Reading Groups

Reading Classic Black Children’s Novels with Gale Greenlee

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4 Sessions Wednesdays, 6:00 pm EDT - 7:30 pm EDT July 8 to September 9, 2026

Online via Zoom

The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
7/8, 7/29, 8/19, 9/9
Online via Zoom

Enter the world of Black children’s fiction, written by literary luminaries past and present. Quiet as it’s kept, and long before the emergence of We Need Diverse Books and the assault against young people’s rights to read, Black writers crafted stories for young readers’ eyes. From W. E. B. Du Bois’s magazine The Brownies’ Book, to poetry collections by Eloise Greenfield, Lucille Clifton, and Nikki Giovanni, to fiction by Virginia Hamilton, Christopher Paul Curtis, and Walter Dean Myers, Black authors have created a children’s literary tradition that, as Langston reminds us, runs “deep like the rivers.”

Together, we’ll explore this significant and longstanding form of expression of Black writers. We’ll read historic, formerly out-of-print, and award-winning children’s novels from the 1960s and 1970s. Each presents a bold and uncompromising narrative that confronts the realities of growing up Black in America in the midst of violence, systemic racism, and social change. Reading across time and geography (from 17th-century New England, to New York, to Appalachia and the Deep South), we’ll dig into a curated collection of children’s fiction that reflects the call of Black writers to grapple with notions of power and freedom, create community, and affirm the youngest among us.

Reading List:

Session I: Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood by James Baldwin
Session II: Tituba of Salem Village by Ann Petry (A copy of the story will be emailed upon registration.)
Session III: M.C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
Session IV: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

What to expect from this reading group: Though these are stories for young readers, these books are not child’s play. Come with curiosity, questions, and a willingness to engage in open conversations. We’ll float between literary analysis and book lover mode, and I’ll introduce a bit of historical context and share literary frameworks and thematic content to guide and deepen your reading experience. I hope you will find this to be an exciting and illuminating journey into the beauty and complexity of Black children’s fiction.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Please read Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood before the first meeting.

We offer a limited number of need-based scholarships for our Reading Groups and Writing Workshops, covering 50% of tuition. Applicants selected for scholarships will be notified one week prior to the first meeting. To apply for a scholarship, please fill out this form.

Pricing inclusive of sales tax if applicable. Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

Led by

Gale Greenlee

Gale Greenlee

E. Gale Greenlee (she/her), Ph.D., is a writer-editor and an independent scholar of African American literature, Black and Latinx children’s literature, and Black Girlhood Studies. Her work centers the lives of Black girls and explores the relationship between Black children, geography, built-environments, and nature. Her writing can be found in College Literature, the Journal of Appalachian Studies, Children’s Literature Association Journal, the Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education, Southern Cultures, and Hyperallergic magazine. A former teacher-scholar in residence at the bell hooks center at Berea College, she is the co-editor of an upcoming collection, Belonging to Place: The Creative Community and Artistic Legacy of bell hooks and co-curator of an associated art exhibition. Gale has helped launch initiatives such as the PoetryGSO Festival, One City, One Book, and Greensboro Bound Literary Festival.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

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