Children’s Comics, The Little Rock Nine and the When the Beat Was Born: DJ Fight for Equal Education Kool Herc and the Creation of

by Gary Jeffrey Graphic Novels & Hip Hop Art by Nana Li by Laban Carrick Hill Picture Books This graphic nonfiction follows the Art by Theodore Taylor III African American students chosen to The beginnings of hip hop in the 1970s integrate a high school in Little Rock, The Adventures of and 1980s is introduced through this Arkansas, after the U.S. Supreme Court Sparrowboy biography of DJ Kool Herc, starting on struck down school segregation. the island of Jamaica and moving to the by Brian Pinkney Ages 9-12 Bronx, NY. A paperboy discovers he has Ages 6-10 superpowers like his hero Falconman.

Ages 0-8

New Kid by Jerry Craft Woke Baby Black Heroes of the Wild When seventh-grader Jordan Banks by Mahogany Browne Art by Theodore Taylor III West: Featuring Stagecoach starts attending a private school that is primarily white, he has to learn how to Woke babies are up early. Woke babies Black History in Its Own Mary, Bass Reeves, and Bob raise their fists in the air. Woke babies navigate microaggressions, tokenism, Words cry out for justice. Woke babies grow Lemmons and not fitting in. New Kid won the by Ronald Wimberly up to change the world. This lyrical and by James Otis Smith Coretta Scott King Award (2020) and is This is Black history as told through empowering book is both a celebration Introduction by Kadir Nelson the first graphic novel to win the quotes from the Black men and women of what it means to be a baby and what This nonfiction graphic novel brings to Newbery Medal Award (2020). who shaped and made it. it means to be woke. With bright, playful life the tales of three African American Ages 9-12 art, Woke Baby is an anthem of hope in historical figures who made an impact a world where the only limit to a on the Western expansion of the United Black Panther & the Crew: States and were known for their Shortcut skyscraper is more blue. Ages 0-8 We Are the Streets success as a stagecoach driver, deputy by Donald Crews by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yona marshal, and horseman. A group of children encounter a freight Harvey Ages 8-12 train after taking a shortcut on the Art by Butch Guice tracks. Young Adult The death of a Harlem activist kicks off Ages 0-8 a mystery that will reveal surprising new The Crossover (Graphic Comics & Graphic secrets about the Marvel Universe's Novel) Novels past—and set the stage for a huge by Kwame Alexander Bessie Stringfield: Tales of story in the near future!... Fear, hate

Art by Dawud Anyabwile the Talented Tenth, No. 2 and violence loom, but don't worry, The Adapted from the Newbery by Joel Christian Gill Aya: Life in Yop City Crew's got this: They are the streets. award-winning novel in verse, this Imagine a five-foot-two-inch-tall woman by Marguerite Abouet coming-of-age story features twin riding a motorcycle eight times across Art by Clément Oubrerie brothers and their relationships to each the continental United States. Now Translated by Helge Dascher Colorblind: A Story of other, to their father, and to basketball. Aya and her friends navigate the paths imagine she is Black and is journeying Racism Ages 9-12 across the country in the pre-Civil of womanhood available to them in the by Johnathan Harris Rights era of the 1930s and '40s. Ivory Coast during the late 1970s. Art by Donald Hudson and Fahriza Ages 9-12 Collects volumes 1-3. Kamaputra Dream Big, Little One A fifteen-year-old African American boy by Vashti Harrison relays his experiences with racism and This beautifully illustrated board book Bingo Love Twins the lessons he learned in this edition of instant bestseller Little by Tee Franklin by Varian Johnson autobiographical story. Leaders: Bold Women in Black History Art by Jenn St-Onge and Joy San Art by Shannon Wright showcases eighteen women who Two young women meet at church Best friends and twin sisters, Maureen changed the world and is the perfect bingo in 1963 and fall in love. They are and Francine Carter start to grow apart goodnight book to inspire big dreams. forced apart and both marry men. when they enter the 6th grade. Ages 0-8 Decades later, they meet again at Ages 8-12 church bingo and rekindle their

