BLACK LITERATURE:
CHILDREN'S & YA BOOKS
Black-authored adolescent literature is vital to countering the historical normalisation of negative and stereotypical representations found in books created by non-Black authors, and to provide positive, joyful, and authentic images of Black children and experiences that foster self-esteem and a sense of belonging. Black authors are crucial for sharing diverse cultural stories, traditions, and perspectives, as well as celebrating Black languages and forms of expression like patois and creole, which were often disregarded by mainstream publishers. Furthermore, this body of literature addresses the historical lack of representation in mainstream publishing and inspires future generations of Black writers and artists, contributing to a more representative and inclusive literary world where all children can see themselves reflected, tell their own stories and celebrate their heritage. Below is a selection of 15 children’s books and 15 YA books and book series written by Black authors. This list is not exhaustive, but it includes some of the best, most significant, or interesting works of Black fiction across a range of genres and for a variety of age groups. We have indicated recommended ages for these books, but these are just suggestions. Find out more about these works below.
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Happy to Be Nappy! bell hooks (Author) and Chris Raschka (Illustrator). Disney-Hyperion. 1999.
Ages: 2-6 years
Find out more about Happy to Be Nappy! here.
Self-love and uniqueness is at the heart of bell hooks’s children’s book, Happy to be nappy! Featuring art from Chris Raschka, this book is a joyful celebration of diverse Black hairstyles.
Homemade Love, bell hooks (Author) and Shane W. Evans (Illustrator). Disney-Hyperion. 2002.
Ages: 5-6 years
bell hooks’s Homemade Love is a children’s book that showcases love in a Black family. When the young child Girlpie makes a mistake, this book shows how her family loves and nurtures her so that she can fix the mistake and make things right again.
We Are Britain! Benjamin Zephaniah (Author) and Prodeepta Das (Illustrator). Frances Lincoln Children's Books. 2003.
Ages: 6-11 years
We Are Britain! Is a poetry collection for children by renowned performance poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Featuring 12 poems, and with artwork by Prodeepta Das, this collection explores and celebrates the diversity of cultural backgrounds that make up Britain. Each poem focuses on a different child and their home.
My Two Grannies, Floella Benjamin (Author) and Margaret Chamberlain (Illustrator). Frances Lincoln Children's Books. 2009.
Ages: 3-5 years
Floella Benjamin’s My Two Grannies is a children’s story about mixed heritage. It focuses on a little girl called Alvina and her two Grannies who are battling for the love of their granddaughter. Granny Vero comes from Trinidad and Granny Rose comes from the North of England, and through the story Alvina discovers how to unite her two Grannies so they can all enjoy themselves together.
Riley Can Be Anything, Davina Hamilton (Author) and Reinoso Elena (Illustrator). The Ella Riley Group. 2017.
Ages: 2-7 years
Buy Riley Can Be Anything here.
Riley Can Be Anything is a rhyming children’s book that follows the imaginative journey of a young boy named Riley. With the help of his older cousin, Joe, Riley explores some of the possible career pathways he could embark upon when he grows up and discovers that there are no barriers as to what he can aspire to be.
Mixed, Arree Chung. Macmillan Children's Books. 2018.
Ages: 4-7 years
Find out more about Mixed here.
Arree Chung’s picture book Mixed follows three communities: the Blues, the Red and the Yellows. At first the colours live in harmony, but fiction and conflict grows after one colour declares themselves the best. Soon, however, friendship breaks through and the different communities learn to accept and celebrate their differences.
Hair Love, Matthew A. Cherry (Author) and Vashti Harrison (Illustrator). Penguin Books. 2019.
Ages: 3-6 years
An ode to Black hair, Hair Love is the children’s book tie-in to the Academy-Award Winning Short Film of the same name. The story follows the loving relationship between a Black father and his daughter, Zuri, as they explore how beautiful Black hair can be, kinks, coils, curls and all. The book is a New York Times Bestseller.
I Am Perfectly Designed, Karamo Brown and Jason "Rachel" Brown (Authors) and Anoosha Syed (Illustrator). Henry Holt and Company (BYR). 2019.
Ages: 4-8 years
Find out more about I Am Perfectly Designed here.
