Celebrate Black History Month with Chapter Books

Juvenile fiction books with black main characters.

Showing 1 - 20 of 21  There are a total of 21 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Amari and the night brothers"
Star rating for Amari and the night brothers
Series:
Amari volume 1.
Description:
Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good. So when she finds a ticking briefcase in his closet, containing a nomination for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain the secretive organization holds the key to locating Quinton—if only she can wrap her...
Book cover for "Before the ever after"
Star rating for Before the ever after
Description:
For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone's hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he's as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ's house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ's mom explains it's because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand...

3. Booked

Book cover for "Booked"
Star rating for Booked
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Twelve-year-old Nick loves soccer and hates books, but soon learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.
Book cover for "Clayton Byrd goes underground"
Star rating for Clayton Byrd goes underground
Description:
Clayton feels most alive when he's with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen -- he can't wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton's mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that's no way to live. Armed with his grandfather's brown porkpie hat and his harmonica, he runs away from home in search of the Bluesmen, hoping...
Book cover for "Dragons in a bag"
Star rating for Dragons in a bag
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
In Brooklyn, nine-year-old Jax joins Ma, a curmudgeonly witch who lives in his building, on a quest to deliver three baby dragons to a magical world, and along the way discovers his true calling.
Book cover for "Ghost boys"
Star rating for Ghost boys
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till.
Book cover for "A good kind of trouble"
Star rating for A good kind of trouble
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
"Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she'd also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.) But in junior high, it's like all the rules have changed. Now she's suddenly questioning who her best friends are and some people at school are saying she's not black enough. Wait, what? Shay's sister,...

8. Hoodoo

Book cover for "Hoodoo"
Star rating for Hoodoo
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
In 1930s Alabama, twelve-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher is the only member of his family who seems unable to practice folk magic, but when a mysterious man called the Stranger puts the entire town at risk from his black magic, Hoodoo must learn to conjure to defeat him.
Book cover for "Isaiah Dunn is my hero"
Star rating for Isaiah Dunn is my hero
Series:
Isaiah Dunn volume 1.
Description:
"Isaiah is now the big man of the house. But it's a lot harder than his dad made it look. His little sister, Charlie, asks too many questions, and Mama's gone totally silent. Good thing Isaiah can count on his best friend, Sneaky, who always has a scheme for getting around the rules. Plus, his classmate Angel has a few good ideas of her own--once she stops hassling Isaiah. And when things get really tough, there's Daddy's journal, filled with stories...
Book cover for "It's the end of the world and I'm in my bathing suit"
Star rating for It's the end of the world and I'm in my bathing suit
Description:
When the electricity goes out, twelve-year-old Eddie and his friends set out to investigate what is going on when they make the startling discovery that they are the only ones left in their neighborhood--and perhaps the only people left anywhere.
Book cover for "J.D. and the great barber battle"
Star rating for J.D. and the great barber battle
Author:
Series:
Description:
J.D. has a big problem—it's the night before the start of third grade and his mom has just given him his first and worst home haircut. When the steady stream of insults from the entire student body of Douglass Elementary becomes too much for J.D., he takes matters into his own hands and discovers that, unlike his mom, he's a genius with the clippers. His work makes him the talk of the town and brings him enough hair business to open a barbershop...
Book cover for "Just right Jillian"
Star rating for Just right Jillian
Description:
Fifth grader Jillian will do just about anything to blend in, including staying quiet even when she has the right answer. After she loses a classroom competition because she won't speak up, she sets her mind on winning her school's biggest competition. But breaking out of her shell is easier said than done, and Jillian has only a month to keep her promise to her grandmother and prove to herself that she can speak up and show everyone her true self....
Book cover for "King and the dragonflies"
Star rating for King and the dragonflies
Description:
"Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town, [but he] still visits in dreams . . . King must keep these secrets to himself [and can't even] talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders, [because] just days before he died, Khalid told [him] to end his friendship with Sandy,...
Book cover for "Last gate of the emperor"
Star rating for Last gate of the emperor
Series:
Average Rating:
2 stars
Description:
"Yared Heywat lives an isolated life in Addis Prime, a hardscrabble city with rundown tech, lots of rules, and not much to do. His worrywart Uncle Moti and bionic lioness Besa are his only family, and his only friends. Often in trouble for his thrill-seeking antics and smart mouth, those same qualities make Yared a star player of the underground augmented reality game, The Hunt for Kaleb's Obelisk. But when a change in the game rules prompts Yared...
Book cover for "Maya and the robot"
Star rating for Maya and the robot
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Maya's nervous about fifth grade. She tries to keep calm by reminding herself she knows what to expect. But then she learns that this year won't be anything like the last. For the first time since kindergarten, her best friends Jada and MJ are placed in a different class without her, and introverted Maya has trouble making new friends. She tries to put on a brave face since they are in fifth grade now, but Maya is nervous! Just when too much seems...
Book cover for "Rock star"
Star rating for Rock star
Series:
Jada Jones volume 1.
Description:
Fourth-grader Jada's best friend moved away but a class project on rocks and minerals, her favorite topic, could mean new friends, if only one of her teammates would stop being mean.
Book cover for "The season of Styx Malone"
Star rating for The season of Styx Malone
Description:
Caleb Franklin and his younger brother, Bobby Gene, spend an extraordinary summer with their new, older neighbor, Styx Malone, a foster boy from the city.
Book cover for "Two Naomis"
Star rating for Two Naomis
Description:
Other than their first names, Naomi Marie and Naomi Edith are sure they have nothing in common, and they wouldn't mind keeping it that way. Naomi Marie starts clubs at the library and adores being a big sister. Naomi Edith loves quiet Saturdays and hanging with her best friend in her backyard. And while Naomi Marie's father lives a few blocks away, Naomi Edith wonders how she's supposed to get through each day a whole country apart from her mother....
Book cover for "Unstoppable Octobia May"
Star rating for Unstoppable Octobia May
Description:
In 1953 ten-year-old Octobia May lives in her Aunt's boarding house in the South, surrounded by an African American community which has its own secrets and internal racism, and spends her days wondering if Mr. Davenport in room 204 is really a vampire--or something else entirely.
Book cover for "Ways to make sunshine"
Star rating for Ways to make sunshine
Series:
Description:
Ryan Hart has a lot on her mind—school, self-image, and especially family. Her dad finally has a new job, but money is tight. That means some changes, like selling their second car and moving into a new (old) house. But Ryan is a girl who knows how to make sunshine out of setbacks. As her brother says when he raps about her, she's got the talent that matters most: it's a talent that can't be seen, she's nice, not mean! Ryan is all about trying...