Children’s books about Black people’s everyday, joyful lives are sometimes banned – but they help all kids explore what it means to be human

Since 2021, there have been nearly 23,000 bans on individual books in libraries and public schools.

Many of these bans remove Black and LGBTQIA+ literature
from bookshelves. Approximately 44% of the books banned in 2024 and 2025 featured characters of color and 39% featured characters who identify as LGBTQIA+.

Targeting books by or about Black people has a long history in the U.S., with classics like Toni Morrison’s 1987 “Beloved” frequently appearing on banned book lists. When books that highlight the richness of Black people’s lives are taken out of circulation or placed on a prohibited list, these stories and illustrations become less available to children of all backgrounds.

Research shows that children’s literature can help readers, including very young ones, see into others’ worlds and explore what it means to be human.

Informed by our roles as parents, educators and literacy researchers, we study “Black livingness” literature.

We describe Black livingness as Black children’s fiction by Black authors that depicts Black children and families as whole, joyful, thriving and engaged in everyday acts of living.

Children’s literature can humanize Black people in a way that news coverage, television, films and school textbooks and curriculum often do not, helping to combat racial bias and stereotypes.

Children’s books about everyday Black life

There are many Black children’s books that showcase the lives of well-known historical figures in the Black community, like Harriet Tubman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks.

These books demonstrate how these leaders and activists challenged racism, and they affirm that Black people’s fight against different social inequalities are important to Black life in the United States.

But resisting is not the only thing that Black communities do.

These books, particularly when the same few are repeatedly used in schools, run the risk of limiting children’s understanding of Black people’s lives.

All children benefit from reading Black children’s literature. Seeing Black children and their families living ordinary yet robust lives in stories undermines negative portrayals.

Our recent work showcases contemporary Black children’s books that illustrate rich depictions of Black life and provide helpful examples for young children of all backgrounds.

We have identified three important themes about Black life that emerged across a variety of contemporary Black children’s literature published between 2020 and 2024.

Black familial joy, togetherness and food

Research shows that extended members of Black families serve important psychological, financial and emotional roles in many Black children’s lives.

Nancy Redd’s “Bedtime Bonnet,” for example, is a 2020 book that chronicles a little girl’s search for the bonnet she wears while sleeping, which she eventually finds atop her grandfather’s head.

“Bedtime Bonnet” illustrates the playfulness that can occur in an intergenerational household during the nightly bedtime routine.

The 2021 picture book by Winsome Bingham, titled “Soul Food Sunday,” details a little boy and his grandmother preparing Sunday dinner. “Soul Food Sunday,” highlights Black food culture and the important traditions that are passed down in the kitchen and at dining room tables.

Tricia Elam Walker’s 2021 book, “Dream Street,” illustrates the joy and hopefulness that abounds within a Black community on a block named Dream Street.

These books highlight the significance of extended families and normalize the role of grandparents, aunties, cousins and “othermothers,” – meaning women who care for children who are not biologically their own – in children’s living and growing.

Imagination as world-building

Throughout Black Americans’ long history of struggling for freedom, imagination has been a way of dreaming up new conditions and clinging to hope for the future.

Today, contemporary children’s picture books like “The Year We Learned to Fly,” by Jacqueline Woodson, and “My Rainy Day Rocket Ship,” by Markette Sheppard, illustrate this tradition, as the children in both books engage in imaginative play on rainy days, transporting themselves elsewhere in the midst of boredom.

After being instructed by their grandmother to play with one another instead of arguing, the siblings in “The Year We Learned to Fly,” published in 2022, pretend to escape their apartment and fly above their neighborhood.

The Black boy in the 2020 picture book “My Rainy Day Rocket Ship” uses his imagination to transform ordinary household items into a rocket that takes him on a space adventure.

Similarly, the young Black boy at the center of 2023’s “Cape,” by Kevin Johnson, uses his imagination to fly to outer space after a family member’s untimely death. On his way to space, the boy reflects on fond memories with this special relative.

The book “Nigel and the Moon,” by Antwan Eady, published in 2022, demonstrates the power of imagination to see opportunities ahead – if we simply believe we are capable.

These books show the ways Black children use imagination as more than a form of escapism or fanciful thinking. They are lessons for all children to see new possibilities for themselves and others.

Joyful learning

Given the history of public education and segregation in the U.S., Black children and families are sometimes skeptical about traditional schooling.

There are numerous contemporary Black children’s books that explore various ways to learn and challenge the idea that true learning can only happen within the walls of a school.

“Sparrow Loves Birds,” the 2024 story of a young Black girl who enjoys birdwatching, written by Murry Burgess, illustrates the inventive ways children can explore nature.

The 2022 book “Kick Push,” by Frank Morrison, chronicles a young skateboarder named Epic who adapts to moving to a new neighborhood. This book shows the importance of persistence when refining a skill and remaining true to oneself.

“When Langston Dances,” the 2021 book written by Kaija Langley about a little boy who loves dancing, gives children permission to pursue their passion even if it is unpopular or defies stereotypes.

Each of these books illustrates that learning, for Black children and all children, is expansive and can be rooted in joy.

A deserved life of thriving

Children’s literature that illustrates the everyday lives of Black people is a mirror for young Black children who may rarely see themselves positively depicted in school materials or on a screen. This literature also allows them to envision another world without racism, and full of Black children and communities thriving.

For children who are not Black, these books are a window and sliding glass door to understand the perspectives of communities both similar to and unlike their own.

Children’s books showcasing Black families and communities in their everyday lives can support all children in understanding that Black children, families and communities deserve to live full, joyful existences.