Books like Dick Whittington and his Cat
By Marcia Brown
For the kid who roots for the underdog and believes something small can turn everything around, this old English legend still lands. old-fashioned, hopeful, storybook-solemn with a rags-to-riches glow
A country cottontail raising twenty-one children dreams of becoming an Easter Bunny, and when the wise Grandfather Bunny notices how capably she runs her big household, he chooses her for the job.
A gentle pony too plain for the beautiful horses inside the walled city ends up the only one who can save its children when the bridge breaks in half.
A determined young dancer in the 1930s and 40s trains for ballet despite discriminatory schools, then refuses to paint her skin white for a company's offer — and rises to become the Met Opera's first Black prima ballerina.
A bricklayer works hard every day building the city, while his son works hard at school and plays at molding tiny clay bricks, until one Saturday his father surprises him with something built just for their family.
A young girl, her waitress mother, and her grandma save every spare coin in a big jar, hoping to finally buy a comfortable chair after a fire destroyed their old furniture.
A young girl in Pakistan wishes for a magic pencil to fix small things — the smell of garbage, an extra hour of sleep — then realizes the world needs bigger fixes, and she can work toward them herself.
A young left-handed girl picks up her brother's guitar, flips it upside down to play it her own way, and by age eleven has written "Freight Train," a song the world would come to know.
A Black boy growing up in segregated 1940s North Carolina loves to draw everything around him, but becomes a football star instead — until his dream of making art finds its way to him.
A biography of jazz pioneer Duke Ellington, tracing his rise from playing pool halls and cabarets as a teenager to leading his orchestra through a groundbreaking Carnegie Hall performance of Black, Brown, and Beige.
A picture-book biography traces Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s path from a childhood in the segregated South to becoming a minister and civil rights leader, told through his own powerful words.
A retired New York City fireboat, once the fastest and shiniest of its time, is rescued from the scrap heap by a group of friends — then called back into action on September 11, 2001.
A lyrical picture book celebrates self-worth, kindness, and respect for others, reminding every child who reads it that they have purpose and are already enough.
