Rock, Rhymin’, and Respect: 21 (and more) Books for Black Music Month
May 31, 2022
July 2022 Children’s & YA New Releases
June 15, 2022
Show all

Books (Available Now and Coming Soon) for Pride Month

“True community is based upon equality, mutuality, and reciprocity. It affirms the richness of individual diversity as well as the common human ties that bind us together.”–Pauli Murry

There are two biographies about Pauli Murry on this book list for Pride Month. The book description from one of them, Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist, co-written by Terry Catasús Jennings and Murry’s niece Rosita Stevens-Holsey, states that Murry “was a queer civil rights and women’s rights activist before any movement advocated for either…” Deborah Nelson Linck and illustrator Angela Corbin collaborated on the other one, Pauli Murray: Shouting for the Rights of All People. Linck, in this interview, explains that one of the reasons Murry is not well known is because “when we talk about African American history, we’re assigned who our heroes are…and because of that assigning of heroes and icons, those people [like Pauli Murry] don’t appear in the history books. They’ve done tremendous work.” 

Another book of note that’s releasing later this year in November is the picture book A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington by Carole Boston Weatherford, Rob Sanders, and Byron McCray. Rustin—a gay man—is not commonly mentioned in conversations about civil rights heroes, activists, and trailblazers.

For more book ideas, see 15 Books for Pride Month. Happy Pride Month!

BCBA uses Amazon, Bookshop, and IndieBound Affiliate links. Clicking on the links will direct you away from this site, and BCBA may earn a small percentage on purchases.



1. A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington

Carole Boston Weatherford | Rob Sanders | Byron McCray | Henry Holt & Company | November 8, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop


2. Calvin

J.R. Ford | Vanessa Ford | Kayla Harren | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR | November 9, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop


3. Pauli Murray: Shouting for the Rights of All People

Deborah Nelson Linck | Angela Corbin | Morehouse Publishing | May 17, 2022 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop


4. In the Key of Us Anxiety

Mariama Lockington | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) | April 26, 2022 | MG | Amazon | Bookshop



5. We Deserve Monuments

Jas Hammonds | Roaring Brook Press | November 29, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


6. Lark & Kasim Start a Revolution

Kacen Callender | Amulet Books | September 27, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


7. How To Succeed in Witchcraft

Aislinn Brophy | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR | September 27, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


8. Bad Things Happen Here

Rebecca Barrow | Margaret K. McElderry Books | June 28, 2022 | YA |  Amazon | Bookshop



9. This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart, Bk. 2)

Kalynn Bayron | Bloomsbury YA | June 21, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


10. Kings of B’more

R. Eric Thomas | Kokila | May 31, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


11. Deep in Providence

Riss M. Neilson | Henry Holt & Company BYR | May 31, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


12. Only on the Weekends

Dean Atta | Balzer + Bray | May 24, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop



13. Café Con Lychee

Emery Lee | Quill Tree Books | May 10, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


14. Burn Down, Rise Up

Vincent Tirado | Sourcebooks Fire | May 3, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


15. Nothing Burns as Bright as You

Ashley Woodfolk | Versify | April 5, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


16. Right Where I Left You   

Julian Winters | Viking BYR | March 15, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop



17. Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist

Terry Catasús Jennings | Rosita Stevens-Holsey , et al. | Yellow Jacket | February 8, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


18. The Kindred

Alechia Dow | Inkyard Press | January 4, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


19. Things We Couldn’t Say

Jay Coles | Scholastic Press | September 21, 2021 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


20. Artie and the Wolf Moon

Olivia Stephens | Graphic Universe | September 7, 2021 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop


If you enjoy the new releases, book news, book lists, and other features on our blog, go here to support BCBA with a tax-deductible donation and here to subscribe to our newsletter. Thanks for your support!

Comments are closed.