Written by Karamo Brown and his son Jason "Rachel" Brown, and featuring art by Anoosha Syed, the children’s book I am Perfectly Designed is told through the heart-warming conversation between a father and son as they walk through their city. As the father and son spend the day together, they celebrate their love for each other and the ways that everyone is perfect is exactly as they are.
Look Up, Nathan Bryon (Author) and Dapo Adeola (Illustrator). Puffin. 2019.
Ages: 3-6 years
Find out more about Look Up here.
Look Up centres on Rocket and her passion for all things related to space. Rocket wants to grow up to be the greatest astronaut ever, but her brother doesn’t share her passion and Rocket embarks on a mission to get him to look up from his phone and watch the stars. In 2021 the book won the UKLA Awards.
The Mega Magic Hair Swap! Rochelle Humes (Author) and Rachel Suzanne (Illustrator). Studio Press. 2019
Ages: 0-5 years
Buy The Mega Magic Hair Swap! here.
Rochelle Humes’s debut book, The Mega Magic Hair Swap, follows friends Mai and Rose who are granted a magical hair swap. Marie has dark, curly hair while Rose’s hair is blonde and straight, and the friends both wish they had the other's hair. However, once they have the other’s hair, they realise that in fact their own hair was perfect for them after all.
Mira's Curly Hair, Maryam al Serkal (Author) and Rebeca Lucini (Illustrator). Lantana Publishing. 2019.
Ages: 3-5 years
Written by Maryam al Serkal and with art by Rebeca Lucini, Mira's Curly Hair is a celebration of natural hair and self-love. Set in bold and colourful Dubai, Mira doesn’t like her own brown, curly hair, but when she sees her mum’s usually straight hair in its natural, curly state she realises just how beautiful their hair has always been.
Whose Toes are Those? Jabari Asim (Author), Leuyen Pham (Illustrator). Little Brown Books. 2019.
Ages: 0-3 years
Buy Whose Toes are Those? here.
Whose Toes are Those? is an interactive, rhyming children’s book written by Jabari Asim and featuring art by Leuyen Pham. The story invites readers to play along with "This Little Piggy" on their own toes.
Count to Love! Andrea Davis Pinkney. Scholastic US. 2021.
Ages: 0-3 years
Part of the Bright Brown Baby series, Count to Love is a children’s board book that celebrates joy within Black and brown families. The book is presented as a fun poem that can be read aloud alongside the other books in the Bright Brown Baby series: Baby Boy, You Are a Star!; Bright Brown Baby; Martin Rising: A Requiem for a King; and A Poem for Peter.
I Am Every Good Thing, Derrick Barnes (Author) and Gordon C. James (Illustrator). Farshore. 2021.
Ages: 3-6 years
Find out more about I Am Every Good Thing here.
I Am Every Good Thing is a children’s book that is told through the eyes of its narrator, a young Black boy. The book reveals his dreams and aspirations, as well as his fears, and explores all the things that make him proud to be who he is. Oprah Magazine selected I Am Every Good Thing as one of its “essential books for discussing racism with kids”.
Skin Again, bell hooks (author), Christopher Raschka (illustrator). Little, Brown Young Readers. 2022.
Ages: 4-8 years
With art by Christopher Raschka, bell hooks’s children’s book Skin Again explores the idea of race and identity. While our outside skin does matter, what’s inside and beneath our skin is more important at revealing who we are and the book celebrates what makes us unique and different.
YA BOOKS
Noughts and Crosses series (Noughts and Crosses [200]); Knife Edge [2004]; Checkmate [2005]; Double Cross [2008]; Crossfire [2019]; and Endgame [2019]), Malorie Blackman. Penguin Books. 2001-2021.
Ages: 12-17 years
Buy the books in the Noughts and Crosses series here.
Set in an alternate 21st century Britain, Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses is a series of speculative fiction young adult novels that explores race, identity, political terrorism and forbidden love. The alternate history of this fictional world is rooted in racial segregation similar to the Jim Crow Laws in America where dark skinned people, known as the Crosses, enact social and political control over lighter-skinned people, known as the Noughts.
