As we celebrated Black History Month, early literacy nonprofit Reading Partners are imploring families to instill the important message that Black heritage and history should be celebrated every month.
It is in this spirit that Reading Partners curated a full calendar of books that celebrate Black history, by BIPOC authors and/or illustrators who share the identity of the characters in their books. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of books centered on non-white characters are written by authors with a shared identity. For example, only 29 percent of the 340 books published about Black characters in 2017 were written by Black authors and/or illustrators. The vast majority of Reading Partners’ enrolled students are students of color.
National early literacy nonprofit Reading Partners is a New York Times-endorsed organization that mobilizes volunteer tutors across the country to work one-on-one with awe-inspiring students because they believe in educational equity and that early literacy is the key to success in school and beyond.
Reading Partners challenges parents to read one of these books every month with their children to create a year-round dialogue celebrating diversity and Black lives. Info: readingpartners.org.
January: Carter Reads the Newspaper by Deborah Hopkinson
February: Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford.
March: Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport:
April: Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson
May: Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told by Walter Dean Myers
June: Ron’s Big Mission by Rose Blue and Corinne J. Naden
July: The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
August: Frederick Douglass: The Last Days of Slavery by William Miller
September: Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins by Carole Boston Weatherford
October: Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama
November: I Got the Rhythm by Connie Schofield-Morrison and Frank Morrison
December: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson