The Day You Begin, by Jacqueline Woodson

The Day You Begin focuses on children who feel different, for reasons such as the way they look, how much money their family has,  or the language they speak. It truly captures the feeling of aloneness and otherness, as well as the courage it takes to announce your otherness to the world and go forth and find commonality with others.  This isn't the type of book I'd typically recommend - it doesn't have a linear plot - but my son and I were both entranced by the emotions so perfectly captured in this book that, for once, it didn't matter.  

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library)

Don't Touch My Hair, by Sharee Miller

Aria loves her hair but is fed up with everyone attempting to touch it.  She devises elaborate avoidance techniques, hides in the bushes, and even runs away to the tallest castle, but people (or fantastical creatures) STILL try and touch her hair. She finally gets fed up and yells "DON'T TOUCH MY HAIR!" and elaborates that people need to ask permission and respect her wishes.

It's simple but effective. To be honest, I somewhat reluctantly picked up Don't Touch My Hair by author-illustrator Sharee Miller, thinking my son probably wouldn't be interested and there wouldn't be much of a story involved. We've read a lot of books (seriously, so so many) that celebrate Black hair, but don't go beyond that and tell any sort of story to grab a child's interest. This and Bippity Bop Barbershop are the only two that my son has actually enjoyed and requested again.   

BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library)

WHOOSH! Lonnie Johnson's SUPER-SOAKING Stream of Inventions, by Chris Barton

We discovered this book when I was researching Black inventors to study that would catch my son's interest. Like most kids, he's obsessed with water guns and so a book about the inventor of the super soaker seemed perfect.

This book more than delivered! It manages to go through Lonnie Johnson's whole life -- from his childhood inventing rockets to his time at NASA, and finally to his invention of the super soaker and his struggles to find a toy company interested in his product -- with enough fun details to keep kids interested.  My son's favorite detail was that he "borrowed" his sister's walkie-talkie to finish up a robot he was building. 

The illustrations by Don Tate, a wonderful Black illustrator, which include a fold out page with water spraying all over toy company executives, were the icing on the cake.

            BUY HERE (or, even better, request at your local library)