Works of Fiction on Black Children and Libraries

Looking for books about libraries featuring children and teens as the central characters? Please consider checking out some of the titles below:

Abrams, Stacey. Stacey’s Remarkable Books. Illustrated by Kitt Thomas, First edition, Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2022.

Best, Cari. Red Light, Green Light, Mama and Me. Illustrated by Niki Daly, Orchard Books, 1995.

Blue, Rose. A Quiet Place. Illustrated by Tom Feelings, Franklin Watts, Inc., 1969.

Blue, Rose, and Corinne J. Naden. Ron’s Big Mission. Illustrated by Don Tate, First edition, Dutton Childrens Books, 2009.

Bryon, Nathan. Rocket Says Speak Up! Illustrated by Dapo Adeola, First American edition, Random House, 2023.

Cline-Ransome, Lesa. Finding Langston. Holiday House, 2018.

Davis, Nadvia. Davis Practices Reading with Risks. Illustrated by George Franco, First edition, Nadvia Davis, 2019.

Elbee, Viviane. I Want My Book Back. Illustrated by Nicole Miles, Little Bee Books, 2022.

Freeman, Rodney E. Little Rodney the Librarian. Illustrated by Eduardo Paj, Preservation Media LLC, 2022.

Giovanni, Nikki. A Library. Illustrated by Erin Robinson, First edition, Versify, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2022.

Horn, Alvin L. A. Places to Be: A Young Adult Novel. Romantic Blues Publishing, 2022.

Ikegwuonu, Chukwujekwu, and Tiffany Ikegwuonu. Chukwu Gets a Library Card. [publisher not identified], 2022.

Johnson, Angela. Lottie Paris and the Best Place. Illustrated by Scott M. Fischer, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013.

Joosse, Barbara M. Hot City. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, Philomel Books, 2004.

Magoon, Kekla. The Secret Library. Illustrated by Bea Jackson, First edition, Candlewick Press, 2024.

Malaspina, Ann. Finding Lincoln. Illustrated by Colin Bootman, Albert Whitman, 2009.ln

McKissack, Pat. Goin’ Someplace Special. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, 1st ed, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001.

McQuinn, Anna. Lola at the Library. Illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw, First U.S. edition, Charlesbridge, 2006.

McQuinn, Anna. Lola at the Library with Mommy. Illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw, Board book edition, Charlesbridge, 2020.

McQuinn, Anna. Lola Loves Stories. Illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw, 1st U.S. ed, Charlesbridge, 2009.

Miedoso, Andres. Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol. 05: The Scary Library Shusher. Illustrated by Victor Rivas, First Little Simon hardcover edition, Little Simon, 2018.

Miller, William. Richard Wright and the Library Card. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, First edition, Lee & Low Books, Inc., 1997.

Muhammad, Patrick S. Little Librarian Girl. Illustrated by Jeremy Hughes, Rathsi Publishing, 2008.

Noel, Melvina. Mama’s Library Summers. Illustrated by Daria Peoples, Cameron Kids, an imprint of Abrams, 2024.

Ramsey, Calvin A. The Library in the Woods. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, Carolrhoda Books, 2025.

Reynolds, Jason. There Was a Party for Langston. Illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey, First edition, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023.

Rose, Tiffany. Dear Reader: A Love Letter to Libraries. First edition, Little Bee Books, 2022.

Tyner, Artika R. Kojo Goes to the Library. Illustrated by Bilal Karaca, First edition, Planting People Growing Justice Press, 2025.

Wallace, Gwendolyn. The Light She Feels Inside. Illustrated by Olivia Duchess, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks Kids, 2023.

Children's Books on the History of African Americans and Libraries

Explore these notable titles to introduce children to the history of African Americans and their contributions to libraries:

Bolte, Mari. Dr. Carla Hayden: The First Woman Librarian of Congress. Paw Prints Publishing, 2023.

Denise, Anika. Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré. Illustrated by Paola Escobar, First edition, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2019.

Felecié Soto, Ada Myriam, and Abimael Ortiz Alvarez. Arturo and the Hidden Treasure. 1st ed, The Rosen Publishing, 2014.

Gottesfeld, Jeff, et al. Fight for the Right to Read: Samuel Wilbert Tucker and the 1939 Sit-down Strike for Library Reading Equality. Creston Books, 2025.

Lyon, Lea, et al. Ready to Fly: How Sylvia Townsend Became the Bookmobile Ballerina. First edition, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2020.

Mack, John B., et al. Nobody Promised Me. [Childrens Press], 1970.

McDaniel, Breanna J. Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller. Illustrated by April Harrison, Dial Books for Young Readers, 2024.

Miller, William. Richard Wright and the Library Card. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, First edition, Lee & Low Books, Inc., 1997.

Moening, Kate. Carla Hayden: Librarian of Congress. Bellwether Media, 2021.

