In her June 1, 2020 article, “Black Lives Matter Book List for Kids and Teens,” Bianca Schulze writes eloquently, “No one person’s life is worth a higher value than another. It’s time to get uncomfortable, it’s time to immerse ourselves in the stories of others so that we may know and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” I was inspired by her article, and If you would like you can read it here.

We are living in deeply troubling times and sadly we are fighting the same battles for equality, human dignity, and justice that have plagued the United States from its beginnings. The books in this blog are for kids and their families who are seeking encouragement that we all can make change for a better world through understanding, respecting, caring for one another, and speaking out against hatred. Happily, there are many excellent titles for kids and their families to fight bias. Here are 75 noteworthy, life-affirming titles to get started:

Picture Books:

1. Something Happened in Our Town
by Marianne Celano
Hoopla: Audiobook
OverDrive: Audiobook

2. Hands Up!
by Breanna J. McDaniel, Shane W. Evans
OverDrive: eBook
3. When We Were Alone
by David A. Robertson & Julie Flett
Hoopla: eBook
4. Sulwe
by Lupita Nyong’o
OverDrive: eBook
5. A is for Activist
by Innosanto Nagara
Hoopla: eBook
6. A de activista
by Innosanto Nagara & Martha E. Gonzalez
OverDrive: eBook
7. Antiracist Baby
by Ibram X. Kendi & Ashley Lukashevsky
OverDrive: Available soon as an eBook
8. He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
by Kadir Nelson, Crystal Taliefero
OverDrive: Movie
Hoopla: Movie, Audiobook
9. All Are Welcome
by Alexandra Penfold & Suzanne Kaufman
OverDrive: eBook
10. The Whispering Town
by Jennifer Elvgren & Fabio Santomauro
Hoopla: Audiobook, Read-Along, eBook, Movie, Video Read-Along
11. The Bell Rang
by James E. Ransome
OverDrive: eBook
12. Looking Like Me
by Walter Dean Myers
Hoopla: eBook, Read-Along
13. Ruth and the Green Book
by Calvin Alexander Ramsey & Floyd Cooper
Hoopla: eBook
14. The Proudest Blue
by Ibtihaj Muhammad
OverDrive: eBook
15. I am Enough
by Grace Byers
Hoopla: Audiobook
OverDrive: eBook
16. I Believe I Can
by Grace Byers
Hoopla: Audiobook
OverDrive: Available soon as eBook
17. Fresh Princess
by Denene Millner
Hoopla: eBook
18. I Walk with Vanessa: A Story About a Simple Act of Kindness
by Kerascoët
OverDrive: eBook
19. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut
by Derrick Barnes & Gordon C. James
OverDrive: Video Read-Along
20. The Day You Begin
by Jacqueline Woodson & Rafael López
OverDrive: eBook
21. El día en que descubres quién eres
by Jacqueline Woodson & Rafael López
OverDrive: eBook
22. The Quickest Kid in Clarksville
by Pat Zietlow Miller & Frank Morrison
Hoopla: eBook
OverDrive: eBook

23. A Moon for Moe and Mo
by Jane Breskin Zalben & Mehrdokht Amini
OverDrive: eBook

24. Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change
by Michelle Cook & Leo Dillon
OverDrive: eBook
25. My Hair is a Garden
by Cozbi A. Cabrera
Hoopla: eBook
26. In Your Hands
by Carole Boston Weatherford & Brian Pinkney
OverDrive: eBook
27. Baseball Saved Us
by Ken Mochizuki
OverDrive: eBook, Audiobook, Read-Along

Fiction Chapter Books:

28. Ghost Boys
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
OverDrive: eBook, Audiobook

29. Amina’s Voice
by Hena Khan
OverDrive: eBook, Audiobook
30. New Kid
by Jerry Craft
OverDrive: eBook, Audiobook
31. Brother, Black Brother
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
OverDrive: eBook, Audiobook
32. You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P!
by Alex Gino
OverDrive: Audiobook
Hoopla: eBook
33. The Lions of Little Rock
by Kristen Levine
OverDrive: eBook, Audiobook
34. Camo Girl
by Kekla Magoon
OverDrive: eBook
35. Count Me In
by Varsha Bajaj
OverDrive: eBook
36. Clean Getaway
by Nic Stone
OverDrive: Audiobook, eBook
37. I Can Make This Promise
by Christine Day
OverDrive: eBook
Hoopla: Audiobook
38. A Good Kind of Trouble
by Lisa Moore Ramée
OverDrive: eBook
Hoopla: Audiobook, eBook
39. One Crazy Summer
by Rita Williams-Garcia
OverDrive: eBook, Audiobook
40. Show Me a Sign
by Ann Clare LeZotte
OverDrive: eBook
41. Each Tiny Spark
by Pablo Cartaya
OverDrive: eBook

