Browse our collection of books created by Black authors and illustrators including picture books, middle grade, and young adult books. Download our interactive digital catalog, preview new books coming soon and request digital ARCs on NetGalley!
Browse our collection of books here →The School & Library team talks about some of our most anticipated reads here. Plus, request digital ARCs of these staff picks on NetGalley!
Rise Up!: How You Can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy
Ages 12-18
On Sale Now!
This urgent book explores the roots of racism and its legacy in modern day, all while empowering young people with actionable ways they can help foster a better world and become antiracists.
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Why are white supremacists still openly marching in the United States? Why are undocumented children of color separated from their families and housed in cages? Where did racism come from? Why hasn’t it already disappeared? And what can young people do about it?
Rise Up! breaks down the origins of racial injustice and its continued impact today, connecting dots between the past and present. By including contemporary examples ripped from headlines and actionable ways young people can help create a more inclusive world, sociologist Crystal Marie Fleming shares the knowledge and values that unite all antiracists: compassion, solidarity, respect, and courage in the face of adversity. Perfect for fans of Stamped: Remix, This Book is Antiracist, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy, and The Black Friend.
Learn more about RISE UP! here →Browse all of our December new releases, including new picture books, middle grade, and young adult books!
Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group stands against censorship, and in support of the librarians and teachers who are doing their part to share a love of reading with their students. We believe that all readers deserve access to an inclusive selection of titles and we are committed to working with our authors to reach readers with their stories. Visit The National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom to report censorship in your community.
Read on for more resources to use in your library or classroom!
Click the tabs below to view more books in each age category.
We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom; illustrated by Michaela Goade
Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption.
Download the Activity Kit
Watch the Snack Time with MacKids story time with Carole Lindstrom
Take the pledge to be a water protector
Download We Are Water Protectors graphics to share on social media
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard; illustrated by Juana Martinez Neal
Winner of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
A 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Picture Book Honor Winner
Share the Discussion Guide
Watch a story time with Kevin Noble Maillard
Follow Kevin Noble Maillard on Twitter
Follow Juana Martinez-Neal on Twitter
Listen to the NPR Interview
It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity by Theresa Thorn; illustrations by Noah Grigni
A picture book that introduces the concept of gender identity to the youngest reader from writer Theresa Thorn and illustrator Noah Grigni.
Watch a story time
Share these discussion questions from The Tiny Activist
Follow Theresa Thorn on Twitter
Snapdragon by Kat Leyh
Kat Leyh’s Snapdragon is a magical realist graphic novel about a young girl who befriends her town’s witch and discovers the strange magic within herself.
Download the Discussion Guide
Take the Virtual Book Tour
Add Snapdragon to your Goodreads Shelf
Follow Kat Leyh on Twitter
Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel
Download the Activity Kit
Watch the Story Time
Watch Bad Kitty interview Nick Bruel
Add Bad Kitty to your Goodreads Shelf
Follow Nick Bruel on Twitter
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
American Born Chinese is the winner of the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award, a 2006 National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature, the winner of the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New, an Eisner Award nominee for Best Coloring, a 2007 Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, and a New York Times bestseller.
Download the Discussion Guide
Share a video of Gene Luen Yang
Read an interview celebrating the 10 year anniversary
This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki; illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
A New York Times bestseller
A 2015 Caldecott Honor Book
A 2015 Michael L. Printz Honor Book
An Eisner Award Winner
Download the Discussion Guide and Reading Group Guide
Watch an interview with Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki
Add This One Summer to your GoodReads shelf
All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George Matthew Johnson
In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia.
Share an interview with George Matthew Johnson
Use these discussion questions to start a conversation
Watch the short film trailer
Read the MacKids Spotlight
Follow George Matthew Johnson on Twitter
Flamer by Mike Curato
Award-winning author and artist Mike Curato draws on his own experiences in Flamer, his debut graphic novel, telling a difficult story with humor, compassion, and love.
Read the MacKids Spotlight
Download the Discussion Guide
Read about the inspiration
Share the Writing Queer Comics for Teens video
Follow Mike Curato on Twitter
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
In this powerful novel, a teenage heroine delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school.
Watch this video of Laurie Halse Anderson
Download the Discussion Guide
Visit RAINN online to learn more
Follow Laurie Halse Anderson on Twitter
Add Speak to your Goodreads Shelf
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
An unlikely teenager starts a feminist revolution at a small-town Texas high school in this novel from Jennifer Mathieu, author of The Truth About Alice.
