Books like Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre
By Anika Aldamuy
For the kid who loves hearing about real people who changed the world with something as simple as a good story, this is a quiet kind of hero tale. Lyrical, warm, and rooted in heritage, with language that begs to be read aloud.
A young Chinese American girl notices color everywhere in her everyday world, from red dragons and firecrackers to lychees, and brown in her own teddy bear.
A rhyming journey traces hip-hop's roots from folktales, spirituals, and poetry through James Brown's showmanship to the four pillars of graffiti, breaking, DJing, and MCing that built a global culture.
Across a city, ninety-two men and thirteen women bathe, dress in black-and-white clothes, and gather their instruments before heading to midtown for an 8:30 concert.
A child piano prodigy flees revolution in Venezuela for the United States, and despite feeling lonely and out of place, grows famous enough to be invited to play for President Lincoln at the White House.
A girl from the Muscogee Creek Nation dreams of jingle dancing at the next powwow, but her dress has no jingles — so she turns to the women in her family and community to borrow theirs.
Three young rebels find each other while playing outside, and when a local lagoon dries up and traps a bird friend, they call on their ancestors to help.
A lyrical journey through the history of Black music in America, from spirituals and blues to jazz, soul, and hip-hop, packed with over 80 references to real artists like Billie Holiday and Kendrick Lamar.
A born builder who once made a tower from diapers and glue faces a teacher who despises architecture — until a class picnic goes wrong and his skills turn out to be exactly what's needed.
A true story about a young inventor who builds his own microphone from a broomstick, a cinderblock, and a telephone, then goes on to engineer the world's first solid-body electric guitar.
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 proper young boy named Vasya Kandinsky hears colors sing and sees sounds dance when he opens his paint box — but will he dare to paint music instead of pretty houses and flowers?
