February is Black History Month. Celebrate this month in your school or library with Canadian books for kids and teens.

Picture Books
Anna Carries Water Written by Olive Senior Illustrated by Laura James Tradewind Books, 2013 ISBN 978-1-896580-60-9 IL: Ages 4-8  RL: Grades 2-3 Anna’s family needs water for cooking, drinking, washing dishes and brushing teeth. Anna and her siblings fetch water from the spring every day, but she can’t carry it on her head like her older brothers and sisters. Anna worries she’ll never be able to carry water on her head, but her older sister tells her it will “just happen” one day. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers	Community Soup Written and illustrated Alma Fullerton Pajama Press, 2013 ISBN 978-1-927485-27-9 IL: Ages 4-12  RL: Grades 1-2 Kioni loves her goats, but they can be big trouble! On soup day, when all the other students are gathering vegetables from the community garden, Kioni is gathering goats! Luckily the kids have a great idea, and soon Kioni’s four-legged friends are helping to make the soup a delicious success. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Creation of Hope Project in Kenya. Young readers will also want to read Fullerton’s A Good Trade. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
From Lands of the Night Written by Tololwa M. Mollel Illustrated by Darrell McCalla Red Deer Press, 2014 ISBN 978-0-88995-498-4 IL: Ages 6 and up  RL: Grades 2-3 When Ra-Eli’s brother falls ill, her family is instructed by the healer to hold a joyful celebration. What follows is a magical event. First, neighbours and friends come — then angels and finally Mola — God. Music and dancing ensue, and when the exhausted Ra-Eli wakes, Mola hands the now recovered baby to his joyful mother. This story is a true testament to the power of ceremony and music and the honoring of ancestors who come — From Lands of the Night. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers	My Book of Stripes Written and photographed by Kathy Knowles Osu Children’s Library Fund, 2014 ISBN 978-0-9868383-9-2 IL: Ages 1-5  RL: Grade 1 This photo-illustrated book celebrates stripes with a particularly African focus. Simple declarative sentences relate to bright, bold photographs of children and things with stripes in various settings and situations. Young children will enjoy finding all the different stripes in the photographs and will get a glimpse of daily life in Ghana. Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
My Name Is Blessing Written by Eric Walters Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes Tundra Books, 2013 ISBN 978-1-77049-301-8 IL: Ages 7-12  RL: Grades 3-4 Based on the life of a real boy, this warm-hearted, beautifully illustrated book tells the story of Baraka, a young Kenyan boy with a physical disability. Baraka lives with his grandmother and his eight cousins, and while Baraka’s grandmother gives her grandchildren boundless love, there is never enough money or food, making life very hard. Baraka’s grandmother is faced with a difficult choice, but that decision changes both of their lives for the better. Young readers will also want to read Hope Springs, also by Walters and Fernandes. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers	Up Home Written by Shauntay Grant Illustrated by Susan Tooke Nimbus Publishing, 2008 ISBN 978-1-55109-660-5 IL: Ages 5-8  RL: Grade 3 Shauntay Grant’s poem describes the happy memories of her childhood visits to North Preston, Nova Scotia. Her words evoke the sights, sounds, rhythms and folks of a joyful place. Susan Tooke’s artwork captures the warmth of one of Canada’s most significant black communities. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
Junior & Intermediate Fiction
A Desperate Road to Freedom: The Underground Railroad Diary of Julia May Jackson (Dear Canada) Written by Karleen Bradford Scholastic Canada, 2009 ISBN 978-0-545-99619-8 IL: Ages 10-13  RL: Grade 4 A riveting tale of a brave family’s last bid for freedom, and the price they pay to find it. Readers will be moved as they follow Julia May’s family on their trek north. But even here, old prejudices die hard. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers	Last Days in Africville Written by Dorothy Joan Perkyns Dundurn, 2006 ©2003 ISBN 978-1-55002-630-6 IL: Ages 9-12  Rl: Grades 4-6 Twleve-year-old Selina is growing up in the community of Africville in 1965. The only black student in her grade 6 class, she takes comfort in the fact that every day she goes home to a loving neighbourhood. But will the only home she knows be taken away? Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
