Non-Fiction for Children – Black History Month
Audio reading of Non-Fiction for Children – Black History Month
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Non-Fiction for Children – Black History Month | by Caroline Fielding, Charlton Park Academy Librarian
Last October for Black History Month I shared some of my favourite titles by Black British authors/illustrators/poets . This time I want to focus on non-fiction for children about British Black history because there have been some brilliant books published in recent years!
He [David Olusoga] charts to forgotten histories of Black people in Britain from Roman times through to the present day.
You may have seen David Olusoga’s Black and British TV series, and even read the book, but you may not know that he rewrote it – brilliantly – for teens last year. He charts to forgotten histories of Black people in Britain from Roman times through to the present day. Excitingly, an illustrated version for younger readers (9+) is being published this November!
I mentioned The Story of the Windrush by Kandace Chimbiri last time, a brilliantly accessible short book featuring the stories of some of those onboard. Since then, the author has contributed to The Place for Me: Stories about the Windrush generation, which is a fantastic read (and has a foreword from Dame Floella Benjamin – if you haven’t read her autobiography, Coming to England, then do, and there’s a beautiful abridged picture book version with illustrations by Diane Ewen). Kandace also has a book coming on this month that sounds fascinating: The Story of Afro Hair, I’ve seen a few pages of it and the illustrations by Joelle Avelino are amazing. Another contributor to The Place for Me, Judy Hepburn, has recently written some narrative non-fiction titles for Scholastic. One about Ignatius Sancho for the brilliant MY STORY series (for readers 8+) and one for their younger series I WAS THERE, Ira Aldridge: The Shakesperean Actor.
Kandace [Chimbiri] also has a book coming on this month that sounds fascinating: The Story of Afro Hair, I’ve seen a few pages of it and the illustrations by Joelle Avelino are amazing.
Not just Black British history, but put together by Black British author Mireille Harper, the DK Timelines from Black History: Leaders, Legends, Legacies has visual timelines exploring biographies of significant Black people, famous and unknown, and themes throughout history.
Finally, something completely different. The Black Girls Book Club (@bg_bookclub on twitter) was set up a few years ago by best friends Melissa Cummings-Quarry and Natalie Carter to share their love of books by Black women, I met them when they featured their first YA* title (The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, an astounding American YA novel). They’ve since highlighted a number of YA books and have just published their own non-fiction book, GROWN: The Black Girls’ Guide to Glowing Up, which you 100% need to put in the hands of any Black teen girls you know.
* YA – Young Adults
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