Family
Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, The
When Junior (Arnold) Spirit chooses to go to school off his North Dakota reservation to attend an all white farm school, he encounters a few new friends and loses an old one as he navigates the worlds of whites and Native Americans.
| Author: Alexie, Sherman |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
All the Colors of the Race
A collection of poems celebrating the family and minority heritages. The poems are spoken in the voice of a girl, the child of an African-American mother and Jewish father.
America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories
This is a collection of 14 short stories about people with many different cultural heritages and ethnic backgrounds.
| Author: Mazer, Anne (ed.) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Arrival, The
An amazing and complex immigration story told in a wordless format. Once you start "reading", it's hard to stop - each picture draws you to the next.
| Author: Tan, Shaun |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Arrival, The
An amazing and complex immigration story told in a wordless format. Once you start "reading", it's hard to stop - each picture draws you to the next.
| Author: Tan, Shaun |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
At the End of Words: A Daughter's Memoir
What happens "at the end of words"? The author faced this difficult question as a teenager. Through alternating narration and poetry, she shares her anger, sorrow, confusion, and healing after her mother's death from breast cancer.
Baby
A family finds a baby on its doorstep with a note asking them to care for the baby indefinitely. They begin to love the baby, even though they know they will have to say goodbye, and through the process of becoming attached to the child they are able to
| Author: MacLachlan, Patricia |
|
Bird House, The
This is a modern-day fairy tale that features a homeless girl, an old woman, and birds with magical powers.
Brothers In Hope
The author, who worked with the International Rescue Committee, tells the story of the "lost boys" of Sudan, orphaned by war, who walked to refuge in Ethiopia, and later to Kenya. The first person narrative and vibrant illustrations add immediacy to the
| Author: Williams, Mary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Eight Hands Round: A Patchwork Alphabet
Each letter of this alphabet book introduces a quilt pattern that relates to an activity or person important in early American history.
| Author: Paul, Ann Whitford |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Elijah of Buxton
Eleven-year-old Elijah, the first to be born free in a Canadian settlement for runaway slaves at the end of the Underground Railroad, though considered "fra-gile" and talkative by adults, performs an heroic feat with his chucking stones.
| Author: Curtis, Christopher Paul |
|
Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave Enslaved Potter and Poet
This imaginative volume of poetry is both a tribute to Dave the Potter and a positive biography of a potter who worked his artistic magic despite being a slave. It is poetic in style, autobiographical, written in more than one voice and each entry is jour
| Author: Cheng, Andrea |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing | social studies
|
Families
The author interviewed 15 children from a variety of families. Each interview is accompanied by a photo of the family selected by the child.
| Author: Kuklin, Susan |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Good Women of a Well-Blessed Land
This is a topical history of women in early America (1600s to beginning of American Revolution). Primary source material is used to the extent possible. Lives of White, Black and Native American women are featured. An index, bibliography, and a website b
| Author: Miller, Brandon Marie |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Happy Feet
This very easy, lyrical text with gorgeous illustrations tells the story of the opening of the Savoy in Harlem, which is of special interest to the narrator "Happy Feet" because he was born on that night. The book not only educates the reader about the S
| Author: Richard Michelson |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Henry's Freedom Box
This simply written picture book tells the true story of Henry Brown, a runaway slave who escaped to freedom by mailing himself in a crate.
| Author: Levine, Ellen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Home of the Brave
An African refuge lives with his aunt and cousin in Minneapolis. He has problems adjusting and misses his mother (no one knows where she is). He finds comfort in an older lady and her cow whose name means family in his native language.
| Author: Applegate, Katherine |
HSE Descriptors:
literature and arts | social studies
|
I Saw Your Face
Sketches from Tom Feelings's sketch book are used to frame a simple yet powerful poem about the "face game" played by the author with his mother that celebrates African-American heritage.
