Books with author Brian Pinkney

It was a day when Max didn't feel like talking to anyone. He just sat on his front steps and watched the clouds gather in the sky. A strong breeze shook the tree in front of his house, and Max saw two heavy twigs fall to the ground. So begins this story of a young boy's introduction to the joys of making music. Max picks up the sticks and begins tapping out the rhythms of everything he sees and hears around him...the sound of pigeons startled into flight, of rain against the windows, of distant church bells and the rumble of a subway. And then, when a marching band rounds Max's corner, something wonderful happens. Brian Pinkney's rhythmic text and lively pictures are certain to get many a child's foot tapping, many a youngster drumming.

The story of a young boy’s introduction to the joys of making music, certain to get many a child’s foot tapping and many a youngster drumming.One day when Max doesn’t feel like talking to anybody, he finds two sticks that make a perfect pair of drumsticks. He starts with a Pat…pat-tat on his thighs. Then he’s Dum…dum-dedumming on some boxes. Until finally he’s Cling…clang…da-BANGING on the garbage pails. Suddenly, when a marching band Thump-di-di-thumps around Max’s corner, the most wonderful thing happens, and Max learns that you don’t need to talk to say how you feel—especially when you’ve got music.

A young girl must face her fears and conquer her nerves to earn her yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do.When Master Kim announces JoJo is ready to take the test for her yellow belt, butterflies start fluttering in her stomach. JoJo loves Tae Kwon Do, but can she really do a perfect flying side kick and break a board in two? Her family and friends offer all sorts of advice: “Do a little shuffle to chase the jitters away,” says Grandaddy. “Yell ‘KIAH!’ at the top of your lungs,” P.J. advises. “Why don’t you visualize your technique?” Mom suggests. But how can JoJo ever hope to succeed when she’s still afraid of the creepy bandit tree outside her bedroom window? JoJo needs to find a way to turn her fears into success, and she soon realizes there’s only one person who can help her do that—herself.

A School Library Journal Best Picture Book of 2019! Find out what happens when a boy who wants a puppy gets a truck instead in this simple and sweet picture book from Caldecott Honor winner Brian Pinkney. Vroom…beep…bark! Carter wants a puppy, but he gets a truck instead. So he pets it, puts a leash around it, and takes it to the park. But the truck won’t sit still! What will Carter do with his rascally Puppy Truck?

"This markedly talented husband-and-wife team offers a warm profile of dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey . . . intertwining Ailey's alleged thoughts and conversations with facts about his childhood, his introduction to the world of dance . . . and his founding of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958."--"Publishers Weekly," starred review. Full color.

Ella Fitzgerald began her life as a singer on the stage of the Apollo Theater when she was just seventeen years old. Her rich voice and vocal innovations brought her fame and a remarkable career than spanned half a century and won her generations of fans around the world. Acclaimed author Andrea Davis Pinkney has told Ella's inspiring story in the voice of Scat Cat Monroe, a feline fan whose imagined narrative sings with the infectious rhythms of scat. Two-time Caldecott Honor winner Brian Pinkney's dramatic perspectives and fantastical images offer a jazzy improvisation all their own.

Mama has errands to run, so it is up to Papa and big brother to stop baby sister from crying. And, as families familiar with this popular American lullaby know, they will try just about anything to convince baby to smile again.Award-winning artist Brian Pinkney's version of the classic song is an exuberant and affectionate tribute to a father's unconditional love.

Winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award and a New York Times Notable Children's Book HAND IN HAND presents the stories of ten Black men from different eras in American history, organized chronologically to provide a scope from slavery to the modern day. Each biography is an accessible, fully-drawn narrative offering the subjects' childhood influences, the time and place in which they lived, their accomplishments and motivations, and the legacies they left for future generations as links in the "freedom chain." Together the stories of these and their individual accomplishments blend to tell one story: a story of triumph. Features dynamic full color portraits and spot illustrations by two-time Caldecott Honor winner and multiple Coretta Scott King Book Award recipient Brian Pinkney. Backmatter includes a civil rights timeline, sources, and further reading.Profiled:Benjamin BannekerFrederick DouglassBooker T. WashingtonW.E.B. DuBoisA. Philip RandolphThurgood MarshallJackie RobinsonMalcolm XMartin Luther King, JrBarack H. Obama II

Born into slavery, Belle had to endure the cruelty of several masters before she escaped to freedom. But she knew she wouldn't really be free unless she was helping to end injustice. That's when she changed her name to Sojourner and began traveling across the country, demanding equal rights for black people and for women. Many people weren't ready for her message, but Sojourner was brave, and her truth was powerful. And slowly, but surely as Sojourner's step-stomp stride, America began to change.