Cobb Library System releases Black History Month book list

February is Black History Month! We’ve compiled a booklist for all ages to help celebrate the importance of black history and of the contributions of African Americans to our history and culture.

Click on a title to find it in our catalog; and find many more titles at cobbcat.org.

Check out our Black History Month reading challenge on Beanstack! Sign up today on the website or app (Apple Store or Google Play). Log your reading and complete fun activities to earn badges!

Children’s Picture Books

• Big by Vashti Harrison
• Bros by Carole Boston Weatherford
• Brown Girls Do Ballet: Celebrating Diverse Girls Taking Center Stage by TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian
• Cape by Kevin Johnson
• Daddy Speaks Love by Leah Henderson
• The Day Madear Voted by Wade Hudson
• Do You Know Them? by Shana Keller
• Forever and Always by Brittany Thurman
• Harlem at Four by Dr. Michael Datcher
• The Last Stand by Antwan Eady
• My Hair is Like Yours by St. Clair Detrick-Jules
• Repeat After Me: Big Things to Say Every Day by Jazmyn Simon and Dulé Hill
• Sister Friend by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
• Stacey’s Remarkable Books by Stacey Abrams
• Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual by Carole Boston Weatherford
• Summer is Here by Renée Watson
• There was a Party for Langston by Jason Reynolds
• A Walk in the Woods by Nikki Grimes
• We Are Here by Tami Charles
• The World Belonged to Us by Jacqueline Woodson
• You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What) by Taraji P. Henson

Children’s Nonfiction

• A is for Aretha: 26 Trailblazing Black Women who Changed Music from A to Z by Leslie Kwan
• An American Story by Kwame Alexander
• Barracoon: Adapted for Young Readers by Zora Neale Huston
• Before the Ships: The Birth of Black Excellence by Maisha Oso
• Dear Yesteryear by Kimberly Annece Henderson
• How Sweet the Sound by Kwame Alexander
• Invincible: Fathers and Mothers of Black America by Wade Hudson
• The Juneteenth Cookbook: Recipes and Activities for Kids and Families to Celebrate by Alliah Agostini
• A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School: Adapted for Young Readers by Carlotta Wall LaNier
• Recipes for Change: 12 Dished Inspired by a Year in Black History by Michael Platt
• Small Shoes, Great Strides: How Three Brave Girls Opened Doors to School Equality by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
• To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights by Angela Dalton
• We Are Your Children Too: Black Students, White Supremacists, and the Battle for America’s Schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia by P. O’Connell Pearson
• Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Heroes from Past and Present by Jamia Wilson
• Young, Gifted and Black, Too: 52 Black Heroes to Celebrate and Discover by Jamia Wilson

Children’s and Preteen Chapter Books

• Black Girl Power: 15 Stories Celebrating Black Girlhood edited by Leah Johnso
• Black Star by Kwame Alexander
• Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms by Jamar J. Perry
• Curlfriends: New in Town by Sharee Miller
• The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander
• Essie and the March on Selma: A Bloody Sunday Survival Story by Anitra Butler-Ngugi
• Fibbed by Elizabeth Agyemang
• Holler of the Fireflies by David Barclay Moore
• Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas
• One Big Open Sky by Lesa Cline-Ransome
• Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson
• Running in Flip-Flops From the End of the World by Justin Reynolds
• School Trip by Jerry Craft
• Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston
• Tales From Cabin 23 by Justina Ireland

Books for Teens and Young Adults

• Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds
• The Black Girl Survives in This One: Horror Stories edited by Desiree Evans
• Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams
• Blood Justice by Terry Benton-Walker
• Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo
• Chaos Theory by Nic Stone
• Dark Parts of the Universe by Samuel Miller
• Forgive Me Not by Jennifer Baker
• Ida, In Love and In Trouble by Veronica Chambers
• Invisible Son by Kim Johnson
• Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi
• Okoye to the People by Ibi Zoboi
• One True Loves by Elise Bryant
• Promise Boys by Nick Brooks
• Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman by Kristen R. Lee
• Something Kindred by Ciera Burch
• Something Like Right by HD Hunter
• Tangleroot by Kalela Williams
• Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…: A LOVE Story by Jason Reynolds
• Where Was Goodbye? by Janice Lynn Mather

Adult Fiction

• Archangels of Funk: Episodes from the Continuing Drama of Cinnamon Jones: Scientist, Artiste, and Hoodoo Conjuror by Andrea Hairston
• Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
• Double Life by Zari
• Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Farewell, Amethystine by Walter Mosley
• The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa by Stephen Buoro
• Girls with Bad Reputations by Xio Axelrod
• Home and Away by Rochelle Alers
• Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst
• The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor
• A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
• One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon
• The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel by ReShonda Tate
• The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
• We Are a Haunting by Tyriek White
• What Never Happened by Rachel Howzell Hall
• When I Think of You by Myah Ariel

Adult Nonfiction

• African American Almanac: 400 Years of Black Excellence by Lean’tin Bracks
• The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
• Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human by Cole Arthur Riley
• HBCU Made: A Celebration of the Black College Experience edited by Ayesha Rascoe
• Hell Put to Shame: The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre and the Horror of America’s Second Slavery by Earl Swift
• Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith
• Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton
• Magically Black and Other Essays by Jerald Walker
• My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future by Alice Randall
• Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity by Michele Norris
• Psalms of my People: A Story of Black Liberation as Told Through Hip-Hop by lenny duncan
• The Stolen Wealth of Slavery: A Case for Reparations by David Montero
• The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade by Hannah Durkin
• The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love, & Truth edited by Wade and Virginia Hudson
• This is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary of Black Poets edited by Kwame Alexander
• We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For by Eddie Glaude, Jr.
• We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson
• We Refuse to be Silent: Women’s Voices on Justice for Black Men edited by Angela Dodson