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Topic: History

Picturebook

Part of the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad conductor who ‘never lost a single passenger.’

Little Harriet was born into slavery on a plantation in Maryland. Though life was hard, Harriet persisted. She used all of her strength and bravery to escape slavery and journey north on the Underground Railroad. Harriet made the dangerous mission back to the South many times, fighting her whole life to bring others with her to freedom. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back , including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the abolitionist’s life.

Short story collection

Explore the lives of the Windrush generation in this full-colour anthology. With a foreword from Baroness Floella Benjamin, DBE.

This book presents 12 moving tales of sacrifice and bravery, inspired by first-hand accounts of the Windrush generation.

“Home ain’t jus’ where you live. Home is your heart an’ yer history.”

Each inspiring story helps to bring the real experience of Black British people into focus.

Produced in partnership with Black Cultural Archives to honour the Windrush generation.

Includes ten photo-packed fact sections.

The contributors: K. N. Chimbiri, Kevin George, Salena Godden, Judy Hepburn, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Kirsty Latoya, Katy Massey, E. L. Norry, Quincy the Comedian, Jermain Jackman. With cover art by Joelle Avelino.

Black Cultural Archives is the only national heritage centre dedicated to collecting, preserving and celebrating the histories of Black people in Britain.

50p from every copy sold goes to BCA.

Chapter book

Tully and his brother don’t have much. But they do have each other. And Tully has an amazing talent. Football. But when the First World War begins, Tully must fight for respect on the battlefield not the pitch … Based on the amazing true story of Walter Tull, a First World War hero and one of the first black British professional football players. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers aged 8+

Picturebook

With over a million copies sold this classic story of Grace, her Ma and Nana is a timeless classic of courage and determination, loved and cherished by children the world over.

Grace was a girl who loved stories.
She didn’t mind if they were read to her or told to her or
made up in her own head. She didn’t care if they were from
books or on TV or in films or on the video or out of Nana’s
long memory. Grace just loved stories.

Grace loves to act out stories. She spends her time dressing up and putting on performances for her beloved Ma and Nana, usually helped by Paw-Paw the cat. Sometimes she plays the leading part, sometimes she is ‘a cast of thousands’ and sometimes, when they’re not too tired, she can even convince Ma and Nana to join in her magical story creations.

When Grace’s school decides to put on a performance of Peter Pan, Grace longs to play the part of Peter. But her classmates say that Grace absolutely can’t play that part. Peter was a boy, and besides, he wasn’t black… But Grace’s Ma and Nana tell her she can be anything she wants if she puts her mind to it…

A touching and beautiful picture book about being true to yourself and not letting anyone hold you back. This is the perfect story for children everywhere to remind them to be themselves no matter what the world tells you.

Non-fiction

This book helps young children find out about and understand racism. It features seven case studies from children who have a range of problems from a girl who is being left out because she is Muslim to the new boy in school from another country who is struggling to fit in. Readers are taught to stand up for what is right in a safe way and become comfortable discussing this serious issue with others. Practical advice is provided in a way that readers of all ages can understand and put into practice. The end of the book features a short playscript to act out and discuss. The book has engaging illustrations throughout.

In this series case studies combine with sensible, practical advice to help children find out what to do in difficult situations. Titles include Bullying, My Parent’s Divorce, My Stepfamily, When People Die and Our New Baby.

Chapter book

This is the story of love, commitment and the flowering of the human spirit against the background of South Africa’s apartheid.

Frightened that their baby sister Dineo will die, thirteen-year-old Naledi and her younger brother Tiro run away from their grandmother to Johannesburg to find their mother, who works there as a maid. Their journey illustrates at every turn the grim realities of apartheid – the pass laws, bantustans, racism, the breakdown of family life.

The opulence of the white “Madam’s” house contrasts starkly with the reality that Naledi and Tiro face – that their baby sister is suffering from starvation, not an incurable disease.

This edition of Beverley Naidoo’s classic story includes a special “Why You’ll Love This Book” introduction by Michael Rosen, former Children’s Laureate.

Picturebook

SHORTLISTED for the Teach Primary Book Awards 2021. An amazing reversible picture book that celebrates community and acceptance with artwork from award-winning artist Marion Deuchars. Choose to read from the perspective of the Spots or the Dots by turning this picture book upside down. Find the similarities in others and celebrate their differences. The Spots live on one side of the hill. The Dots live on the other. Both are fearful and suspicious of the other, but are they really all that different? When a young Spot and a young Dot meet at the top of the hill, they are about to find out… Flip the book upside down and choose whether to read from the perspective of the Spots or the Dots, right up until the middle, where the two communities collide.

Chapter book

Boston was nothing like South Carolina. Up there, colored folks could go anywhere they wanted. Folks didn’t wait for church to dress in their fancy clothes. Fancy was just life. Mama was a city girl . . . and now I was going to be one too.

It’s 1944, and in a small, Southern, segregated town, eleven-year-old Ella spends her summers running wild with her cousins and friends.

But life isn’t always so sunny.

The deep racial tension that simmers beneath their town’s peaceful facade never quite goes away, and Ella misses her mama – a beautiful jazz singer, who lives in Boston.

So when an invitation arrives to come to Boston for a visit Ella is ecstatic – and the trip proves life-changing in more ways than one. For the first time, Ella sees what life outside of segregation is like, and begins to dream of a very different future.

But her happiness is shattered when she returns home to the news that her classmate has been arrested for the murder of two white girls – and nothing will ever be the same again.

A beautifully written and deeply moving story about finding and fighting for your place in the world.

Product Details

Picturebook

Ella Fitzgerald sang the blues and she sang them good. Ella and her fellas were on the way up! It seemed like nothing could stop her, until the biggest club in town refused to let her play… and all because of her colour. But when all hope seemed lost, little did Ella imagine that a Hollywood star would step in to help. This is the incredible true story of how a remarkable friendship between Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe was born – and how they worked together to overcome prejudice and adversity. An inspiring story, strikingly illustrated, about the unlikely friendship between two celebrated female icons of America’s golden age.

Chapter book

In this heart-stopping adventure, Benjamin Zephaniah shows us what it was like to be a child of the Windrush generation.

Leonard is shocked when he arrives with his mother in the port of Southampton. His father is a stranger to him, it’s cold and even the Jamaican food doesn’t taste the same as it did back home in Maroon Town. But his parents have brought him here to try to make a better life, so Leonard does his best not to complain, to make new friends, to do well at school – even when people hurt him with their words and with their fists.

How can a boy so far from home learn to enjoy his new life when so many things count against him?

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