Black History Month is coming up soon… time to get our read-aloud basket stocked with the best books. If you’re also working with first and second graders, you know finding books that aren’t overwhelming can sometimes be a challenge.
We’ve been working to collect our favorites over the last few years. Now, our shelves are filled with the courageous stories of people like Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, and MLK, Jr.
BOOKS FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH
These are a dozen of our go-to books for Black History Month. Some of the books reflect stories of triumph following trials, but we wanted to make sure we were also including stories children would have a greater chance of connecting with because of their timing or relatability. For that reason, we’ve included books about inventors and athletes.
- Saving the Day: Garrett Morgan’s Life-Changing Invention of the Traffic Signal by Karyn Parsons
- Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 by Helanie Becker
- Ice Cream Man: How Augustus Jackson Made a Sweet Treat Better by Glenda Armand and Kim Freeman
- Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story by Ruby Bridges
- Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream by Deloris Jordan and Roslyn M. Jordan
- Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton
- Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight by Karyn Parsons
- Rosa by Nikki Giovanni
- Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine
- Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
- Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome
- In the Garden with Dr. Carver by Susan Grigsby
PRINTABLE BOOKS FOR STUDENTS
It’s one of our instructional goals to make sure we have books students can read with us and then on their own. Often, they don’t exist, so we create them to fit our students’ needs and reading standards. For Black History Month, we’ve written informational texts about several individuals (with more on the way… as soon as I have a little extra time).
Printable Text👆: Let’s Read About Rosa Parks
They’re just right for most of our first and second graders (especially working as partners) and include comprehension questions to help them build a deeper understanding of the topics in each book. We also added in a little phonics and vocabulary work to round out the literacy instruction.
Printable Text👆: Who Is Ruby Bridges?
If you haven’t finished your lesson planning yet, press pause and take a look. You can preview the complete Bundle of Biographies here.
HAVE HIGHER READERS WITH STAMINA?
If you’ve got kids who want a little more reading material, and you think they’re ready for the “Who Was?” book series, there are so many options! This series features historical figures, politicians, athletes, entertainers, and more. In it, you can find all sorts of titles featuring really interesting people for Black History Month:
- LeBron James
- Aretha Franklin
- Venus and Serena Williams
- Kobe Bryant
- Michelle Obama
- Barack Obama
- The Tuskegee Airmen
- Maya Angelou
- Stevie Wonder
- Jackie Robinson
- Muhammad Ali
- Booker T. Washington
… and many more! It’s quite an extensive collection of books… perfect for Black History Month.
Happy teaching!
UP NEXT… WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
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