Celebrate Black History Month!

February is Black History Month, and a wonderful time to recognize the struggles and triumphs of all the exceptional people in the Black community. The library is filled with books for all ages to help families teach and learn about notable individuals and movements that brought our country to where it is today.

Picture Books

Amazing Grace - Mary Hoffman
Although a classmate says that she cannot play Peter Pan in the school play because she is black, Grace discovers that she can do anything she sets her mind to do.

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt - Deborah Hopkinson
A young slave stitches a quilt with a map pattern which guides her to freedom in the North.

I Have a Dream - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 
Presents illustrations and the text of the speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, in which he described his visionary dream of equality and brotherhood for humankind.

Freedom Song: The Story of Henry "Box" Brown - Sally M. Walker
Henry Brown copes with slavery by singing, but after his wife and children are sold away he is left with only his freedom song, which gives him strength when friends put him in a box and mail him to a free state.

Fictional Chapter Books

Elijah of Buxton - Christopher Paul Curtis
In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.

The Mighty Miss Malone - Christopher Paul Curtis
With love and determination befitting the "world's greatest family," twelve-year-old Deza Malone, her older brother Jimmie, and their parents endure tough times in Gary, Indiana, and later Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred Taylor
A black family living in the South during the 1930's are faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand.

One Crazy Summer - Rita Williams-Garcia
In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

Feathers - Jacqueline Woodson
When a new, white student nicknamed "The Jesus Boy" joins her sixth grade class in the winter of 1971, Frannie's growing friendship with him makes her start to see some things in a new light.

Non-Fiction Books

Fly High! The Story of Bessie Coleman - Louise Borman
Discusses the life of the determined African woman who went all the way to France in order to earn her pilot's license in 1921.

Through My Eyes: The Autobiography of Ruby Bridges - Ruby Bridges
Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her involvement, as a six-year-old, in the integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960.

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down - Andrea Davis Pinkney
"This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement."-- from Amazon.com.

Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass - Lesa Cline-Ransome
The inspiring story of young Frederick Douglass's path to freedom through reading.

What Was the Underground Railroad? - Yona Zeldis McDonough
No one knows where the term Underground Railroad came from--there were no trains or tracks, only "conductors" who helped escaping slaves to freedom. Including real stories about "passengers" on the "Railroad," this book chronicles slaves' close calls with bounty hunters, exhausting struggles on the road, and what they sacrificed for freedom. -- Provided by publisher.

Brown Girl Dreaming- Jacqueline Woodson
The author shares her childhood memories and reveals the first sparks that ignited her writing career in free-verse poems about growing up in the North and South. -- Provided by the publisher.

Other great titles you shouldn't miss...

Bud, Not Buddy - Christopher Paul Curtis
Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad - Pamela Duncan Edwards
Underground - Shane W. Evans
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice - Phillip Hoose
Back of the Bus - Aaron Reynolds

Pop in to the library to find all these great titles and many others! 
Titles can be reserved and sent to any branch of the Easton Area Public Library for $0.50.