Celebrating Kwanzaa Booklist
Title: All New Crafts for Kwanzaa
By: Kathy Ross
Published: 2007
This book is full of great crafts, from making your own unity cup to a mkeka mat and more!
Available though Hoopla: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11773740
Age Range: 6-8
Title: Celebrate Kwanzaa: With Candles, Community, and the Fruits of the Harvest
By: Carolyn Otto
Published: 2008
This National Geographic title from their Holidays Around the World series still offers a lot, over ten years later. As you would expect from the company, the book is full of information, along with photographs of people celebrating the holiday and honoring their African roots.
Age Range: 6-9
Call Number: x394.2612 Otto.C (Children's Holiday)
Title: Have a Happy...A Novel
By: Mildred Pitts Walter (Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner), illustrated by Carole Byard (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Recipient)
Published: 1989
Upset because his birthday falls on Christmas and will therefore be eclipsed as usual, and worried that there is less money because his father is out of work, eleven-year-old Chris takes solace in the carvings he is preparing for Kwanzaa.
Age Range: 9-12
Call Number: J Walte.M (Children's Holiday)
Title: Imani’s Gift at Kwanzaa
By: Denise Burden-Patman, illustrated by Floyd Cooper (Coretta Scott King Illustator Award Winner)
Published: 1992
Celebrating the holiday with family is key, but what happens when Imani has to help host a girl from her class who hasn’t been kind in the past? Floyd Cooper’s illustrations welcome you into the story with his soft, gentle style.
Age Range: 5-8
Call Number: x394.2612 Burde.D (Children's Holiday)
Title: It’s Kwanzaa Time!
By: Linda and Clay Goss
Published: 2002
It may be over fifteen years old, but this book, aimed at elementary aged kids, highlights the Kwanzaa principles through folktales, games, scripts and also offers holiday themed craft instructions and recipes. And it features many well known Black award winning children’s book illustrators. Afterwards, you may be tempted to place holds on other books these artists have worked on!
Age Range: 4-10
Call Number: x394.261 Goss.L (Children's Holiday)
Title: Kwanzaa Karamu: Cooking and Crafts for a Kwanzaa Feast
By: April Brady
Published: 1995
Don’t let the old looking cover fool you! This book is packed with information about the holiday and many recipes that the kids can help with as well as fun craft ideas!
Age Range: 5-9
Call Number: x394.2 Brady.A (Children's Holiday)
Title: The People Remember
By: Ibi Zoboi, illustrated by Loveis Wise
Published: 2021
This richly illustrated, picture book "both celebrates the principles of Kwanzaa and tells the story of Africans in America as a lyrical narrative, like a song or long poem...[It] is about survival as well as the many moments of joy, celebration, and innovation," Zoboi writes in her author's note.
Age Range: 6-9 (reviewer suggestion based on depictions of harm)
Call Number: x394.2 Zoboi.I (Children's Holiday)
Title: Seven Candles for Kwanzaa
By: Andrea Davis Pinkney (Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner), illustrated by Brian Pinkney (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner)
Published: 1993
Any book that Brian Pinkney illustrates is a treat, but teamed up with his author wife, it gets even better. With accessible language, and the accompanying illustrations, children of any age can get something out of this informative picture book.
Age Range: 4-8
Call Number: x394.2 Pinkn. A (Children's Holiday)
Available through Hoopla: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/12359492
Title: Seven Spools of Thread
By: Angela Shelf Medearis, illustrated by Daniel Minter (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor recipient)
Published: 2000
Seven feuding brothers learn how to embody the Kwanzaa principles when a challenge is set before them in this beautifully illustrated folk tale. Daniel Minter’s illustrations match the style perfectly, with his linoleum block prints.
Age Range: 4-8
Call Number: JPicture Medea.A (Children's Holiday)
Title: The Sound of Kwanzaa
By: Dimitrea Tokunbo, illustrated by Lisa Cohen
Published: 2009
The simple yet compelling text and bold illustrations are great for the young child. With a refrain that children will enjoy “Come close, gather ‘round. Listen to the sound of Kwanzaa…,” the book invites us to use more than just our eyes to experience the holiday and its seven principles and days.
Age Range: 4-8
Call Number: x394.2612 Tokun.D (Children's Holiday)