Tonya Bolden has spent her career asking a powerful question: Whose stories are we telling, and whose are we leaving out? As an award-winning author, editor, and historian whose work is featured in Soul School, Bolden has committed herself to bringing Black American history and culture into the hands of children and teens, helping young readers discover both mirrors and windows through literature.

Bolden’s writing demonstrates that every child deserves a story in which they can see themselves and a narrative that helps them understand others.

Her writing stands apart because she refuses to treat history as a distant relic. She writes with warmth, clarity, and deep research, showing young readers that the past is lived, powerful, and deeply connected to who we are today.

Why Her Work Matters

Bolden’s influence is especially significant because she invites children and teens to engage with Black American history in ways that are both truthful and hopeful. She does not shy away from difficult realities, but she writes with purpose and conviction, believing young people can understand complexity when given thoughtful guidance.

Her books invite young readers into the exploration of identity, legacy, and lifting up voices that history tried to silence.

Her writing consistently speaks to themes of courage, resilience, faith, and community. Through historical biography, cultural history, and beautifully crafted storytelling, Bolden encourages readers to think deeply about legacy, justice, creativity, and the human spirit.

“What I came to understand as an adult is that there is power in the past. Knowing history can be a powerful antidote to shame and self hatred and identity confusion.”
– Tonya Bolden

Notable Books by Tonya Bolden

Here are some of her celebrated works that are excellent choices for home libraries, classrooms, book clubs, and family read-alouds:

• Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl
• Saving Savannah
• Inventing Victoria
• Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)
• How to Build a Museum
• Crossing Ebenezer Creek
• Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America 
• Sarah’s Riches
• Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book 
• Speak Up, Speak Out!: The Extraordinary Life of “Fighting Shirley Chisholm”
• Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!: Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll
• The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music (with Roberta Flack)
• M. L. K.: Journey of a King
• George Washington Carver: A Picture Book Biography
• Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM
• Dovey Undaunted: A Black Woman Breaks Barriers in the Law, the Military, and the Ministry
• Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories and Mementos of Being Young and Black in America
• Rock of Ages: A Tribute to the Black Church

Bolden’s book Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America served as inspiration for the new film Sarah’s Oil, which brings Sarah Rector’s story to the screen with dignity and emotional depth. I recently interviewed the film’s cast and wrote about the film’s historical and spiritual insights.

Bolden gives young readers the chance to see both themselves and others in the pages of history.

Bringing Bolden’s Work into Your Home or Classroom

There are many meaningful ways to use her books with young readers.

• Choose a biography for a family read-aloud and discuss the character traits that stand out.
• Pair her works with hands-on projects or research that connects past and present.
• Use her books to spark conversations about history and justice in age-appropriate ways.
• Introduce the idea of mirrors and windows in literature, helping children to see themselves and understand others.

The stories we choose to tell shape how children see themselves and how they believe the world can be.

Final Thoughts

Tonya Bolden has said that she writes because she is the beneficiary of the prayers, hopes, and labor of generations. Her books carry that heritage forward, offering young readers not only information but also belonging, courage, curiosity, and confidence.

If you’re looking for meaningful books to add to your shelves or titles that spark rich conversations with your children or students, her work is an excellent place to begin. You will not only read a book. You will open a door.

Be sure to check out Tonya Bolden’s books highlighted in Soul School alongside hundreds of other young people’s books written by Black authors.