Kids Book Index
Zetta Elliott
In this verse picture book, a young Black boy experiences a changing range of feelings across a year. Summer brings skateboarding, basketball, and joy, but a police shooting wounds his community. As the seasons pass, he moves through fear, anger, pride, and peace while people around him grieve, protest, and work toward healing together.
This book appears on 4 reading lists across 1 edition from 4 organizations.
Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip FreelonKelly Starling LyonPhilip Freelon grew up in Philadelphia with a family of art appreciators, including a grandfather who painted during the Harlem Renaissance. He made sketches and models, sculpted, and wrote essays and poems, while succeeding in mathematics and science but struggling with reading. His father shared accounts of racism and discrimination during work travel. In college, Freelon sought writings about Black and Islamic architects that were missing from his architecture courses. Those experiences shaped his firm’s focus on projects meant to have a positive effect. He later served as lead architect for a museum on African American history and culture; it opened in 2016. Mixed-media illustrations and endnotes accompany the biography.Nine to TwelveOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details
Catherine’s WarJulia BilletThis graphic novel follows Rachel, a Jewish girl during World War II who must adopt another identity. Living as Catherine, she uses a camera to record what happens to her. Her photographs document experiences ranging from fear to exhilaration and joy while she hides from the Nazis. The story presents a young person’s changing sense of self under wartime danger, with the camera serving as a way to preserve the moments she lives through. Rachel’s assumed name, Catherine, becomes central to her survival.Twelve to FourteenOn one of the same reading listsView book details
Me & MamaCozbi A. CabreraWritten and illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera, Me & Mama is a 2020 picture book about a mother and daughter. Their relationship is presented as a celebration of a mother’s love, including on rainy days. Simon & Schuster published the book under its Denene Millner Books imprint. The book’s focus remains the warmth and closeness between Mama and her child.All readersOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details