In 1979 President Jimmy Carter created Black Music Appreciation Month. June is set aside to appreciate the contributions of African-American musicians, composers, singers, and songwriters in American culture. Celebrate Black Music Appreciation Month with us by checking out these amazing titles filled with outstanding artists!
Big Tune: Rise of the Dancehall Prince by Alliah L. Agostini; illustrated by Shamar Knight-Justice
An exuberant picture book written by Alliah L. Agostini and illustrated by Shamar Knight-Justice is about a Black boy with big dancing dreams who learns the meaning of courage and community.
It’s the weekend, first in June; speaker’s blasting out big tune!
Cousins, aunties, uncles, friends pack the house, and fun begins.
Shane is shy but loves to dance—and all year long, he’s picked up cans
to earn some money toward his goal: high-tops with a pump-up sole.
But then the speaker blows—it’s done! Will this stop his family’s fun?
Can Shane come through to save the day and bring back Big Tune Saturday?
Set within a vibrant Caribbean American neighborhood and told to a rhythmic beat, Big Tune is a story of Black boy joy that touches on determination, confidence to express who you are, selflessness, and community gratitude.
When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill; illustrated by Theodore Taylor III
A John Steptoe New Talent Award Winner
Before there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc.
On a hot day at the end of summer in 1973 Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at a park in the South Bronx. Her brother, Clive Campbell, spun the records. He had a new way of playing the music to make the breaks—the musical interludes between verses—longer for dancing. He called himself DJ Kool Herc and this is When the Beat Was Born. From his childhood in Jamaica to his youth in the Bronx, Laban Carrick Hill’s book tells how Kool Herc came to be a DJ, how kids in gangs stopped fighting in order to breakdance, and how the music he invented went on to define a culture and transform the world.
My Dad Is A DJ by Keith Henry Brown and Kathryn Erskine; illustrated by Keith Henry Brown
National Book Award winner Kathryn Erskine teams up with Keith Henry Brown on this lyrical picture book that celebrates music and Black identity.
Trevor’s dad is a DJ, and he always picks the best music:
tunes jivin’, beat drivin’, high fivin’!
he’s DJ Dap Daddy!
But after his parents split up and Dad moves out, Trevor feels like the pitch doesn’t fit between them. Trevor has his own music now hip-hop and Dad can’t seem to let go of his old soul favorites. As the end-of-year dance approaches, Trevor and his father will have to find their new groove to get the party started.
My Dad Is a DJ is a hip-hoppin’, beat boppin’, tunes poppin’, not stoppin’ story of a father and son’s shared love of music and each other.
Ordinary Days: The Seeds, Sound, and City That Grew Prince Rogers Nelson by Angela Joy; illustrated by Jacqueline Alcántara
A rhythmic, striking picture book biography of legendary singer/songwriter/performer Prince.
Before he became a legend, he was just a boy…
On an ordinary day, you could see him. A young boy named Prince Rogers Nelson, who had parents who fought, nowhere to call home, and a collection of memories turned into sound: the shouts of anger, the purr of pigeons, the roar of cars down a busy Minneapolis street, and the whisper of cold wind on budding lilac bushes.
Other sounds joined in as he taught himself to play the guitar, piano, drums, and much more, leading to the day this ordinary boy began to make music—and became extraordinary.
Black Is a Rainbow Color and Choosing Brave author Angela Joy’s exquisite words harmonize with acclaimed illustrator Jacqueline Alcántara’s sweeping art to create a tender, profound look into music icon Prince’s early life and the moments that shaped him.
Ordinary Days also includes an extensive author’s note and playlist of recommended Prince songs suitable for young listeners.
I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know by Laban Carrick Hill; illustrated by Theodore Taylor III
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know is a touching and heartfelt ode about the way we feel for our children, by award-winning actors of stage and screen Leslie Odom, Jr. and Nicolette Robinson, and illustrated by Joy Hwang Ruiz.
Do you remember when we first met?
It was a moment I won’t soon forget.
Your sparkling aura. Your crooked grin!
Do you remember, my trusted friend?
When I count all my blessings, you’re always number one.
Sweetest of all is, we’ve only just begun.
The love we feel for our children never wavers. From the moment a baby is born, through the good times and the bad, from the silly moments to the warm embraces, this love is bigger than what we can put into words.
This beautiful book is a comforting and lyrical refrain about the bonds we form with the children to whom we are closest in our lives.
Sing, Aretha, Sing!: Aretha Franklin,”Respect,” and the Civil Rights Movement by Hanif Abdurraqib; illustrated by Ashley Evans
A young Aretha Franklin captivates her community with the song “Respect” during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, in this striking picture book biography that will embolden today’s young readers to sing their own truth.
When Aretha Franklin sang, she didn’t just sing…she sparked a movement. As a performer and a civil rights activist, the Queen of Soul used her voice to uplift freedom fighters and the Black community during the height of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Her song “Respect” was an anthem of identity, survival, and joy. It gave hope to people trying to make change. And when Aretha sang, the world sang along.
With Hanif Abdurraqib’s poetic voice and Ashley Evans’s dynamic illustrations, Sing, Aretha, Sing! demonstrates how one brave voice can give new power to a nation, and how the legacy of Aretha Franklin lives on in a world still fighting for freedom.
Moonwalking by Zetta Elliott and Lyn Miller-Lachmann
For fans of Jason Reynolds and Jacqueline Woodson, this middle-grade novel-in-verse follows two boys in 1980s Brooklyn as they become friends for a season.
Punk rock-loving JJ Pankowski can’t seem to fit in at his new school in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, as one of the only white kids. Pie Velez, a math and history geek by day and graffiti artist by night is eager to follow in his idol, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s, footsteps. The boys stumble into an unlikely friendship, swapping notes on their love of music and art, which sees them through a difficult semester at school and at home. But a run-in with the cops threatens to unravel it all.
From authors Zetta Elliott and Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Moonwalking is a stunning exploration of class, cross-racial friendships, and two boys’ search for belonging in a city as tumultuous and beautiful as their hearts.
In the Key of Us by Hanif Abdurraqib; illustrated by Ashley Evans
Stonewall Book Awards—Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Honor Book
From the author of the critically acclaimed novel For Black Girls Like Me, Mariama J. Lockington, comes a coming-of-age story surrounding the losses that threaten to break us and the friendships that make us whole again.
Thirteen-year-old Andi feels stranded after the loss of her mother, the artist who swept color onto Andi’s blank canvas. When she is accepted to a music camp, Andi finds herself struggling to play her trumpet like she used to before her whole world changed. Meanwhile, Zora, a returning camper, is exhausted trying to please her parents, who are determined to make her a flute prodigy, even though she secretly has a dancer’s heart.
At Harmony Music Camp, Zora and Andi are the only two Black girls in a sea of mostly white faces. In kayaks and creaky cabins, the two begin to connect, unraveling their loss, insecurities, and hopes for the future. And as they struggle to figure out who they really are, they may just come to realize who they really need: each other.
In the Key of Us is a lyrical ode to music camp, the rush of first love, and the power of one life-changing summer.
