The BWG Library has a wide variety of Black History Month books for children! Explore some of these books in this list and then reserve your favourites to be picked up through the BWG Library’s Curbside Pick Up Service.
If you need help finding the perfect book for Black History Month, check BradfordToday.ca every Saturday for new selections for the whole family. If you need more suggestions, let the BWG Library know! Send a message through Facebook or email [email protected]. Or, if you have a book you think should be added to the collection, send your suggestion today.
The boy who harnessed the wind, by William Kamkwamba
When fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba’s Malawi village was hit by a drought, everyone’s crops began to fail. Without enough money for food, let alone school, William spent his days in the library . . . and figured out how to bring electricity to his village. Persevering against the odds, William built a functioning windmill out of junkyard scraps, and thus became the local hero who harnessed the wind.
Lyrically told and gloriously illustrated, this story will inspire many as it shows how – even in the worst of times – a great idea and a lot of hard work can still rock the world.
Henry’s freedom box, by Ellen Levine
Henry Brown doesn’t know how old he is. Nobody keeps records of slaves’ birthdays. All the time he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is torn from his family and put to work in a warehouse. Henry grows up and marries, but he is again devastated when his family is sold at the slave market.
Then one day, as he lifts a crate at the warehouse, he knows exactly what he must do: he will mail himself to the North. After an arduous journey in the crate, Henry finally has a birthday — his first day of freedom. Henry “Box” Brown became one of the most famous runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. His true story is retold with poetic grace by Ellen Levine, a Jane Addams Peace Award-winning author, and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, a Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist.
Harriet Tubman: freedom fighter, By Nadia Hohn
This I Can Read book is an excellent choice to learn about the inspiring life of Harriet Tubman in this early reader biography.
Harriet Tubman was a brave woman who was born enslaved in Maryland in the 1800s. After risking everything to escape from her slave master and be free, Harriet went on to lead many people to freedom on a journey known today as the Underground Railroad.
This book covers some of the amazing aspects of Tubman's life: She led 13 escapes—all successful and at great personal risk—between 1850 and 1860. This book also covers some of the lesser-known amazing aspects of her life: During the Civil War, Harriet Tubman enlisted African American men to be soldiers. She served as a spy and led a battle under the command of a Union Army colonel!
The journey of Little Charlie, by Christopher Paul Curtis
When his poor sharecropper father is killed in an accident and leaves the family in debt, twelve-year-old Little Charlie agrees to accompany fearsome plantation overseer Cap'n Buck north in pursuit of people who have stolen from him; Cap'n Buck tells Little Charlie that his father's debt will be cleared when the fugitives are captured, which seems like a good deal until Little Charlie comes face-to-face with the people he is chasing.
Africville, by Shauntay Grant
When a young girl visits the site of Africville, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the stories she's heard from her family come to mind. She imagines what the community was once like--the brightly painted houses nestled into the hillside, the field where boys played football, the pond where all the kids went rafting, the bountiful fishing, the huge bonfires.
Moses: when Harriet Tubman led her people to freedom, by Carole Boston Weatherford
Describes Tubman's spiritual journey as she hears the voice of God guiding her north to freedom on that very first trip to escape the brutal practice of forced servitude. Tubman would make nineteen subsequent trips back south, never being caught, but none as profound as this first one.
Maya Angelou: Little people big dreams, by Lisbeth Kaiser
Maya Angelou spent much of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas. After a traumatic event at age eight, she stopped speaking for five years. However, Maya rediscovered her voice through wonderful books, and went on to become one of the world's most beloved writers and speakers. This inspiring story of her life features a facts and photos section at the back.
