Monthly Book Recommendations & Dr. G’s Top Black Children’s Books

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”– Toni Morrison

Books When You Just Need to Escape & Chill or When You Need Some Motivation (Updated Monthly)

July 2025

  • You’ve Got a Place Here, Too: An Anthology of Black Love Stories Set at HBCUs ~Edited by Ebony Ladelle
  • If I Could Go Back ~Briana Johnson
  • The Girls Who Grew Big ~Leila Mottley
  • Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler ~Susana M. Morris
  • King of Ashes ~S.A. Cosby
  • Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship ~Dana A. Williams
  • I Got You: A Brother’s Promise ~Derrick Barnes
  • Swing Time ~Zadie Smith
  • Lonely Crowds ~Stephanie Wambugu

June 2025

  • Good Dirt: A Novel ~Charmaine Wilkerson
  • Awakened ~Kelechi Okafor
  • Necessary Fiction ~Eloghosa Osunde
  • The Taking of Jake Livingston ~Ryan Douglass
  • Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson ~Tourmaline
  • Putting Myself Together ~Jamaica Kincaid
  • This is Not a Ghost Story ~Amerie
  • The Jumbies ~Tracey Baptiste
  • Better Must Come ~Desmond Hall
  • Eight Days: A Story of Haiti ~Edwidge Danticat
  • Rivals ~Jilly Cooper

September 2024

  • AfriCali: Recipes from My Jikoni ~Kiano Moju
  • Razorblade Tears ~S.A. Cosby
  • Gods of Jade and Shadow ~Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • We’re Alone ~Edwidge Danticat
  • First in the Family ~Jessica Hoppe
  • Who’s That Girl? ~Eve
  • Like Happiness ~Ursula Villarreal-Moura
  • Lovely One ~Ketanji Brown Jackson
  • We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People ~Nemonte Nenquimo

August 2024

  • And So I Roar ~Abi Daré
  • Far from the Tree ~Virginia DeBerry and Donna Gray
  • The Secret Library ~Kekla Magoon
  • Never Saw Me Coming ~Tanya Smith
  • Woke Up No Light ~Leila Mottley
  • Lone Women ~Victor Lavalle
  • Where We Stand ~Djamila Ribeiro
  • Hangman ~Maya Binyam
  • Summer is Here ~Renee Watson

July 2024

  • Midnight Rooms ~Donyae Coles
  • Bluff: Poems ~Danez Smith
  • Beyond Policing ~Philip V. McHarris
  • Blessings ~Chukwuebuka Ibeh
  • Red at the Bone ~Jacqueline Woodson
  • Did Everyone Have An Imaginary Friend? (Or Just Me): Adventures in Boyhood ~Jay Ellis
  • Sounds Like a Plan ~Pamela Samuel Young & Dwayne Alexander Smith
  • Bridges Instead of Walls: The Story of Mavis Staples ~Carole Boston Weatherford and Mavis Staples

June 2024

  • The Bookshop Sisterhood ~Michelle Lindo-Rice
  • The Rich People Have Gone Away ~Regina Porter
  • Daughter of the Merciful Deep ~Leslye Penelope
  • The Lion’s Den ~Iris Mwanza
  • Between Friends & Lovers ~Shirlene Obuobi
  • Blackheart Man ~Nalo Hopkinson
  • Do What Godmother Says ~L.S. Stratton
  • Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant and Completely Over It ~Lester Fabian Brathwaite
  • The Volcano Daughters ~Gina Maria Balibrera
  • The Oldest Student: How

May 2024

  • A Thousand Words on Race and Hope: Light For the World To See ~Kwame Alexander
  • Nigeria Jones ~ Ibi Zoboi
  • Mr. Jimmy from Around the Way ~Jeffrey Blount
  • Blackness is Burning: Civil Rights, Popular Culture, and the Problem of Recognition ~TreaAndrea M. Russworm
  • Feenin: R&B Music and the Materiality of BlackFem Voices and Technology ~Alexander G. Weheliye
  • Souls of Black Folk: A Graphic Interpretation ~W.E.B. DuBois & Paul Peart-Smith
  • Life, I Swear: Intimate Stories from Black Women on Identity, Healing, and Self-Trust ~Chloe Dulce Louvouezo
  • Textures: The History and Art of Black Hair ~The KSU Museum & HIRMER