romance. Colored: The Unsung Life of MARCH A Right to Be Hostile: The Adult Comics & Claudette Colvin by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin Boondocks Treasury by Émilie Plateau Art by Nate Powell by Aaron McGruder Graphic Novels U.S. Congressman John Lewis This biography follows Claudette 800 comic strips featuring commentary Colvin, who was arrested at the age of recounts the history of the Civil Rights on American life, culture, and politics 15 when she refused to give up her Movement and his experiences as a from the perspective of two witty and APB: Artists against Police seat on a segregated bus in civil rights leader. insightful boys and their grandfather are Brutality: A Comic Book Montgomery, Alabama, a short time collected in this edition. Anthology before Rosa Parks. Edited by Bill Campbell, Jason Monster: A Graphic Novel Rodriguez, and John Jennings

by Walter Dean Myers Showtime at the Apollo: The Comics, essays, art, and stories about E.X.O.: The Legend of Wale police brutality are collected in this Adapted by Guy A. Sims Epic Tale of Harlem’s Williams, Part One: A Art by Dawud Anyabwile powerful anthology. Legendary Theater Superhero Graphic Novel Teen Steve Harmon records his by Ted Fox by Roye Okupe experience of awaiting trial for robbery Adapted by James Otis Smith Art by Sunkanmi Akinboye and murder in this graphic adaptation of Are You at Risk for “Empathy Art by James Otis Smith In 2025 Nigeria, superpowered Wale the award-winning Walter Dean Myers Myopia”? This graphic adaptation of the 1983 Williams investigates his father’s novel. http://www.ezracdaniels.com/empathym prose work depicts the history of the disappearance. yopia Apollo theater, as well as legendary by Ezra Claytan Daniels artists that performed there. Pitch Black Upgrade Soul author and BTTM FDRS

by Anthony Horton and Youme writer Daniels offers readers a “thought

(H)afrocentric Comics, Landowne experiment” to consider the narratives Volumes 1–4 Art by Youme Landowne Victor LaValle’s Destroyer we tell about ourselves, the world we by Juliana “Jewels” Smith Writer and artist Horton tells his story of by Victor LaValle live in, and how a critical evaluation of Art by Ronald Nelson and Mike living homeless six stories below city Art by Dietrich Smith these stories might break us free. Also Hampton streets in New York City’s subway A modern spin on Mary Shelley’s available in print. This critical, wry assessment discusses tunnels. Frankenstein, Victor LaValle’s topics such as gentrification, the Destroyer brings forth two monsters— housing crisis, and systemic racism. the original and the one created Big Black: Stand at Attica through a mother’s grief over her son’s Quincredible, Vol. 1: Quest to by Frank “Big Black” Smith and murder. Who is the real monster and Jared Reinmuth Be the Best! what makes us human? I Am Alfonso Jones Art by Ameziane by Rodney Barnes by Tony Medina Big Black chronicles his time as a Art by Selina Espiritu and Kelly Art by Stacey Robinson and John prisoner in Attica State Prison and the Fitzpatrick Yummy: The Last Days of a Jennings Quin is a normal teen just trying to fit in. 1971 rebellion against injustices in the Alfonso Jones, a young Black teen, is But Quin discovers a secret Southside Shorty prison system. only trying to buy a suit when an superpower: invulnerability. Can Quin by G. Neri off-duty cop mistakes a clothes hanger use his new super-ability to save his Art by Randy Duburke for a gun and shoots him on sight. family and his New Orleans This fictional retelling of the life of community? 11-year-old Robert “Yummy” Sandifer attempts to explain the circumstances Icon: A Hero’s Welcome that turned a young boy from by Dwayne McDuffie Race to Incarcerate: A candy-loving child to gun-wielding gang member. Art by M.D. Bright Graphic Retelling This reprint collects adventures 1-8 of by Marc Mauer Milestone Comics’ flagship character Adapted by Sabrina Jones Augustus Freeman, a superpowered Art by Sabrina Jones alien being who crash lands on Earth Explore the causes of the exponential and is raised by enslaved individuals in growth of the U.S. prison system and pre-Civil War America. how the country has produced the

highest rate of incarceration in the

world. Malcolm X: A Graphic

Biography by Andrew Helfer Art by Randy DuBurke Malcom X’s life, from his youth as Malcolm Little to the national spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, is charted in this nonfiction biography. Bitter Root Incognegro: A Graphic The Massacre of Black by David F. Walker and Chuck Brown Mystery Wall Street

