Crystal Hubbard
Who Is Cynthia Erivo?
A solid, accessible intro to a major contemporary Black actress that balances her Broadway success with her film work without getting bogged down in celebrity gossip.
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Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes
by Benny Andrews
Nonfiction · ages 8–12 · 720L · 2021
Benny Andrews' illustrations bring Hughes's voice alive for kids who aren't ready for pure poetry; the biographical framing teaches that Black artists shaped America while the poems themselves model language as play and protest.
Taylor Swift
by María Isabel Sánchez Vegara
Nonfiction · ages 8–12 · 650L · 2024
A polished, accessible intro to Swift's career that focuses on her songwriting craft and resilience rather than celebrity gossip.
A Thief in the Village and Other Stories
by James Berry
Nonfiction · ages 8–12 · 750L · 1988
A rare short-story collection that treats Caribbean childhood with unsentimental specificity—kids see real economic constraint and moral ambiguity, not exoticism.