Significance of African American Children's Literature

This chapter focuses on African American children's literature—books intended for youth that are written by and about African Americans. It begins with an historical and contemporary overview of this body of work followed by a discussion of recently published award-winning African American picturebooks. The chapter concludes with insights from Dr. Violet J. Harris, a scholar of African American children's literature, and Dr. Charmaine Campbell and Sandra Santos, principals with Columbus City Schools who brought some of their students to The Ohio State University Newbery Award Symposium. The symposium featured authors Kwame Alexander, Derrick Barnes, Amina Luqman-Dawson, Jason Reynolds, and Carole Boston Weatherford.