Last year, I shared some of the books we read for Black History Month. Really, Black History Month is every month at our house. But if it isn’t a part of your everyday reading material, make a little extra effort in February (which starts tomorrow!) to include titles that will expand your mind and refresh you (or even teach you something new). Here are some of my picks.

Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll, reimagined and illustrated by Christopher Myers.

“Jabberwocky” is already one of my all-time favorite poems. My dad read it to us often growing up. This book takes the story to an urban setting with vibrant illustrations. The poem becomes a metaphor for an intense game of basketball, and it works.

Schomburg: The Man Who Built A Library, by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Eric Velasquez.Arturo Schomburg found the history of African Americans wherever he could at a time when Black History wasn’t a thing. He tirelessly collected documents, books, records, and artwork by and about Blacks until he had so much material his wife told him he had to get rid of it, or she was taking their family and leaving. Apparently, there were books in every room of their home, even their bathroom… although that isn’t that weird.

At once a biography and also a compendium of Blacks throughout history, I spread reading this one out over 3-4 sittings. Depending on the content, we used YouTube to supplement some of the historical figures mentioned, like Chevalier de Saint-Georges, also known as the black Mozart, and to show the kids my all-time favorite YouTube video of the lindy hop (although in the book, it was only mentioned because Schomburg couldn’t have cared less about the Jazz scene in Harlem in the ’20’s *sigh*).

Since Schomburg accomplished so much over the course of his life, and there are so many notable Blacks in history, this book felt at once too much and not enough. However, it is a great overview and a jumping off point for more learning.

Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad, by Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

This one had me at “Kadir Nelson.” While the illustrations in this book were a little more washed and rough than some of those I’ve enjoyed in his other work, they artfully conveyed the powerful story in the book’s pages.

After I finished reading this one aloud, spontaneous discussion broke out – about what it would be like to live at the time Henry “Box” Brown walked the earth, then about how they wouldn’t have been born at that time because “Mom wouldn’t have been allowed to marry  Dad.” I didn’t remind them how the biracial kids who were born during that time were typically conceived.

They were very interested in this book, especially when they heard it was based on a true story. For me, book was a painful reminder of the way families were ripped apart through slavery. That is a wound I believe is still affecting African American life today, and it may take several more generations to heal.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People To Freedom, by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

Although both of the last two books I listed here are illustrated by Kadir Nelson, the illustrations have a very different feel in each one. And Moses is different because in it, Tubman’s spiritual journey is the driving force of the plot. The typeface tells the story of God’s spirit speaking into her life, and it is amazing. This one was a little slow for my kids’ taste, but I liked it. It is my opinion that your kids don’t have to love everything you teach them.

Teaching Black History is intimidating. My kids are African American kids growing up in a house where neither of their parents are African American. There is the knowledge that Being Kind, Working Hard, and Doing Right isn’t enough for some people if you are all of those things and your skin is a shade of brown.

So I’m trying to prepare my kids for that world. A world where they may be judged by other Blacks for not being Black enough, and heck, by whites who think they either aren’t white enough, too white, or not Black enough. We won’t even talk about how American bureaucracy and culture has failed them. But I am doing my best to prepare my tribe, and these books are part of the plan.