Families and Friends
African American Picture Books
Picture Books
(Look for these books in the picture book section under the author's last name.)
| Author | Title |
| Bang, Molly | Ten, Nine, Eight |
| A loving bedtime countdown from "ten washed toes" to "one big girl ready for bed" | |
| Barber, Tiki and Ronde | Game Day |
| Football superstars, Tiki and Ronde Barber, share a story from their childhood about family, perseverance, and teamwork. (Look for this in FICTION) | |
| Clifton, Lucille | Everett Anderson's Nine Month Long |
| Everett Anderson's family has plenty of love to share with its newest member. See other Everett Anderson Books. | |
| Coy, John | Two Old Potatoes and Me |
| A girl visits her father and the two of them decide to plant two, old sprouting potatoes to see if they can grow new ones. | |
| Crews, Donald | Shortcut |
| A shortcut along the tracks seems like fun - until the train comes. Sequel to Bigmama's. | |
| Duncan, Alice Faye | Honey Baby Sugar Child |
| A mother adoringly and poetically expresses the never-ending love that she has for her child. | |
| English, Karen | Hot Day on Abbott Avenue |
| Two friends spend the day mad at each other but patch things up when neither can resist a game of double dutch. | |
| Falwell, Cathryn | Feast for 10 |
| Numbers from one to ten show how members of a family work together to prepare a big meal. | |
| Havill, Juanita | Jamaica Tag-Along |
| Jamaica makes her own fun when her older brother won't let her tag along. (See other Jamaica books). | |
| Hest, Amy | Jamaica Louise James |
| Jamaica uses her paints to surprise her grandmother and brighten the subway station where Grammy works. | |
| Hoffman, Mary | Princess Grace |
| A teacher exposes Grace to a number of different princesses other than the traditional ones. (See other Grace books). | |
| Hooks, Bell | Homemade Love |
| Secure in the fact that she is loved by her parents, a little girl begins to understand that there is nothing in life to fear. | |
| Howard, Elizabeth | When Will Sarah come? |
| A little boy waits and listens all day for his older sister to come home from school. | |
| Isadora, Rachel | Peekaboo Bedtime |
| A toddler plays peekaboo around the house finding family, pets, and favorite toys while getting ready for bed. | |
| Johnson, Angela | Daddy Calls Me Man |
| A young boy creates four poems inspired by his family experiences and his parents' paintings. | |
| Johnson, Angela | Just Like Josh Gibson |
| A grandmother tells her granddaughter how, in the 1940s, she was better at baseball than most of the boys. | |
| Johnson, Dinah | Hair Dance! |
| Rhyming phrases and bright photographs celebrate the beauty and versatility of African American hair. | |
| Jordan, Delores | Did I Tell You I Love You Today? |
| A mother describes the things that she does throughout the day to show her son that she loves him. | |
| Keats, Ezra Jack | Peter's Chair |
| When a new baby sister arrives, Peter takes his old chair and runs away before his parents can paint the chair pink. | |
| Lee, Spike and Tonya Lewis Lee | Please, Puppy, Please |
| Young siblings play with, and chase after, their mischievous, but loveable puppy. (See Please, Baby Please) | |
| McKissack, Patricia | Goin' Someplace Special |
| A young African American girl in the 1950s goes to the one place that doesn't discriminate against her: the public library. | |
| Medearis, Angela Shelf | Snug in Mama's Arms |
| While helping her daughter get ready for bed, a mother describes how others go to sleep in a soothing, bedtime poem. | |
| Nolen, Jerdine | Pitching in for Eubie |
| Little sister Lily is determined to find ways to help send her older sister to college. (Look for this in FICTION) | |
| Patrick, Denise Lewis | The Car Washing Street |
| Something wild is going to happen when Matthew's neighbors wash their cars. | |
| Pilkey, Dav | The Paperboy |
| A boy and his dog wake up before the rest of the neighborhood and deliver newspapers while the day begins to break. | |
| Pinkney, Brian | Hush, Little Baby |
| A vibrantly illustrated version of the traditional song depicts a rural African American family from the early 1900s. | |
| Pinkney, J. Brian. | JoJo's Flying Sidekick |
| Though many people offer advice on how to earn her yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do, JoJo ends up figuring it out on her own. | |
| Pinkney, Sandra L. | Shades of Black: A Celebration of Our Children |
| Bold photographs and poetic text celebrate the beauty, diversity, and unique qualities of African American children. | |
| Raschka, Chris | Yo! Yes? |
| The exhilarating feeling of finding a new friend is simply presented in this two-character story. | |
| Rodman, Mary Ann | My Best Friend |
| First-grader Lily longs to be friends with second-grader Tamika, but can't seem to get Tamika to even notice her. | |
| Smalls-Hector, Irene | Kevin and His Dad |
| Kevin spends a whole day working and playing with his father. | |
| Tinkham, Kelly A. | Hair for Mama |
| A boy tells his mother, who is going through chemotherapy, that he will find her some hair to replace what she has lost. | |
| Wheeler, Lisa | Jazz Baby |
| Jazzy phrases and illustrations full of movement punctuate this lively retro-ditty where a family feels the beat. Go, Man, Go! | |
| Winthrop, Elizabeth | Squashed in the Middle |
| Daisy, the middle child, is sick of being ignored and finally gets heard after she goes to spend the night at a friend's house. | |
| Wyeth, Sharon Dennis | Something Beautiful |
| When she goes looking for "something beautiful" in her neighborhood, a young girl finds it in different forms. | |
| Zolotow, Charlotte | A Father Like That |
| Although he's never known his father, a boy knows what he'd like his father to be and vows to be a perfect father someday. | |
Want to get your hands on one of these books? Check the Berkeley Public Library catalog to see where you can get a copy!
Want to get your hands on one of these books? Check the Berkeley Public Library catalog to see where you can get a copy!
