Most Popular Books by Carole Boston Weatherford

These stories of Black trailblazers, communities, and experiences will inspire kids of all backgrounds. This uplifting collection of eight stories introduces readers to barrier-breaking artists and athletes, as well as Black culture and traditions. This collection includes e-book editions of Fearless Mary, Gordon Parks, Ice Breaker, More than Just a Game, Song in a Rainstorm, Sugar Hill, Tiara''s Hat Parade, and Touch the Sky.

The inspirational life of Kamala Harris for kids! From the newly-announced Young People''s Poet Laureate comes a powerful and inspiring picture book that shares how each milestone and moment in Kamala Harris''s life represents something that lies within young readers'' reach, too—building community, asking for answers, learning from elders, standing up for what''s right, pride, friendship, strength, and most of all—knowing that nothing is out of the reach of their future!

Introduces "the life of Lena Horne, the pioneering African American actress, [singer], and civil rights activist"--Amazon.com.

Before she raised her lens to take her most iconic photo, Dorothea Lange took photos of the downtrodden from bankers in once-fine suits waiting in breadlines, to former slaves, to the homeless sleeping on sidewalks. A case of polio had left her with a limp and sympathetic to those less fortunate. Traveling across the United States, documenting with her camera and her fieldbook those most affected by the stock market crash, she found the face of the Great Depression. In this picture book biography, Carole Boston Weatherford with her lyrical prose captures the spirit of the influential photographer.

Winner of the Jane Addams Children''s Book Award A singular, richly illustrated picture book biography of Bayard Rustin, the gay Black man behind the March on Washington of 1963, by the acclaimed authors of Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre and Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag. On August 28, 1963, a quarter of a million activists and demonstrators from every corner of the United States convened for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was there and then that they raised their voices in unison to call for racial and economic justice for all Black Americans, to call out inequities, and ultimately to advance the Civil Rights Movement. Every movement has its unsung heroes: individuals who work in the background without praise or accolades, who toil and struggle without notice. One of those unsung heroes was at the center of some of the most important decisions and events of the Civil Rights Movement. That hero was a quiet man, a gay African American man. He was Bayard Rustin. Carole Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders''s A Song for the Unsung, featuring illustrations from artist Byron McCray, is an inspiring story that answers one of our nation’s greatest calls to action by honoring one of the men who made it happen. "A splendid tribute to a true hero of the civil rights movement." –Booklist, starred review

Featuring lively verse, fascinating facts, and archival photographs, here is a celebration of the Negro Leagues and the great players who went unrecognized in their time written by Children''s Literature Legacy Award winner Carole Boston Weatherford. Imagine that you are an outstanding baseball player but banned from the major leagues. Imagine that you are breaking records but the world ignores your achievements. Imagine having a dream but no chance to make that dream come true. This is what life was like for African American baseball players before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball''s color barrier. Meet Josh Gibson, called "the black Babe Ruth," who hit seventy-five home runs in 1931; James "Cool Papa" Bell, the fastest man in baseball; legendary Satchel Paige, who once struck out twenty-four batters in a single game; and, of course, Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League Baseball, and one of the greatest players of all time. Written by acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford with a foreword by Buck O''Neil, a Negro leagues legend whose baseball contributions spanned eight decades, this book is a home run for baseball and history lovers, and makes a great gift for both boys and girls.

A picture-book biography of the first U.S. African-American first lady.

A celebration of childhood from an award-winning author, this upbeat day-in-the-life of a bunch of friends was inspired by the #BlackBoyJoy meme that spurred a movement. From sunrise to sunset, a group of young Black boys joyously spend the day together as they live their best lives freely in their community. u00adWith confidence and a touch of swag, these friends do everything with one another: build a time machine, tend to the community garden, roleplay in the park, read, take a group selfie, and play basketball. With simple, spare text from celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and colorful, playful art from Reggie Brown capturing the pleasures of boyhood and friendship, Bros affirms the truth that Black boys deserve and are worthy of a childhood full of joy and free of risk, just as much as anyone. Timely and buoyant, it’s a story sure to be enjoyed by anyone who knows what it is to be surrounded by friends with a day of adventure ahead of you.

Legendary singer and Civil Rights activist Mavis Staples has teamed with an award-winning children’s poet to share her rousing life story in this spectacular picture book. At 85, Mavis Staples is still singing in front of large audiences and sharing her message of love, faith, and justice. She’s been performing since age eight as part of her family’s gospel group The Staple Singers, and has become one of America’s most admired musicians, with multiple Grammys, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But Mavis has been more than a thrilling singer; she has also stood alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., at numerous Civil Rights protests where her voice was a rallying cry to the country. Now she and acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford bring her story and her inspiring message to young people in this poetic, illuminating book, beautifully illustrated by Steffi Walthall.

Celebrate family love with this heartwarming and soulful bedtime book perfect for toddlers 1-3 from the 2025-2026 Young People''s Poet Laureate! Shoo-be-do-wop along with your little one as you introduce them to the legendary music of the Motown era. Heartfelt text and whimsical illustrations will touch the hearts of sentimental parents and grandparents and will ensure little ones enjoy a jazzy drift off to dreamland. Sugar Pie Lullaby also includes delightful facts so that kids and caregivers can learn more about Motown legends together! Baby love, Little bitty precious one, I was born to love you. What else is there to do? You are the sunshine of my life. Morning, noon and night All I do is thank God for you.

A stirring picture book biography from ALSC Children’s Literature Legacy Award–winning Carole Boston Weatherford and award-winning illustrator Bryan Collier, about gospel composer and preacher Charles Albert Tindley, best known for the gospel hymn “We’ll Understand It Better By and By.” At a time when most African Americans were still enslaved, Charles Tindley was born free. His childhood was far from easy, with backbreaking hours in the fields, and no opportunity to go to school. But the spirituals he heard as he worked made him long to know how to read the Gospel for himself. Late at night, he taught himself to read from scraps of newspapers. From those small scraps, young Charles raised himself to become a founding father of American gospel music whose hymn was the basis for the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.” Told in lilting verse with snippets of spirituals and Tindley’s own hymns woven throughout, Carole Boston Weatherford’s lyrical words and Bryan Collier’s luminous pictures celebrate a man whose music and conviction has inspired countless lives.

CHILDREN''S LITERATURE LEGACY AWARD WINNER • Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, is an inspiration and role model to children of all ages. Award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford tells her story of perseverance, dignity, and honor in this uplifting picture book biography filled with colorful and dynamic illustrations from Ashley Evans. Whatever she did, wherever she was, Ketanji Brown Jackson rose to the top. From the time their daughter was born, Ketanji Brown’s parents taught her that if she worked hard and believed in herself, she could do anything. As a child, Ketanji focused on her studies and excelled, eventually graduating from Harvard Law School. Years later, in 2016, when she was a federal judge, a seat opened on the United States Supreme Court. In a letter to then-President Barack Obama, Leila Jackson made a case for her mother—Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Although the timing didn’t work out then, it did in 2022, when President Joe Biden nominated her. At her confirmation, Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black female Supreme Court justice in the United States. Lyrical text by renowned author Carole Boston Weatherford and evocative illustrations by Ashley Evans combine to make this an inspirational and timely read.

A multi-generational family history told in the voices of the author''s ancestors, spanning enslavement alongside Frederick Douglass at Maryland''s Wye House plantation, service in the U.S. Colored Troops, and the founding of all-Black Reconstruction-era communities.

CCBC Choices 2015 Best History/Non-fiction Picture Book of 2014, The Huffington Post 2015 Jefferson Cup Overfloweth 2016 Arnold Adoff Early Readers Poetry Award, Honor Book Take a walk through Harlem''s Sugar Hill and meet all the amazing people who made this neighborhood legendary. With upbeat rhyming, read-aloud text, Sugar Hill celebrates the Harlem neighborhood that successful African Americans first called home during the 1920s. Children raised in Sugar Hill not only looked up to these achievers but also experienced art and culture at home, at church, and in the community. Books, music lessons, and art classes expanded their horizons beyond the narrow limits of segregation. Includes brief biographies of jazz greats Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, and Miles Davis; artists Aaron Douglas and Faith Ringgold; entertainers Lena Horne and the Nicholas Brothers; writer Zora Neale Hurston; civil rights leader W. E. B. DuBois and lawyer Thurgood Marshall.

In a powerful novel in verse, an award-winning author offers an eye-opening look at the life of Marilyn Monroe. From the day she was born into a troubled home to her reigning days as a Hollywood icon, Marilyn Monroe (née Norma Jeane Mortenson) lived a life that was often defined by others. Here, in a luminous poetic narrative, acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford tells Marilyn’s story in a way that restores her voice to its rightful place: center stage. Revisiting Marilyn’s often traumatic early life—foster homes, loneliness, sexual abuse, teen marriage—through a hard-won, meteoric rise to stardom that brought with it exploitation, pill dependency, and depression, the lyrical narrative continues through Marilyn’s famous performance at JFK’s birthday party, three months before her death. In a story at once riveting, moving, and unflinching, Carole Boston Weatherford tells a tale of extraordinary pain and moments of unexpected grace, gumption, and perseverance, as well as the inexorable power of pursuing one’s dreams. A beautifully designed volume.

"Carole Boston Weatherford, once again, delivers a resounding testament and reminder, that hip-hop is a flavorful slice of a larger cultural cake. And to be hip-hop-to truly be it-we must remember that we are also funk, jazz, soul, folktale, and poetry. We must remember that . . . we are who we are!" -Jason Reynolds, New York Times best-selling author "Starting with its attention-getting cover, this picture book does an excellent job of capturing the essence of rap . . . This tribute to hip hop culture will appeal to a wide audience, and practically demands multiple readings." ―Booklist, STARRED REVIEW "No way around it, this book is supa-dupa fly, with lush illustrations anchored in signature hip-hop iconography for the future of the global hip-hop nation." ―Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW "With short, rhyming lines and dramatic portraits of performers, the creative team behind How Sweet the Sound: The Story of Amazing Grace offers a dynamic introduction to hip-hop. . . . This artful introduction to one of the most influential cultural movements of the 20th century pulses with the energy and rhythm of its subject." ―Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW Explore the roots of rap in this stunning, rhyming, triple-timing book, now available as a board book! A generation voicing stories, hopes, and fears founds a hip-hop nation. Say holler if you hear. The roots of rap and the history of hip-hop have origins that precede DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash. Kids will learn about how it evolved from folktales, spirituals, and poetry, to the showmanship of James Brown, to the culture of graffiti art and break dancing that formed around the art form and gave birth to the musical artists we know today. Written in lyrical rhythm by award-winning author and poet Carole Boston Weatherford and complete with flowing, vibrant illustrations by Corettta Scott King Award winner, Frank Morrison, this book beautifully illustrates how hip-hop is a language spoken the whole world ''round, and it features a foreword by Swizz Beatz, a Grammy Award-winning American hip-hop rapper, DJ, and record producer.

Throughout their father''s twenty-two month campaign for president, Malia and Sasha Obama begged their parents for a dog. Finally, when their father became the 44th president of the United States, he rewarded their patience and good behavior in his victory speech: "Malia and Sasha will get their new puppy." Would the girls choose a Foxhound like President George Washington''s? Or a chocolate Labrador Retriever like the Clintons''? Maybe a shelter dog? Finally, on February 25, 2009, they decided to look for a Portuguese Water Dog to move into the White House. Art rendered in watercolor, gouache, and pencil.

"...Due to the Negro''s social and political condition...the Negro lawyer must be prepared to anticipate, guide and interpret his advancement." Charles Hamilton Houston used these words and a revolutionary legal strategy to train a fleet of African American lawyers to battle for racial equality in the early twentieth century. From forefathers like Houston, grew a confident branch of African-American lawyers who have since broke down barriers and attained inconceivable goals of representation and stature. Lawyers featured include Charles Hamilton Houston, William Henry Hastie, Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, Benjamin Lawson Hooks, L. Douglas Wilder, Barbara Jordan, Johnnie Cochran, Marian Wright Edelman, and Carol Moseley-Braun.

From Colin Kaepernick to Martin Luther King, Jr. to Benjamin Crump, Hair Like Obama''s, Hands Like Lebron''s is a picture book celebration of Black history and excellence from New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated bySavanna Durr. I have hair like Obama’s and hands like LeBron’s. My mind is more magical than “Ice” McDonald’s wands. My legs, like Michael Jordan’s, shatter records with a leap. My soul is kissed by Africa—the future’s mine to keep. Inspired by the famous White House photograph of five-year-old Jacob Philadelphia touching then-president Barack Obama’s hair, Weatherford’s powerful text—illuminated by Savanna Durr’s warm, jewel-toned art—is an ode to all the things that make Black and brown kids beautiful. Young readers will learn about many inspiring figures in Black history up to the present day, gaining confidence in their abilities and their cultural legacy as they learn. The back matter includes an author’s note and biographies of each of the featured figures: Guion Bluford, Usain “Lightning” Bolt, “Bootsy” Collins, John Coltrane, Benjamin Crump, LeBron James, Lonnie Johnson, Michael Jordan, Colin Kaepernick, Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Elijah McCoy, Kenrick “Ice” McDonald, Barack Obama, Colin Powell, and Tommie Smith.