This delightful, meaningful book is designed to teach tolerance and acceptance to young children. A lively group of farm animals play well together until conflict arises between a goat and turkey over their differences. The other farm animals step in to help them understand that it’s not their size or color but what’s in their hearts that tells them apart. Colorful illustrations will hold children’s attention and make this book a staple for any shelf.

This beautifully crafted book highlighting the life of Rosa Parks is a great way to open a discussion of courage, fairness and strength while providing children with a historical lesson. Lovely watercolors and collages frame this celebration of Parks’ civic contributions, providing a background of events leading to her refusal to move to the back of a segregated bus in 1955. This is a wonderful introduction to diversity and Black History Month.

Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This simple yet powerful book describes the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Throughout the book are poignant quotes from Dr. King’s speeches during the civil rights movement, such as “Love is the key to the problems of the world.” An artful blend of watercolor and paper collage shows the life of Martin as a young boy, learning about peace from his parents, through adulthood, marching with protesters.

As the only living relative who remembers him as a child, Christine King Farris felt it important to share stories of her childhood with her brother, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This book tells a first-hand story of the playful young Dr. King growing up in Georgia and realizing the injustice of segregation. The watercolor illustrations bring life to Farris’s tales of loving family, playful neighborhood pranks, and “M. L.’s” budding desire to help “turn the world upside down.”

Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes

Grade-school-age children will enjoy this book about one of the greatest and most beloved black poets, Langston Hughes. The editors present the poetry of Langston Hughes as well as background information about the poet and clues as to the meaning of some of his work. Vibrant, rich watercolor art adds excitement and charm to the poems. Filled with descriptions of great music, dreams and ordinary life, this book offers a slice of black culture and social issues.

Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue

Julius Lester is a magnificent storyteller who draws on historical sources to fictionalize a story about the “weeping time,” the biggest slave auction in American history, which took place in Savannah, Georgia in 1859. This stirring book is written like a play, with each character offering information about the two-day auction at which Pierce Butler, to cover gambling debts, sold 429 slaves, shattering hundreds of families. The sale records are listed with the names, ages and the amount received for each person. This powerful book will engage young readers and magnify the inhumanity of slavery.