Black History Month
For Black History Month we have put together a booklist of historical stories from Black History around the world.
From picture books to teen novels, spanning fiction and non-fiction, these books are bound to captivate and inform.
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Son of the Circus: A Victorian Story
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Son of the Circus: A Victorian Story
Twelve-year-old Ted discovers he has roots in the circus and must join his father’s company for the first time to discover his own…
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Katherine Johnson: A Life Story
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Katherine Johnson: A Life Story
An accessible, compelling and inspiring biography of Katherine Johnson: a brilliant, black, female mathematician who helped make N…
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Black and British: A Short, Essential History
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Black and British: A Short, Essential History
David Olusoga’s latest edition of Black and British has been revised and rewritten especially for secondary school child…
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Africa, Amazing Africa: Country by Country
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Africa, Amazing Africa: Country by Country
A perfect book for young children interested in their cultural heritage or for those with a passion for travel and geography, this…
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Little People, Big Dreams: Muhammad Ali
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Little People, Big Dreams: Muhammad Ali
Learn about African-American boxer Muhammad Ali in this accessible picture book biography for young children. This title buil…
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Diver’s Daughter: A Tudor Story
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Diver’s Daughter: A Tudor Story
This is a thrilling tale, with the expertly described Tudor world brought to hideous, harsh life with the same verve as Patrice La…
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Freedom (1783)
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Freedom (1783)
This is a brilliant adventure story that manages to give young readers a really important insight into slavery without being so up…
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Run the Show Like CEO Oprah Winfrey
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Run the Show Like CEO Oprah Winfrey
Following Oprah from her beginnings as the first black news anchor in Nashville to her first break on TV, this amazing illustrated…
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How High the Moon
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How High the Moon
Inspired by the tragic true story of the youngest American ever to be executed, this ambitious novel weaves together family drama …
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Ella: Queen of Jazz
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Ella: Queen of Jazz
A focus on early prejudice towards Ella Fitzgerald and her unlikely friendship between Marilyn Monroe. The illustrations' glorious…
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A Medal for Leroy
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A Medal for Leroy
A moving story of love, loss and discovering your identity, inspired by the true story of Walter Tull, the first black officer in …
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Little People, Big Dreams: Maya Angelou
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Little People, Big Dreams: Maya Angelou
This inspiring biography for young readers focusses on writer, speaker and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.
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Queer Heroes
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Queer Heroes
This wonderful celebration of a wide range of LGBTQ+ heroes - both famous and less well-known - is a beautiful book and highlights…
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Timelines from Black History: Leaders, Legends, Legacies
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Timelines from Black History: Leaders, Legends, Legacies
An essential and fascinating book which follows black history across many centuries to today’s contemporary world.
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Grandad Mandela
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Grandad Mandela
This insightful and uplifting picture book recounts the life of Nelson Mandela through the eyes of his great-grandchildren, Zazi a…
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Cane Warriors
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Cane Warriors
This story is inspired by a real life rebellion in British-owned slave plantations in Jamaica in 1760. Moa has spent his entire li…
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Windrush Child
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Windrush Child
This is the story of Leonard, who travels with his mother from Jamaica to England after the Second World War. Benjamin Zephaniah s…
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Our Story Starts in Africa
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Our Story Starts in Africa
A perfectly pitched story of Black history that brings it back to the personal for a little girl.
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A Nest Of Vipers
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A Nest Of Vipers
We meet Cato Hopkins in Newgate Prison in September 1712, on the morning of the day he is due to be hanged for fraud.
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Queen of Freedom
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Queen of Freedom
Set in Jamaica in the 1720s, this is the incredible true story of Queen Nanny, leader of the Maroons, a community of escaped slave…
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Buffalo Soldier
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Buffalo Soldier
A moving, gritty and convincing teenage historical drama where love and loyalty take on prejudice and greed.
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Kemosha of the Caribbean
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Kemosha of the Caribbean
In the 1600s, 14 year old Kemosha escapes a life of slavery at the hands of the cruel Mr Powell and finds herself aboard the pirat…
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Race to the Frozen North: The Matthew Henson Story
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Race to the Frozen North: The Matthew Henson Story
Penniless and shoeless, 11-year-old Matt leaves home and walks to Washington DC in search of a new life. Taken in by the kindly Ja…
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Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
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Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
This beautiful and profound book chronicles the struggles and achievements of historic and contemporary black women. Not just…
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The Elemental Detectives
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The Elemental Detectives
A thrilling adventure, where two Black children battle Elemental spirits to save Georgian London from a sleeping sickness. Inventi…
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Journey Back to Freedom: The Olaudah Equiano Story
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Journey Back to Freedom: The Olaudah Equiano Story
Olaudah is just 11 years old when he is kidnapped from his lovely family in Essaka, Africa in 1745, sold into brutal slavery and r…
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A Change Is Gonna Come
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A Change Is Gonna Come
This must-have anthology featuring stories and poems from 12 black, Asian and minority ethnic authors deals with the subject of ch…
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Little People, Big Dreams: Josephine Baker
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Little People, Big Dreams: Josephine Baker
Looking back at the life of Josephine Baker, this book captures a bubbly personality but also shows another side to this publ…
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Musical Truth
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Musical Truth
A concise and passionate exploration of Modern Black British history through 28 songs that changed British culture forever.
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Walter Tull's Scrapbook
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Walter Tull's Scrapbook
Discover the fascinating true story of footballer and World War I officer Walter Tull in this highly visual scrapbook.
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Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past a...
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Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past a...
This beautiful and eye-catching hardback celebrates a selection of black icons from history and the present day to inspire all chi…
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The World Beneath
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The World Beneath
This short novel could introduce an important part of our very recent history, apartheid in South Africa, for the first time to ma…
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Rosa Parks - Little People, Big Dreams
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Rosa Parks - Little People, Big Dreams
The Little People, Big Dreams series does it again: this book about Rosa Parks is yet another astounding and eye-welling read that…
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