A positive and affirming look at skin color, from an artist's perspective.
Seven-year-old Lena is going to paint a picture of herself. She wants to use brown paint for her skin. But when she and her mother take a walk through the neighborhood, Lena learns that brown comes in many different shades.
Through the eyes of a little girl who begins to see her familiar world in a new way, this book celebrates the differences and similarities that connect all people.
Karen Katz created The Colors of Us for her daughter, Lena, whom she and her husband adopted from Guatemala six years ago.
Is there anything more splendid than a baby's skin? For families of all stripes comes a sweet celebration of what makes us unique--and what holds us together.
Look at you!
You look so cute
in your brand-new birthday suit.
Just savor these bouquets of babies--cocoa-brown, cinnamon, peaches and cream. As they grow, their clever skin does too, enjoying hugs and tickles, protecting them inside and out, and making them one of a kind. Fran Manushkin's rollicking text and Lauren Tobia's delicious illustrations paint a breezy and irresistible picture of the human family--and how wonderful it is to be just who you are.
Grace loves stories, whether they're from books, movies, or the kind her grandmother tells. So when she gets a chance to play a part in Peter Pan, she knows exactly who she wants to be. Remarkable watercolor illustrations give full expression to Grace's high-flying imagination.
The reds, the yellows, and the blues all think they're the best in this vibrant, thought-provoking picture book from Arree Chung, with a message of acceptance and unity.
In the beginning, there were three colors . . .
Reds,
Yellows,
and Blues.
All special in their own ways, all living in harmony—until one day, a Red says "Reds are the best!" and starts a color kerfuffle. When the colors decide to separate, is there anything that can change their minds?
A Yellow, a Blue, and a never-before-seen color might just save the day in this inspiring book about color, tolerance, and embracing differences.
A New York Times Bestseller and tie-in to Academy-Award Winning Short Film Hair Love
I love that Hair Love is highlighting the relationship between a Black father and daughter. Matthew leads the ranks of new creatives who are telling unique stories of the Black experience. We need this.
- Jordan Peele, Actor & Filmmaker
It's up to Daddy to give his daughter an extra-special hair style in this ode to self-confidence and the love between fathers and daughters, from Academy-Award winning director and former NFL wide receiver Matthew A. Cherry and New York Times bestselling illustrator Vashti Harrison.
Zuri's hair has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils, and curls every which way. Zuri knows it's beautiful. When Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn. But he LOVES his Zuri, and he'll do anything to make her -- and her hair -- happy.
Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to loving your natural hair -- and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere. A perfect gift for special occasions including Father's Day, birthdays, baby showers, and more!
Winner of the 2020 Caldecott Medal
A 2020 Newbery Honor Book
Winner of the 2020 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award
The Newbery Award-winning author of THE CROSSOVER pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time Caldecott Honoree.
Originally performed for ESPN's The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes. The text is also peppered with references to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and others, offering deeper insights into the accomplishments of the past, while bringing stark attention to the endurance and spirit of those surviving and thriving in the present. Robust back matter at the end provides valuable historical context and additional detail for those wishing to learn more.
Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner
New York Times bestseller
"Timely and timeless." --Jacqueline Woodson
"Important and deeply moving." --John Green
Acclaimed author Renee Watson offers a powerful story about a girl striving for success in a world that too often seems like it's trying to break her.
Jade believes she must get out of her poor neighborhood if she's ever going to succeed. Her mother tells her to take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way. And Jade has: every day she rides the bus away from her friends and to the private school where she feels like an outsider, but where she has plenty of opportunities. But some opportunities she doesn't really welcome, like an invitation to join Women to Women, a mentorship program for "at-risk" girls. Just because her mentor is black and graduated from the same high school doesn't mean she understands where Jade is coming from. She's tired of being singled out as someone who needs help, someone people want to fix. Jade wants to speak, to create, to express her joys and sorrows, her pain and her hope. Maybe there are some things she could show other women about understanding the world and finding ways to be real, to make a difference.
NPR’s Best Books of 2017
A 2017 New York Public Library Best Teen Book of the Year
Chicago Public Library’s Best Books of 2017
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017
Kirkus Reviews’ Best Teen Books of 2017
2018 Josette Frank Award Winner
The Latinidad List of Best Books of 2017, Latinidad
Best Books for Teens, New York Public Library
In the Margins Top Ten List, In the Margins
Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens, American Library Association (ALA)
Ten Best Graphic Novels of 2017, Forbes
Choices, Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Skipping Stones Honor Award, Skipping Stones Magazine
Best Books for Kids, New York Public Library
The Hate U Give meets The Lovely Bones in this unflinching graphic novel about the afterlife of a young man killed by an off-duty police officer, co-illustrated by New York Times bestselling artist John Jennings.
Alfonso Jones can't wait to play the role of Hamlet in his school's hip-hop rendition of the classic Shakespearean play. He also wants to let his best friend, Danetta, know how he really feels about her. But as he is buying his first suit, an off-duty police officer mistakes a clothes hanger for a gun, and he shoots Alfonso.
