Heritage Mom Book Recommendations

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If you prefer to scroll and search visually, you can also find many Black book recommendations in the Heritage Mom Amazon Storefront. Happy book hunting!

History Time Periods

Rotation 1: 800-1650 AD – African & African-American Resources for Early Modern History: Finding Black history resources for Early Modern History (800 A.D. – 1650 A.D.) has not been easy. In fact, it’s been the toughest time period I’ve worked with so far. There are less resources – or at least they’ve been more difficult to find – and I am quite ignorant about this time period myself, so I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for in the beginning. But now that I’ve been digging in, I’m super excited to learn alongside my children next school year.

Rotation 2: 1650-1800 AD – Black History Books Covering Colonial America and Revolutionary War Time Period: A detailed list of Black book recommendations and history resources for this time period along with notes on how and when I plan to use each book. This booklist includes inside sample pics of books and ideas for composer, artist, poetry, and more!

Rotation 3: 1800 – 1900 AD – 1800s Black History Books – My family will be studying the 19th century in the fall, and I’m excited to share my 1800s Black history books on enslavement, the Civil War, and Reconstruction with you here. This list is broken out by Picture Books, Biographies, Historical Fiction, General Nonfiction, and Morning Time selections.

Rotation 4 (Round 1): 1900 – Present – Infusing Black History Into a Traditional Charlotte Mason Homeschool: Without having a numerical goal in mind, I work (and it is certainly labor) to ensure that a significant amount of our United States history studies include dedicated examination of the experiences and contributions of Black people in this country.

Rotation 4 (Round 2): 1900 – Present – 20th-Century Black History Books: These 20th-Century Black History Books cover a period of history during which segregation tightened and racial oppression escalated across the United States. Uniquely, it also includes years of immense progress and explosive creative expression among Black Americans who found ways to survive and even thrive amid incredibly unjust circumstances.

Black Artists & Picture Study:

Alma Thomas: Black Artist Spotlight: Alma Thomas was an African American artist and teacher who lived and worked in Washington, D.C. and is now recognized as a major American painter of the 20th century. Thomas is best known for the “exuberant”, colorful, abstract paintings she created after her retirement from a 35-year career teaching art at Washington’s Shaw Junior High School.

African American Picture Study Resources: These various African American picture study posts also have book recommendations for learning more about artists like Augusta Savage, Jacob Lawrence, Horace Pippin, Romare Bearden, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Joshua Johnson, Prince Demah, and Faith Ringgold.

17 Picture Books Featuring Black Artists: My children are drawn to stories of real-life creators fueled by passion, purpose, resilience, and imagination. We read books on all sorts of people, but it seems that they always want to return to the work of visual artists. I’m certain that the combination of engaging illustrations and top-notch storytelling in these picture books featuring Black artists drives my kids’ hunger for more, but at the core, it’s the lives of the artists that compel us to return to the same pages again and again.

Ashley Bryan: African American Artist & Author Spotlight: Ashley Bryan is an American writer and illustrator of children’s books, most of his subjects represent the Black experience, and in 1962, he became the first African American to publish a children’s book as both author and illustrator. This booklist includes titles from our home library and others we’ve enjoyed.

Black Music: (composers, folk songs, and hymns)

Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance: The true stories in this book cover the period from the early days of slavery to the Emancipation Proclamation while providing a chronology of resistance based on historical accounts. It’s not a long book, so we only read from it briefly once or twice a week to stretch out the experience. Learning the songs of resistance sprinkled throughout the book provided an added dimension to the study that we all enjoyed, so I’m sharing the videos we used here for those of you who would enjoy doing the same.

Black Composer: Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges was a French classical composer, virtuoso violinist, a conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris, and a renowned champion fencer. Born in the then French colony of Guadeloupe, he was the son of Georges de Bologne Saint-Georges, a wealthy married planter, and Anne (aka “Nanon”), an African woman enslaved by his wife.