Read an interview with Jennifer Mathieu
Share the trailer for the Moxie Netflix movie
Check out the Moxie Tumblr
Add Moxie to your Goodreads Shelf
Follow Jennifer Mathieu on Twitter
Afterward by Jennifer Mathieu
A tragic kidnapping leads to an unlikely friendship in this novel about finding light in the midst of darkness from the author of The Truth About Alice.
Share the Horn Book interview
Add Afterward to your Goodreads Shelf
Follow Jennifer Mathieu on Twitter
The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater
A New York Times Bestseller
Stonewall Book Award Winner—Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist
This riveting nonfiction book for teens about race, class, gender, crime, and punishment tells the true story of an agender teen who was set on fire by another teen while riding a bus in Oakland, California.
Share the Discussion Guide
Read the article that inspired the book
Watch The 57 Bus Book Talk
Follow Dashka Slater on Twitter
Told in Carolina and Trevor’s alternating voices, this is an up-close-and-personal story of two teenagers falling in love for the first time, and discovering it might not last forever.
Forever for a Year by B.T. Gottfred
Follow B.T. Gottfred on Twitter
Add Forever for a Year to your Goodreads Shelf
Read an essay by B.T. Gottfred
The Nerdy and the Dirty by B.T. Gottfred
A cool girl–with an X-rated internal life–and a socially-inept guy prove that opposites attract in this honest look at love, sexuality, and becoming your true self.
Follow B.T. Gottfred on Twitter
Add The Nerdy and the Dirty to your Goodreads Shelf
Read an interview with B.T. Gottfred
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
The first book in the #1 New York Times– and USA Today-Bestselling Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer like you’ve never seen it before, now with new cover art! See where the futuristic YA fairytale saga all began, with the tale of a teenage cyborg who must fight for Earth’s survival against villains from outer space.
Share the Discussion Guide
Visit The Universe of Marissa Meyer
Watch the Lunar Ever After Trailer
Add Cinder to your Goodreads Shelf
Follow Marissa Meyer on Instagram
Keep reading to learn about our NCSS author programs, download our catalog of Social Studies Books for Kids & Teens, request digital ARCs of upcoming books, and more!
Neon Squid is a new imprint at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group that creates beautiful nonfiction books for inquisitive kids (and kids at heart). Neon Squid’s books are for children who want to decipher ancient scrolls, orbit distant stars, and dive into the deepest oceans. Visit Neon Squid online and preview their books below.
Celebrate National Native American Heritage Month in your school or library! Keep reading to find more book recommendations, watch a presentation by Firekeeper’s Daughter author Angeline Boulley, download the We Are Water Protectors activity kit, and watch a read-aloud of Fry Bread by author Kevin Noble Maillard!
Watch author Angeline Boulley discuss her inspiration, storytelling, and research process for her bestselling debut novel Firekeeper’s Daughter. Plus, educator Kit Robinson shares how teachers can use Firekeeper’s Daughter in the classroom.
Find more books for National Native American Heritage Month here →
Looking for books that will send a chill down your spine? Or a sweet Halloween treat for young readers? Whatever floats your ghost, this book list will get readers in the Halloween spirit!
Discover more spooky stories →Watch our anti-racist education webinar, featuring authors Dr. Crystal M. Fleming (Rise Up: How You Can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy), Bethany C. Morrow (So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix), and Aminah Mae Safi (Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix). In this conversation moderated by Julia Torres, a teacher-librarian in Denver Public Schools, the authors discussed how educators and librarians can build a more inclusive collection for their schools and libraries.
Find more resources mentioned during the event below:
More Resources for Continuing Anti-Racist Education:
ILA Children’s Right to Read
NCTE Intellectual Freedom Center
NCTE Committee Against Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English (CARBTE)
American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom
Disrupt Texts
Diversity in Children’s Books Infographic (2018) by Sarah Park Dahlen
More Anti-Racist Book Lists to Build Your Collection
Social Justice Books
We are KidLit Collective
Nonfiction to Pair with So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow:
Time Full of Trial: The Roanoke Island Freedmen’s Colony, 1862-1867 by Patricia C. Click
Nonfiction to Pair with Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi:
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf
Nonfiction to Pair with Rise Up by Crystal M. Fleming:
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
Check out our list nonfiction and fiction books to add to your anti-racist collections and classroom curriculums. Create more inclusive, representative and equitable collections by incorporating these newly published works and backlist favorites into your school and library collections!