Picture books
Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa
Published by Dial
I was truly inspired to tell the story of this remarkable Black Latina. Julie Moran illustrates, and I think you'll agree that her paintings do a wonderful job of capturing Celia's magic.
"When she opened her mouth to sing, she heard a girl like any other. But when she sang her father heard thunder. Her cousins heard the call of the sea. Her neighbors heard a hummingbird ..."
Buy Celia Cruz from Amazon.com.
Double Dutch: A Celebration of Jump Rope, Rhyme and Sisterhood
Published by Hyperion
This colorful, vibrant treasury is the ultimate tribute to the unique sport and pastime of double Dutch. Written and compiled by celebrated author and journalist Veronica Chambers, Double Dutch is filled with her own personal memories of girlhood and jumping rope, along with poems, interviews, songs, history, quotes, rhymes, and photographs. At the heart of Double Dutch, though, is a celebration, not just of a sport, but of sisterhood--after all, it takes a few friends to make that rope really swing and those feet jump for joy.
Buy Double Dutch from Amazon.com.
Amistad Rising: The Story of Freedom
Published by Harcourt
Joseph Cinqu' is afraid he'll never see his family again. Kidnapped by slave traders and sold at auction, he finds himself chained in the hull of a cramped ship, Amistad, with more than fifty other Africans--including a few children. Cinqu' must do something. But what? In this truly epic adventure, Joseph Cinqu' wants only one thing: freedom. But what he achieves, with the help of former president John Quincy Adams, is far, far greater--Joseph Cinqu' makes history. Full-color illustrations.
Buy Amistad Rising from Amazon.com.
Harlem Renaissance
Published by Econo-Clad Books
Sophisticated, in-depth history that discusses how Harlem became the center of the great 1920s black cultural revolution that enriched the nation. Chambers weaves together accounts of the leading artists, writers, musicians, and intellectuals--Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, W. E. B. Du Bois, James van der Zee, and many more--with an overview of the social and political forces of the time. The approach is celebratory, but she also analyzes the bitter conflicts within the African American artistic community, as well as the influence, good and bad, of the whites who helped make Harlem popular.