So you want to talk with your kids about race
By Sarah Davis
It’s never too early to start talking to your kids about race and racism in our country. If you’re not sure where to begin, here are some books to help get you started. This list is a mix of fiction and nonfiction; follow the links to learn more and place holds. Don’t forget, this list is just a start. It’s important for children to read stories featuring characters of color experiencing joy and positivity as well.
Resources for young readers:
Something Happened in Our Town by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins and Ann Hazzard
Not My Idea: A Book about Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham
Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy
Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
A Ride to Remember by Sharon Langley
Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham and Charles Waters
Let’s Talk about Race by Julius Lester
Hands Up! by Breanna J. McDaniel
A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
The Skin I’m In: A First Look at Racism by Pat Thomas
The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler
The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
Resources for middle readers:
Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice by Mahogany L. Browne and others
New Kid by Jerry Craft
Blended by Sharon M. Draper
This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March by Linda Blackmon Lowery
A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee
Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Resources for teen readers:
Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles
In the Shadow of Liberty by Kenneth C. Davis
Because They Marched: The People’s Campaign for Voting Rights that Changed America by Russell Freedman
Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Tonya Bolden
A Few Drops of Red: The Chicago Race Riots of 1919 by Claire Hartfield
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Just Mercy (Young Readers Edition) by Bryan Stevenson
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson
Sarah Davis is coordinator of the FDL Public Library Children’s and Youth Services department