Priestley, Mary P., et al. Little Brown Hen Librarian: Based on the True Story of a Little Girl Who Loved to Read. Thurmond Memorial Library: Proctor’s Hall Press, 2017.

Weatherford, Carole Boston. Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library. Illustrated by Eric Velasquez, First edition, Candlewick Press, 2017.

White, C. Ian, and Charles White. Grandpa and the Library: How Charles White Learned to Paint. The Museum of Modern Art, 2018.

Some Books on Black-Owned Bookstores: A Short List

In celebration of Black-owned bookstores, here is a short list of fiction and non-fiction titles on the subject:

Non-Fiction

Adams, Char. Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore. Tiny Reparations Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2025.

Mitchell, Katie, et al. Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores. First edition, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2025.

Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux. The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, Carolrhoda Books, 2015.

Fiction

Lindo-Rice, Michelle. The Bookshop Sisterhood. Mira, 2024.

Robinson, Shauna. The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks: A Novel. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2022.

Julia Bullock Gaddy (1921-2010): Librarian at Hampton Institute and the Detroit Public Library

Julia Bullock Gaddy was born Julia Amanda Bullock on September 3, 1921, in Boston, Massachusetts to Matthew Washington Bullock and Katherine H. Wright Bullock.  She was the youngest of two children. 

Gaddy's father, a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, taught at the Atlanta Baptist College (Morehouse College) and at State Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes (Alabama A & M University); was an assistant attorney general, and the first African American to serve as chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Appeals.

Gaddy attended Fisk University where she graduated cum laude in 1941. She also attended Simmons College School of Library Science (Simmons University School of Library & Information Science), receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Library Science in 1942.  That same year, Gaddy was hired as a circulation librarian at Hampton Institute (Hampton University) in Hampton, Virginia.

On December 23, 1943, in Detroit, Michigan, she married George W. Gaddy, an educator, basketball coach, and graduate of Fisk University. The couple had two children.

On March 1, 1944, Gaddy was appointed junior library assistant at the Detroit Public Library. She was the second African American librarian hired to work for the library.

In addition to working at the Detroit Public Library, Gaddy was active in the community and was the corresponding secretary for the West Side Human Relations Council.

Julia Bullock Gaddy passed away in 2010 at the age of 88.

Sources: "Detroit Library Appoints Second Negro Librarian." The Michigan Chronicle (Detroit, Mich.), 4 March 1944, p. 1; "Thirty Added to Faculty at Hampton." The Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch (Norfolk, Va.), 22 Sept. 1942, p. 20; "Circulation Librarian." The Afro-American, 26 Sept. 1942, p. 19; "Bullock, Julia Amanda," Massachusetts, U.S. Birth Index, 1860-1970, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com. Accessed Mar. 1, 2025; "Julia A. Gaddy," U.S. Social Security Death Index, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com. Accessed Mar. 1, 2025; "Julia A. Bullock, George W. Gaddy," Michigan, U.S. Marriage Records, 1867-1952, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com. Accessed Mar. 1, 2025; Webster, Edlee. "Detroit Spotlight." The Afro-American, 8 Jan. 1944, p. 17; Webster, Edlee. "Detroit Spotlight." The Afro-American, 18 Mar. 1944, p. 13; "Julia Amanda Bullock, A.B." Simmons College Register of Officers and Students, 1942-1943. Simmons College, 1942, p. 31; "Fisk Exercises Open Saturday: Dr. Jones to Deliver Closing Address; 79 Are Candidates." The Nashville Tennessean (Nashville, Tenn.), 30 May 1941, p. 24; "30 New Members of Hampton Faculty as New Semester Begins," The New York Age (New York, N.Y. : 1887), 26 Sept. 1942, p. 12; "Greater Boston Society," The Afro-American, 18 July 1942, p. 19; Neal, Anthony. "The Multitalented Matthew Washington Bullock." The Bay State Banner (Roxbury, Mass.), 9 Feb. 2017, https://baystatebanner.com/.  Accessed Mar. 1, 2025; "Matthew Bullock Dies: Ex-Parole Board Chief," Hartford Currant (Hartford, Conn.), 20 Dec. 1972, p. 86; Gaddy, Matthew. "George W. Gaddy III (1916-1997)," Facebook, www.facebook.com. Accessed Mar. 1, 2025; "The Fisk Club Annual Party." The Michigan Chronicle (Detroit, Mich.),  3 June 1944, p. 9; "New Director and Personnel Asked by Bill." The Michigan Chronicle (Detroit, Mich.),  23 June 1945, p. 5; "Local Fisk University Club Entertains School President," The Detroit Tribune (Detroit, Mich.), 10 May 1947, p. 7; "George Gaddy, 81 (Obituary)." Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Mich.), 5 Dec. 1997, p. 118.