New York: Holiday House, 2003. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - An award winning - and beautiful book - by this father and son. Written by Walter Dean Myers and illustrated by his son, Christopher Meyrs in shades of blue and brown. SIGNED by both the author and illustrator on the title page, and dated in the year of publication. Winner of a Boston Globe-Horn Book award. Includes a promotional pin with a small reproduction of the cover painting. Blues glossary. Oblong format, unpaginated. ISBN: 0-823416135.

New York: Henry Holt, (2008) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - A book which chronicles through poems the emotions of a family that is slowly learning to heal and put the pieces back together - especially thirteen-year-old C.J. who is struggling to understand why his father walked out - and why he came back - and finds it hard to give up his anger. Illustrated with paintings by E. B. Lewis. A 2009 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book. SIGNED on the title page by the illustrator, E. B. Lewis with the words "love is reading together!" and a drawing of a small heart. 74 pp. ISBN: 978-0805072020.

Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 2001. dj. Hardcover - African American author's first book, and the first featuring D. J., a 7 year old boy living in New Orleans, who gets a chance to be a page boy and ride on the Queen's float in the the Zulu Parade, the oldest Black parade in New Orleans' Mardi Gras. Illustrated by Emile F. Henriquez and Lucien C. Barbarin, Jr. Large format, unpaginated. ISBN: 1-565540638.

Morristown, NJ: Silver, Burdett & Co, (1967). Hardcover first edition - A title in the World of People Series featuring Kenya, as it describes one day in the life of an eight-year-old boy as he goes to the market. Colorful illustrations by Mae Gerhard. List of helpful words. 32 pp.

New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, (1988) dj. Hardcover first edition - Walker's first book for children, beautifully illustrated in full color by Catherine Deeter. Unpaginated, oblong format. ISBN: 0-15-2890750.

Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, (1976) dj. Hardcover - A simple poem, of a young Black boy dreaming of being on a boat at sea, illustrated with lovely full color photographs by Dewayne Dalrymple. The final photograph reveals that he is playing with a sailboat in a puddle in the street. Oblong format, unpaginated.

New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, (1995) dj. Hardcover first edition - A story inspired by a brief account in an Ohio newspaper, which told of Gussie West, a freed slave who, with the help of a white man, sells himself back into slavery over and over again to raise money for a school. "It's an account of brutality and friendship, and Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson's expressive folk-style paintings in colored pencils, inks, and dyes show the horror of whippings and the auction block as well as the triumph of cunning escape and loving community. Drawing on slave memoirs, Rosen imagines Pompey Walker telling his story, an elderly man remembering and talking to the children in his school." (NYPL) Author's note. Slightly oversized format, unpaginated. ISBN: 0-15200114X.

New York: Chelsea House Publishers, (1995). Hardcover first edition - A book for older children which recounts the life and career of the Los Angeles Lakers star and Basketball Hall of Famer, as it also describes his encounters with racism and his conversion to Islam. Introduction by Chuck Daly. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs. A title in the Basketball Legends series. Statistics, chronology, suggestions for further reading, index. 64 pp. ISBN: 0-79124261.

Chicago: Creative Educational Society, (1975). Hardcover first edition - A brief biography of this boxing champion, written for children and illustrated in both color (including one two page spread) and black and white by Harold Henriksen A title in the Creative Education Sports Superstars series. Slightly larger format, 31 pp. ISBN: 0-871912627.

New York: Atheneum, (2017) dj. Hardcover first edition - The author's first children's book, a celebration of the indomitable drive of blues musician Muddy Waters, whose fierce and electric sound laid the groundwork for what would become rock and roll. Strikingly illustrated in full color by Evan Turk. Winner of many honors including New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2017, NPR's Best Books of 2017 List, New York Public Library's 2017 Best Books for Kids Top 10 and more. Includes a 2 pp author's note on the impact of Muddy Waters and a brief bibliography, unpaginated. Large square format. ISBN: 978-1481443494.

Champaign, Illinois: Garrard Publishing Company, (1969). Hardcover first edition - A title in the Americans All series, this biography for young readers was published the year after King had been murdered in Memphis, and it ends with a moving depiction of his funeral. Illustrated with photographs and drawings by Victor Mays. A review copy with the publisher's slip pasted inside the front cover. 96 pp.

