Parents are seeking ways to talk about race with their children, and a book can help open the discussion. You’ll find many great e-book options on OverDrive and Hoopla. Here’s a selection of books, some of which address the issue of race directly and others, like biographies of a trombonist and the inventor of the Super Soaker, which are simply great stories about exceptional people. For the youngest pre-readers, check out the incredibly catchy Sesame Street song The Color of Me.
Picture Books for Pre-K and Up
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o
Picture Books for Grades K–4
The Day you Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Separate Is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
Picture Book Biographies
Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford
Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews
Voice of Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford
Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton
Fiction, Grades 3–5
Ways to Make Sunshine by Renée Watson
The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
The New Kid by Jerry Craft
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