Diverse Resources for Your Homeschool Classroom: Black, African, and African-American Folk Tales, Characters, Heroes, Historical Figures, and Authors for Early and Elementary Readers

Jamaica’s Find by Juanita Havill


Easy Fiction


Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang


Abby by Jeannette Caines


I Need a Lunchbox by Jeannette Caines


Amifika by Lucille Clifton

Some of the Days of Everett Anderson by Lucille Clifton


Will I Have a Friend by Miriam Cohen


Will There Be a Lap for Me? by Dorothy Corey


Bigmama’s by Donald Crews


Jimmy Lee Did It by Pat Cummings


Jamelas Dress by Niki Daly


Not so Fast Songololo by Niki Daly


Half a Moon and One Whole Star by Crescent Dragonwagon


The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy


Corduroy by Don Freeman


The Hunter by Paul Geraghty


Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni


Where Jamaica Go? by Dale Gottlieb


David He No Fear by Lorenz B. Graham


Grandpa’s Face by Eloise Greenfield


She Come Bringing Me That Little Baby Girl by Eloise Greenfield


Osa’s Pride by Ann Grifalconi


Tiny’s Hat by Ann Grifalconi


A Story, a Story – by Gail E. Haley


Jamaica’s Find by Juanita Havill


Eat Up, Gemma by Sarah Hayes


Come on, Rain! by Karen Hesse


Mac & Marie & the Train Toss Surprise by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard


At the Crossroads by Rachel Isadora


Ben’s Trumpet by Rachel Isadora


Julius by Angela Johnson


One of Three by Angela Johnson


Holes and Peeks by Ann Jonas


Matthew and Tilly by Rebecca C. Jones


Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats


Resource Index

Easy Fiction

Aardema – Bimwili and Zimwi

Aardema – Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

Aardema – Oh, Kojo, How Could You!

Aardema – Rabbit Makes a Monkey of Lion

Aardema – The Vingananee and the Tree Toad

Aardema – What’s So Funny, Ketu?

Aardema – Who’s in Rabbit’s House?

Aardema – Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears

Allen – Dancing in the Wings

Anderson – Izzard

Atinuke – Baby Goes to Market

Bang – Ten, Nine, Eight

Barrett, J. – Willie’s Not the Hugging Kind

Baumann – Ajapa the Tortoise: A Book of Nigerian Folk Tales

Belton – From Miss Ida’s Porch

Bonsall – The Case of the Cat’s Meow

Bradby – Momma, Where Are You From?

Bradby – More Than Anything Else

Brenner – Faces

Brenner – Wagon Wheels

Bryan – The Cat’s Purr

Caines – Abby

Caines – I Need a Lunch Box

Caines – Just Us Women

Caines – Window Wishing

Cameron – The Stories Julian Tells

Chamberlin – Mama Panya’s Pancakes

Clifton – Amifika

Clifton – Everett Anderson’s Year

Clifton – My Friend Jacob

Clifton – Some of the Days of Everett Anderson

Cohen – Will I Have a Friend

Coleman – White Socks Only

Cooke – Full, Full, Full of Love

Corey – Will There Be a Lap for Me?

Crews – Bigmama’s

Cummings – Jimmy Lee Did It

Curtis – Six Empty Pockets

Daly – Jamela’s Dress

Daly – Not So Fast, Songololo

Dayrell – Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky

DeFelice – Willy’s Silly Grandma

Diggs – Chocolate Me!

Dragonwagon – Half a Moon and One Whole Star

Elkin – Such is the Way of the World

English – Big Wind Coming!

Feelings – Zamani Goes to Market

Fenner – The Skates of Uncle Richard

Fife – What’s New, Lincoln?

Flournoy – The Patchwork Quilt

Flournoy – The Twins Strike Back

Freeman – Corduroy

Geraghty – The Hunter

Gerson – Why The Sky Is Far Away: A Nigerian Folktale

Giovanni – I Am Loved

Giovanni – Knoxville, Tennessee

Gottlieb – Where Jamaica Go?

Graham – David He No Fear

Graham – Hongry Catch the Foolish Boy

Graham – Song of the Boat

Gray, L. – Little Lil and the Swing-Singing Sax

Greenfield – Grandpa’s Face

Greenfield – She Come Bringing Me That Little Baby Girl

Grifalconi – Osa’s Pride

Grifalconi – Tiny’s Hat

Grimes – Bedtime for Sweet Creatures

Grimes – Come Sunday

Grimes – From a Child’s Heart

Grimes – Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel

Grimes – Meet Danitra Brown

Grimes – The Watcher

Haley – A Story, a Story

Hamilton – The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales

Hanft – Never Fear, Flip the Dip Is Here

Havill – Jamaica’s Find

Hawkins – The Maker of Oils: A Nigerian Tale About Giving

Hayes – Eat Up, Gemma

Hesse – Come On, Rain!

