Honor and celebrate Black history with the Love of Reading

YOU CAN FIND ONE OF THE BOOKS BELOW AT THE FERGUSON LIBRARY BY CLICKING HERE

FINISH THE FIGHT: Veronica Chambers, The Staff of The New York Times

This exciting collaboration with the New York Times will reveal the untold stories of the diverse heroines who fought for the 19th amendment. On the 100th anniversary of the historic win for women’s rights, it’s time to celebrate the names and stories of the women whose courage helped change the fabric of America.

SELECTED POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES: Langston Hughes

The poems in this collection were chosen by Hughes himself shortly before his death in 1967 and represent work from his entire career, including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “The Weary Blues,” “Still Here,” “Song for a Dark Girl,” “Montage of a Dream Deferred,” and “Refugee in America.”  It gives us a poet of extraordinary range, directness, and stylistic virtuosity.

TRISTAN STRONG DESTROYS THE WORLD: Kwame Mbalia

Bestselling author Rick Riordan presents the second book in the New York Times best-selling Tristan Strong trilogy by Kwame Mbalia. Tristan Strong, just back from a victorious but exhausting adventure in Alke, the land of African American folk heroes and African gods, is suffering from PTSD. But there’s no rest for the weary when his grandmother is abducted by a mysterious villain out for revenge.

BECOMING MUHAMMAD ALI: James Patterson, Kwame Alexander, Dawud Anyabwile (Illustrations)

Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to vividly depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing.

MY VERY FAVORITE BOOK IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD: Malcolm Mitchell, Michael Robertson (Contributor)

Meet Henley, an all-around good kid, who hates to read. When he’s supposed to be reading, he would rather do anything else. But one day, he gets the scariest homework assignment in the world: find your favorite book to share with the class tomorrow.

MARLEY DIAS GETS IT DONE: AND SO CAN YOU!: Marley Dias, Ava DuVernay (Contributor)

Marley Dias, the powerhouse girl-wonder who started the #1000blackgirlbooks campaign, speaks to kids about her passion for making our world a better place, and how to make their dreams come true!

HEADS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE: Nafissa Thompson-Spires

A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes.

Each captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters.

THE DRAGONS, THE GIANT, THE WOMEN: A MEMOIR: Wayétu Moore

An engrossing memoir of escaping the First Liberian Civil War and building a life in the United States. When Wayétu Moore turns five years old, her father and grandmother throw her a big birthday party at their home in Monrovia, Liberia, but all she can think about is how much she misses her mother, who is working and studying in faraway New York.

SHE PERSISTED: HARRIET TUBMAN: Andrea Davis Pinkney, Chelsea Clinton, Alexandra Boiger (Illustrations), Gillian Flint (Illustrations)

In this chapter book biography by bestselling and award-winning author Andrea Davis Pinkney, readers learn about the amazing life of Harriet Tubman–and how she persisted.  Born enslaved, Harriet Tubman rose up to become one of the most successful, determined and well-known conductors of the Underground Railroad.

KING AND THE DRAGONFLIES: Kacen Callender

Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town. Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family.

ALL BECAUSE YOUR MATTER: Tami Charles, Bryan Collier (Illustrator)

A love letter to Black and brown children everywhere: reminding them how much they matter, that they have always mattered, and they always will.
Tami Charles pens a text that is part love letter, part anthem, assuring readers that they always have, and always will, matter.

TAR BEACH: Faith Ringgold

Ringgold recounts the dream adventure of eight-year-old Cassie Louise Lightfoot, who flies above her apartment-building rooftop, the ‘tar beach’ of the title, looking down on 1939 Harlem.
Children will delight in the universal dream of mastering one’s world by flying over it.

HAIR LOVE: Matthew A. Cherry, Vashti Harrison (Illustrator)

When mommy is away, it’s up to daddy to do his daughter’s hair in this ode to self-confidence and the love between fathers and daughters from former NFL wide receiver Matthew A. Cherry and New York Times bestseller Vashti Harrison.

I AM ENOUGH: Grace Byers, Keturah A. Bobo (Illustrator)

This is a gorgeous, lyrical ode to loving who you are, respecting others, and being kind to one another—from Empire actor and activist Grace Byers and talented newcomer artist Keturah A. Bobo.

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A VOICE LIKE THAT: Chris Barton, Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)

Congresswoman Barbara Jordan had a big, bold, confident voice—and she knew how to use it! Learn all about her career in this picture book biography of the lawyer, educator, politician, and civil rights leader.

RESPECT: ARETHA FRANKLIN, THE QUEEN OF SOUL: Carole Boston Weatherford, Frank Morrison (Illustrations)

Aretha Franklin was born to sing. The daughter of a pastor and a gospel singer, her musical talent was clear from her earliest days in her father’s Detroit church where her soaring voice spanned more than three octaves.

LITTLE HEROES OF COLOR: 50 WHO MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE: David Heredia

A perfect book for tomorrow’s leaders, Little Heroes of Color educates and inspires by showing readers 50 trailblazers from a range of races and ethnicities. Bold colors and simple captions bring the youngest readers face-to-face with those who’ve shaped history and broken boundaries in science, the arts, government, and more.

BROWN BOY JOY:Thomishia Booker

This book is filled with all the things little brown boys LOVE. From dinosaurs to gardening there are no limits to what little brown boys can enjoy. This book shows the world what Brown Boy Joy looks like. Brown Boy Joy is an empowering story filled with affirmations.

PARENT LIKE IT MATTERS: HOW TO RAISE JOYFUL, CHANGE-MAKING GIRLS: Janice Johnson Dias

Can we teach our daughters to change the world? Renowned sociologist Janice Johnson Dias is here to show us how. She knows that self-realized girls are created through purposeful parenting.

FRIDAY BLACK: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

In the stories of Adjei-Brenyah’s debut, an amusement park lets players enter augmented reality to hunt terrorists or shoot intruders played by minority actors, a school shooting results in both the victim and gunman stuck in a shared purgatory, and an author sells his soul to a many-tongued god.

THROUGH MY EYES: Ruby Bridges

On November 14, 1960, a tiny six-year-old black child, surrounded by federal marshals, walked through a mob of screaming segregationists and into her school. From where she sat in the office, Ruby Bridges could see parents marching through the halls and taking their children out of classrooms.

THE BLUEST EYE: Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison’s first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. Set in the author’s girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America.

THE WATER DANCE: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life.

UNSTOPPABLE ZEE: Reesa Shayne

Unstoppable Zee by author Reesa Shayne, is a new children’s storybook all about empowering little girls to know that they can do anything that they put their minds to.