Breaking to the Beat! by Linda J. Acevedo; illus. by Frank MorrisonPrimary, Intermediate Lee & Low 32 pp.5/23 9781643796390 $19.95Acevedo and Morrison provide an engaging, gritty, urban retrospective on the role young people played in establishing break dancing and hip-hop. Set in the Bronx in the 1970s, the story follows...
The Order of Things by Kaija LangleyMiddle School Paulsen/Penguin 288 pp.6/23 9780593530900 $17.99e-book ed. 9780593530917 $10.99In this compelling verse novel set in Boston, African American tweens Zee and April are best friends. Each lives with their single parent in apartments across the hall from each other—narrator April with Chantelle, her...
Window Fishing by DK Dyson; illus. by Rudy GutierrezPrimary Knopf 40 pp.8/23 9780593429013 $18.99Library ed. 9780593429020 $21.99e-book ed. 9780593429037 $10.99Grumpy artist Rudeday feels he’ll never be famous as he toils away in his fourth-floor apartment. Although he wants to bring people joy, Rudeday has none of it himself. One day,...
Daddy & Me, Side by Side by Pierce Freelon; illus. by Nadia FisherPrimary Little, Brown 40 pp.5/23 9780316055864 $18.99Freelon’s (Daddy-Daughter Day) quiet picture book tells of an African American father and son on a camping trip. The two wake up in their tent on a chilly morning and walk to...
For Lamb by Lesa Cline-RansomeMiddle School, High School Holiday 304 pp.1/23 9780823450152 $18.99e-book ed. 9780823455034 $11.99Lamb, shy protagonist and one of several narrators, tells of growing up in 1940s Jackson, Mississippi, with her brother, Simeon, and Marion, their tough-as-nails mother, a talented and outspoken seamstress and closeted lesbian. Lamb keeps...
Mama’s Home by Shay Youngblood; illus. by Lo HarrisPrimary Make Me a World/Random 40 pp.10/22 9780593180228 $18.99Library ed. 9780593180235 $21.99e-book ed. 9780593180242 $10.99A brown-skinned girl with her hair in two afro puffs hugs her mother goodbye before Mama boards a plane, which she does often. The young narrator feels lucky...
[Many Calling Caldecott posts this season will begin with the Horn Book Magazine review of the featured book, followed by the post's author's critique.] Kick Push: Be Your Epic Self by Frank Morrison; illus. by the author Primary Bloomsbury 40 pp. g 4/22 978-1-5476-0592-7 $18.99 e-book ed. 978-1-5476-0593-4 $13.29 How...
Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual by Carole Boston Weatherford; illus. by Frank Morrison Primary, Intermediate Crown 32 pp. g 9/22 978-0-593-30634-5 $18.99 Library ed. 978-0-593-30635-2 $21.99 e-book ed. 978-0-593-30636-9 $10.99 This is a moving walk through African American...
Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens ; illus. by Monica Mikai Primary Candlewick 40 pp. g10/22 978-1-5362-2252-4 $17.99 In near-singable text, musician Giddens (co-founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops band) brings to life a lyrical tale of Black trials, triumphs, determination, and home. A Black father,...