Hest – Jamaica Louise James

Hill – Evan’s Corner

Hoffman – Amazing Grace

Hooks – Freedom’s Fruit

Hopkinson – Under the Quilt of the Night

Howard – Mac & Marie & the Train Toss Surprise

Isadora – At the Crossroads

Isadora – Ben’s Trumpet

Isadora – Hansel and Gretel

Isadora – The Princess and the Pea

Isadora – Rapunzel

Isadora – The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Jackson – In Plain Sight: A Game

Johnson – Daddy Calls Me a Man

Johnson – Julius

Johnson – One of Three

Johnston – The Wagon

Jonas – Holes and Peeks

Jones – Matthew and Tilly

Keats – Peter’s Chair

Keats – Louie

Keats – The Snowy Day

Kimmel – Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock

Kimmel – Anansi and the Talking Melon

Knutson – How the Guinea Fowl Got Her Spots

Knutson – Sungura and Leopard: A Swahili Trickster Tale

Knutson – Why the Crab Has No Head

Krebs – We All Went On Safari

Kroll – Masai and I

Leclercq – Snow Flower And The Panther

Lester – John Henry

Lester – Sam and the Tigers

Levine – Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad

Lieurance – Shoelaces

Lorbiecki – Sister Anne’s Hands

Maddern – The Fire Children: A West African Folk Tale

Mandela – Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales

Martin – Rachel Parker, Kindergarten Show-Off

Mathis – Sidewalk Story

Mayer – Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp

McDermott – Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti

McDermott – Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa

McKissack – Flossie and the Fox

McKissack – Goin’ Someplace Special

McKissack – The Honest-to-Goodness Truth

McKissack – A Million Fish… More or Less

McKissack – Mirandy and Brother Wind

McKissack – Messy Bessey

McKissack – Nettie Jo’s Friends

McQuinn – Lola at the Library

Medearis – The Ghost of Sifty-Sifty Sam

Mendez – The Black Snowman

Milich – Can’t Scare Me

Mitchell – Uncle Jed’s Barbershop

Molarsky – Song of the Empty Bottles

Mollel – Kele’s Secret

Monjo – The Drinking Gourd

Nikola-Lisa – Summer Sun Risin’

Okaro – The Big Ceremony

Pinkney, B. – Jojo’s Flying Side Kick

Pinkney, G. – Back Home

Pinkney, G. – A Sunday Outing

Polacco – Chicken Sunday

Polacco – Holes in the Sky

Polacco – Mr. Lincoln’s Way

Polacco – Mrs. Katz and Tush

Polacco – Pink and Say

Pomerantz – The Chalk Doll

Ringgold – Tar Beach

Rochelle – When Jo Louis Won the Title

San Souci – The Boy and the Ghost

Sanders – A Place Called Freedom

Sauer – Mary Had a Little Glam

Serfozo – What’s What? A Guessing Game

Solomon – Habu and the Lost Zebra

Steptoe – Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters

Stolz – Storm in the Night

Tusa – Maebelle’s Suitcase

Verde – The Water Princess

Vernon-Jackson – African Folk Tales

Walter – Brother to the Wind

Walter – My Mama Needs Me

Weatherford – Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins

Wiles – Freedom Summer

Williams – Cherries and Cherry Pits

Winter – Follow the Drinking Gourd

Winter – Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa

Woodson – We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past

Woodson – The Other Side

Wright – Journey to Freedom

Wyeth – Something Beautiful

Yarbrough – Cornrows


Non-Fiction and Poetry

E 020 – Flanagan – Ms. Davison, Our Librarian

E 370.19 – Coles – The Story of Ruby Bridges

E 792 – Duvall – Ms. Moja Makes Beautiful Clothes

E 796.323 – Kuklin – Hoops with Swoopes

E 796.357 – Golenbock – Teammates

E 811 – Greenfield – Daydreamers

E 811 – Greenfield – Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems

E 811 – Greenfield – Night on Neighborhood Street

E 811 – Greenfield – Under the Sunday Tree

E 811.08 – Hopkins – The City Spreads Its Wings

E 960 – Musgrove – Ashanti to Zulu


Easy Biography

Aaron, Henry

Anderson, Marian

Armstrong, Louis

Bethune, Mary McLeod

Bryant, Kobe

Bunche, Ralph J.

Campanella, Roy

Campbell, Fred

Carver, George Washington

Chamberlin, Wilt

Charles, Ray

Clemente, Roberto

Coleman, Bessie

Douglass, Frederick

Drew, Charles

Dumars, Joe

Dunham, Katherine

Fielder, Cecil

Frazier, Walt

Gooden, Dwight

Griffith-Joyner, Florence

Hamer, Fannie Lou

Hayes, Elvin

Hill, Grant

Jackson, Jesse

Jackson, Mahalia

Jackson, Reggie

Johnson, Earvin

Johnson, James Weldon

Johnson, Katherine

King, Martin Luther, Jr.

Langston, Hughes

LeFlore, Ron

Leonard, Sugar Ray

Little, Malcolm

Marshall, Thurgood

Mays, Willie

McCoy, Elijah

McDaniel, Randall

Mitchell, Arthur

Morgan, Joe

Muhammad Ali

Mutombo, Dikembe

Owens, Jesse

Paige, Satchell

Payton, Walter

Perry, William

Pickett, Bill

Price, Leontyne

Rice, Rice, Jerry

Robeson, Paul

Robinson, Jackie

Rudolph, Wilma

Sanders, Barry

Sanders, Deion

Thomas, Isaiah

Tubman, Harriet

Tutu, Desmond

Walker, C.J., Madam

Wheatley, Phyllis

Williams, Serena

Williams, Venus

Young, Andrew

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