As a concerned parent it can be difficult to find appropriate reading material for your child. It is especially difficult for parents of African American Children. “Black Books Galore” compiled by Donna Rand, Sheila Foster, and the late Toni Trent Parker. Donna, Sheila and Toni founded Black Books Galore, as a web based children’s book resource and their efforts resulted in the resource book “Black Books Galore” The creation of Black Books Galore came as a direct result of the three mothers searching for good African American books for their own children. “Black Books Galore” is a great resource for African American parents in search of great reads for their children.

Unlike previously, currently there are numerous books available for African American children. In “Black Books Galore” written in 1998, Donna Rand, Sheila Foster and the late Toni Trent Parker, shared advice on how to find and choose great African American books for children. The book is fully annotated and takes you into the world of excellent African American Books. “Black Books Galore” shares with parents the most well written, positive and highly acclaimed books for their children. The books fall into several categories including story books, board books, picture books, fiction, poetry, history, fables, nonfiction, biography, and many others.

“Black Books Galore!” includes short, colorful descriptions of about 500 books. It also includes 200 book recommendations. Other benefits of this resource include guidelines on how to encourage children to read and the listings are well organized. The listings are organized by age and are indexed in a variety of ways, including topic, title, illustrator and author. One such grouping is “Books for Babies and Preschoolers”. The book also includes lists of award winning books. An interesting part of the bibliography is the addition of quotes from some of their best books.

Additionally, the original “Black Books Galore!” has spun off into two other reference books, “Guide To Great African American Books for Boys” and “Guide to Great African American Books for Girls”. Another plus when it comes to searching for the best books for African American children is that Black Books Galore has an associated with a website that contains an online store where parents of African American children can browse an excellent selection of books in various categories such as picture books, preschool books, poetry and music, religious and others.

The reference book “Black Books Galore!” and the associated website are extremely valuable resources for the African American parent.