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Celebrate Black Music Month: 30 Fiction and Nonfiction Book Selections

Black Music Month is an annual June celebration of the cultural and economic impact that Black artists and musicians have made across the world. Kenny Gamble and Dyana Williams are the creators of Black Music Month, and President Jimmy Carter held the first formal White House observance in 1979. Although President Barack Obama changed the name to African American Music Appreciation Month in 2009, many still use the former name. According to Roots of African American Music, “Many of the instruments historically used in African American music, including the banjo and the drum, have antecedents in African musical instruments, and many features common to African American music likewise have roots in African musical traditions, such as the call and response song form and an immersive approach to singing.” To Be a Drum, In the Hollow of Your Hand: Slave Lullabies and All Night, All Day: A Child’s First Book of African-American Spirituals are examples of such. Our list features fiction and nonfiction picture, middle-grade, and young adult books that are reflections of various music artists and genres such as jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, rap, etc. Happy Black Music Month! Our stories matter.


Nonfiction


Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice and Sing Inspired Generations

Kelly Starling Lyons | Keith Mallett | Nancy Paulsen Books, 2019 | Amazon | IndieBound


Beyoncé: Shine Your Light

Sarah Warren | Geneva Bowers | HMH BYR, 2019 | Amazon | IndieBound


The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop

Carole Boston Weatherford | Frank Morrison | little bee books, 2019 | Amazon | IndieBound


The 5 O’Clock Band

Troy Andrews | Bryan Collier | Harry N. Abrams, 2018 | Amazon | IndieBound


Unlocking the Truth: Three Brooklyn Teens on Life, Friendship and Making the Band

Unlocking the Truth | Charisse Jones | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR, 2015 | Amazon | IndieBound



Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound

Andrea Davis Pinkney | Roaring Brook Press, 2015 | Amazon | IndieBound


I and I Bob Marley

Tony Medina | Jesse Joshua Watson | Lee & Low Books, 2013 | Amazon | IndieBound


I See the Rhythm of Gospel

Toyomi Igus | Michele Wood | Zonderkidz; Har/Com, 2010 | Amazon | IndieBound


Odetta: The Queen of Folk

Samantha Thornhill | Stephen Alcorn | Scholastic Press, 2010 | Amazon | IndieBound


Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat

Nikki Giovanni | Alicia Vergel de Dios | Damian Ward, et al | Sourcebooks,2008 | Amazon | IndieBound



Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits

Wynton Marsalis | Paul Rogers | Phil Schaap | Candlewick, 2005 | Amazon | IndieBound


I See the Rhythm

Toyomi Igus | Michele Wood | Children’s Book Press, 2005 | Amazon | IndieBound


Blues Journey

Walter Dean Myers | Christopher Myers | Holiday House, 2003 | Amazon | IndieBound


The Blues Singers: Ten Who Rocked the World

Julius Lester | Lisa Cohen | Jump At The Sun, 2001 | Amazon | IndieBound


All Night, All Day: A Child’s First Book of African-American Spirituals

Ashley Bryan | Atheneum BYR, 1991 | Amazon | IndieBound


Fiction


Early Sunday Morning

Denene Millner | Vanessa Brantley-Newton | Agate Bolden, 2017 | Amazon | IndieBound


Oscar Lives Next Door: A Story Inspired by Oscar Peterson’s Childhood

Bonnie Farmer | Marie Lafrance | Owlkids, 2015 | Amazon | IndieBound


Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band

Kwame Alexander | Tim Bowers | Sleeping Bear Press, 2011 | Amazon | IndieBound


The Gospel Cinderella

Joyce Carol Thomas | David Diaz | Amistad, 2004 | Amazon | IndieBound


Willie Jerome

Alice Faye Duncan | Tyrone Geter | Atheneum, 1995 | Amazon



The Sweetest Sound

Sherri Winston | Little, Brown BYR, 2017 | Amazon | IndieBound


Clayton Byrd Goes Underground

Rita Williams-Garcia | Frank Morrison | Amistad, 2017 | Amazon | IndieBound


No Ordinary Sound: A Classic Featuring Melody

Denise Lewis Patrick | American Girl, 2016 | Amazon | IndieBound


Garvey’s Choice

Nikki Grimes | Wordsong, 2016 | Amazon | IndieBound


Never Stop Singing: A Melody Classic Volume 2

Denise Lewis Patrick | American Girl, 2016 | Amazon | IndieBound



Let Me Hear a Rhyme

Tiffany D. Jackson | Katherine Tegen Books, 2019 | Amazon | IndieBound


Spin

Lamar Giles | Scholastic Press, 2019 | Amazon | IndieBound


On the Come-up

Angie Thomas | Balzer + Bray, 2019 | Amazon | IndieBound


Solo

Kwame Alexander | Mary Rand Hess | Blink, 2017 | Amazon | IndieBound


Show and Prove

Sofia Quintero | Knopf BYR, 2015 | Amazon | IndieBound


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