by Jacqueline Woodson
22. John Henry, by Julius Lester
23. A Million Fish ... More or Less, by Patricia McKissack
24. Flossie and the Fox, by Patricia McKissack
25. Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp, by Mercer Mayer
26. Z's Gift, by Neal Starkman
27. To Hell With Dying, by Alice Walker
28. From Miss Ida's Porch, by Sandra Belton
29. Ben's Trumpet, by Rachel Isadora
30a. Amazing Grace, by Mary Hoffman
30b. Boundless Grace, by Mary Hoffman
31. Nappy Hair, by Carolivia Herron
32. Smoky Night, by Eve Bunting

Here's one more bonus book. It's set in Africa, so I don't think of it as African American. When I get around to posting my list of books from diverse cultures, it will be in that list. Where Are You Going, Manyoni? by Catherine Stock, is a delightful story of a very long walk to school. The story is told mostly through the watercolor pictures of Manyoni's long walk through the African veld, near the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe.