Schools

Volusia County, Florida

On August 31, Volusia County School District removed the book Rosa Parks by Eloise Greenfield from elementary school classrooms after a teacher complained about it. The book was part of the state-approved curriculum. Concerns over it were raised after Florida’s Board of Education voted unanimously to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT).

Volusia United Educators President Elizabeth Albert explained that the teacher was concerned about how parents would react to a book that points out the harms the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow Laws did to Black people.

Once Albert was made aware of the teacher’s concerns, she reached out to district staff members to ask what protections are in place for teachers “if a student makes an inaccurate statement at home about a teacher talking about the Ku Klux Klan.” Albert also asked if a different book could be used in the curriculum.

Rene Clayton, assistant superintendent for elementary schools, then emailed all the principals asking them to remove the book from classrooms “until given further direction.” All references to the book were also removed from teachers’ curriculum resources.

The move surprised Mike Buchanan who was in the middle of teaching the book in his third grade class. “The kids loved it,” Buchanan said. “There were no complaints from parents.”

In response to the district’s request for guidance, State Vice Chancellor for Literary Achievement Cari Miller responded that the book is one of 27 optional texts about civics for third-grade English language arts. Miller said there was no question that the book was age appropriate.

On September 9, principals were notified that Rosa Parks was being returned to classroom libraries and would remain an optional text for third grade teachers.

Albert said the question regarding protections for teachers remained unanswered and this was relevant given the state’s ban on CRT.

Buchanan was unconcerned. “It’s actual historical facts. It just tells the history of what happened.” He characterized the book’s temporary removal as an attempt to “whitewash history.”

Reported in: Daytona Beach News-Journal, September 29, 2021.

Chelsea, Michigan

The Chelsea School District Board of Education voted 6-1 to retain Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye in its high school library, pending further review. Tammy Lehman was the one vote favoring removal of the book until it could be reviewed.

Lehman said she found it “disgusting” that there were four copies of the book available at Chelsea High School.

The book came under scrutiny after parents and community members spoke out against it and read excerpts from it at the August 9 board meeting.

Their objections stemmed from the novel’s depiction of incestuous sexual violence perpetrated against the character Pecola Breedlove. The title refers to Pecola’s belief that she would be free from abuse and racism if she had blue eyes.

Morrison won the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature, and The Bluest Eye was part of the reason she received this accolade. Morrison also won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Beloved.

The Bluest Eye was one of 13 books donated to the district by Chelsea’s One World One Family Task Force. The books were selected from a list vetted by the district’s Equity and Social Justice (ESJ) Committee. Their work is evaluated by the Board of Education’s Diversity, Belonging, Equity, and Inclusion (DBEI) committee.

In response to the book challenge, the district removed the ESJ resource list from their website.

Board member Shawn Quilter said removing the book would send the wrong message to students. “I think the main point is getting rid of the book is getting rid of the opportunity to access it. I get worried when you start doing that.”

Chelsea School District Superintendent Julie Helber said that the book is not used in classes and is not part of the high school curriculum. She said that the book has been available from the library for 20 years.

Helber noted that an excerpt from The Bluest Eye is on the College Board’s Advanced Placement test.

Quilter said that The Bluest Eye has “been controversial since it was published, but there’s so much of that book that does deal with understanding racism, oppression and inferiority, and all of those other things.”

Theresa Plank, a parent, spoke in support of the book and the work of the DBEI.

“I’m well aware that the people making these difficult decisions have the safety and wellbeing of our kids at the forefront of their minds every single day,” Plank said. “Not to mention that I believe trained educators are able to navigate through these obstacles much better than I am as a parent alone.”

Reported in: Michigan Live, August 24, 2021.

York, Pennsylvania

On November 9, 2020, the all-White board of Central York Schools suspended use of approximately 300 books, articles, and videos included on their Diversity Committee’s Summer Meeting Resource List (see the appendix on page 47 for the full list of titles).

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/ questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) materials, books about indigenous peoples, and books about autism and disabilities were included on the list of newly-prohibited resources.

Most of the books banned were by Black or Latinx authors. They primarily dealt with racism and Black history.

The banned items included a picture book about Rosa Parks, The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, PBS documentaries, an episode of Sesame Street, and a litany of award-winning children’s books.

“This seems pretty egregious,” said Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, associate professor of history at the New School. “The kind of texts that are being banned here make me feel that there is now just sort of an allergy to anything that mentions race or racism.”

The list of forbidden resources was distributed to faculty at the middle and high school in early September of 2021.

School librarians were required to pull the books from their shelves. Teachers’ lesson plans were undermined and needed to be recreated.

When news of the ban broke, pushback and protests ensued.

Students and parents alike raised complaints that the school board was not addressing the needs of a multicultural student body.

“I don’t think that a board that lacks diversity is the appropriate authority to determine what qualifies as appropriate material to address race in this community,” said parent Brandi Miller.

Senior Edha Gupta said, “This is a board that after hearing their students’ concerns about diversity in the district, hearing my struggle with race . . . and consistently feeling like I didn’t belong, after hearing those conversations for weeks on end, they still pursued the book ban.”

In addition to speaking out against the board’s actions, Gupta wrote an op-ed for the York Dispatch and started a Change.org petition urging the board to reverse the ban. His petition was endorsed by more than 5,000 signatories.

At the September 13 school board meeting, Ellis, a Black senior, said “Why is a Sesame Street episode threatening the education of children? If anything, this school board is threatening education.”

Central York High School teacher Ben Hodge spoke to the chilling effect created by the resource ban. He said he has to “think twice about whether or not I should or could use a James Baldwin quote as an opening for my class.”

Patricia Jackson, who has taught in the district for more than 20 years, said “There are teachers looking over their shoulders wondering if someone’s going to be . . . darkening their door, saying you said something, or you mentioned something, or used something that you were not supposed to.”

Some parents in attendance supported the board’s action, however, wielding their misappropriation of the term “critical race theory” (CRT) as a weapon.

“The community is 100% against an [sic] critical race theory indoctrination agenda,” said one mother. Since August of 2020, CRT has been used nationwide as a catch-all term encompassing all conservative culture war issues.

The Panther Anti-Racist Union, a student organization, organized a protest in front of the school before the board meeting. Around 100 people participated.

Olivia Pituch, one of the student protesters said, “I want to learn genuine history. I don’t want to learn a whitewashed version. I want to hear all of it.”

In a written statement in response to the protests, Jane Johnson, the school board president, said officials would form a curriculum committee to review the banned materials.

Johnson said they would wait to form the committee until a new superintendent replaced Michael Snell, who retired in October. The ban will remain in effect until this review occurs.

JJ Sheffer and Hannah Shipley wanted to make sure that York students and community members retained access to the banned materials. To that end, they organized a book drive of titles from the diversity resource list for distribution to little free libraries. They were soon overwhelmed as nearly 7,000 books were delivered to their homes.

Recognizing the capacity limits of little free libraries, Sheffer and Shipley announced a read-aloud event and book giveaway at nearby Cousler Park. They distributed more than 5,000 of the banned titles in less than half an hour.

The controversy soon received national media attention, prompting the school board to change course. They announced they would hold a vote on reinstating the banned materials at an emergency meeting on September 20.

The board unanimously voted to lift the ban.

Johnson said, “We are committed to making this long delay right.” She declined to be interviewed.

Recognizing that the board only lifted their nearly year-long book ban after sustained student protests and national condemnation, Pituch observed, “We know that they did not temporarily reverse out of the goodness of their hearts.”

“It took five high schoolers organizing a peaceful walk-in protest for each day . . . to help make sure that our district heard that they and many others did not feel represented,” said Hodge. “They are heroes and should be celebrated as bastions of American freedom and democracy. I want to be clear: these kids did this.”

Reported in: FOX 43, September 7, 2021; CNN, September 16, 2021; York Dispatch, September 10, 2021; September 20, 2021; September 24, 2021; and October 1, 2021; Yahoo! Life, September 21, 2021; The New York Times, October 2, 2021.

Katy, Texas

At the beginning of the school year, the Katy Independent School District (ISD) promoted an October 4 virtual visit with award-winning children’s author Jerry Craft for all third through fifth graders.

Bonnie Anderson, a former candidate for the Katy ISD school board and a party in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the district’s mask mandate, started a Change.org petition calling on the district to cancel the event and ban all of Craft’s books.

The petition was taken down for violating Change.org’s community guidelines, but Anderson claims it got around 400 signatures before that happened.

Despite its illegitimacy, Anderson’s petition had the intended effect.

On October 1, parents were given the choice to opt their children out of attending the event. The district serves nearly 89,000 students. The parents of 30 children opted out.

On the day of the event, the district announced they were postponing it and removing two of Craft’s books from school libraries. They cited the illegitimate petition and HB 3979, Texas’s law banning the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in schools, as the motivations for their action.

Habikia Eney, a 12th grader at Katy ISD’s Cinco Ranch High School, said “If you’re going to say things like ‘we’re inclusive’ and then not let someone who’s trying to add racial awareness into schools speak, it looks very contradictory.”

The books removed from school libraries for review were New Kid and its sequel, Class Act.

The semi-autobiographical graphic novels tell the story of a Black 12-year-old’s experiences after enrolling in a private school. They explore cross-racial friendships, the effects of microaggressions, and how well-meaning adults can make a school uncomfortable for minorities.

New Kid was the first graphic novel to be awarded the Newbery Medal and it also won the 2020 Kirkus Prize and Coretta Scott King Award. Craft is one of only five African American writers to receive the Newbery.

In a statement on the Office for Intellectual Freedom’s website, Craft said the goals for his books are “helping kids become the kind of readers that I never was; letting kids see themselves on my pages; and showing kids of color as just regular kids.”

“I almost never saw kids like me in any of the books assigned to me in school. Books aimed at kids like me seemed to deal only with history or misery,” wrote Craft. “I hope that readers of all ages will see the kindness and understanding that my characters exhibit and emulate those feelings in their day-to-day lives.”

Brandon Mack, lead organizer for Black Lives Matter Houston, said Craft’s books do not include CRT. “Critical race theory is not inherently automatically taught when trying to discuss racism or the Black Experience,” said Mack.

“Katy ISD is not giving our students the ability to see themselves in literature and to know inherently that their lives matter. This sends the message that learning about the Black experience is somehow dangerous,” said Mack.

The district’s policy governing removal of library materials states that, “Students’ First Amendment rights are implicated by the removal of books from the shelves of a school library. A district shall not remove materials from a library for the purpose of denying students access to ideas with which the district disagrees.”

Their policy governing reconsideration states that if a “complainant wishes to make a formal challenge, the principal or designee shall provide the complainant a copy of this policy and a form to request a formal reconsideration of the resource.”

While the policy does cover an informal challenge process, as well, access to materials can only be restricted if a formal challenge has been received. Since that did not happen in this case, the board’s actions were not consistent with their policy.

“People need to understand that this is not a small issue,” said Mack. “It sends a message to Black students that their lives don’t matter and it sends a message to White students that it’s OK to devalue people who are not like them.”

Jeynelle Branch, mother of a sixth-grade student in Katy ISD, said “Kids should be able to pick up a book and learn about another person’s perspective and they’ve taken that off the shelves.” She called it “a stain on the district,” and said, “It’s sending a message that there are people in the community that don’t matter.”

Omerly Sanchez, mother of two biracial students, said her kids were fans of the books and were looking forward to a virtual author visit with someone who “looks like them.”

Sanchez expressed disappointment and frustration with the district’s handling of the situation. “They want to live in this bubble. They’re uncomfortable with touching the subject. They’re uncomfortable knowing that they’re part of the problem.”

After reviewing the books, the district returned them to school libraries and held Craft’s virtual visit on October 11.

