10 AMAZING CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOKS WITH BLACK BOY PROTAGONISTS

by Amara Lawrence on Jan 04, 2023

Woke Babies understand the importance of seeing your reflection within the books your read. With more children’s books being published about animals than BAME characters, black children’s books have always been a struggle to find.

We have created this awesome list featuring black boy joy, that will keep any child engaged.

hand drawn illustration black boy wearing crown and backpack

THE KING OF THE KINDERGARTEN BY DERRICK BARNES
A confident little boy takes pride in his first day of kindergarten, by the Newbery Honor-winning author of Crown.

hand drawn illustration five black men on light blue background with stars

LITTLE LEADERS, EXCEPTIONAL MEN IN BLACK HISTORY BY VASHTI HARRISON
Meet the little leaders. They’re brave. They’re exceptional. They changed the world.
Learn all about the exceptional black men who broke barriers and fought injustice to realise their dreams and make the world a better place.

hand drawn illustration black boy with red toy car against big yellow moon

MAX AND THE TAG -ALONG – MOON BY FLOYD COOPER

Floyd Cooper’s lush paintings perfectly capture the wonder of the moon and the love between grandfather and grandson.

hand drawn illustration of black boy in orange trunks at end of diving board

JABARI JUMPS BY GAIA CORNWALL

In a sweetly appealing tale of overcoming your fears, newcomer Gaia Cornwall captures a moment between a patient and encouraging father and a determined little boy you can’t help but root for.

digital illustration of black boy looking up at black fairy dressed in white on dark background

DAVE AND THE TOOTH FAIRY (PAPERBACK)

Dave has a wobbly tooth. He wibbles and wobbles it, but it won’t come out. But then one day Dave lets out an enormous sneeze and the tooth flies across the room and vanishes. Dave searches high and low, but it’s nowhere to be seen. How will he get the tooth fairy to visit him now? A heartwarming picture book with a unique spin on the tooth fairy tradition.

hand drawn illustration black boy next to red dragon wrapped around stack of books

DO NOT BRING YOUR DRAGON TO THE LIBRARY BY JULIE GASSMAN

Have you ever thought about bringing your dragon to the library? Don’t do it! You might have the best intentions, but that dragon will cause nothing but trouble. Using rhyming text and a diverse cast of characters, this charming picture book will provide some important — and some not so important — library etiquette in a very entertaining way.

hand drawn illustration of black boy behind older black woman on blue background

OCTOPUS STEW BY ERIC VELASQUEZ

What do you do when an octopus captures Grandma? Put on your superhero cape and rescue her! Two stories in one from award-winning Afro-Latino artist Eric Velasquez

painted illustration of black boy counting coins in hand with market baskets in background

MY ROWS AND PILES OF COINS

A Tanzanian boy saves his coins to buy a bicycle so that he can help his parents carry goods to market, but then he discovers that in spite of all he has saved, he still does not have enough money.

digital collage of black man playing a saxophone

THIS JAZZ MAN BY KAREN EHRHARDT

SNAP! BOMP! BEEDLE-DI-BOP! In this toe-tapping jazz tribute, the traditional “This Old Man” gets a swinging makeover, and some of the era’s best musicians take centre stage. The tuneful text and vibrant illustrations bop, slide, and shimmy across the page as Satchmo plays one, Bojangles plays two . . . right on down the line to Charles Mingus, who plays nine, plucking strings that sound “divine.”