When Alfonso wakes up in the afterlife, he's on a ghost train guided by well-known victims of police shootings, who teach him what he needs to know about this subterranean spiritual world. Meanwhile, Alfonso's family and friends struggle with their grief and seek justice for Alfonso in the streets. As they confront their new realities, both Alfonso and those he loves realize the work that lies ahead in the fight for justice.
In the first graphic novel for young readers to focus on police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, as in Hamlet, the dead shall speak-and the living yield even more surprises.
Foreword by Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy
Octavia E. Butler’s bestselling literary science-fiction masterpiece, Kindred, now in graphic novel format.
More than 35 years after its release, Kindred continues to draw in new readers with its deep exploration of the violence and loss of humanity caused by slavery in the United States, and its complex and lasting impact on the present day. Adapted by celebrated academics and comics artists Damian Duffy and John Jennings, this graphic novel powerfully renders Butler’s mysterious and moving story, which spans racial and gender divides in the antebellum South through the 20th century.
Butler’s most celebrated, critically acclaimed work tells the story of Dana, a young black woman who is suddenly and inexplicably transported from her home in 1970s California to the pre–Civil War South. As she time-travels between worlds, one in which she is a free woman and one where she is part of her own complicated familial history on a southern plantation, she becomes frighteningly entangled in the lives of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder and one of Dana’s own ancestors, and the many people who are enslaved by him.
Held up as an essential work in feminist, science-fiction, and fantasy genres, and a cornerstone of the Afrofuturism movement, there are over 500,000 copies of Kindred in print. The intersectionality of race, history, and the treatment of women addressed within the original work remain critical topics in contemporary dialogue, both in the classroom and in the public sphere.
Frightening, compelling, and richly imagined, Kindred offers an unflinching look at our complicated social history, transformed by the graphic novel format into a visually stunning work for a new generation of readers.
Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Manifold band together to take on a dangerous wave of street-level threats in a new series by co-writers Ta-Nehisi Coates (New York Times best-selling author of Between the World and Me and Marvel's Black Panther) and Yona Harvey (Black Panther: World of Wakanda), and legendary artist Butch Guice! The death of a Harlem activist kicks off a mystery that will reveal surprising new secrets about the Marvel Universe's past - and set the stage for a huge story in the near future! Fear, hate and violence loom, but don't worry, The Crew's got this: They are the streets. COLLECTING: BLACK PANTHER AND THE CREW #1-6.
National Book Award-finalist Ibi Zoboi makes her middle-grade debut with an unforgettable character: Ebony-Grace Norfleet, the sci-fi-obsessed granddaughter of one of the first black engineers to integrate NASA. Set in Harlem in the early days of hip-hop, My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich is a moving and hilarious story of girl finding a place and a voice in a world that's changing at warp speed. In the summer of 1984, 12-year-old Ebony-Grace Norfleet makes the trip from Huntsville, Alabama, to Harlem, where she'll spend a few weeks with her father while her mother deals with some trouble that's arisen for Ebony-Grace's beloved grandfather, Jeremiah. Jeremiah Norfleet is a bit of a celebrity in Huntsville, where he was one of the first black engineers to integrate NASA two decades earlier. And ever since his granddaughter came to live with him when she was little, he's nurtured her love of all things outer space and science fiction--especially Star Wars and Star Trek, both of which she's watched dozens of time on Grandaddady's Betamax machine. So even as Ebony-Grace struggled to make friends among her peers, she could always rely on her grandfather and the imaginary worlds they created together. In Harlem, however, she faces a whole new challenge. Harlem in 1984 is an exciting and terrifying place for a sheltered girl from Hunstville, and her first instinct is to retreat into her imagination. But soon 126th Street begins to reveal that it has more in common with her beloved sci-fi adventures than she ever thought possible, and by summer's end, Ebony-Grace discovers that gritty and graffitied Harlem has a place for a girl whose eyes are always on the stars. Zoboi's middle-grade debut sets an utterly captivating character in a meticulously researched 1980s Harlem for a novel that will delight and inspire.
Educating All of Our Children: Understanding and Addressing Implicit Bias – Rachel D. Godsil, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Perception Institute
How Do We Change America? – The New Yorker
How to Conduct Racial Equity Audits – Keecha Harris, Ali Webb, & Sierra Fernandez
The Best Books On Racism You Can Read for Free Right Now – The Mic
Read Up on the Links Between Racism and the Environment – The New York Times
What is Environmental Racism – Natural Resource Defense Council, and the landmark research it is based on: Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavez Jr.
Anti-Racist Book List by Ibram X. Kendi – Includes adult books featuring historical and modern voices in the Civil Rights, Black Panther, and Anti-Racist movements.
Best Books on Racism You Can Read for Free Right Now – A list of adult books centered around the Black Lives Matter movement with descriptions of each.
Books for Littles - Racism & Power – Book lists and educational guides for parents, educators, and children.
Michigan Electronic Library Social Justice eBook List – A living document of social justice resources for K-12 educators and learners.