Along with the six novels in the series, there are also three novellas including An Eye For an Eye (2003) which explores one evening in the story; Callum (2012) which presents an alternate ending to the series; and Nought Forever (2019) which is a prequel to Crossfire. In 2002, Noughts and Crosses won the Lancashire Children's Book of the Year, the Red House Children's Book Award, and Sheffield Children's Book Award and the series has continued to be award-winning. A television adaptation of Blackman’s series was created by the BBC and released in 2020.
Bayou Magic, Jewell Parker Rhodes. Little, Brown & Company. 2016.
Ages: 8-12 years
Set in America’s Deep South, Jewell Parker Rhodes’s Bayou Magic is a coming-of-age story filled with folk magic. As city-girl Maddy experiences her first bayou summer with her grandmother, she discovers her own family’s magical legacy and the importance of the bayou in the wake of a disastrous Gulf oil spill.
Crongton Knights, Alex Wheatle. Ishmael Tree. 2017.
Ages: 12-15 years
Set in London’s South Crongton council estate, Alex Wheatle’s Crongton Knights explores the turf war of two groups who are divided by a river. The novel is told through the perspective of teenage McKay. Following the death of McKay’s mum, his dad struggles to work enough to support the family; his brother spends night after night staying out; and McKay finds himself facing hood-rats and violent gangster after he accidentally strayed from his home “turf”. In 2016 Crongton Knights won the Guardian Children’s Fiction's Prize.
The Nightmare-Verse series (A Blade So Black [2018]; A Dream So Dark [2019]; A Crown So Cursed [2023]), L.L. McKinney. Imprint/Macmillan. 2018-2023.
Ages: 14-17 years
Buy the books in the The Nightmare-Verse series here.
L.L. McKinney was named one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans of 2020, and her fantasy series The Nightmare-Verse is a dark reimagining of Alice in Wonderland that centres on a Black teenage girl, Alice. In Atlanta, Alice is attacked by a “Nightmare”, and then discovers the magical, nightmarish world of Wonderland that is parallel to our own, but that can’t be seen by everyone. As Alice learns to battle monsters from both worlds, the series explores the fears, nightmares and generational trauma experienced by African American communities.
Ghost Boys, Jewell Parker Rhodes. Hachette Children's Group. 2018.
Ages: 12-15 years
Jewell Parker Rhodes’s Ghost Boys explores the themes of racism, injustice and police violence as it tells the story of a 12-year-old Black boy, Jerome, who is fatally shot by a white police officer but returns as a ghost. Set in Chicago, and beginning with Jerome’s murder, the novel evokes the killing of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African American boy who was killed by police officers who wrongly suspected that the toy he was playing with was in fact a real gun. The novel also features the ghost of Emmett Till, another Black boy who was violently murdered in 1955. In 2019, Ghost Boys won several awards including the Walter Award, Younger Readers Category by the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books, the Kids' Book Choice Awards and the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature.
Legacy of Orïsha series (Children of Blood and Bone [2018]; Children of Virtue and Vengeance [2019]; Children of Anguish and Anarchy [2024]), Tomi Adeyemi. Henry Holt Books. 2018-2024.
Ages: 14-17 years
Buy the books in the Legacy of Orïsha series here.
Legacy of Orïsha is a West African-inspired fantasy series for young adults. Written by Tomi Adeyemi, the series follows Zélie Adebola as she sets out to defeat the monarchy and restore magic to the Kingdom of Orïsha following the massacre of all maji by order of the King. The story explores themes of class and race, power struggles within nations, along with the more intimate struggles of children seeking their parent’s approval and experiencing familial abuse. The first book in the series, Children of Blood and Bone, debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list for young adult books.
The Black Flamingo, Dean Atta. Hachette Children's Group. 2019.
Ages: 12-15 years
Dean Atta’s verse novel The Black Flamingo is a coming-of-age story that follows Michael, a mixed race teenager, as he explores his Black and queer identities through poetry. Michael’s struggles with his gender identity, race and sexuality echo the struggles of many young adults, and this novel is a love letter to all the diverse ways of being human. In 2020, The Black Flamingo won the Stonewall Book Award in the Children's and Young Adults category along with Kyle Lukoff’s picture book When Aidan Became a Brother which celebrates the life of a Black, trans boy.
Color Me In, Natasha Diaz. Delacorte Pr. 2019.
Ages: 12-14 years
Color Me In is the debut novel of Natasha Diaz and draws on her own experience of racism and religious intolerance growing up as a Black, Jewish woman. Set in New York, the novel is a coming-of-age story that follows sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz as she negotiates the divorce of her Black mom and Jewish father. As Naveah relocates from her dad’s home in an affluent New York city suburb to live in the family home of her mom in Harlem, she is forced to confront her identity, the injustices faced by African American communities and her own privilege as a white passing mixed race woman.
Pet, Akwaeke Emezi. Faber & Faber, 2019.
Ages: 12-17 years
Written by non-binary, Nigerian author Akwaeke Emezi, Pet is a young adult fantasy novel. Set in the American town of Lucille–a town inspired by settings used by Toni Morrison–the novel follows Jam, a 15 year old Black, trans girl who is also selectively non-verbal and communicates using a variety of verbal speech, non-verbal signing and mental communication. Lucille is a utopian town that records the historical eradication of demons by Angels, but one day Jam discovers that not every demon has been banished. Jam sets out to save the world from monsters that no one admits exist, and in doing so explores questions of identity and justice. In 2021, Pet was included in the Time Magazine's list of 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, and in 2022 a prequel, Bitter, was released.
Clean Getaway, Nic Stone (Author) and Camilla Ru (Illustrator). Knights Of. 2020.
Ages: 8-12 years
Nic Stone’s young adult novel Clean Getaway follows 11 year old Scoob as he embarks on an unexpected road trip across America with his G’ma (grandmother). Travelling in her RV, the pair use her old Green Book (an annual guidebook for African Americans travelling across America created by Victor Hugo Green) to retrace a road trip she had previously taken 50 years before. As well as learning more about his own family history, Scoob explores America’s segregationist and racist past through the Civil Rights Movement and reflects upon its long-lasting impact on the present.
The Faraway Truth, Janae Marks. Chicken House. 2020.
Ages: 9-12 years
Janae Marks’ debut novel The Faraway Truth centres on 12 year old Zoe Washington and her search to uncover the mystery of her father. Zoe never met her father because he was sent to prison before she was born, but when she receives a letter from her father on her 12th birthday Zoe has to confront the truth behind his conviction, and investigate the crime he has been convicted of in order to find out whether he is really a monster or if, perhaps, he was innocent all along.
Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender. Faber & Faber, 2020.
Ages: 12-17 years
Narrated by a Black, trans teen, Felix Love, Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After is a story about self-discovery and falling in love for the first time. The novel was named one of the 100 Best YA Books of All Time by Time Magazine. Felix Ever After has also been subjected to several potential school book bans, and in 2024, the book was banned in Beaufort County, South Carolina.
This Book is Anti-Racist, Tiffany Jewell (Author) and Aurelia Durand (Illustrator). Frances Lincoln Children's Books. 2020.
Ages: 11-15
Buy This Book is Anti-Racist here.
Written by Tiffany Jewell and with art by Aurelia Durand, This Book is Anti-Racist is a non-fiction book about racism. It features 20 lessons and activities designed to get you thinking about social identities, the history of racism and resistance against it, and how to be anti-racist in a racist society.
Black Brother, Black Brother, Jewell Parker Rhodes. Hachette Children's Group. 2021.
Ages: 9-12 years
Buy Black Brother, Black Brother here.
Jewell Parker Rhodes’s Black Brother, Black Brother is a coming-of-age novel about two brothers. One brother presents as Black, and the other presents as white, and the novel explores the different ways they each navigate the world and experience racism in education, in sports and in encounters with law enforcement.
Adventures with Claudie, Brit Bennett (Author) and Laura Freeman (Illustrator). American Girl Publishing Inc. 2023.
Ages: 8-10 years
Buy Adventures with Claudie here.
Set in 1920s America, Adventures with Claudie follows a young Black girl, Claudie, as she travels from Harlem, New York to Georgia to meet her grandmother and other family members for the first time. Her grandmother is a storyteller, and as they get to know each other Claudie learns about slavery and life in the South in the 1920s. One story that her grandmother tells her from the time of slavery, “The People Could Fly”, eventually inspires Claudie with her own creative project.
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