We at the Reinberger Children’s Library Center thank you for celebrating Black History Month with us over the past few weeks. For our final recommendations, here are a few poetry picks by African American voices. To find more interviews with celebrated Black children’s authors and illustrators or to learn more about Black history and culture, please visit https://www.readingrockets.org/calendar/blackhistory.
All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson and illustrated by E.B. Lewis
The Blacker the Berry: Poems by Joyce Carol Thomas and illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
I Am the Darker Brother: An Anthology of Modern Poems by African Americans by Arnold Adoff and illustrated by Benny Andrews
I, Too, Am America by Langston Hughes and illustrated by Bryan Collier
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers and illustrated by Christopher Myers