Audiobooks for Kids by Black Authors

Sit-In

How Four Friends Stood up by Sitting Down

By: Andrea Davis Pinkney
Narrated by: Myra Lucretia Taylor
Length: 22 minutes

The recipient of a Coretta Scott King Book Award Author Honor, Andrea Davis Pinkney is the popular author of numerous picture books and young adult novels. Sit-In recounts the historic events of 1960, when four black college students attempted to integrate a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. ". powerful, elemental, and historic story... Read more

Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History

Leaders & Dreamers: Book #3

By: Vashti Harrison
Narrated by: Vashti Harrison, Cary Hite & J. D. Jackson
Length: 1 hour 49 minutes

Author-illustrator Vashti Harrison shines a bold, joyous light on black men through history in this #1 New York Times bestseller.
An important book for readers of all ages, this beautifully illustrated and engagingly written volume brings to life true stories of black men in history. Among these biographies, readers will find aviators and... Read more

Chocolate Me!

By: Taye Diggs
Narrated by: Taye Diggs
Length: 6 minutes

*Winner of a Parents' Choice Gold Award*

This program is read by Taye Diggs.

The boy is teased for looking different than the other kids. His skin is darker, his hair curlier. He tells his mother he wishes he could be more like everyone else. And she helps him to see how beautiful he really, truly is.

For years before they both achieved acclaim in... Read more

Same, Same but Different

By: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
Narrated by: Maxwell Glick
Length: 6 minutes

Elliot lives in America, and Kailash lives in India. They are pen pals. By exchanging letters and pictures, they learn that they both love to climb trees, have pets, and go to school. Their worlds might look different, but they were actually similar. Same, same - but different! Read more

Coretta Scott

By: Ntozake Shange
Narrated by: Phylicia Rashad
Length: 5 minutes

This extraordinary union of poetic text by Ntozake Shange and monumental artwork by kadir Nelson captures the movement for civil rights in the United States and honors its most elegant inspiration, Coretta Scott Read more

Barack Obama

By: Nikki Grimes
Narrated by: Nikki Grimes
Length: 24 minutes

The #1 New York Times bestselling picture-book biography of President Barack Obama.

Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago, from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to Hope. Even as a boy, Barack knew he wasn’t quite like anybody else, but... Read more

A Chair for My Mother

By: Vera B. Williams
Narrated by: Martha Plimpton
Length: 7 minutes

This classic and award-winning picture book was written and illustrated by the celebrated Vera B. Williams and was named a Caldecott Honor Book by the American Library Association. ""A tender knockout . . . it's rare to find much vitality, spontaneity, and depth of feeling in such a simple, young book.""—Kirkus ReviewsAfter their home is... Read more

Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa

By: Andrea Davis Pinkney
Narrated by: Billy Dee Williams
Length: 17 minutes

Told in the voice of a cool cat named Scat, this dramatic story tells how Ella got her sound on the way to a most remarkable and inspiring career. Read more

Hey Black Child

By: Useni Eugene Perkins
Narrated by: Pe'Tehn Raighn-Kem Jackson
Length: 5 minutes

Six-time Coretta Scott King Award winner and four-time Caldecott Honor recipient Bryan Collier brings this classic, inspirational poem to life, written by poet Useni Eugene Perkins.

Hey black child,

Do you know who you are?

Who really are?Do you know you can be

What you want to be

If you try to be

What you can be?

This lyrical, empowering poem... Read more

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters

By: John Steptoe
Narrated by: Terry Alexander
Length: 13 minutes

Mufaro's daughters are tested unknowingly to reveal which one is worthy enough to marry the king in this award-winning production, lush with Steptoe's magnificent paintings and a rich musical score. Read more

Radiant Child

The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat

By: Javaka Steptoe
Narrated by: Ron Butler
Length: 19 minutes

Winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award
Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games... Read more