Three years ago, for the 5 year anniversary of #ClassroomBookADay, I started curating monthly recommendations to provide deeper book knowledge, support of a broader range of book creators, and create a way to have common books for participating educators to discuss. I called it #cbadSpotlight. Each month, September-May, I share four titles that I think deserve special attention and a place in your classroom read aloud rotation.
I hope you find titles you are excited about, some new to you, and ones that will support your efforts with your students this school year as you work to be inclusive and thoughtful with your #ClassroomBookADay read alouds!
Shop for your #cbadSpotlight books at bookshop.org
to support indie bookstores + my work.
Though we should, of course, read books about Black history, characters, experiences, and joy all year long, for Black History Month I wanted to put a specific focus on several newer books that will add a valuable perspective to your read aloud rotations.
A few other posts I’ve shared in recent years with more book recommendations honoring and celebrating Black lives and characters & using/discussing them in the classroom:
*Books to Pair – A Text Set Celebrating / Honoring / Uplifting Blackness (January 2023)
*#ClassroomBookADay Recommendations: Black Joy & Excellence (February 2022)
*100 Picture Books Including Black People and Communities & Why You Need Them (May/June 2020)
*Updated – Honoring Black Lives: A Virtual Picture Book Library (June 2020/January 2022)
*Is it offensive to say Black? Conversations We Can’t Avoid in the Classroom (February 2018)
February 2023 #cbadSpotlight Titles
#1 New York Times Bestselling and award-winning author of The Undefeated, Kwame Alexander, pens a powerful picture book that tells the story of American slavery through the voice of a teacher struggling to help her students understand its harrowing history.
From the fireside tales in an African village, through the unspeakable passage across the Atlantic, to the backbreaking work in the fields of the South, this is a story of a people’s struggle and strength, horror and hope. This is the story of American slavery, a story that needs to be told and understood by all of us. A testament to the resilience of the African American community, this book honors what has been and envisions what is to be.
With stunning mixed-media illustrations by newcomer Dare Coulter, this is a potent book for those who want to speak the truth. Perfect for family sharing, the classroom, and homeschooling.
From NYT bestselling author Tracey Baptiste comes a singular picture book that is both a biography about Claudette Colvin, the teen whose activism launched the Montgomery bus boycott, and a celebration of collective action.
When fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin boarded a segregated bus on March 2, 1955, she had no idea she was about to make history. At school she was learning about abolitionists like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, which helped inspire her decision to refuse to give up her seat to a white woman, which led to her arrest, which began a crucial chain of events: Rosa Park’s sit-in nine months later, the organization of the Montgomery bus boycott by activists like Professor Jo Ann Robinson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Supreme Court decision that Alabama’s bus segregation was unconstitutional–a major triumph for the civil rights movement.
Because of Claudette’s brave stand against injustice, history was transformed. Now it’s time for young readers to learn about this living legend, her pivotal role in the civil rights movement, and the power of one person reaching out to another in the fight for change.
The Legend of Gravity: A Tall Basketball Tale
In his author-illustrator debut, Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe-and Africana Book Award-winning illustrator Charly Palmer spins a tall tale about a neighborhood basketball hero.
Have you ever heard of Gravity? No, not gravity, the centrifugal force pulling us to the Earth. I’m talking about Gravity–the greatest ball player to ever lace up a pair of sneakers.
Gravity is the new kid on the Hillside Projects basketball team, the Eagles. He once jumped so high that his teammates went out for ice cream before he came back down. With Gravity on their side, the Eagles feel unstoppable. They’re ready to win “The Best of the Best,” Milwaukee’s biggest and baddest pick-up basketball tournament. But when they face-off with the Flyers in the final round, the winningest team in the whole city, they realize that it may take a little more than Gravity to bring them to victory.
Here is a clever, energetic story about the unsung superstars walking among us, complete with vivid art and heartfelt themes of teamwork, loyalty, friendship, and fun.
A powerful story about the mixture of pride and pain that one Black family finds in the American flag, and an invitation for each of us to choose how we relate to America, its history, and the flag that means so many things to so many people.
What does the American flag mean to you?
For some, it’s a vision of hope and opportunity. For others, it represents pain and loss. And for many, it’s more complicated than that–a symbol of a nation where the basic ideas of freedom and equality are still up for debate.
From slavery and segregation through Rosa Parks and Barack Obama, the history of Black people in America is a mixture of pride and pain. And while the flag might mean different things to different people, with some choosing to kneel and others to salute, ultimately, it is up to each of us to decide: the American flag is ours to see and relate to as we choose.
In this powerfully validating story that showcases many facets of Black American history through the eyes of a young Black boy in conversation with his grandfather, we are all invited to choose how to relate to America, and to the flag that means so many things to so many people.
Catch up on prior month’s #cbadSpotlight selections
If you missed any of the 2019-2022 selections, be sure to check them out!
