Picture Book Biographies for Black History Month

Learn about Aretha Franklin, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Elgin Baylor in these new picture books biographies.

*R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Frank Morrison. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020. 48 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 4-8

Recommended For: Ages 4-8

From a childhood love of music to her rise to fame, Aretha Franklin’s story is told in simple rhyming verses. Like the title, each page begins with a spelled out word, followed by two lines of verse.

“D-E-B-U-T
Fourteen, recording live, and nervous as can be.
She cuts a gospel album, gives God the victory.”

The story is not without sadness, and one page references the early separation of Franklin’s parents. However, the open testament to the Lord is a beautiful theme in the book. The illustrations are gorgeously rich and vibrant. (They won Frank Morrison the 2021 Coretta Scott King illustration award.) With additional info, and a list of chart-toppers you can look up and listen to, here is a wonderful picture book biography to introduce young readers to the Queen of Soul.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

• Worldview/Moral Rating: 5
• Literary/Artistic Rating: 5

Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade and illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. Harry N. Abrams, 2020. 48 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 6-9

Recommended For: Ages 8-10

Gwendolyn Brooks’s early love of poetry led to initial success as a child, with some of her poems published. But then the Great Depression came along, and it would be years before Brooks again succeeded in publishing her poetry. These years weren’t always easy, from changing schools and not fitting in, to later struggling to keep the apartment utilities paid. However, Brooks’s perseverance ultimately led to publication and to her becoming the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950.

Readers are introduced to Gwendolyn Brooks’s life and the world she lived in through a series of lyrical sentences, not always rhyming but with a definite meter. The illustrations capture both creativity and also the happiness and hardship of Brooks’s life. One note: aside from one lovely picture of Brooks’s wedding, her husband is never shown. Instead, Brooks is depicted as struggling alone, raising her young son. This might lead young listeners (or older readers!) to wonder where he was —despite Brooks’s long marriage. This artistic omission aside, in researching Exquisite, Suzanne Slade discovered a previously unpublished poem of Brooks’s which is included in full. For poetry lovers young and old, here is a tale of determination and creativity that was ultimately recognized by the world.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

• Worldview/Moral Rating: 4
• Literary/Artistic Rating: 4.5

Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Frank Morrison. Harry N. Abrams, 2020. 40 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 4-8

Recommended For: Ages 6-10

Elgin Baylor may not be the best known name in basketball these days, but he deserves to be. As a kid in the heavily segregated urban atmosphere of the 1940s, Elgin couldn’t at first even play on the same courts the white kids could. By his early teens, those courts were open, but with no equipment Elgin and his friends started out playing with a tennis ball. Bragging on the court wasn’t his style; he put all his energy into the game. His athletic moves and spectacular jump shots, developed on those cracked-pavement courts, eventually propelled him into the NBA–then just an upstart sports league with no huge following. Baylor’s quiet determination not only helped him perfect such moves as the running bank shot, but also stage a one-man protest when he was barred from staying in the same hotel as his Lakers teammates.

The vibrant, fluid illustrations add drama to this story of a humble hero who eschewed self-promotion and devoted himself to developing his gifts to their fullest potential.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

• Worldview/Moral Rating: 4
• Literary/Artistic Rating: 5

Read more about our ratings here.

Related Reading From Redeemed Reader

• A Review: We’ve reviewed picture-book biographies of other humble heroes, such as George Washington Carver and Harriet Tubman (and lots more at those two links!).
  • Older basketball fans might enjoy Games of Deception: The True Story of the First U.S. Olympic Basketball Team at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s Germany.
• A Resource: See our picture-book biographies mega-list!

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