Art by Sanford Greene by Mat Johnson http://bit.ly/TheMassacreBlackWall The Sangerye family is racing the clock Art by Warren Pleece StreetTheAtlantic to save 1920s New York from Two fictional Black reporters who are by Natalie Chang supernatural forces threatening to infect able to “pass” as white are sent to Art by Clayton Henry and the community with hate. Mississippi to investigate the murder of Marcelo Mailo a white woman. The prequel This scrolling digital comic, Incognegro: Renaissance is also commissioned as a companion Black available from the same publisher. piece to HBO’s Watchmen series, by co-creators Kwanza Osajyefo and tells the true and undertold story of Tim Smith 3 the 1921 Massacre of Black Wall Art by Jamal Igle Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during Josephine Baker When a young man survives being shot by José-Louis Bocquet which as many as 300 Black Tulsans by police, he discovers that he’s a part Art by Catel Muller were murdered, thousands were left of a small group of Black people who The life of the extraordinary Josephine homeless, and the economic prosperity Three-Fifths a Man: A possess superpowers. Baker is traced from her performances of Black Wall Street obliterated. This Graphic History of the in Paris to her work with the French nonfiction comic features extensive African American Experience source material links and resources. Resistance during World War II to her by Sid Jacobson

Black History for Beginners activism after the war. Art by Ernie Colón by Denise Dennis From the Atlantic slave trade to the Art by Susan Willmarth The Nib Black Lives Matter movement, This graphic retelling of Black history Kindred: A Graphic Novel https://thenib.com Jacobson and Colón explore the history starting with enslavement and Adaptation The Nib is a webcomics publisher of African Americans and their indelible continuing through the Civil Rights primarily focused on political and social by Octavia Butler mark on America’s landscape. Movement to the 2000s. commentary. Over the years, a number Adapted by Damian Duffy of creators have published invaluable Art by John Jennings work on the Black experience in the Octavia Butler’s Kindred comes to life in Yellow Negroes and Other From Truth With Truth United States. Some suggested works this graphic retelling of an African Imaginary Creatures by Lawrence Lindell include: American woman transported back to by Yvan Alagbé In this “Kinda a Graphic Memoir,” • “Black Mothers Face Far Worse her family’s antebellum beginnings and Set in a French context among Lindell shares insight into his childhood Health Outcomes. How Do We Fix It?” the ties that bond them together. Beninese immigrants, the title story in and adolescence and learns to come to by Whit Taylor this collection explores life as a terms with depression, PTSD, and • “Lighten Up: A Cartoonist Reflects on member of an overly scrutinized bipolar disorder in concert with his the Subtle Racism of Shifting Skin The Life of Frederick minority. identity. Tones in a Marvel Comic ” by Ronald

Douglass: A Graphic Wimberly

Narrative of a Slave’s • “The Weight of Being Black in The Harlem Hellfighters Journey from Bondage to America” by Bianca Xunise Your Black Friend by Ben Passmore by Max Brooks Freedom Passmore explores the stresses and Art by Caanan White by David F. Walker harm a Black man experiences in his This fictionalized story of the all-Black Parable of the Sower: A Art by Damon Smyth and Marissa everyday life through his relationships 369th Infantry follows members from Graphic Novel Adaptation Louise with non-Black people. their enlistment to their brave fight in by Octavia Butler An abolitionist, a runaway slave, an World War I France and never shies Adapted by Damian Duffy esteemed orator, a prolific writer, a away from the prejudice they progressive leader—whether you only Art by John Jennings encountered along the way. know of Frederick Douglass by name or The state of the union is up in flames, Suggestions for further are already familiar with his storied life, literally and figuratively, in this reading: this graphic novel biography will pull harrowing graphic adaptation of Butler’s Hot Comb you in and leave you with an intimate dystopian novel of the same title. It falls Black AF, The Case for Loving, King, by Ebony Flowers appreciation of the man behind the on one young woman to re-envision a Little Leaders, Little Legends, Fights, In this 2020 Eisner award-winning short name. new world and a new faith. Drowned City, The Silence of Our story collection, ethnographer, teacher, Friends, Silver Wire, Strange Fruit and cartoonist Ebony Flowers recounts Volume II, A Wreath for Emmett Till rich coming-of-age experiences with hair, community, and culture.

BCALA Task Force Committee GNCRT Task Force Committee Deimosa Webber-Bey, Elisa Garcia, Sandra Farag, Alea Perez, Amie Wright, Emily Drew, Matthew Noe, Shaundra Walker, Shauntee Burns-Simpson, Tamela Miriam Meadow, Patrick Holt, Shira Pilarski, Susen Shi, Chambers, and Tatanisha Love and Tina Coleman (ALA staff liaison to GNCRT)