Skip to main content

Five Faves: Books Illustrated by African Americans

By
Happy Black History Month! Here are five amazing African American illustrators, and one of the books they have each illustrated. You can find more books illustrated by each person by simply searching their name in the library's catalog. These illustrations are beautiful, heartfelt, and depict incredible characters. Check out one of these books today!


A Boy and His Mirror
Written by Marchánt Davis
Illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo
New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2023. Picture Book.

In this rhyming picture book, a boy named Chris seeks acceptance and a sense of identity when his long, curly hair is mocked by other kids. When he looks in the mirror, he sees a woman who tells him he looks like a king. As Chris learns what it means to be himself, readers will enjoy the incredible and detailed illustrations that complement the story well.


By Nina Crews
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2024. Biography.

In this picture book biography, readers learn more about Virginia Hamilton, a children's book author. She was the first African American to win the Newbery Medal, and this book shows her journey in becoming a master of storytelling. The illustrations add to the text by using the look of cut-paper collage and acting as a visual metaphor.


Do You Know Them?
Written by Shana Keller
Illustrated by Laura Freeman
New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. Picture Book.

In this historical fiction picture book, a young girl named Lettie seeks to reunite families separated due to slavery, including her own. Set in 1865 after the events of the Civil War, this picture book is based on real advertisements seeking loved ones that the author found in her research. The digital art illustrations act as a wonderful companion to the text, and the color palette helps set the appropriate tone.


Brave Ballerina: the Story of Janet Collins
Written by Michelle Meadows
Illustrated by Ebony Glenn
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2019. Biography. 

Janet Collins was the first African American prima ballerina in the Metropolitan Opera, despite the rampant segregation that was happening in the United States. This picture book biography explores her remarkable life and her journey to becoming a ballerina. The beautiful illustrations are accompanied by rhyming four-line stanzas that make the book feel like a lyrical accompaniment to a ballet.


Brown Baby Lullaby
Written by Tameka Fryer Brown
Illustrated by AG Ford
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2020. Picture Book.

Depicting the nighttime routine of a family; a family eats dinner, has bath time, and gets ready for bed. The rhyming and lyrical tone make this book a beautiful lullaby with illustrations that highlight the love of parents for their child. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Memory Spinner

By
The Memory Spinner Written by C.M. Cornwell New York : Delacorte Press, 2025. Fiction. 281 pages. Fantasy is a genre that I don't often read. When I finish a good fantasy book, I always ask myself why I don't read more of them! This book made me ask myself that exact question. Lavender is a young girl who is struggling after the death of her mother. Her father doesn't like talking about the family's loss, and Lavender feels very alone in knowing how to grieve and cope with her feelings. Making the grieving process even harder for Lavender is the fact that she is struggling to hold on to memories of her mother.  The family runs an apothecary shop where Lavender is an apprentice. She has dreamed of her apprenticeship for a long time, putting in a lot of work to show her father she is a valuable asset. Unfortunately, while working side by side with her father, Lavender starts to notice that memories of her mother aren't the only thing she is having a hard time recallin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Kareem Between

By
  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...
Post a Comment
Read more