April 2024

  • Skin & Bones ~Renée Watson
  • Summer on Highland Beach ~Sunny Hostin
  • Little Rot ~Akwaeke Emezi
  • Sports Superheroes ~Stephen Curry
  • Great Expectations ~Vinson Cunningham
  • I Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays ~Nell Irvin Painter
  • Come & Get It ~Kiley Reid
  • Allow Me To Introduce Myself ~Onyi Nwabineli
  • Anita De Monte Laughs Last ~Xochitl Gonzalez
  • One Of Us Knows ~Alyssa Cole

March 2024

  • How to Live Free in a Dangerous World ~Shayla Lawson
  • Colliding With Fate ~A.E. Valdez
  • Under the Udala Trees ~Chinelo Okparanta
  • So Let Them Burn ~Kamilah Cole
  • The Black Girl Survives in This One ~Edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell
  • With Love, Miss Americanah ~Jane Igharo
  • Believe ~Leigh-Anne Pinnock
  • Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now ~Dana L. Davis
  • Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix ~Ibi Zoboi
  • Night Wherever We Go ~Tracey Rose Peyton

February 2024

  • The Neighbor Favor ~Kristina Forest
  • Long Way Down ~Jason Reynolds
  • Rise To The Sun ~Leah Johnson
  • How to Die Famous ~Benjamin Dean
  • Blood at the Root ~Ladarrion Williams
  • The Church on Ruby Road ~Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
  • Legendborn ~Tracy Deonn
  • Shubeik Lubeik~Deena Mohamed

January 2024

  • A Love Song for Ricki Wilde ~Tia Williams
  • Black Meme ~Legacy Russell
  • Medgar & Myrlie: Medgar Evers and The Love Story That Awakened America ~Joy-Ann Reid
  • James ~Percival Everett
  • The Blueprint ~Rae Giana Rashad
  • Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir ~Walela Nehanda
  • Dead in Long Beach, California ~Venita Blackburn
  • The American Daughters ~Maurice Carlos Ruffin

December 2023

  • The Color of Family ~Jerry McGill
  • Joy and Pain: A Story of Black Life and Liberation in Five Albums ~ Damien Sojoyner
  • A Quick Ting on Crime ~Franklyn Adoo
  • The Changeling ~Victor Lavalle
  • The New Brownies Book: A Love Letter to Black Families ~Karida L. Brown
  • The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation ~Raquel Willis
  • Like Thunder ~ Nnedi Okorafor
  • The Spite House ~ Johnny Compton

November 2023

  • Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain ~Jason Okundaye
  • Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion ~Mitchell S. Jackson
  • Do Remember! The Golden Era of NYC Hip-Hop Mixtapes ~Evan Auerbach and Daniel Isenberg
  • The Talk ~Darrin Bell
  • The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema From Fodder to Oscar ~Robin R. Means Coleman, PhD and Mark H. Harris
  • My Mother’s Tongues: A Weaving of Languages ~Uma Menon
  • Akim Aliu Dreamer ~Akim Aliu
  • Woman of Light ~Kali Fajarod-Anstine

October 2023

  • Family Meal ~Bryan Washington
  • Goodbye Earl: A Revenge Novel ~Leesa Cross-Smith
  • How Far You Have Come ~Morgan Harper-Nichols
  • Black Joy ~Edited by Charlie Brinkhust-Cuff and Timi Sotire
  • Holler, Child ~Latoya Watkins
  • You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty ~Akwaeke Emezi
  • The Princess of Thornwood Drive ~Khalia Moreau
  • Danni’s Juke Joint Comfort Food: Modern–Day Recipes, Ole Skool Flavas ~Danni Rose

September 2023

  • Thieves’ Gambit ~Kayvion Lewis
  • Salsa Magic ~Letisha Marrero
  • For the Culture: Phenomenal Black Women and Femmes in Food: Interviews, Inspiration, and Recipes ~Klancy Miller
  • Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed ~Edited by Saraciea J. Fennell 
  • We Are All So Good At Smiling ~Amber McBride
  • The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store ~James McBride
  • Where the Rhythm Takes You ~ Sarah Dass
  • Let Us Descend ~Jesmyn Ward

August 2023

  • Honey & Spice ~Bolu Babalola
  • The Secret to a Southern Wedding ~Synithia Williams
  • The Fraud ~Zadie Smith
  • Forgive Me Not ~Jennifer Baker
  • Forged By Blood ~Ehigbor Okosun
  • The Unsettled ~Ayana Mathis
  • As You Walk On By ~Julian Winters
  • Ander & Santi Were Here ~Jonny Garza Villa

July 2023

  • Trinity: A Novel ~Zelda Lockhart
  • A Song of Salvation ~Alechia Dow
  • Holler, Child ~LaToya Watkins
  • Family Lore ~Elizabeth Acevedo
  • Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Massacre in Her Own Words ~Viola Ford Fletcher
  • Invisible Son ~Kim Johnson
  • Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class ~Blair LM Kelley
  • Promise Boys ~Nick Brooks

June 2023

  • Jubilee ~Margaret Walker
  • Power & Magic The Queer Witch Comics Anthology ~Edited by Joamette Gil
  • Black Queer Freedom : Spaces of Injury and Paths of Desire ~GerShun Avilez
  • Palmares by Gayl Jones
  • Light for the World to See: A Thousand Words on Race and Hope ~Kwame Alexander
  • Charming As a Verb ~Ben Philippe
  • The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Historical Romance Anthology ~Kianna Alexander, Alyssa Cole, Lena Hart, & Piper Huguley
  • Beasts of Prey & Beasts of Ruin ~Ayana Gray

May 2023

  •  Last Summer on State Street ~Toya Wolfe
  • What the Fireflies Knew ~Kai Harris
  • Anywhere You Run ~Wanda M. Morris
  • The God of Good Looks ~Breanne McIvor
  • The Three of Us ~Ore Agbaje-Williams
  • Dances ~Nicole Cuffy
  • Before I Let Go ~Kennedy Ryan
  • You Think You Know Me ~Ayaan Mohamud

April 2023

  • Homebodies ~Tembe Denton-Hurst
  • Summer on Sag Harbor ~Sunny Hostin
  • The Wreck: A Daughter’s Memoir of Becoming a Mother ~Cassandra Jackson
  • Blood Scion ~Deborah Falaye
  • Black Birds in the Sky ~Brandy Colbert
  • Love Radio ~Ebony LaDelle
  • The Haunting of Alejandra ~V. Castro
  • When We Were Sisters ~Fatimah Asghar

March 2023

  • Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts ~Rebecca Hall
  • Maame ~Jessica George
  • Queenie: Godmother of Harlem ~Elizabeth Colomba
  • The Middle Daughter ~Chika Unigwe
  • Behold the Dreamers ~Imbolo Mbue
  • The Sun is Also a Star ~Nicola Yoon
  • Such a Fun Age ~Kiley Reid
  • Twice As Hard : The Stories of Black Women Who Fought to Become Physicians, from the Civil War to the 21st Century ~Jasmine Brown

February 2023

  • Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People ~Kekla Magoon
  • Stone and Steel ~Eboni Dunbar
  • Rootless ~Krystle Zara Appiah
  • The Trayvon Generation ~Elizabeth Alexander
  • Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and Unseen ~George McCalman
  • Decent People ~De’Shawn Charles Winslow
  • A Ruin of Shadows ~L.D. Lewis
  • Trouble the Saints ~Alaya Dawn Johnson

January 2023

  • Boys Come First ~Aaron Foley
  • Land of Love and Drowning ~Tiphanie Yanique
  • On the Roof Top ~Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
  • American Spy ~Lauren Wilkinson
  • Grace ~Natashia Deón
  • The Keeper ~Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes
  • The Stars Beneath Our Feet ~David Barclay Moore
  • Beasts of Prey ~Ayana Gray

