"I emptied my secret money box, arranged the coins in piles and the piles in rows . . ." The market is full of wonderful things, but Saruni is saving his precious coins for a red and blue bicycle. How
A young African-American girl describes the different, wonderful ways she can wear her hair, in an empowering board book that encourages African-American children to not only feel good about their spe
There is a light inside of YOU. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine! "This Little Light of Mine" is an African-American spiritual dating back to the days of slavery. The score is included in thi
Alemayu, a shepherd boy living in the mountains of Ethiopia, wagers his future in a bet with his bad-tempered, boastful, and deceitful master. Children's BOMC Alt.
When Lily Brown paints, her world starts to change . . .trees wear hats and drink tea, people walk upside down, and apples sing all the way home from the store.It's Lily Brown's world, and it's wondro
A slave accepts his master's bet to spend a cold and lonely evening in the mountains, but when he returns, the master does not set him free and so the boy must outwit him by using the master's own tri
Virgie was always begging to go to school with us boys. "Papa, Mama, can I go too?" My brothers had doubts. School was seven miles away -- a long way from Mama. Virgie was scarcely big as a field mo
Clover's mom says it isn't safe to cross the fence that segregates their African-American side of town from the white side where Anna lives. But the two girls strike up a friendship, and get around th
Some mornings, Annie's mother's smiles are as bright as sunshine as she makes pancakes for breakfast and helps Annie get ready for school. But other days, her mother doesn't smile at all and gets ve
They may be best friends, but Zuri Jackson and Danitra Brown respond very differently to the start of school. For Zuri, there are so many things to ponder -- a new teacher who replaced the old one she
Keeping the African heritage aliveAs she teaches her granddaughter to sew a traditional sweetgrass basket, a grandmother weaves a story, going back generations to her old-timey grandfather's village i
All Virgie wants is to go to school with her brothers George, Will, Nelson, Val, and C. C. But they keep saying she's too little for the long, seven-mile walk, and that girls don't need school. Well,
"Is -- Reginald -- at -- it -- again?" Papa shouts between notes. "Hush up," Mama says, "I just love this one." Papa sometimes comes home in a bad mood because he's the manager of the Dukes -- the w
Abe and Willie live across the alley from each other. Willie is black and Abe is Jewish, and during the day, they don't talk. But at night they open their windows and are best friends. Willie shows Ab
It's summertime at the neighborhood pool, and Lily has her best friend picked out: Tamika. But Tamika already has a best friend and doesn't care about Lily. No matter how hard Lily tries to impress Ta
Mama and Papa agree that eggs for breakfast would be nice, but they’re too busy to go to the store. So they decide that Hetty is old enough to go by herself. Although she practices walking smoothly up
Reginald loves to create beautiful music on his violin. But Papa, manager of the Dukes, the worst team in the Negro National League, needs a bat boy, not a "fiddler," and traveling with the Dukes does
Ada Ruth's mama must go away to Chicago to work, leaving Ada Ruth and Grandma behind. It's war time, and women are needed to fill the men's jobs. As winter sets in, Ada Ruth and her grandma keep up th
It's 1838, and James has made a secret plan to escape Master Graham's farm—and slavery. James kneels down to tell his dog Zeus he has to stay behind, because Zeus is simply too noisy to bring along on
Little Cliff's great-grandmother, Mama Pearl, and his great-grandfather, Poppa Joe, are so excited for him to start first grade. But Little Cliff doesn't want to go to school, especially if it means