Reported in: Click2Houston, October 4, 2021, and October 15, 2021; Houston Chronicle, October 4, 2021; October 5, 2021; and October 6, 2021; Reuters, October 6, 2021.

Fairfax, Virginia

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison were returned to the shelves of 18 libraries in the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) following a two-month review by the district, which was initiated by a formal challenge.

Committees composed of school administrators, librarians, parents, and students were convened to review the books and recommend a course of action. The decision to retain the books was unanimous.

The district issued a statement that, “The decision reaffirms FCPS’ ongoing commitment to provide diverse reading materials that reflect our student population, allowing every child an opportunity to see themselves reflected in literary characters. Both reviews concluded that the books were valuable in their potential to reach marginalized youth who may struggle to find relatable literary characters that reflect their personal journeys.”

Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Noel Klimenko said, “I am satisfied that the books were selected according to FCPS regulations and are appropriate to include in libraries that serve high school students.”

The books were initially removed from the library for review after parents disrupted a board meeting to denounce the books as “pedophelia,” “pornography,” and “homoerotic.” They also chanted the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.

The books’ removal spurred protests by a coalition of students called the Pride Liberation Project (PLP). They released a letter to the school board with over 400 student signatures asking the board to reject attacks against books that uplift the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/ questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) community.

“LGBTQIA+ representation in literature is critical to fostering validation, acceptance, and self-affirmation for queer students,” read the PLP’s statement. “Removing two award-winning books that dismantle LGBTQIA+ stereotypes from FCPS libraries only contributes to the dearth of positive representations of queer people, perpetuating an unwelcoming school environment for LGBTQIA+ students.”

“As students, we are tired of being scrutinized and targeted for who we are. We simply want to be treated equally in our schools, including in our libraries. Please reject attacks against LGBTQIA+ literature, and allow Gender Queer and Lawn Boy to remain in our schools.”

After two months of organized resistance, the PLP’s request was honored.

Reported in: The Washington Post, September 28, 2021; Patch, October 7, 2021; WUSA9, November 23, 2021.

Libraries

Byron Township, Michigan

At the September 27 meeting of the Byron Township Board, trustee Tom Hooker called for the graphic novel Check, Please by Ngozi Ukazu to be withdrawn from the 11 Kent District Library branches that own it.

“Tax dollars are providing trash,” said Hooker.

Check, Please is a coming of age story about Eric Bittle, a former junior figure skater turned college hockey player. Bittle comes out during his freshman year on the team. It received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus and was a finalist for the 2019 Morris Award, which is bestowed by the Young Adult Library Services Association.

Don Tillema, Byron Township supervisor said, “Our issue is more, you know, why is this kind of crap even in the building?”

Lance Werner, Executive Director of Kent District Libraries, was informed that a 10-year-old boy at the Caledonia branch selected the book from the teen summer reading prize cart instead of from the children’s summer reading prize cart. While the boy put it back and selected a different title, his mom reviewed the book and complained to the board.

Werner said that the library would not include any “salty” books as future summer reading prize options, but Check, Please will remain available for checkout. He said books would be removed from the library if they met the legal definition of obscenity, child pornography, or hate speech, and that Ukazu’s book was none of those.

“You guys are asking us to violate the Constitution and impinge on people’s freedom,” said Werner. “That goes against everything we stand for in this country.”

“And the other thing we can’t do is we can’t step in the shoes of the parent,” Werner added. “Nor should anybody want the government to raise their kids.”

Tillema responded, “I guess where we’re sitting, I’m not sure how long we want to give you guys $1.6 million a year and provide you a building for all this legal stuff. ‘Cause I think it’s despicable. Maybe we’ll turn [the library] into a shoe store.”

At the meeting, seven citizens spoke out regarding the book. Two, a husband and wife, wanted the book removed. The other five defended it.

“As a parent or a grandparent of a child, I feel it’s your responsibility to be watching what they’re looking at or what they’re reading,” said Suzanne Snider. “I would hate to see any of those works taken out of that library, because there’s something there for everybody and everybody relates to things in different ways.”