December 2022

  • A Coastline is an Immeasurable Thing ~Mary-Alice Daniel
  • On Rotation ~Shirlene Obuobi
  • Black on Black: On our Resilience and Brilliance in America ~Daniel Black
  • The Sugar Jar: Create Boundaries, Embrace Self-Healing, and Enjoy the Sweet Things in Life ~Yasmine Cheyenne
  • Shot Clock ~Caron Butler & Justin A. Reynolds
  • An American Story ~Kwame Alexander
  • I’m Dreaming of Brown Christmas ~Steve Gray and Vernon D. Gibbs
  • Christmas Soul: African American Holiday Stories ~Allison Samuels
  • Mim’s Christmas Jam ~Andrea Davis Pinkney
  • Soulful Holidays: An inclusive rhyming story celebrating the joys of Christmas and Kwanzaa ~Ciara Hill

November 2022

  • The World We Make ~N.K. Jemisin
  • Extraordinary Women with Cameras ~Darcy Reed
  • Concentrate: Poems ~Courtney Faye Taylor
  • Someday Maybe ~Onyi Nwabineli
  • The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times ~Michelle Obama
  • Making Happy ~Sheetal Sheth

October 2022

  • find her. keep her ~Renaada Williams
  • Bittering the Wound ~Jacqui Germain
  • Black Women Will Save the World: An Anthem ~April Ryan
  • Love in the Age of Dragons ~Fatima R. Henson
  • Running to Fall ~Kalisha Buckhanon
  • Mr. Loverman ~Bernardine Evaristo

September 2022

  • Skye Falling ~Mia McKenzie
  • Cooking from the Spirit: Easy, Delicious, and Joyful Plant-Based Inspirations ~Tabitha Brown
  • Glory ~NoViolet Bulawayo
  • How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water ~Angie Cruz
  • The Chilean Kitchen ~Pilar Hernandez & Eileen Smith
  • What’s Coming to Me ~Francesca Padilla

August 2022

  • The Silent Twins ~Marjorie Wallace
  • Golden Ax ~Rio Cortez
  • How You Grow Wings ~Rimma Onoseta
  • The Witchery ~S. Isabelle
  • The Black Period ~Hafizan Augustus Geter
  • The Getaway ~Lamar Giles

July 2022

  • Woman of Light: A Novel ~Kali Fajardo Anstine
  • African Town ~Irene Latham & Charles Waters
  • Mademoiselle Revolution ~Zoe Sivak
  • Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology ~Edited by Vince A. Liaguno & Rena Mason
  • I Rise ~Marie Arnold
  • The Daughter of Doctor Moreau ~Silvia Morena-Garcia

June 2022

  • If They Come For Us ~Fatimah Asghar
  • My Monticello ~Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
  • Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic ~Kenya Hunt
  • The After Party ~A.C. Arthur
  • All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom ~Angela Johnson
  • A First Time of Everything: A Story of a Black Woman Public Servant ~Sallie Peake
  • Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations ~Nicole A. Taylor
  • We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy ~Natalie Baszile

May 2022

  • Jameela Green Ruins Everything ~Zarqa Nawaz
  • Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations ~Mira Jacob
  • Olga Dies Dreaming: A Novel ~Xochitl Gonzalez
  • The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family ~Bettye Kearse
  • American Street ~Ibi Zoboi

April 2022

  • Take My Hand ~Dolen Perkins-Valdez
  • Bless The Daughter Raised By A Voice In Her Head ~Warsan Shire
  • A Girl is a Body of Water ~Jennifer Nansubuga Maxumbi
  • By The Book ~Jasmine Guillory
  • The Windows of Malabar Hill ~Sujata Massey

March 2022

  • Black Cake ~Charmaine Wilkerson
  • Carolina Built ~Kianna Alexander
  • The School for Good Mothers ~Jessamine Chan
  • Julián is a Mermaid ~Jessica Love
  • We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World ~Malala Yousafzai
  • Girl Rising: Changing the World One Girl at a Time ~Tanya Lee Stone
  • Memphis ~Tara M. Stringfellow

February/Black History 2022

January 2022

December 2021

  • I Got the Christmas Spirit ~Connie Schofield-Morrison
  • The People Remember ~Ibi Zoboi
  • The Nutcracker in Harlem ~T.E. McMorrow
  • Butter Honey Pig Bread ~Frances Ekwuyasi
  • Moon Witch, Spider King ~Marlon James
  • Wahala ~Nikki May

November 2021

October 2021

  • The 1619 Project: Born on the Water ~Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson
  • Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America ~Keisha N. Blain
  • Harlem Shuffle ~Colson Whitehead
  • Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future Without Policing & Prisons ~Edited by Colin Kaepernick
  • Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protest, and The Pursuit of Freedom ~Dereck Purnell

