Pictures speak a universal language, and picture books about black children will immediately connect kids of all races and ethnicities. Three newly issued distinctive volumes prove that fact without a doubt.

“Speak to Me (And I Will Listen Between the Lines),” with hard-hitting blank verse by Karen English and the rambunctiously buoyant pictures of Amy June Bates, pulls in readers with the fresh voices of six black third-graders at a San Francisco Bay Area school.

Each voice is totally individual; some are “good” kids who do things like bring flowers for the teacher; while some are rebellious, like Tyrell, who declares, “I don’t care about anything this day / And you can’t make me.”

What they have in common is their heritage and the fact that they struggle, which can plainly be read “between the lines.”

This book (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16) is so forthright that children will relate to it because they’ve had exactly the same experiences. “No Pink Ink,” a teacher tells Rica, and Lamont declares “This is my spot…” No color exclusivity here.

Julius Lester’s “Let’s Talk About Race,” illustrated by Karen Barbour (HarperCollins Amistad, $15.99) poses the idea that once readers “take off” their skins, they will discover that “we all look alike.”

Both words and the abstract-style art go directly to the heart of the matter — that the heart counts most when people encounter each other.

There are hints of Picasso and Chagall in that art, and the narrative also is tinged with fantasy. Yet at the same time, the book is very concrete in its portrayal of how similar all human beings are, and the message is set forth so persuasively that it goes a long way toward counteracting even the most deep-seated prejudices.

As Lester points out, “To know my story, you have to put together everything I am.” It’s pretty hard to argue with that.

Black-and-white images, subtly tinged with rose-red highlights, set forth a civil rights march by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dramatically in “A Sweet Smell of Roses.” Written by Angela Johnson and illustrated by Eric Velasquez (both Coretta Scott King honorees), the book speaks movingly of children’s involvement with such marches.

The word “freedom” rings throughout the straightforward narrative, and conflict is juxtaposed with joy in the pictures, as two little girls face the best and the worst life has to offer.

This book (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $16.95) ultimately ends triumphantly as the girls return home to “a sweet smell of roses all through our house” from the homes’ windowbox — a scent that has followed them throughout that day, as pure as the freedom they’ve heard about.

It is a reminder that sweetness and freedom surely do go together, in any culture, in any land.