It’s time to celebrate Black Music Month! This month honors creators, the historical and cultural significance of Black musical genres, and the impact Black music has worldwide. This is just what Kenny Gamble and Dyana Williams, the founders of Black Music Month, envisioned. Here are 28 fiction and nonfiction picture books, including biographies and stories about hip-hop, soul, folk, rhythm & blues, rock and roll, gospel, and more. Happy Black Music Month!
See more books for Black Music Month here and here.
Clicking on the book links will direct you away from this site. BCBA may earn a small percentage on purchases.
Lawrence Roberts | Sally-Ann Roberts | Jestenia Southerland | HarperCollins | May 20, 2025
2. Rap It Up!
Carole Boston Weatherford | Jeffery Boston Weatherford | Ernel Martinez | Henry Holt BYR | March 18, 2025
Kwame Alexander | Charly Palmer | Little, Brown BYR | January 14, 2025
Cheryl Willis Hudson | London Ladd | Holiday House | January 7, 2025
5. Make a Pretty Sound: A Story of Ella Jenkins—The First Lady of Children’s Music
Traci N. Todd | Eleanor Davis | Chronicle Books | January 7, 2025
Gabriele Davis | Craig Stanley | Atheneum BYR | October 1, 2024
Ty Chapman | Anastasia Magloire Williams | Free Spirit Publishing | October 22, 2024
8. Bridges Instead of Walls: The Story of Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples | Carole Boston Weatherford | Steffi Walthall | Rocky Pond Books | July 9, 2024
Alice Faye Duncan | Paul Kellam | WaterBrook | July 9, 2024
Allen R. Wells | Shamar Knight-Justice | HarperCollins | July 9, 2024
11. Legends of Hip-Hop: Biggie Smalls
Pen Ken | Saxton Moore | HarperFestival | June 18, 2024
12. Soul Step
Jewell Parker Rhodes | Kelly McWilliams | Briana Mukodiri Uchendu | Little, Brown BYR | June 4, 2024
13. Kiki Finds Her Voice: Be True to You and Embrace Your God-Given Gifts
Kierra Sheard-Kelly | Paul Kellam | Zonderkidz | January 23, 2024
14. Is This Love?
Cedella Marley | Alea Marley | Chronicle Books | November 21, 2023
15. Ordinary Days: The Seeds, Sound, and City That Grew Prince Rogers Nelson
Angela Joy | Jacqueline Alcántara | Roaring Brook Press | October 24, 2023
16. Legends of Hip-Hop: Queen Latifah
Pen Ken | Saxton Moore | HarperFestival | September 19, 2023
Pen Ken | Saxton Moore | HarperFestival | September 19, 2023
18. Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar
Charnelle Pinkney Barlow | Doubleday BYR | February 28, 2023
19. A is for Aretha
Leslie Kwan | Rachelle Baker | Kokila | January 24, 2023
20. The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music
Roberta Flack | Tonya Bolden | Hayden Goodman | Anne Schwartz Books | January 10, 2023
21. Lovely Day
Bill Withers | Skip Scarborough | Olivia Duchess | Scholastic Inc. | January 3, 2023
22. Somebody to Love: The Story of Valerie June’s Sweet Little Baby Banjolele
Valerie June Hockett | Marcela Avelar | Third Man Books | November 1, 2022
23. Yellow Dog Blues
Alice Faye Duncan | Chris Raschka | Eerdmans BYR | September 27, 2022
24. Sing, Aretha, Sing!: Aretha Franklin, Respect, and the Civil Rights Movement
Hanif Abdurraqib | Ashley Evans | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | February 1, 2022
25. Nina: A Story of Nina Simone
Traci Todd | Christian Robinson | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR | September 28, 2021
26. By and By: Charles Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music
Carole Boston Weatherford | Bryan Collier | Atheneum BYR | January 14, 2020
Katheryn Russell-Brown | Laura Freeman | Bloomsbury | January 7, 2020
Debbie A. Taylor | Frank Morrison | Lee & Low Books | April 1, 2004
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