New York: Blue Sky Press / Scholastic, (1996) dj. Hardcover first edition - A collection of eight animal tales, reworked from 19th-century originals recorded by Martha Young ( 1862-1941), a slave owner's daughter who became one of Alabama's foremost folklorist, on her father's plantation after the Civil War. "The stories are told in the cante fable [that is, they include verse or song and end with a moral] tradition, with plenty of rhyming and singing, and an apparently artless ease." (Publisher's Weekly) Illustrated with watercolors by Moser. Tall format, 66 pp.

New York: Scholastic, (1989) dj. Hardcover - Wonderful collection of twelve folktales, 10 based on African stories, and 2 on Jewish tales, retold by Lester and beautifully illustrated with full color paintings by David Shannon. Includes an author's note explaining how his versions differ from the originals. Bibliography. Large format. 72 pp. ISBN: 0-890-419730.

New York: Harper Collins, (1992) dj. Hardcover first edition - Humorous and lively historical novel for older children, the story of a 15-year old boy who sets out in 1880 from New York City to Mexico, to the Alaskan Territory and finally to Tombstone, Arizona to avenge the murder of his uncle. 140 pp. ISBN: 0-06-0208449.

New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, (1975.) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - African American singer, actress and entertainer's first children's book, a charming allegory of a maple seedling that falls from his mother tree, befriends a discarded bottle and a log while searching for his own place in life. Boldly INSCRIBED but NOT signed by Bailey on the title page with the notation "To C-- A real Duey. " and dated in Oct 1976. Laid in is a small SIGNED photograph. Illustrated with photographs by Arnold Skolnick & Gary Azon. Winner of the Coretta Scott King award with gold award sticker on front cover of dj. Square format. 59 pp. ISBN: 0-15-1265763.

New York: Atheneum, (1997) dj. Hardcover first edition - The first collaboration between Newbery Honor author Patricia McKissack and award-winning illustrator Floyd Cooper. "Graceful and deceptively simple, it tells the story of a week in the life of a turn-of-the-century boy and his mother: McKissack's great-grandmother - a book which recreates a slice of turn-of-the-century Southern life as it was for a single African-American mother and her son." Large format, unpaginated. ISBN: 0-689810512.

New York: Lodestar Books / Dutton, (1994) dj. Hardcover first edition - Nigerian-American author's first children's book, one which he describes as an original "contemporary folktale" about the importance of community, life and death, custom and change. Illustrated in full color by Hale - in linocut with watercolor and colored pencil. Large format, unpaginated. ISBN: 0-525674675.

New York: Scholastic, (1999) dj. Hardcover - In 1960, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first black student ever at the all-white William Frantz Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana. This account of that event is "simple in language and rich in history and sepia-toned photographs." It includes "quotes from newspapers of the time, family members, and teachers; sidebars illustrating how Ruby Bridges pops up in both John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and a Norman Rockwell painting; and a fascinating update on Bridges's life and civil rights work. A personal, deeply moving historical documentary about a staggeringly courageous little girl at the center of events that already seem unbelievable." Winner of the Jane Adams Children's Book Award. Large square format, illustrated throughout with photographs. 64 pp. ISBN: 0-590189239.

New York: Dial Press, (1977) dj. Hardcover - Winner of the 1977 Caldecott Medal. Twenty-six African tribal traditions, celebrations, ceremonies and customs are introduced using the English alphabet with each letter represented by an object from one of the African tribes Illustrated on every page with full-color paintings by the award team of Leo & Diane Dillon. Large format, unpaginated. ISBN: 0-80370358.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. First edition - A "novel of family and redemption, as a mother struggles to save her eighteen-year-old daughter from the devastating consequences of mental illness by forcing her to deal with her bipolar disorder" by this award-winning African American author. 319 pp.

New York: Simon & Schuster, (1995) dj. Hardcover first edition - A book which begins by asking children, "Are you afraid of the dark?" and then goes on to describe all the wonderful things that can happen in the dark - from "falling stars to the shadows of friends, from the safety of the womb to the crystal waters that bubble from beneath the earth." Vividly illustrated with with striking double-page-spread acrylic paintings by Marcia Jameson. Large format, unpaginated. ISBN: 0+689803052.

New York: Scholastic, (1965). An account of Harriet Tubman's heroism in helping others escape slavery, written for children and illustrated by R.M. Powers. Slim oblong format, unpaginated.