| Author: Dawes, Kwame |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - writing
|
Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II
This amazing book takes the reader inside the internment camps and shows the fortitude of the people who survived and thrived despite the hardships imposed on them. An amazing book for readers of all ages. Beautiful photos add to the text.
| Author: Sandler, Martin W. |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Mighty Miss Malone, The
Newberry Award winning author Christopher Paul Curtis has written a heart wrenching historical novel about one unforgettable family during the turbulent days of the Great Depression. Each family member has his/her own drama and the plot centers around a
| Author: Curtis,Christopher |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
More Choices: Stories for Adult New Readers
These three stories fit with George Ella Lyon's collection Choices, but were not included in the original collection because some readers found them too controversial. Our readers found them powerful and moving, addressing life situations that m
| Author: Lyon, George Ella |
|
More Spice Than Sugar: Poems about Feisty Females
All the poems in this collection are about women and girls, some famous and some not. The three sections of the book are "When I Am Me," "She's a Winner" (about sports), and "Against the Odds." Work from some famous poets is included.
| Author: Morrison, Lillian (comp.) |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Morning Milking
Although one OLRC reviewer was concerned that urban readers might not recognize the relevance of this quiet, reflective book, we found this gentle story of a farm child wishing she could make time stand still a lovely celebration of life, of barns and ani
| Author: Morris, Linda Lowe |
|
My Own True Name
This partially bilingual collection of uniformly thoughtful and accessible poems includes many verse forms.
One More River to Cross
This is a photographic chronicle of African American life. The text is very simple. The photos are very powerful. The author includes an index of the photos.
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Papa's Mechanical Fish
Based loosely on the life of Lodner Phillips and his response to his daughter's question, "Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a fish?" Phillips builds a series of submarines and attempts to pilot them in Lake Michigan.
| Author: Fleming, Candace |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Shin's Tricycle
This powerful story tells about the effects of the atom bomb on an ordinary Japanese family, especially on the little boy Shin. It ends with an author's note about the Peace Museum.
| Author: Kodama, Tatsuharu |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Strongest Man in the World, The: Louis Cyr
The text of this book goes far beyond just being the biography of a famous 20th century strong man, Louis Cyr. It is a description of early health mores and an evolution of the circus concept. Additionally, we learn a little about the other famous circus
| Author: Debon, Nicolas |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Teacup Full of Roses
Three brothers live with their mother, disabled father and aging aunt in Washington, D.C. during the Vietnam war. Paul, the oldest and his mother's favorite, returns home from another drug rehabilitation program just as Joe, the middle very responsible s
| Author: Mathis, Sharon |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Words with Wings
This riveting collection of paintings, prints, and sculpture by African-American artists enrich poems by outstanding African-American poets. The book includes a beautifully written introduction about the role of art and poetry and brief biographies of th
| Author: Rochelle, Belinda ed. |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Family > children
Angel to Angel
The author-poet celebrates mothers in this collection of poems illustrated by archival photographs of African American families.
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Blacker the Berry, The
The author explores all the warm colors of skin tones in delicious to the tongue words and images.
| Author: Thomas, Joyce Carol |
|
Blacker the Berry, The
The author explores all the warm colors of skin tones in delicious to the tongue words and images.
| Author: Thomas, Joyce Carol |
|
Boys' War, The
This award-winning book uses firsthand accounts of experiences to offer a look at the role of young (some as young as 12) soldiers in the Civil War.
| Author: Murphy, Jim |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Chicken Sunday
Two African-American boys and their white friend, a girl, try to earn enough money to buy Miss Eula Mae the Easter bonnet she's been longing for. The children befriend a Jewish shopkeeper who helps them succeed.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
|
Glorious Angels
The author has collected photographs of children and families from around the world to illustrate his prose-poem about children.