Nonfiction:

42. I Have a Dream
by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Kadir Nelson
OverDrive: eBook

43. Let the Children March
by Monica Clark-Robinson & Frank Morrison
Hoopla: Movie, Audiobook, Read-Along
OverDrive: eBook
44. What Was the March on Washington?
by Kathleen Krull & Tim Tomkinson
OverDrive: eBook
45. Martin Rising: Requiem for a King
by Andrea Davis Pinkney & Brian Pinkney
Hoopla: Audiobook
OverDrive: eBook
46. Who Was Coretta Scott King?
by Gail Herman & Gregory Copeland
OverDrive: eBook
47. The Undefeated
by Kwame Alexander & Kadir Nelson
OverDrive: eBook
48. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
by Vashti Harrison
OverDrive: eBook
49. Resist: 35 Profiles of Ordinary People Who Rose Up Against Tyranny and Injustice by Veronica Chambers, Paul Ryding & Cory Booker
OverDrive: eBook
50. Rosa
by Nikki Giovanni & Bryan Collier
Hoopla: Movie, Audiobook
51. Barack
by Jonah Winter & Ezra Knight
OverDrive: Audiobook
52. Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story
by Ruby Bridges
OverDrive: eBook
53. Lincoln And Douglass: An American Friendship
by Nikki Giovanni
Hoopla: Audiobook
54. Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America
by Deborah Diesen, Magdalena Mora
OverDrive: eBook
55. That’s Not Fair! Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice/
No Es Justo!: La lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la justicia
by Carmen Tafolla, Sharyll Tenayuca & Terry Ybáñez
OverDrive: eBook
56. Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X
by Ilyasah Shabazz & AG Ford
OverDrive: eBook
57. Undefeated—Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team
by Steve Sheinkin
OverDrive: eBook, Audiobook
58. Coretta Scott
by Ntozake Shange & Kadir Nelson
OverDrive: Movie
59. Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America
by Carole Boston Weatherford & Jamey Christoph
Hoopla: eBook
60. Defying Hitler: Jesse Owens' Olympic Triumph
by Nel Yomtov & Eduardo Garcia
OverDrive: eBook
61. Enough! 20 Protesters Who Changed America
by Emily Easton & Ziyue Chen
OverDrive: eBook
62. What Was Stonewall?
by Nico Medina & Jake Murray
OverDrive: eBook
63. The Legendary Miss Lena Horne
by Carole Boston Weatherford & Elizabeth Zunon
OverDrive: eBook
64. Dictionary for a Better World
by Irene Latham, Charles Waters & Mehrdokht Amini
Hoopla: eBook
65. Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story
by Paula Yoo & Lin Wang
OverDrive: eBook
66. Mumbet's Declaration of Independence
by Gretchen Woelfle & Alix Delinois
OverDrive: eBook
67. Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961
by Larry Dane Brimner
OverDrive: eBook
68. Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
Hoopla: Movie, Audiobook, eBook, Video Read-Along
69. Schomburg: The Man Who Built A Library
by Carole Boston Weatherford & Eric Velasquez
Hoopla: Audiobook, Movie, Video Read-Along
OverDrive: Audiobook
70. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer – Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
by Carole Boston Weatherford & Ekua Holmes
Hoopla: Audiobook, Movie, Video Read-Along
71. We Are Grateful, Otsaliheliga
by Traci Sorell & Frané Lessac
Hoopla: eBook, Read-Along
OverDrive: Read-Along
72. Brown Girl Dreaming
by Jacqueline Woodson
OverDrive: eBook, Audiobook
73. This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality
by Jo Ann Allen Boyce
OverDrive: eBook
74. All The Colors We Are/Todos Los Colores De Nuestra Piel
by Katie Kissinger
Hoopla: eBook
75. Rise Up! The Art of Protest
by Jo Rippon & Mari Copeny
Hoopla: eBook