“This country is made up of all different kinds of people from different walks of life and we need to continue to represent that and allow those freedoms to be there,” concluded Snider.

Werner said the library system has received four book challenges so far this year.

“I think we’ve had kind of an increase, an uptick, lately in challenges to materials, and I think it’s largely due to the fact that everybody in society is super-duper stressed right now,” said Werner. “Between COVID-19, between the caustic political environment and all the things that are going on, I think everybody is under duress.”

Reported in: WOOD TV, October 22, 2021.

Appendix: Titles Challenged at Central York Schools

25 Women Who Dared to Go by Allison Lassieur

25 Women Who Fought Back by Jill Sherman

25 Women Who Ruled by Rebecca Stanborough

25 Women Who Thought of it First by Jill Sherman

47,000 Beads by Koja Adeyoha

A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

A Bike Like Sergio’s by Maribeth Boelts

A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée

A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

A is for Audra: Broadway’s Leading Ladies from A to Z by John Robert Allman

A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant

Accidental Trouble Magnet [Planet Omar] by Zanib Mian

Ada byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark

African American Cowboys: True Heroes of the Old West by Jeffrey B Fuerst

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson

All the Colors We Are: The True Story of How We Get Our Skin Color by Katie Kissinger

All the World by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal

Always My Dad by Sharon Dennis Wyeth

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee

American as Paneer Pie by Supriya Kelkar

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Jean Mendoza

Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke

Another by Christian Robinson

Around Our Way on Neighbors’ Day by Tameka Fryer Brown

As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds

Bat and the End of Everything by Elana K. Arnold

Bat and the Waiting Game by Elana K. Arnold

Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Because by Mo Willems

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara Ahmed

Big Hair, Don’t Care by Crystal Swain-Bates

Bilal Cooks Daal by Aisha Saeed

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham, Charles Waters

Can We Talk About Race?: And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation by Beverly Daniel Tatum

Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt de la Peña

CeceLovesScienceKD by Kimberly Derting

Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in Stem by Tonya Bolden

Chasing Space: Young Readers’ Edition by Leland Melvin

Chocolate Milk, Por Favor! by Maria Dismondy

Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire by Susan Tan

Cilla Lee-Jenkins: The Epic Story by Susan Tan

Cilla Lee-Jenkins: This Book is a Classic by Susan Tan

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Come with Me by Holly McGhee

Condoleezza Rice: Being the Best by Mary Dodson Wade

Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Put Astronauts on the Moon by Helaine Becker

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes

Daddy, There’s a Noise Outside by Kenneth braswell

Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol by Andres Miedoso

Don’t Touch My Hair! by Sharee Miller

Drawn Together by Minh Lê

Dream Drum Girl by Margarita Engle

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and his Orchestra by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

Early Sunday Morning by Denene Millner

El Eia en que Descubres Quien Es by Jacqueline Woodson

Elizabeth Blackwell: The First Woman Doctor by Liza Burby

Encounter by Jane Yolen

Enough!: 20 Protesters who Changed America by Emily Easton

Escuchando con Mi Corazon: Un Cuento de Bondad y Autocompasion by Gabi Garcia

Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade

Faith Ringgold by Mike Venezia

Fishing Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney

For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama Lockington

Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford

From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea by Kai Cheng Thom

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Maillard

Full, Full, Full of Love by Trish Cooke

Get Up, Stand Up by Cedella Marley

Ghost by Jason Reynolds

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Girls Who Code 2: Team BFF: Race to the Finish! by Stacia Deutsch

Girls Who Code: The Friendship Code by Stacia Deutsch

Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark

Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family by Elizabeth Zunon

Hair Love by MatthewCherry

Hands Up! by Breanna J McDaniel

Hank’s Big Day: The Story of a Bug by Evan Kuhlman

Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull, Yuyi Morales

Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine

Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins

Hey, Charleston!: The True Story of the Jenkins Orphanage Band by Anne F Rockwell

Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

Home of the Brave: An American History Book for Kids: 15 Immigrants Who Shaped U.S. History by Brooke Khan

Hot Day on Abbott Avenue by Karen English

How Many Stars in the Sky? by Lenny Hort

I Am Enough by Grace byers

I am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes

I Am Human: A Book of Empathy by Susan Verde, Peter H. Reynolds

I Am Not Your Negro by Raoul Peck

I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez

I am Rosa Parks by Brad Meltzer

I Promise by LeBron James

I’m a Pretty Little Black Girl by Betty K bynum

Imani’s Moon by JaNay Brown-Wood

Incredible Rescue Mission [Planet Omar] by Zanib Mian

Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis

Intersection Allies: We Make Room for All by Chelsea Johnson

Islandborn by Junot Diaz

Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall

Jack (Not Jackie) by Erica Silverman

Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest. Episode 1: The Quest for Screen Time by Marti Dumas

Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest. Episode 2: The Ladek Invasion by Marti Dumas

Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest. Episode 3: Muffin Wars by Marti Dumas

Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest. Episode 4: Attack of the Swamp Thing by Marti Dumas

Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl by Debbi Michiko Florence

Jasmine Toguchi, Flamingo Keeper by Debbi Michiko Florence

Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen by Debbi Michiko Florence

Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth by Debbi Michiko Florence

Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

Keena Ford and the Second-Grade Mix-Up by Melissa Thomson

King & Kayla [series] by Dori Hillestad Butler

Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña

Leila in Saffron by Rukhsanna Guidroz

Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson

Like the Moon Loves the Sky by Hena Khan

Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison

Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison

Little Melba and her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown

Locked Up for Freedom: Civil Rights Protesters at the Leesburg Stockade by Heather Schwartz

Lola Levine [series] by Monica Brown

Lola Reads [series] by Anna McQuinn

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds

Lubna and Pebble by Wendy Meddour

Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar

Luis Munoz Marin: Father of Modern Puerto Rico [Community Builder series] by Linda George

Lulu and the Duck in the Park by Hilary McKay

Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed

Malala Yousafzai by Robin S Doak

Malala: My Story of Standing Up for Girls Rights by Malala Yousafzai

Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai

Mango, Abuela, and Me by Meg Medina

Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match by Monica Brown

Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner

Max and the Tag-Along Moon by Floyd Cooper

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

Melissa (previously published as George.) by Alex Gino

Milo’s Museum by Zetta Elliott

Mindy Kim and the Birthday Puppy by Lyla Lee

Mindy Kim and the Lunar New Year Parade by Lyla Lee

Mindy Kim, Class President by Lyla Lee

Mixed Me! by Taye Diggs

Mommy Sayang by Rosana Sullivan

Monster Trouble by Lane Fredrickson

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino

Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco

My Family Plays Music by Judy Cox

My Friend Maya Loves to Dance by Cheryl Willis Hudson

My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi Cabrera

My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero

Nelson Beats the Odds by Ronnie Sidney

New Kid by Jerry Craft

Nikki & Deja by Karen English

Nino Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Noah Chases the Wind by Michelle Worthington

Not Norman: A Goldfish Story by Kelly Bennett

Not Quite Snow White by Ashley Franklin

Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain by Cheryl Bardoe

On Our Street: Our First Talk About Poverty by Jillian Roberts

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas

One Green Apple by Eve Bunting

Ouch!: That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Joel Leskowitz

Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen

Parachutes by Kelly Yang

Patina by Jason Reynolds

Peanut Goes for the Gold by Jonathan Van Ness

Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison

Pele, King of Soccer = Pele, el Rey del Futbol by Monica Brown

Pink is for Boys by Robb Pearlman

Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders

Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack

Rainbow Revolutionaries: 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History by Sarah Prager

Ramadan Around the World by Ndaa Hassan

Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles: Think of That by Leo Dillon

Read the World: Rethinking Literacy for Empathy and Action in a Digital Age by Kristin Ziemke

