Happy 50th Birthday, Hip Hop!

This year marks the 50th anniversary of hip hop, the cultural movement born in the South Bronx that became a global phenomenon and revolutionized the music, fashion and art worlds. 

Here are some fresh children's books to help celebrate this milestone with the next generation of break dancers, graffiti artists, DJs and rappers.

Author Carol Boston Weatherford and illustrator Frank Morrison team up to give us The Roots of Rap, an exquisite book that pays homage to the innovators, poets and artists of the hip hop world. 

For a more local flavor, read Simon B. Rhymin' by Chicago author Dwayne Reed. Simon is a shy 11-year-old boy from Chicago’s West Side who wishes to become a famous rapper.

Actor, rapper and children’s book author Chris “Ludacris” Bridges delivers a joyous story about a father-daughter rapping duo in Daddy and Me and the Rhyme to Be.

Reading about nursing and baby's first steps but still craving the sounds of Tribe Called Quest? Check out O Is for Old School to reminisce.

My earliest hip hop memory is my brother hauling a piece of cardboard down our block to practice his breakin’ moves, so my kids will be reading Breaking to the Beat! to mark the anniversary. 

What is your favorite hip hop memory? How will you celebrate the anniversary of this cultural movement's birth?