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Growing Up in Revolution and the New Nation
"Studying history is a way of snooping into the past." So begins this interesting book that focuses on childhood and adolescence in 1775--1800. Illustrated with paintings from the Revolutionary War period, the book describes education, work and leisure, d
| Author: Miller, Brandon Marie |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Immigrant Kids
In this unique book, noted nonfiction writer Russell Freedman offers a rare glimpse of what it meant to be a young newcomer to America in the early 1900s.
| Author: Freedman, Russell |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Leaving and Other Stories, The
The nine short stories in this collection all feature young people on the brink of adulthood. Although themes vary according to story, most are written as reminiscences. Since the author is Canadian, readers will learn about Canadian culture.
Mississippi Mud: Three Prairie Journals
Three pioneer children recount their trip across the prairie in a series of easy-to-read poems.
| Author: Turner, Ann |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Morning Girl
In alternating chapters, Morning Girl (age 12) and her brother describe life on a Bahamian island in 1492. (Note: this book won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.)
| Author: Dorris, Michael |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Once Upon a Company: A True Story
This is the true story of how 3 children began a business, first making Christmas wreaths and later adding other products.
| Author: Halperin, Wendy Anderson |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | math
|
Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story
Between 1859 and 1929, more than 200,000 children were sent "west" on Orphan Trains. The chapters in this book alternate between telling the larger history of this event and telling the individual story of one Orphan Train Rider, Lee Nailling.
| Author: Warren, Andrea |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Swan Lake
An expanded retelling of the story of Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake.The author retells the story of Swan Lake within his narrative of the Damavand empire. Van Allsburg's illustrations highlight the events of the story.
| Author: Helprin, Mark |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Way a Door Closes, The
Told in a poetry format, a teenage boy describes his reaction to his father's leaving the family, and then to his return.
| Author: Smith, Hope Anita |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March
Tells the story of the Birmingham Children's March through four participants. As the events unfold, the different perspectives and motivations of the participants shed light on the dynamics of the civil rights movement. In addition to the personal stori
| Author: Levinson, Cynthia |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Family > children > childhood
American Boy: The Adventures of Mark Twain
This biography of Sam Clemens focuses primarily on his childhood. Readers will see many parallels between young Sam's adventures and those of his famous characters Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.
| Author: Brown, Don |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Bee & Jacky
A brother and sister suffer the effects of their father's Vietnam trauma and their mother's ineffectualness by resuming a physical relationship. This moving, psychologically honest book is difficult to read because the real or imagined incest is portraye
Brown Angels: An Album of Picture and Verse
This book is a collection of very short poems and photographs of African-American children. Many of the photos are from the turn of the century.
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Coming Home
The book tells the story of Langston Hughes' lonely childhood, demonstrating that certain themes and ideas that later emerged in Hughes' poetry grew from his experiences as a child.
| Author: Cooper, Floyd |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Cool Moonlight, A
Lila, who has an allergy to sunlight, lives with her disability helped by her family and friends, real and imaginary. The author uses lyrical language deftly to tell the story with great sensitivity and lightness.
First Impressions: Andrew Wyeth
This biography of Andrew Wyeth is the result of a friendship between the artist and the author. The book focuses on Wyeth's early years, his relationship with his father, and his development as an artist. One reader felt that the vocabulary might be diff
| Author: Meryman, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Knoxville, Tennessee
This brief and beautifully illustrated poem celebrates a young child's summer in Knoxville, TN.
| Author: Giovanni, Nikki |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Miss Spitfire
Using real letters and records, the author vividly imagines the early days of the relationship between Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan from the teacher's perspective.
Miss Spitfire
Using real letters and records, the author vividly imagines the early days of the relationship between Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan from the teacher's perspective.
Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein
This picture book biography of Albert Einstein focuses on his early years when he did not fit in--anywhere. Don Brown illustrates his book in delightful ink and watercolor and includes a biographical note updating the events of the book.
| Author: Brown, Don |
HSE Descriptors:
science | math
|
Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein
This picture book biography of Albert Einstein focuses on his early years when he did not fit in--anywhere. Don Brown illustrates his book in delightful ink and watercolor and includes a biographical note updating the events of the book.
| Author: Brown, Don |
HSE Descriptors:
science | math
|
Poetry for Young People: Edna St. Vincent Millay
Beautifully illustrated collection of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry. The volume also includes a sketch of the poet's life.
| Author: Francis Schoonmaker |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Salt: A Story of Friendship in Time of War
Set in the Indiana Territory, this story of two friends - Anikwa, a Miami Indian and James, the son of a white trader become friends despite the conflict of their heritage. This book is uniquely crafted in two style of poetic verse. Salt plays a symbolic
| Author: Frost, Helen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Silent Music
A young boy in present-day Baghdad learns Arabic calligraphy to distract him from the bombing of his city. The gorgeous illustrations invite the reader to learn to write the Arabic words for "war" and "peace." An author's note gives the historical backg
| Author: Rumford, James |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Stand for Children
Marian Wright Edelman delivered this speech at the Stand for Children demonstration in 1996 in Washington, D.C. Pictures of photo-transfer quilts with multicultural themes illustrate the book. An Author's Note gives background on the demonstration.
| Author: Edelman, Marian Wright |
|
To Go Singing Through the World
The childhood of one of Chile's most famous poets is told through a juxtaposition of the author's narrative and Neruda's own words. This beautifully illustrated biography includes excerpts of poems, maps, a time line, and a concise full-life biography.
| Author: Ray, Deborah Kogan |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Under the Shadow of Wings
Obie, a developmentally disabled boy dies causing a variety of emotional response from his friend Tatnall, an 11-year-old girl.
Family > children > childhood memories
Before I Was Your Mother
A mother tells her daughter stories about herself before she became a mother who does many things.
Before John Was a Jazz Giant
The author imagines the sounds of John Coltrane's childhood that influenced his musical compositions as an adult. A historical note, selected listening and further reading are included.
| Author: Weatherford, Carole Boston |
|
Before John Was a Jazz Giant
The author imagines the sounds of John Coltrane's childhood that influenced his musical compositions as an adult. A historical note, selected listening and further reading are included.
| Author: Weatherford, Carole Boston |
|
Cat with the Yellow Star, The: Coming of Age in Terezin
Ela Weissberger's life before, during, and after she and her family were forced to live in the Jewish ghetto of Terezin during WWII. Photographs reinforce Ela's memories of survival and hope.
| Author: Rubin, Susan Goldman |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Dear Willie Rudd
Miss Elizabeth, thinking 50 years back, remembers Willie Rudd, the African American housekeeper who raised her, her mother, and her grandmother. She writes a letter to the long-dead Willie Rudd in which she explains the past and expresses her feelings.
| Author: Gray, Libba Moore |
|
Do I Dare Disturb the Universe:
Charlise Lyles grew up in Cleveland in the 1960s and 1970s. This memoir focuses on life in the projects, her family's struggle to survive, her mother's relentless work to provide opportunities for children. Mostly, though, it's about Charlise-- her though
Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became an American Boy
This is an informative account of a child left behind when his American soldier father left Vietnam and his mother died. It traces his journey to America, his adopted family and his eventual return to his homeland to help orphans.
| Author: Warren, Andrea |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Families
The author interviewed 15 children from a variety of families. Each interview is accompanied by a photo of the family selected by the child.
| Author: Kuklin, Susan |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story
Author's memoir of the years that shaped her childhood as her Jewish family is trapped in Nazi Germany, sent to prison camps, and escapes to the United States.
| Author: Perl, Lila and Blumenthal, Marion Lazan |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Glass Castle, The: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls' memoir of her dysfunctional but vibrant family and the resilience and loyalty they exhibited.
Glass Castle, The: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls' memoir of her dysfunctional but vibrant family and the resilience and loyalty they exhibited.