Red Kite, Blue Kite by Ji-li Jiang

Refugee by Alan Gratz

Reparations Yes!: The Legal and Political Reasons Why New Afrikans, Black People in the United States, Should be Paid Now for the Enslavement of Our Ancestors and for War Against Us After Slavery: Articles by Chokwe Lumumba

Ruby and the Booker Boys [series] by Derrick Barnes

Same But Different by Tessa Dahl

Saturday by Oge Mora

Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West

Say Something by Peter H. Reynolds

Shades of People by Shelley Rotner

Shining Legacy: A Treasury of “Storypoems and Tales for the Young so Black Heroes Forever Will be Sung” by Nkechi Taifa

Sing a Song: How “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Inspired Generations by Kelly Starling Lyons

Skin Like Mine by LaTashia M Perry

Smoky Night by Eve Bunting

Sofia Martinez: Hector’s Hiccups by Jacqueline Jules

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty

Solo Pregunta: Se Diferente, Se Valientee, Se Tu by Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx by Jonah Winter

Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac

Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!: A Sonic Adventure by Wynton Marsalis

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

Starstruck: The Cosmic Journey of Neil deGrasse Tyson by Kathleen Krull

Stella Diaz has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez

Sulwe by Lupita Nyongo’o, Vashti Harrison

Tameka’s New Dress by Ronnie Sidney

Teach Us Your Name by Huda Essa

Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora

The 5 O’clock Band by Troy Andrews

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross [PBS series] by Sabin Streeter, Henry Louis Gates

The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story by Aya Khalil

The Boy Who Didn’t Believe in Spring by Lucille Clifton

The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco

The case for Loving : the fight for interracial marriage by Selina Alko

The Colors of Us by Karen Katz

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

The Deaf Musicians by Pete Seeger

The Doctor with an Eye for Eyes: The Story of Dr. Patricia Bath by Julia Finley Mosca

The Girl with a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague by Julia Finley Mosca

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson

The People Shall Continue by Simon J Ortiz

The Power of One: Every Act of Kindness Counts by Trudy Ludwig

The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

The Sunday Outing by Gloria Jean Pinkney

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander

The Year of the Book by Andrea Cheng

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

Tito Puente, Mambo King = Tito PUente, Rey del Mambo by Monica Brown

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews

Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture by Emma Dabiri

Under My Hijab by Hena Khan

Unexpected Super Spy [Planet Omar] by Zanib Mian

Up, Up, Down! by Robert Munsch

Vamanos! Let’s Go! by Rene Colato Lainez

Ven a Mi Casa by Dr Seuss

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell

WeirDo [series] by Anh Do

What is the Women’s Rights Movement? by Deborah Hopkinson

What Was Stonewall? by Nico Medina

What Was the March on Washington? by Kathleen Krull

What Was the Underground Railroad? by Yona Zeldis McDonough

What Were the Negro Leagues? by Varian Johnson

When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson

When the Beat was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill

Who are Venus and Serena Williams? by James Buckley, Jr.

Who is Aretha Franklin? by Nico Medina

Who is Barack Obama? by Roberta Edwards

Who is Derek Jeter? by Gail Herman

Who is Malala Yousafzai? by Dinah Brown

Who is Michelle Obama? by Megan Stine

Who is Sonia Sotomayor? by Megan Stine

Who was Cesar Chavez? by Dana Meachen Rau

Who was Eleanor Roosevelt? by Gare Thompson

Who Was Frida Kahlo? by Sarah Fabiny

Who was Harriet Beecher Stowe? by Dana Meachen Rau

Who was Jesse Owens? by James Buckley, Jr.

Who was Lucille Ball? by Pam Pollack

Who was Maria Tallchief? by Catherine Gourley

Who was Marie Curie? by Megan Stine

Who was Maya Angelou? by Ellen Labrecque

Who was Rachel Carson? by Sarah Fabiny

Who was Sojourner Truth? by Yona Zeldis McDonough

Who was Susan B. Anthony? by Pam Pollack

Yasmin [series] by Saadia Faruqi

Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present by Jamia Wilson

Your Name is A Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow