Books like Martin's Big Words: the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
By Doreen Rappaport
For families looking to introduce a towering historical figure through a story that feels personal, not just factual, this book opens the door gently but honestly. Reverent, dignified, quietly powerful.
During the Syrian Civil War, an ambulance driver stays behind in Aleppo when his neighbors flee, and finds himself feeding and comforting the many cats they left behind.
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 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.
Born into slavery, a woman hears the voice of God calling her north and escapes through the woods with only her faith, beginning the journey that will make her Moses to her people.
A spirited young girl navigates segregated 1950s Nashville alone, facing Jim Crow signs and painful moments on her way to the one welcoming place in town: the public library.
A young boy rides the bus across town with his grandmother every Sunday, grumbling about the rain and the wait, until she helps him see the beauty and music hiding in their ordinary route.
A woman who loves the trees of her Kenyan homeland begins planting seeds one by one, teaching other women to do the same, until the whole country grows strong and green again.
An enslaved man endures separation from his family in Virginia, then hits on a desperate plan: mailing himself in a wooden crate to freedom in the North.
A young Japanese American artist grows up determined to draw, even as her family is sent to a WWII internment camp — and she goes on to create groundbreaking picture books that show children of every race together.
A Puerto Rican girl grows up surrounded by love and pride in her Taíno and African heritage, but painful treatment from the world slowly dims her sense of her own beauty — until her community rallies to wake her up again.
A girl teased for having big hair and unusual tastes gets the chance to embarrass the boy who bullies her when he's stuck on the playground — and has to decide what kind of person she wants to be.