Racial Equity Toolkit – From the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.
Schomburg Center Black Liberation Reading List – A blend of nonfiction and fiction for adult readers.
Trying Together: Anti-Racism Tools – Includes tools for adults, educators, and children.
American Friends Service Committee – Founded in 1917, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that promotes lasting peace with justice, as a practical expression of faith in action. They are sponsoring an initiative to defund the police.
Black Girls Code - Black girls and gender nonconforming youth of color can power the future. Their code gets us there. We support their creativity and boldness with skills, training, and resources that launch their leadership. Since 2011, Black Girls Code has engaged girls of color with computer programming education to nurture their careers in tech. We partner with schools, local organizations, and dedicated volunteers to offer in-person and virtual learning opportunities for girls and women of color aged 7-25. Our programs go beyond coding skills, equipping participants with the knowledge and confidence to realize their dreams.
Black Lives Matter Detroit – BLM is a Black-led movement which welcomes individuals of every identity, and makes an effort to center the most marginalized among us.
Black Women's Health Imperative – BWHI is the first and only national non-profit solely dedicated to achieving health equity for Black women in America. Founded in 1983 by Byllye Y. Avery as the National Black Women’s Health Project at a conference on the campus of Spelman College, BWHI has evolved into a nationally recognized organization leading health policy, education, research, knowledge and leadership development and communications designed to improve the healthy outcomes of Black women.
Center for Policing Equity – At The Center for Policing Equity, we do science to promote justice. We gather and analyze data on behaviors within public safety systems and use those data to help communities achieve safer policing outcomes.
Community Healing Network – Our mission is to mobilize Black people across Global Africa to heal from the trauma caused by centuries of anti-Black racism, to free ourselves of toxic stereotypes, and to reclaim our dignity and humanity as people of African ancestry.
Council on Black Health – The Council on Black Health, in partnership with those who share our vision, researches and promotes long-term, transformative solutions that disrupt structural racism and improve health and well-being for Black communities.
Genesee County REACH – Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health. Contact person: Tamara Brickey tbridkey@gchd.us
NAACP Flint – Local branch of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization.
National Black Justice Coalition - Since 2003, the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) has been America’s leading national civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+, and same gender loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS through coalition building, federal policy change, research, and education.
Neighborhoods Without Borders – Sponsors of the Tendaji Talks. Facilitated by a core team from MSU's Office of University Outreach and Engagement and a network of Flint-based community and grassroots organizations, Neighborhoods Without Borders has brought people from all sectors together in a grassroots and community effort to significantly improve the overall quality of life in Flint neighborhoods and to dismantle systemic racism.
Perception Institute – Perception Institute is a consortium of researchers, advocates, and strategists who translate cutting edge mind science research on race, gender, ethnic, and other identities into solutions that reduce bias and discrimination, and promote belonging.
Urban League of Flint – The Urban League of Flint is an affiliate of the National Urban League, a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities.
Flint Beat – A local online publication. Flint Beat‘s founder and publisher, Jiquanda Johnson is a Flint-area native with more than 16 years of experience in journalism including print, television and digital media. She has worked for The Detroit News, NBC25, Fox and MLive Media Group/The Flint Journal, where she covered the city of Flint.
The Marshall Project: Nonprofit Journalism About Criminal Justice – The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. We have an impact on the system through journalism, rendering it more fair, effective, transparent and humane.
Modern Day Consequences of Historic Redlining: Finding a Path Forward – Leonard E. Egede, MD MS, Rebekah J. Walker, PhD, Jennifer A. Campbell, PhD, MPH, Sebastian Linde, PhD, Laura C. Hawks, MD MPH and Kaylin M. Burgess, MA
The Effects of Systemic Racism on the Academic Achievement of African American Male Adolescents – Dr. Andre Rubin Fields.
The Flint Water Crisis: Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint – From the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.
Health, United States, 2015, With Special Feature on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities – U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last updated June 22, 2017.
The Impact of Racism on the Future Health of Adults: Protocol for a Prospective Cohort Study – James Stanley, Ricci Harris, Donna Cormack, Andrew Waa & Richard Edwards.
Racism and Health: Evidence and Needed Research – David R. Williams, Jourdyn Lawrence, and Brigette Davis.
Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States: A National Report on the Racial and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Communities with Hazardous Waste Sites – Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.
10 Ways to Promote Anti-Racism in the Workplace - From Forbes.
Antiracism and Health Equity - A series of short, 2-3 minute videos from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
#KidLit4BlackLives Rally – Led by Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson, and Jason Reynolds, the Rally featured inspiring words, music, and numerous calls to action in support of equity and justice.
Ibram X. Kendi on How to Be an Antiracist – A talk given by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi at U.C. Berkeley.
Tendaji Talks – A lecture series on systemic racism and African American history in Flint, in honor of Tendaji Ganges.
The Difference Between Being "Not Racist" and Antiracist - An interview featuring Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.
The Origin of Race in the USA - A special from PBS discussing how Americans came to believe that race equals certain visible characteristics such as skin color and hair.
