Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books
Age Level: 6-9 years old
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A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon
By: Suzanne Slade
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The inspiring true story of mathematician Katherine Johnson--made famous by the award-winning...
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A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story
By: Sharon Langley, Amy Nathan
Illustrated by: Floyd Cooper
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The true story of how a community came together — both black and white — to make a change. When...
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A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin
By: Jen Bryant
Illustrated by: Melissa Sweet
Age Level: 6-9 years old
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Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch
By: Chris Barton
Illustrated by: Don Tate
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An in-depth look at the Reconstruction period through the life of one of the first African-...
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Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy US Marshall
By: Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Illustrated by: Gregory Christie
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Formerly enslaved in the 19th century, Bass Reeves escaped Texas and lived with Indians. It was...
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Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins
By: Michelle Meadows
Illustrated by: Ebony Glenn
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A lyrical picture book biography of Janet Collins, the first African American principal dancer...
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Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner
By: Janice N. Harrington
Illustrated by: Theodore Taylor III
Age Level: 6-9 years old
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Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story
By: Joseph Bruchac
Illustrated by: Liz Amini-Holmes
Age Level: 6-9 years old
During World War II, Chester was recruited by the US Marines to use the Navajo language to...
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Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13
By: Halaine Becker
Age Level: 6-9 years old
You've likely heard of the historic Apollo 13 moon landing. But do you know about the...
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Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson's Journey to the Stars
By: Gary Golio
Illustrated by: E.B. Lewis
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The story of Blind Willie Johnson — the legendary Texas musician whose song "Dark Was the Night...
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Digging for Words: José Alberto Gutiérrez and the Library He Built
By: Angela Burke Kunkel
Illustrated by: Paola Escobar
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The inspiring story of Gutiérrez, a garbage collector in Bogotá, Colombia, who started a library...
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Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon
By: Kelly Starling Lyons
Illustrated by: Laura Freeman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Philip Freelon’s dream became reality when his team was commissioned to design the National...
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Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist
By: Susan Wood
Illustrated by: Duncan Tonatiuh
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Meet Juan García Esquivel whose contributions to music can still be heard. From his early days...
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Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
By: Suzanne Slade
Illustrated by: Cozbi A. Cabrera
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A picture-book biography of celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black person to win the...
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Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table
By: Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Illustrated by: Eric-Shabazz Larkin
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Martin shares the remarkable life story of former professional basketball player Will Allen,...
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Fearless Mary: Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver
By: Tami Charles
Illustrated by: Claire Almon
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A little-known but larger-than-life character, Mary Fields is one of the unsung, trailblazing...
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Fly High! The Story of Bessie Coleman
By: Louise Borden, Mary Kay Kroeger
Illustrated by: Teresa Flavin
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Bessie Coleman grew up picking cotton in Texas, but she aimed high -- soaring into history as...
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Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman's Dreams Took Flight
By: Karyn Parsons
Illustrated by: R. Gregory Christie
Age Level: 6-9 years old
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Galápagos Girl / Galapagueña
By: Marsha Diane Arnold
Illustrated by: Angela Dominguez
Age Level: 6-9 years old
As a Galápagueña, Valentina spends her days observing the natural world around her. This...
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Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills
By: Renee Watson
Illustrated by: Christian Robinson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
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Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
By: Margot Lee Shetterly, Winifred Conklin
Illustrated by: Laura Freeman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The true story of four African American women whose talent and tenacity led to careers at NASA...
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Hold the Flag High: The True Story of the First Black Medal of Honor Winner
By: Catherine Clinton
Illustrated by: Shane Evans
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The story of the first Black Medal of Freedom winner and a stirring account of one of the most...
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How to Solve a Problem: The Rise (and Falls) of a Rock-Climbing Champion
By: Ashima Shiraishi
Illustrated by: Yao Xiao
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Ashima Shiraishi, one of the world's youngest and most skilled climbers in the world, draws on...
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Howard Thurman's Great Hope
By: Kai Jackson Issa
Illustrated by: Arthur L. Dawson
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An introduction to one of the first leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, who became a prominent...
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Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told
By: Walter Dean Myers
Illustrated by: Bonnie Christensen
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Ida B. Wells worked bravely as an activist, educator, writer, journalist, suffragette, and...
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In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage
By: Alan Schroeder
Illustrated by: JaeMe Bereal
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Augusta Savage was a born artist, making clay figures even as a child. She pursued her passion,...
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It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw
By: Don Tate
Illustrated by: Gregory Christie
Age Level: 6-9 years old
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Leontyne Price: Voice of a Century
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Born in the Mississippi Delta in 1927, the always musically gifted Mary Violet Leontyne Price...
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Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters
By: Andrea Pinkney
Illustrated by: Stephen Alcorn
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Brief sketches of the lives of both well-known (for example, Harriet Tubman) and lesser known...
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Lewis Latimer: The Man Behind a Better Light Bulb
By: Nancy Dickmann
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Lewis Latimer's invention of the carbon filament made light bulbs more affordable and longer...
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Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotton
By: Laura Veirs
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotton heard music all around her growing up in North Carolina. She became a...
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Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
By: Katheryn Russell-Brown
Illustrated by: Frank Morrison
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Melba Doretta Liston loved the sounds of music from as far back as she could remember....
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Mae Among the Stars
By: Roda Ahmed
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A beautiful picture book for sharing, inspired by the life of the first African American woman...
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Mae Jemison
By: Luke Collins
Age Level: 6-9 years old
An early biography of the first African-American female astronaut. This nonfiction book explores...
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Major Taylor, Champion Cyclist
By: Lesa Cline-Ransome
Illustrated by: James Ransome
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A picture-book biography of Marshall Taylor, an African American who became a great bicycle...
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Mario and the Hole in the Sky: How a Chemist Saved Our Planet
By: Elizabeth Rusch
Illustrated by: Teresa Martinez
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Mexican-American Mario Molina is a modern-day hero who helped solve the ozone crisis of the...
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Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans
By: Phil Bildner
Illustrated by: John Parra
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Cornelius Washington was proud of his hometown, New Orleans. His job as a sanitation worker was...
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Maryam’s Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani
By: Megan Reid
Illustrated by: Aaliya Jaleel
Age Level: 6-9 years old
As a little girl growing up in Tehran, Maryam Mirzakhani was spellbound by stories but she did...
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Midnight Teacher: Lilly Ann Granderson and Her Secret School
By: Janet Halfmann
Illustrated by: Landon Ladd
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Lilly Ann Granderson,, who was enslaved, secretly learned to read and write as a child and...
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Molly, by Golly! The Legend of Molly Williams, America's First Female Firefighter
By: Dianne Ochiltree
Illustrated by: Kathleen Kemly
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Williams was a cook for New York City's volunteer Fire Company 11 in the early 1800s. When a...
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My Name Is Gabriela / Me llamo Gabriela
By: Monica Brown
Illustrated by: John Parra
Age Level: 6-9 years old
"My name is Gabriela Mistral. It is a name I chose myself because I like the sound of it." With...
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My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth
By: Ann Turner
Illustrated by: James Ransome
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Isabella Baumfree was born into slavery but she would not remain enslaved. Instead, she took the...
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Nacho's Nachos: The Story Behind the World's Favorite Snack
By: Sandra Nickel
Illustrated by: Oliver Dominguez
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Meet Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya and learn the true story of how he invented the world's most beloved...
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Patricia's Vision: The Doctor Who Saved Sight
By: Michelle Lord
Illustrated by: Alleana Harris
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Born in the 1940s, Dr. Patricia Bath dreamed of being an ophthalmologist at a time when becoming...
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Piano Starts Here: The Young Art Tatum
By: Robert Andrew Parker
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Art Tatum came from modest beginnings and was nearly blind, but his passion for the piano and...
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Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré
By: Anika Aldamuy Denise
Illustrated by: Paola Escobar
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A picture book biography of storyteller, puppeteer, and New York City’s first Puerto Rican...
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Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton
By: Don Tate
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Horton, an inspirational poet, was the first Black author in the South to ever be published....
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Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom
By: Teresa Robeson
Illustrated by: Rebecca Huang
Age Level: 6-9 years old
When Wu Chien Shiung was born in China 100 years ago, most girls did not attend school; no one...
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Richard Wright and the Library Card
By: William Miller
Illustrated by: R.Gregory Christie
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Richard Wright, one of this country's most brilliant writers (Native Son) and his early...
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Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation
By: Duncan Tonatiuh
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Almost 10 years before Brown vs. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez and her parents helped end...
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Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World
By: Susan Hood
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This book of poems introduces fourteen revolutionary young women—each paired with a noteworthy...
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Shaped By Her Hands: Potter Maria Martinez
By: Anna Harber Freeman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The most renowned Native American Indian potter of her time, Maria Povika Martinez learned...
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She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story
By: Audrey Vernick
Illustrated by: Don Tate
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Effa Manley, born when jazz was new and sports were segregated, was passionate about fairness...
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She Persisted: Claudette Colvin
By: Lesa Cline-Ransome
Illustrated by: Gillian Flint
Age Level: 6-9 years old
She was named after a white actress of the time, but this young Black girl’s life took a very...
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She Persisted: Harriet Tubman
By: Andrea Davis Pinkney
Illustrated by: Gillian Flint
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Born enslaved, Harriet Tubman rose up to become one of the most successful, determined and well-...
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She Was the First! The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm
By: Katheryn Russell-Brown
Illustrated by: Eric Velasquez
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Meet the dynamic educator, activist, and politician Shirley Chisholm. Even as a young child...
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Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb
By: Veronica Chambers
Illustrated by: Rachelle Baker
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress, famously said, "If they don't give you a...
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Side by Side: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez / /Lado a Lado: La Historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez
By: Monica Brown
Illustrated by: Joe Cepeda
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This bilingual book pairs the dual stories of powerful activists César Chávez and Dolores Huerta...
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Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee
By: Marissa Moss
Illustrated by: Carl Angel
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The true story of one of only two Chinese-American women to fly for the U.S. Air Force during...
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Sweet Dreams, Sarah
By: Vivian Kirkfield
Illustrated by: Chris Ewald
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Originally enslaved, Sarah E. Goode moved to Chicago after the abolition of slavery and started...
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Take a Picture of Me, James VanDerZee!
By: Andrea J. Loney
Illustrated by: Keith Mallett
Age Level: 6-9 years old
James VanDerZee (1886–1983) was a prolific photographer who used his camera to capture the...
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The East-West House: Noguchi's Childhood in Japan
By: Christy Hale
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A biography of Isamu Noguchi, Japanese American artist, sculptor, and landscape architect,...
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The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee
By: Julie Leung
Illustrated by: Julie Kwon
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Hazel Ying Lee, the first Chinese American woman to fly for the US military, was born fearless...
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The Girl With a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague
By: Julia Finley Mosca
Illustrated by: Daniel Rieley
Age Level: 6-9 years old
After touring a German submarine in the early 1940s, young Raye set her sights on becoming an...
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The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne
By: Lesa Cline-Ransome
Illustrated by: John Parra
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The story of Ethel Payne, a groundbreaking African American journalist and one of the first...
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The Unstoppable Garrett Morgan
By: Joan DiCicco
Illustrated by: Ebony Glenn
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Using his ingenuity and tenacity, Garrett overcame racial barriers and forged a career as a...
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The World Is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid
By: Jeanette Winter
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Zaha Hadid grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, and dreamed of designing her own cities. After studying...
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Ticktock Banneker's Clock
By: Shana Keller
Illustrated by: David C. Gardner
Age Level: 6-9 years old
The story of 18th century African American scientist Benjamin Banneker and his three-year...
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Touch the Sky: Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jumper
By: Anna Malaspina
Illustrated by: Eric Velasquez
Age Level: 6-9 years old
In Alice Coachman's Georgia hometown, there was no track where an African-American girl could...
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Trailblazer: The Story of Ballerina Raven Wilkinson
By: Leda Schubert
Illustrated by: Theodore Taylor III
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Raven Wilkinson, born in 1935, was the first African American ballerina to dance with a major...
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Trombone Shorty
By: Trou "Trombone Shorty" Andrews
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Troy Andrews grew up in a New Orleans family of musicians so it’s not surprising that he, too,...
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What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
By: Chris Barton
Illustrated by: Ekua Holmes
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From a very young age, Barbara Jordan had a voice that stood out. The repeated refrain, “what...
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When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
By: Laban Carrick Hill
Age Level: 6-9 years old
From his early childhood in Jamaica, Clive loved all types of music. When he was 13 years old,...
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Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions
By: Chris Barton
Illustrated by: Don Tate
Age Level: 6-9 years old
As a kid, Lonnie fiddled around with toy rockets and more. But all of his tinkering led to a...
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William Still and His Freedom Stories
By: Don Tate
Age Level: 6-9 years old
William Still was the youngest child of parents who escaped slavery and went on to become the...
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Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman
By: Kathleen Krull
Illustrated by: David Diaz
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Wilma Rudolph not only overcame polio, she went on to become the first woman to win three...
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Wind Flyers
By: Angela Johnson
Illustrated by: Loren Long
Age Level: 6-9 years old
A young African American boy tells the story of his great-great-uncle, who realized his dream of...
Age Level: 9-12 years old
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Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina
By: Carmen Bernier-Grand
Illustrated by: Raúl Colón
Age Level: 9-12 years old
From childhood, Alonso exhibited a passion for dancing, studying first in Cuba and later in New...
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Asian-Americans Who Inspire Us
By: Analiza Quiroz Wolf
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Engaging stories of 16 trailblazing Asian-Americans. The stories bring to life Vietnam Memorial...
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Awesome Asian Americans: 20 Stars Who Made America Amazing
By: Phil Amara, Oliver Chin
Illustrated by: Juan Calle
Age Level: 9-12 years old
This anthology spotlights 20 historical and contemporary Asian Americans who "came from...
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Black Pioneers of Science and Invention
By: Louis Haber
Age Level: 9-12 years old
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Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics
By: Margarita Engle
Illustrated by: Rafael López
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Lyrical poems introduce a “variety of amazing people …” including Pura Belpre became a New York...
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Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM
By: Tanya Bolden
Age Level: 9-12 years old
With profiles on groundbreaking computer scientists, doctors, inventors, physicists, pharmacists...
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Civil Rights Pioneer: A Story About Mary Church Terrell
By: Gwenyth Swain
Illustrated by: Ellen Beier
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Terrell worked to gain equal rights for herself and other African Americans, and is best-known...
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Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer
By: Traci Sorell
Illustrated by: Natasha Donovan
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Mary Golda Ross designed classified airplanes and spacecraft as Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's...
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Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
By: Philip Hoose
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nine months before Rosa Parks’ history-making protest on a city bus, Claudette Colvin, a 15-year...
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Finish the Fight! The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote
By: Veronica Chambers Staff of the, New York Times
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Who was at the forefront of women's right to vote? What about so many others from diverse...
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Firebird
By: Misty Copeland
Illustrated by: Christopher Myers
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Misty Copeland, the African American Ballet Theater soloist, has an encouraging conversation...
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Fred Korematsu Speaks Up
By: Laura Atkins, Stan Yogi
Illustrated by: Yutaka Houlette
Age Level: 9-12 years old
The story of civil rights icon Fred Korematsu's fight against Japanese American incarceration...
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Growing Up Pedro: Candlewick Biographies: How the Martinez Brothers Made It from the Dominican Republic All the Way to the Major Leagues
By: Matt Tavares
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Before Pedro Martínez pitched the Red Sox to a World Series championship, before he was named to...
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Hammering for Freedom: The William Lewis Story
By: Rita Lorraine Hubbard
Illustrated by: John Holyfield
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Born into slavery in Chattanooga, Tennessee, William "Bill" Lewis learned the blacksmith trade...
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I, Matthew Henson: Polar Explorer
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by: Eric Velasquez
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Matthew Henson, an African American explorer, accompanied Robert Peary to the North Pole where...
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Jump Back, Paul: The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
By: Sally Derby
Illustrated by: Sean Qualls
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Experience the breadth and depth of Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetry. From his childhood in poverty...
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Latinitas: Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers
By: Juliet Menéndez
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Discover how 40 influential Latinas became the women we celebrate today in this collection of...
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Mamie on the Mound: A Woman in Baseball's Negro Leagues
By: Leah Henderson
Illustrated by: George Doutsiopoulos
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Mamie "Peanut" Johnson had one dream: to play professional baseball, but she wasn't welcome in...
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Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Ša, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist
By: Gina Capaldi, Q.L. Pearce
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Born in 1876 on the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota, Zitkala-Ša willingly left her...
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Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by: Eric Velasquez
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Who was Arturo Alfonso Schomburg? He was an Afro-Puerto Rican man whose thirst for knowledge...
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Sharuko: Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello / El Arqueólogo Peruano Julio C. Tello
By: Monica Brown
Illustrated by: Elisa Chavarri
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Peruvian archaeologist and national icon Julio C. Tello unearthed Peru's ancient cultures and...
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Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman
By: Nikki Grimes
Illustrated by: E.B. Lewis
Age Level: 9-12 years old
After aviator Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman is lost in a plane crash, those who knew her celebrate...
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The Undefeated
By: Kwame Alexander
Illustrated by: Kadir Nelson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
This poem is a love letter to black life in the U.S. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of...
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Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas
By: Gwendolyn Hooks
Illustrated by: Colin Bootman
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A picture book biography about the genius and research of Vivien Thomas. Despite persistent...
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Together We March
By: Leah Henderson
Illustrated by: Tyler Feder
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Learn about 25 groundbreaking protest movements that have shaped the way we fight for equality...
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Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by: Ekua Holmes
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Stirring poems and vibrant collage illustrations combine to celebrate the life of Fannie Lou...
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What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors
By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Illustrated by: Ben Boos
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Basketball legend Abdul-Jabbar champions a lineup of little-known African-American inventors in...
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Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells: The Daring Life of a Crusading Journalist
By: Philip Dray
Illustrated by: Stephen Alcorn
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Journalist Ida B. Wells faces the greatest challenge of her life as a tireless crusader for...