African American Children's Books

These are exciting times for African American children's literature. Never before have there been so many titles available. Now the three mothers who founded Black Books Galore! --the nation's leading organizer of festivals of African American children's books --share their expert advice on how to find and choose the best. This fully annotated guide opens the door to a wonderful world of reading for the children in your life. Here are the most positive, the best-written, and the most acclaimed books in every category, including board books, story and picture books, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, history, biography, fables, and more.

Invaluable for parents, teachers, and librarians, this easy-to-use, illustrated reference guide features:
* Quick, lively descriptions of 500 books, plus 200 additional recommendations
* Helpful guidelines for encouraging young readers
* Easy-to-find listings organized by age level and indexed by title, topic, author, and illustrator
* Portraits of selected authors and illustrators
* Listings of award winners and Reading Rainbow Books.

"This is a great resource that fills a tremendous need. It should be on parents' shelves at home as well as in every school." —Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D. Harvard Medical School

These are exciting times for African American children's literature. Never before have there been so many titles available. Now the three mothers who founded Black Books Galore! —the nation's leading organizer of festivals of African American children's books —share their expert advice on how to find and choose the best. This fully annotated guide opens the door to a wonderful world of reading for the children in your life. Here are the most positive, the best-written, and the most acclaimed books in every category, including board books, story and picture books, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, history, biography, fables, and more.

Invaluable for parents, teachers, and librarians, this easy-to-use, illustrated reference guide features:
* Quick, lively descriptions of 500 books, plus 200 additional recommendations
* Helpful guidelines for encouraging young readers
* Easy-to-find listings organized by age level and indexed by title, topic, author, and illustrator
* Portraits of selected authors and illustrators
* Listings of award winners and Reading Rainbow Books.

School Library Journal

The books listed and described here "have been carefully chosen by black parents for black parents, for children from birth through early teens." The 500 titles have complete citations, concise annotations, and a list of any award(s) received. The bright, attractive cover and black-and-white photos of book jackets, along with well-chosen quotes from featured books, make this bibliography both interesting and appealing. The volume is well organized, with commonly used age groupings, e.g., "Books for Babies and Preschoolers." The title, author, illustrator, and topic indexes are cross-referenced to the entry number for each book, not the page number. The entries are largely current titles and tend to overlook folklore and library standards such as Ashley Bryan's The Dancing Granny (Atheneum, 1977; o.p.) and Sharon Bell Mathis's The Hundred Penny Box (Viking, 1975). Nevertheless, this is a worthy addition for libraries that serve children or support a curriculum for the study of children's literature.-Marie Wright, University Library, Indianapolis, IN Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

BLACK BOOKS GALORE!, winner of Parenting magazine's Parenting Leaders Award, was founded by DONNA RAND, TONI TRENT PARKER, and SHEILA FOSTER, who as a result of their challenges in finding quality books for their own children dedicated themselves to identifying and distributing fine African American children's literature.

JAMES P. COMER, M.D., is the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry, Yale Child Study Center, and Associate Dean, Yale School of Medicine.