The Essential Black "Family" Library

Books for the 0 to 13 year old crowd

An executive order, which have now just become long form tweets, issued last week orders the removal of any exhibit that promotes “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian. This will affect the National Museum of African American History and Culture. You can expect all funding to be cut off from the institution and the removal of the contributions of Black people from all Smithsonian museums very soon. I can make this speculation because a previous executive order regarding K-12 schooling led to the removal of books about Martin Luther King and Ruby Bridges from schools and libraries on military bases.

We are in an age of guerilla archiving. We are all going to have to do the work of preserving history and culture on a micro-basis. You won’t be able to rely on public libraries to find the books that affirm the African American experience. You’ll either have to have them yourself or borrow them from a friend. I intend to be that friend and I invite you to be that friend.

I’ve already compiled a list of the Black “canon” for adults that features literature, poetry and fiction that should form the basis of any home library, but with the list below I’ve compiled books for children.

My criteria:

• The books must be written by Black Americans or those hailing from the African diaspora

• The books must be positive, in that affirm the lived experiences and encourage Black children

• They must be able to be purchased (relatively easily) online

• They must be easy enough to read by their intended age-range audience or read to by an elder with a 7th grade education

You’ll find that there are some great books that are not included on my list of 50 essential titles. You can add them! You are building your home library so it should be unique to you. I’ve deliberately focused on Black joy so you’ll find adventure and fantasy and everyday situations more than you’ll find overcoming and stoic resilience. Not that that isn’t needed, but I will let you choose when and how to introduce your children to the horrors of Jim Crow, genocide and slavery. Not that you wont’ find any mention in my list, it’s just not a major focus.

Here are the levels..

Picture Books

The Big Bed

From Bunmi Laditan, the creator of the Honest Toddler blog, The Big Bed is a humorous picture book about a girl who doesn't want to sleep in her little bed, so she presents her dad with his own bed—a camping cot!—in order to move herself into her parents' big bed in his place. A twist on the classic parental struggle of not letting kids sleep in their bed.

Early Readers

Ty's Travels: Camp-Out

Celebrate Ty’s vivid imagination! Nonstop rain dampens the family’s plans to go camping. But with a boost from Ty, the Camp-Out comes out just fine! Rhythmic text, vibrant art, family love, and Black Boy Joy shine on every page of this camping adventure.

Ty’s Travels: Camp-Out is a Level One I Can Read Comic, which means it’s perfect for shared reading with young readers new to graphic novel storytelling. This is a Guided Reading Level (GRL)

Chapter Books

The Great Greene Heist

Jackson Greene swears he's given up scheming. Then school bully Keith Sinclair announces he's running for Student Council president, against Jackson's former friend Gaby de la Cruz. Gaby wants Jackson to stay out of it -- but he knows Keith has "connections" to the principal, which could win him the presidency no matter the vote count. So Jackson assembles a crack team: Hashemi Larijani, tech genius. Victor Cho, bankroll. Megan Feldman, science goddess. Charlie de la Cruz, reporter. Together they devise a plan that will take down Keith, win Gaby's respect, and make sure the election is done right. If they can pull it off, it will be remembered as the school's greatest con ever -- one worthy of the name THE GREAT GREENE HEIST.

The full list supports Brave and Kind, a Black Owned Children’s Bookstore in Decatur, GA.

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