September 2021

August 2021

  • Maya and the Robot ~Eve L. Ewing
  • Island Queen: A Novel ~Vanessa Riley
  • The Son of Mr. Suleman ~Eric Jerome Dickey
  • Mexican Gothic ~Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Black Buck ~Mateo Askaripour

July 2021

  • Luster: A Novel ~Raven Leilani
  • Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Pop Culture ~Zeba Blay
  • On Girlhood: 15 Stories from the Well-Read Black Girl Library ~Glory Edim
  • Leaving Breezy Street: A Memoir ~Brenda Myers-Powell w/ April Reynolds
  • The Poison Heart ~Kalynn Bayron

June 2021

  • A Chorus Rises ~Bethany C. Morrow
  • Ace of Spades: How Do You Stop An Unknown Enemy? ~Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
  • When Life Gives You Mangoes ~Kereen Getten
  • Bamboozled by Jesus: How God Tricked me into the Life of My Dreams ~Yvonne Orji
  • Punch Me Up To The Gods: A Memoir ~ Brian Broome

May 2021

  • Summer on the Bluffs ~Sunny Hostin
  • Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend: Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump ~Ben Philipe
  • Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir ~Ashley C. Ford
  • When Stars Rain Down ~Angela Jackson-Brown
  • Black Leopard, Red Wolf ~Marlon James

April 2021

  • Libertie: A Novel ~Kaitlyn Greenidge
  • The Man Who Lived Underground ~Richard Wright
  • Deacon King Kong: A Novel ~James McBride
  • The Gilded Ones ~Namina Forna
  • The Black Flamingo ~Dean Atta

March 2021

  • Black Girl, Call Home ~Jasmine Mans
  • The City We Became: A Novel ~N.K. Jemisin
  • Surviving the White Gaze ~Rebecca Carroll
  • When No One is Watching: A Thriller ~ Alyssa Cole
  • Shame Proof Parenting: Find Your Unique Parenting Voice, Feel Empowered, And Raise Whole Healthy Children ~Mercedes Samudio, LCSW

February 2021

  • Crosshairs ~Catherine Hernandez
  • Raybearer ~Jordan Ifueko
  • Purposeful Perspectives: Empowering Black Women Towards Spiritual Alignment, Self-Mastery & Joy ~Nichomi Higgins
  • Chronicling Stankonia: The Rise of the Hip-Hop South ~Regina N. Bradley
  • With the Fire on High ~Elizabeth Acevedo

January 2021

  • How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? ~N.K. Jemisin
  • Power & Magic: The Queer Witch Comics Anthology ~Edited by Joamette Gil
  • Children of Blood and Bone ~Tomi Adeyemi
  • Children of Virtue and Vengeance ~Tomi Adeyemi
  • Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good ~adrienne maree brown

—

Dr. G’s Top Black and Brown Children’s Books

  • Lullaby ~Langston Hughes (Illustrated by Sean Qualls)
  • Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters ~John Steptoe
  • Maya and the Robot ~Eve L. Ewing (Illustrated by Christine Almeda)
  • Ada Twist, Scientist ~Andrea Beaty
  • Skin Like Mine ~Latashia M. Perry (Illustrated by Bea Jackson)
  • Sulwe ~Lupita Nyong’o (Illustrated by Vashti Harrison)
  • Don’t Touch My Hair ~Sharee Miller
  • All Because You Matter ~Tami Charles
  • Happy to Be Nappy ~bell hooks (Illustrated by Chris Raschka)
  • Hair Love ~Matthew A. Cherry (Illustrated by Vashti Harrison)
  • Dream Big, Little One; Think Big, Little One; Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History; Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History ~Vashti Harrison
  • Amazing Grace & Boundless Grace ~Mary Hoffman (Illustrated by Caroline Binch)
  • She Persisted: Wilma Mankiller ~Traci Sorell
  • I Am Every Good Thing ~Derrick Barnes
  • Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment ~Parker Curry & Jessica Curry (Illustrated by Brittany Jackson)

If there’s a book that you think should be added to one of my lists, make sure to drop a note in the comments!!