African American Composer Study: Scott Joplin: Scott Joplin was an African-American composer and pianist. He achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the King of Ragtime. During his brief career, he wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas.

African American Folk Songs: Elizabeth Cotten: We’ve been singing a lot of Elizabeth Cotton this year. We’ll sing one of her songs, move on to something else, and then jump back into another one of her songs. They’re simple to learn and fun to sing. I’ve even caught my preschooler humming her catchy tunes.

Black Poetry:

Paul Laurence Dunbar Poetry Study: Dunbar became one of the first influential Black poets in American literature and was internationally acclaimed for his poems in dialectic verse (African American Vernacular English or Black English). Those poems constitute a small portion of his canon, which is replete with novels, short stories, essays, and many poems in standard English. In its entirety, Dunbar’s literary body is regarded as an impressive representation of Black life in turn-of-the-century America. 

African American Poetry Books for Children: Selections from Black Poets for Poetry Teatime and Charlotte Mason Poetry Study: Poetry holds a special place in my heart. Admittedly, I was a reluctant lover of verse, but my personal path to poetry has mirrored my entire homeschooling journey, and I continue to mature in both as the years go on. Though we have studied and loved a wide variety of poems, the ones we return to most often are those that celebrate or highlight various aspects of my family’s lived experiences and heritage.

African American Poetry: Effie Lee Newsome: Effie Lee Newsome was one of the first African American poets who primarily published poems for children. She was the author of one volume of poetry, Gladiola Garden: Poems of Outdoors and Indoors for Second Grade Readers (The Associated Publishers, 1940), and she published numerous poems in the Crisis, Opportunity, and other leading journals of the Harlem Renaissance.  She also edited the children’s column “Little Page” in the Crisis. Her poems helped her young readers celebrate their own beauty and recognize themselves in fairy tales, folklore, and nature.

General or Topical Book Recommendations:

Stories From Modern Day Africa: I’ve shared picture books and chapter books about African kingdoms in the past, and I love those stories, but books covering African people and events of the 20th and 21st centuries are also imperative. Most of these titles target teens but are also great choices for adults wanting to learn more, and the last one is a compelling option for upper elementary and middle school. For lower elementary students, I highly recommend my Amazing Africa Heritage Pack.

Heritage Homeschoolers Book Club List: I often speak affectionately of the book club I launched in 2017 for our local suburban Atlanta homeschool support group. People are always asking to see what we’re reading, so I thought it would be fun to keep a running list of our monthly selections here. Going forward, I’ll add the selections by month, starting with the 2020-2021 school year, but I’ve also included a list of all of the past books by age group below the most recent titles.

African History Picture Books: Books that aim to empower children by sharing the untold stories of African legends and correcting the widespread ignorance about Africa’s rich history. These picture books present a more complete and nuanced view of the continent through captivating children’s literature.

Books About Ghana for Kids: In the months and weeks leading up to our trip, I sprinkled in books about Ghana throughout our learning time. We tried to soak up what we could about the people, the land, and their culture by reading about the lives of children – real and fictional – who spend their days living life in the country we wanted to fall in love with.

Teaching Colorism: The Power of a Story (Part 2):  I want to share some tools with you. These tools – known to some as books – are what I use to resist (aka teach) and to initiate difficult conversations. They range from very simple to difficult and complex, so I created a simple ranking system to help you determine which books are best for your family at this time. They have all played a role in my home, and I hope you find something here that will get the conversations regarding colorism started in your home too.

African-American Historical Fiction: I try to set high standards for the books I offer up to my children. Certainly, I want them to read the very best literature and hear ideas from the great minds of long ago and today. But when so many things make it seem otherwise, I want the books they read to reinforce, or at the very least not contradict, the refrain that they are made in the very image of God. Lately, we’ve hit upon a series of unrelated historical fiction books that meet this standard. They’re not religious books, in the literal sense, but most show the characters’ reliance on Him, and they all point to the God-breathed humanity of black people in the midst of nightmarish persecution. They share a clear picture of God’s sustaining hand in life’s seemingly unbearable trials. Yes, they’re school books, but they’re so much more.

Black Cowboys Booklist: Finding Joy in History: There is hard history in every time period, but for the next two years, my family will be focusing on an especially tough time in U.S. history, so we’ll be balancing our heavy history with a dose of fun with this Black Cowboys Booklist. We’ll be learning about Bob Lemmons, Bill Pickett, Nat Love, Mary Fields, and more!

How I Teach My Kids to Read: Here you’ll find an overview of the methods I use to teach my children to read along with the specific books we use. I also share the path I’ve taken to guide my children from being non-readers to book lovers.

Picture Book Recommendations:

Picture Books About Refugees, Asylum-Seekers, and Migrants: These stories involve children and families being separated for various reasons, including wars in their home countries. 

African and African-American Culture: Early Elementary Books: Before sharing books about the “struggle,” my kiddos have had extensive exposure to books that simply ground them in who we are and where we come from. I consider this to be an ideal approach for children of all backgrounds as no child needs to be introduced to black people as a group of downtrodden individuals who have had to struggle and fight for every right.

Soul Food: Picture Books About Cooking and Family: To say that food is important to my extended family would be an incredible understatement. Food is the undercurrent of all of our activities and a topic of conversation before, during, and after every major gathering. I hope you enjoy these “soul food” books as much as my family has. And maybe when you’re in the mood for something more than rice and beans, you’ll be up for trying a few of the recipes tucked into the pages of some of these beauties.

A Bouquet of Brown: African American Picture Books With Kids Just Being Kids: For my children to see themselves reflected in the pages of books, I am diligent to include plenty of images and stories with Black characters on our shelves. They serve a unique purpose in our family, but these books are life-giving for all families wanting to show their children the everyday meanderings of little Black boys and girls.

Hallelujah! Booklist: Bible Stories With Images of Black People: Ultimately, I decided that the one-sided societal images my son was seeing were making him feel as though there are distinctions in God’s kingdom. He understood the Truth, but the images were tripping him up, so I could either allow him to embrace the myth of all-white angels and other religious figures, or I could flood his mind with other images to help dilute the water.

Elementary Chapter Book Recommendations:

Early Chapter Books Featuring Black Girls: I love books about Black history, including biographies and historical fiction. It’s important for our children to learn about the past tragedies and joys of Black people in Africa, the United States, and across the African diaspora. However, those are not the only important stories. It’s also imperative that kids have plenty of opportunities to read about Black kids having FUN. All children enjoy going on adventures, spending time with adoring family members, rescuing animals, and playing on the beach.

Chapter Books: Black Boys Having Fun: The pictures alone provide ridiculous mirrors for brown-skinned boys, but the words inside take it even further. The descriptions, for once, reflect back with images and adjectives black boys can relate to and understand. These books also show non-black & brown boys that skin color doesn’t change a boy’s drive for adventure or his love for his family. Brown skin doesn’t make a boy more or less likely to step into a puddle of mischief or try to tackle a problem way too big for his not-yet-a-man britches. And brown skin certainly doesn’t make boys, or men, scary.

Chapter Books: Black Girls Just Being Kids: If you’ve been following me for a while you know that this has been a real struggle of mine – finding books with Black children and families who are just doing their thing. So many well-written, wonderful books featuring Black people focus on “the struggle.” I appreciate and use those books in my homeschool because they’re important and necessary, so please don’t misinterpret my issue. It’s not that I don’t want those books; it’s that I don’t want ONLY those books.

Book Review: Tobe by Stella Gentry Sharpe: My son’s beloved book, Tobe, was published in 1939. It’s a story about a black farming family full of kids living and loving in North Carolina, and it was written by a white woman named Stella Gentry Sharpe. If you heard my recent talk on Mirrors and Windows, then you know that #OwnVoices is an important concept to me, and you may be wondering how I can reconcile that concept with this book recommendation.