The Madman of Piney Woods Written by Christopher Paul Curtis Scholastic Canada, 2014 ISBN 978-1-4431-3912-0 IL: Ages 8-12  RL: Grades 4-5 Set in 1901, in the towns of Buxton and neighbouring Chatham Ontario, Benji and Red aren’t friends. They don’t even live in the same town. But their fates are entwined. A chance meeting leads the boys to discover that they have more in common than meets the eye. There’s a strange presence in the forest… Could the Madman of Piney Woods be real? This is the companion novel to Elijah of Buxton. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers	Underground to Canada (Puffin Classics) Written by Barbara Smucker Puffin Canada, 2013 ©1977 ISBN: 978-0-14-318789-9 IL: Ages 9-13  RL: Grades 5-6 Ripped from her mother by slave traders, Julilly yearns to be free. She and her friend Liza dream of escaping to Canada, the ‘Promised Land’ of freedom. So when the Underground Railway offers to help them escape, they are ready. But slave catchers are also ready to relentlessly pursue them… This Canadian classic includes an intro by Lawrence Hill. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
Young Adult Fiction
Between Sisters Written by Adwoa Badoe Groundwood Books, 2010 ISBN 978-0-88899-997-9 IL: Ages 14 and up  RL: Grade 8 When Gloria fails her final exams, her future looks bleak. With her mother ill and her father out of work, Gloria moves north to Kumasi to be a nanny and housekeeper for a well-to-do relative. Gloria is betrayed by the people around her and disillusioned by her life. When she decides who she can trust and draws on her inner resources, she puts the bad experiences behind her. A glossary of Ghanaian terms is included. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers	Chasing Freedom Written by Gloria Ann Wesley Roseway Publishing, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-55266-423-0 IL: Ages 12 and up  RL: Grades 5-6 Sarah Redmond’s father steals away in the dead of night to join the British army with its promises of freedom, land and provisions. But before he can return, the American Revolutionary war ends, and Sarah and her grandmother Lydia are among the loyalist slaves sent to Birchtown, Nova Scotia—the first all-black community in North America. Their struggle for freedom is just beginning as they find friends, foes and hidden family secrets. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
Cry of the Giraffe Written by Judie Oron Annick Press, 2010 ISBN: 978-1-55451-271-3 IL: Ages 14 and up  RL: Grade 9 Fleeing from hatred and persecution because of their Jewish faith, 13-year-old Wuditu and her family trek on foot to Sudan, hoping to be transported to Yerusalem and a better life. Instead they are herded into a refugee camp and eventually forced back to the Ethiopian border. Judie Oron, a journalist, risks her life to help Wuditu leave Ethiopia and find safety in her spiritual homeland of Israel. This story is based on true events. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers	The Gospel Truth Written by Caroline Pignat Red Deer Press, 2014 ISBN 978-0-88995-493-9 IL: Ages 12 and up  RL: Grades 7-8 Through the different points of view of slaves Phoebe and her friend Shad, their masters, and a visiting Canadian bird-watcher, the world of a Virginia tobacco plantation in 1858 comes to life in this historical free-verse novel. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
Non-Fiction
Africans Thought of It: Amazing Innovations (We Thought of It) Written by Bathseba Opini and Richard Lee Annick Press, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-55451-277-5 IL: Ages 9-11  RL: Grades 4-6 From aloe vera to the xylophone, discoveries and innovations originating in Africa have spread around the world. Learn how Africa and its people have influenced the fields of hunting, agriculture, medicine, communications, games, music and many other areas. A section on Africa today and a brief timeline help students to further understand this amazing continent. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers	Birchtown and the Black Loyalists Written by Wanda Lauren Taylor Nimbus Publishing, 2014 ISBN 978-1-77108-166-5 IL: Ages 7-12  RL: Grades 5-6 In this title young readers are introduced to the story of the Black Loyalists of Birchtown: from slavery to the American Revolution; to settlement and struggle on Nova Scotian soil in Birchtown; and finally to mass exodus to Freetown, Sierra Leone. Their legacy, carried on through Black Loyalist descendants, is an enduring spirit despite a history marked by hardship and loss. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
Jackie Robinson: Breaking the Color Line in Baseball (Crabtree Groundbreaker Biographies) Written by Matt J. Simmons Crabtree Publishing, 2014 ISBN 978-0-7787-1244-2 IL: Ages 11-14  RL: Grade 6 When much of the United States was still racially segregated, Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier to become the first African-American player in Major League Baseball. With dignity and composure, Robinson endured racist jeers and even death threats from fans and players. His historic feat of crossing baseball’s “colour line” became a symbol in the American civil rights movement. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers	The Kids Book of Black Canadian History (Kids Book of…) Written by Rosemary Sadlier Illustrated by Qijun Wang Kids Can Press, 2010 ©2003 ISBN: 978-1-55453-587-3 IL: Ages 10-14  RL: Grades 5-6 From the first black person who came to Canada about 400 years ago to the most recent wave of African immigrants, kids will discover the inspiring stories of a people who fought oppression as they searched for a place to call their own. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers