These books for preschoolers and primary-grade children represent selected titles that pay homage to many aspects of Black History and African-American family life.

Picture books

* "Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad" by Pamela Duncan Edwards

* "Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky" by Faith Ringgold

* "Charlie Parker Played Be Bop" by Chris Raschka

Fiction

* "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt" by Deborah Hopkinson

* "Pink and Say" by Patricia Polacco

* "Ragtime Tumpie" by Alan Schroeder

* "Li'l Sis and Uncle Willie: A Story Based on the Life and Paintings of William H. Johnson" by Gwen Everett

* "Can a Coal Scuttle Fly?" by Camay Calloway Murphy

* "Dinner at Aunt Connie's House" by Faith Ringgold

Poetry

* "In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers" by Javaka Steptoe

* "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" by Maya Angelou

Nonfiction

* "Five Notable Inventors (Great Black Heroes)" from the Hello Reader Series by Wade Hudson

* "Shoes for Everyone: A Story About Jan Matzeliger" by Barbara Mitchell

* "Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story" by Julius Lester

Biographies

* "The Story of Ruby Bridges" by Robert Coles

* "Dear Benjamin Banneker" by Andrea Davis Pinkney

* "My Dream of Martin Luther King" by Faith Ringgold

* "Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of 'Brave Bessie' Coleman" by Reeve Lindbergh

* "African Americans Who Were First" by Joan Potter and Constance Claytor

-- Susan Rapp, director of the Village Reading Center

Pub Date: 02/22/99