Middle Grade Chapter Book Recommendations:

Middle Grade Books: Black Boys and Everyday Life: Middle grade fiction is generally targeted at ages 8-12, and these books all fall within that range. These books are about boys but they’re not only for boys. The stories range from fantasy adventures to real-life struggles and everything in between.

20 Middle Grade Books: Black Girls Living Life: Unlike my list of early elementary books, some of these girls do share their thoughts on being Black or biracial, which is natural, but these books are not about being Black. The character development allows the girls to explore other aspects of who they are and what they experience in regular everyday life. And that’s what I want my kids to see.

Middle Grade Leisure Reading: I’m often asked about what my kids like to read in their free time, and it’s always a bit difficult to say because each child prefers different types of books, and they all usually have multiple books going at the same time. Some like to re-read the same books over (and over and over and…) again while the others are part of the “one and done” camp. But when I went into my 10-year-old daughter’s room yesterday, I saw that she’d organized her desk, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to give you an insider’s view of her middle grade leisure reading life.

Tween Devotionals and Fun Novels I Can Trust: These devotionals are spot on in terms of being rooted in Christ, true to the Word, age-appropriate, and fun. My girls have quite different personalities and interests, but they both agree that these are their most-loved devotionals. The prayer book and coloring books are things I’ve given my girls for gifts in their Easter baskets and Christmas stockings. This ministry also offers a “Christ-centered, fun-filled, edu-tainment-style magazine” – one of the only magazines that comes into our home.

 

High Schoool Book Recommendations:

I’m just starting to recommend more high school books. For now, the best places to look are History Time Period books near the top of the page. Many of the middle school and/or adult recommendations will work well for high school.  Rotation 4 (Round 2): 1900 – Present has the high school books marked. 

You’ll find more high school recommendations in my Stories of Modern Day Africa post.

More coming soon! My oldest is just now entering this phase.

Holiday Book Recommendations:

African American Christmas Books for Kids: It took several years, but we finally have a beautiful collection of African American Christmas books for kids that my entire family enjoys. Each day in December we read a book after breakfast and then I display it on a special book rack so they’re easily accessible for my kids to peruse all month.

Multicultural Gift Guide: Diverse Book-inspired Gift Ideas For Children: As a homeschooling family, I learned early on to integrate books from our ever-growing wish lists into my children’s Christmas morning delights. That plan has led to years of book-themed fun, and I’m excited to share similar ideas with you today. Have fun scrolling through these great books and corresponding toys, dolls, and activities. And don’t forget to share the inspiration with Grandma!

African American Christmas Books We Love: Each morning during December, we finish up our family time with a Christmas-themed picture book. Some of them are beloved traditional books that you are likely to find on any great list, but some of them are lesser-known books featuring families that look a lot like my own, and those are the ones I want to share with you today. As always, we have a little of this and a little of that, mixed together in just the right way.

Book Review: Christmas Gif’ by Charlamae Rollins: Christmas Gif’ is an anthology of African American Christmas poems, songs, stories, and recipes is as much a historical treasure as it is a holiday book.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ The title refers to a tradition rooted in the days of enslavement, and I see it as a reminder that, even in our darkest hours, we can cling to joy.⁣⁣⁣⁣

Juneteenth Books: Celebrating Freedom!: Juneteenth is a celebration marking an end to slavery in the United States, and this list is a glimpse at some of the Juneteenth books we read each time we celebrate this important day.

Heritage Packs & Multicultural Booklists from Heritage Mom Shop:

Family Bonds Living Booklist: An immediate PDF download featuring an annotated list of 11 picture books focused on multicultural expressions of familial love.

Multicultural Lesson Guides: Each Heritage Pack contains a list of recommended living books with book summaries and integrated at-a-glance weekly page breakdowns with optional videos and one or two bonus book recommendations – just for fun!

My Favorite Resources for Finding Diverse Books: Here is where you can find links to some of the websites I use when I’m searching for new book ideas.

I’ll continue to add posts to this index as I write them, so check back again!

You can find me on Instagram @heritagemomblog.