Middle Grade Books for Black History Month 2025

This year Black History Month focuses on the various and profound ways that work of all kinds intersect with the collective experiences of Black people. Work is very much at the center of Black history and culture. These book selections celebrate Black past, present and futures. 


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Black Heroes of the Wild West

This nonfiction graphic novel celebrates the extraordinary true tales of three Black historical figures in the Old West: Mary Fields, a cardplaying stagecoach driver; Bass Reeves, the first Black Deputy US Marshal west of the Mississippi; and Bob Lemmons, a cowboy famous for his ability to tame mustangs. Includes biographical information, a timeline, and historical photos. 

This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby.  

 





One Big Open Sky

In the 1870s, a Black family undertakes a perilous wagon journey westward for a tenuous shot at freedom in Nebraska.

This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby and in eAudio on Hoopla. 

 


Radiant

In 1963, Cooper Dale navigates the challenges of fifth grade as a Black girl in a predominantly white community near Pittsburgh.


Shark Teeth

Seventh-grader Sharkita “Kita” embarks on a tumultuous journey to keep her family together while handling the consequences of her mother’s alcoholism.


Susie King Taylor: Nurse, Teacher & Freedom Fighter

A groundbreaking figure in every sense of the word, Susie King Taylor was one of the first Black nurses during the Civil War, a key figure in establishing a postbellum educational system for formerly bonded Black people, and she was also one of the first Black women to publish her memoirs.” 

This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby. 


Warrior on the Mound

In 1939 North Carolina, an all-Black baseball team “trespasses” on the whites-only baseball field, and the resulting racial outrage can only be resolved on the mound.


Will’s Race for Home

During the land rush of 1889, African American Will and his father journey from Texas to Oklahoma, racing thousands of others to stake their claim.