Kid Lit Summer Reading List II
You asked and we delivered
For those of you who don’t know, last summer, me and Alyssa Reynoso-Morris met on this platform. She brought back the little girl in me by brining up the idea of curating a Kid Lit Summer list and I’ve been doing book lists ever since.
Both of our publications have grown a considerable amount since then so we made sure to spin the block for the kiddos.
Illiteracy rates are at an all time high, but we cannot let this statistic affect our children. They are the future and they deserve to see themselves represented through a positive light through literature.
Picture Books
A milestone of a little girls first trip to the hair salon. It can be exciting and also overwhelming especially if you’re undecided on hair style. This book celebrates black hairstyles from coils to braids!
An inspiring story of this authors childhood in St. Lucia. A tale of how the children rally their community to build a pitch and play a joyous game of soccer.
Grandma’s favorite place is her garden. It seems like she could stay there forever! Marcus wants to know why–so they set about exploring it together. From shells protecting seeds (like Marcus’s helmet protects his head!) to a small seed eventually growing into something big (also just like Marcus!) Join Marcus on his garden adventure
Free Read-a-Loud by the Author
In honor of the World Cup, it was only right I bring up a history lesson for Brazil’s one and only Péle. This is his story, written for kids on reading level two. As the kids work on their pronunciation and sounds they also learn what makes Péle loves soccer.
Emeka has autism and favorite food is jollof rice. He eats it every day. “Emeka, come and try this egusi!” Mama and Papa urge. But orange rice is what Emeka knows. He doesn’t want anything different. Join Emeka as he learns to try a new recipe.
A delicious picture book about the ways plantains shape Latinx culture, community, and family, told through a young girl’s experiences in the kitchen with her Abuela.
Free Read-a-Loud by the Author
In the 1950s, a young Black girl discovers how "The Green Book" helps her family safely travel from Chicago to Alabama during the Jim Crow era
The Green Book Resources for Students and Educators
Middle Grade
Twelve-year old Ebony travels to NY from down South for summer break. Being a science fiction and Star Wars fan, she struggles to fit in with the local kids who are into hip-hop and breakdancing, who nickname her "Ice Cream Sandwich".
A historical fiction novel about a young boy, Danilo Osorio Jr., as he navigates life after the 1989 US invasion of Panama. The story follows Danilo as he deals with his father's abandonment, the destruction of his neighborhood, and the trauma of the invasion, finding a potential path to a new life and a chance to find his father through a baseball opportunity in California.
A novel about a boy named Jomi who travels to Lagos to find his mother, using a TV dance competition as his only lead.
This story follows Aniana as she navigates her secret passion for swimming, her mother's fear of water, and her new reality with a chronic illness, exploring themes of family, disability, and self-advocacy.
A Haitian-American girl connects with her heritage and identity through her painter aunt's art during winter visits to Haiti
A young boy unites with thousands of other orphaned boys to walk to safety in a refugee camp in another country, after war destroys their villages in southern Sudan. Based on true events. Eight-year-old Garang, orphaned by a civil war in Sudan, finds the inner strength to help lead other boys as they trek hundreds of miles seeking safety in Ethiopia, then Kenya, and finally in the United States.
Young Adult
This was supposed to be an epic spring break for the Six, but instead, their turn-up vibes get terminated by a hurricane which affects their way off of the resort not to mention a killer is on the loose! What have they gotten themselves into?
I received the ARC Copy of this book and it was soo good with its twist and turns and unpredictable ending. This is the third book in the series by these authors — the first being ‘Black Out’ and the second ‘White Out’
Told in verse and playwriting formats, the story follows Yuli, a Dominican-American teenager, as she forms a theater club with friends to protest a racist drama teacher and a school board threatening to ban "controversial" books, finding her voice and power in the process
Norris Kaplan, a cynical Black French-Canadian teen who moves to Austin, Texas, after his mother gets a new job. Armed with stereotypes from American sitcoms, he judges everyone he meets, only to find himself unexpectedly forming genuine friendships and finding love.
A novel-in-verse about a Black teen named Moth, who is grieving the loss of her family in a car accident and feels isolated and unrooted. She meets Sani, a Navajo musician, and they embark on a road trip across the country, blending Hoodoo and Navajo traditions as they search for their ancestors and grapple with trauma, love, and identity.
When fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba's Malawi village was hit by a drought, everyone's crops began to fail. Without enough money for food, let alone school, William spent his days in the library...and figured out how to bring electricity to his village.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Trailer (Netflix)
Malik, a Black teenager with uncontrollable magic who discovers a hidden magical HBCU called Caiman University, where he uncovers secrets about his mother's disappearance, his own powers, and a magical history connected to the Haitian Revolution
Additional Kid Lit Info:
Schomburg Center’s Black Liberation Reading List for Kids
Children’s Author Claire Linney (UK)
Dr. Leah Barlow’s Children’s List for the Obama Center
Download the EPIC! Reading App
Download Mosabe Book App curated by the Masobe Publishing House in Nigeria
Barnes & Nobles Summer Reading Challenge — most local libraries also have a summer reading program for children — please consider utilizing this free resource
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LOVE
Great idea to promote African books this way.