I thank School & Library Journal for asking me to choose my “favorite children’s book about the black experience” for their article “Places in the Heart: Celebrating Black History Month“.

This article is well worth a read to build your library with recommendations from authors: Sharon Draper, Russell Freedman, Nikki Grimes, Angela Johnson, Cynthia Kadohata, Julius Lester, Grace Lin, Pat Mora, Jim Murphy, Vaunda Nelson, Elizabeth Partridge, Mitali Perkins, Andrea Pinkney, Jerry Pinkney, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Anita Silvey, Carole Boston Weatherford, and Rita Williams-Garcia.

I selected Minds Stayed On Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle in the Rural South: An Oral History (Westview Press) by the Youth of the Rural Organizing and Cultural Center.  Read why…