CCBC booklist are compiled from books we have recommended in various editions of CCBC Choices. Most of these booklists are updated annually. You can also select books from one or more booklists to create a custom list, which can also include additional books from the CCBC-Recommended Book Search.

To print a CCBC booklist, click on a list below and then use your browser’s “Print” command.

19th-Century Black Experiences for Older Children and Teens

Compiled by Tessa Michaelson Schmidt

This booklist was developed by the CCBC librarians to complement the 2025-2026 Go Big Read selection, James by Percival Everett, a novel that retells the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, an enslaved man who journeys with Huckleberry Finn. This particular booklist focuses Black experiences in the 19th-Century.

Crossing Ebenezer Creek
by Bolden, Tonya
Bloomsbury, 2017. 230 pages. Age 11 and older

Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life
by Bryan, Ashley
Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2016. 56 pages. Age 9 and older

Seeking Freedom: The Untold Story of Fortress Monroe and the Ending of Slavery in America
by Castrovilla, Selene
Illustrated by E. B. Lewis. Astra/Calkins Creek, 2022. 40 pages. Ages 7-10

Before She Was Harriet
by Cline-Ransome, Lesa
Illustrated by James E. Ransome. Holiday House, 2017. 32 pages. Ages 6-9

One Big Open Sky
by Cline-Ransome, Lesa
Holiday House, 2024. 296 pages. Ages 9-13

The Journey of Little Charlie
by Curtis, Christopher Paul
Scholastic, 2018. 234 pages. Age 11 and older

Ain't Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry
by Nelson, Scott Reynolds and Marc Aronson
National Geographic, 2008. 64 pages. Age 11 and older

The Bell Rang
by Ransome, James E.
Illustrated by James E. Ransome. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2019. 32 pages. Ages 7-10

Will's Race for Home: A Western
by Rhodes, Jewell Parker
Little, Brown, 2025. 196 pages. 8-12

Freedom in Congo Square
by Weatherford, Carole Boston
Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Little Bee, 2016. 32 pages. Age 6 and older

Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
by Weatherford, Carole Boston
Illustrated by Michele Wood. Candlewick, 2020. 56 pages. Age 10 and older

A Sitting in St. James
by Williams-Garcia, Rita
HarperCollins/Quill Tree, 2021. 460 pages. Age 16 and older

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Our Recommended Book Search includes access to CCBC-recommended titles based on subject headings created by our staff.

Please send questions or comments about CCBC booklists to ccbcinfo@education.wisc.edu.