We’re at a pivotal moment in history, together, and it has me thinking a lot about the world in which I hope to raise my future children, the world in which I hope all of our children get to grow up. One responsibility for me as a white parent, I realize, will be stocking their bookshelves with stories as diverse as the country they’ll call home – will be ensuring that there are ample books to read in our house that celebrate black life, teach anti-racism, and open their eyes and hearts to experiences that are not their own.

For black parents, one importance of having BIPOC-centered and authored stories available for their children is representation – that their kids so deserve to see themselves in the books they engage with, to know their history and ancestry, and to grow up honored and empowered by the characters beautifully illustrated and shared on each and every page.

We understand that, for parents, books and storytelling can be a helpful way to start difficult conversations with children, especially when they are young and the topic at hand (blackness, racism, gender identity, sexuality, etc.) is proving tough to navigate. Jodie Patterson, activist, mother, and author of The Bold World and Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope, helped us put together the following list of age-appropriate BIPOC books and stories to share with your kids at each stage of their development.

Picture Books:

• Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope by Jodie Patterson (available for pre-sale in July)
• The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
• Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea by Meena Harris
• Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o, Illustrated by Vashti Harrison
• Enough! 20 Protesters Who Changed America by Emily Easton, illustrated by Ziyue Chen
• Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-Ins by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, illustrated by Jade Johnson
• We Are the Change: Words of Inspiration from Civil Rights Leaders with intro by Harry Belafonte
• I Am Enough by Grace Byers
• Bedtime Bonnet by Nancy Redd

Middle Grade Nonfiction:

• Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice by Mahogany L. Browne with Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood, illustrated by Theodore Taylor III
• We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson
• Brave, Black, First: Fifty African American Women Who Changed the World by Cheryl Willis Hudson, illustrated by Erin K. Robinson, in partnership with the National Museum of African American History & Culture

Middle Grade Fiction:

• A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
• Clean Getaway by Nic Stone
• Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
• Flying Lessons & Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh, co-founder of We Need Diverse Books

Young Adult Nonfiction:

• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
• Say Her Name (Poems to Empower) by Zetta Elliot
• This Book Is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell
• Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults): A True Story of the Fight for Justice by Bryan Stevenson

Young Adult Fiction:

• Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagen
• The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus
• Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
• The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
• Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett
• Dear Martin by Nic Stone