Grandmama's Pride
This is a most beautiful book focusing on the segregation practiced in the south during the 1950's leading to the civil rights laws passed in the 60's. The illustrations make the book come alive with details showing the inequalities practiced in every day
| Author: Birtha, Becky |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Grandmama's Pride
This is a most beautiful book focusing on the segregation practiced in the south during the 1950's leading to the civil rights laws passed in the 60's. The illustrations make the book come alive with details showing the inequalities practiced in every day
| Author: Birtha, Becky |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Hidden Child
A survivor of the Holocaust describes with illustrations and text his hiding in France during World War II and his search for his family and friends after the war.
| Author: Millman, Isaac |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
How I Discovered Poetry
Marilyn Nelson describes her childhood in America in the 1950s, as the daughter of an African American Army officer. The poems span from her fourth to fourteenth year and touch aspects of civil rights, "Red Scare," atom bomb and the stirrings of the femin
| Author: Nelson, Marilyn |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies | language arts - writing
|
In Coal Country
Living in a small Ohio mining town, a small girl tells of her family's life in the first part of this century.
| Author: Hendershot, Judith |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Long Way From Chicago, A
Subtitled "A Novel in Stories," this is a book about Joey and Mary Alice, who leave their home in Chicago each summer during the Depression to spend a week with Grandma Dowdel, who lives in a very small downstate town and who is, to say the least, an unfo
Memories of Sun
This is a collection of modern day short stories and poems about Africa. It has three divisions: 1) Africa 2) Americans in Africa 3) Africans in America. Although most of the 12 stories are engaging, teachers will want to read beforehand since some may
| Author: Kurtz, Jane (Ed.) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot
During the occupation of Germany after WW II, a young girl writes a letter to an American airlift pilot who drops chocolates to children. The author includes a biography of Col. Halvorsen, "the chocolate pilot" of the title.
Mississippi Mud: Three Prairie Journals
Three pioneer children recount their trip across the prairie in a series of easy-to-read poems.
| Author: Turner, Ann |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
My Mama Had a Dancing Heart
In simple poetic language, a ballet dancer recalls how she and her mother welcomed the seasons by dancing outdoors and being together.
| Author: Gray, Libba Moore |
|
No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War
A touching recounting of a Jewish child's survival in Nazi Poland. Hidden with her Catholic nanny, Anita and her younger brother are hidden for years but are eventually caught and imprisoned. After freedom, they are both sent to a sanatorium for tubercul
| Author: Lobel, Anita |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Other Side, The
Spurred by a letter from her grandmother saying that "they're pulling Shorter down," the poet returns to the people and places of her childhood in Shorter, Alabama. The poems are accessible and concise but filled with powerful feeling. Photographs from
Rescued Images
The author contributes a moving and strikingly illustrated memoir of her experience of being a "hidden child" in Holland during World War II and its far-reaching effect.
| Author: Jacobsen, Ruth |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Richard Wright and the Library Card
This is a 'slice of life' biography about the author Richard Wright set in his late adolescence/ young adulthood. Events deal with discrimination, Richard's discovery of literature, and how he decided to become an author.
| Author: Miller, William |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Seventeenth Child, The
The author writes the oral history of her mother, who is the seventeenth child in her family growing up in the South during the Depression.
| Author: Rice, Dorothy & Payne, Lucille |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Sigmund Freud
This biography introduces the history of the study of the physical and emotional aspects of the mind as well as the colorful life of Sigmund Freud. Additional resources include an appendix, a bibliography, web sites, and an index.
| Author: Krull, Kathleen |
HSE Descriptors:
science
|
Silent Boy, The
Katy,the young and curious daughter of a small-town doctor living in 1908, learns about life, death, and social distinctions from her family and her friend, Jacob, who is "touched."
Silver Packages
A man returns to his childhood home in Appalachia to thank the benefactor on the Christmas Train. The story originally appeared in Rylant's book Children of Christmas: Stories for the Season.
Slavery Time: When I Was Chillun
Excerpts from 12 oral histories from former slaves, gathered during the Depression by WPA workers, provide several perspectives about slave life as remembered by the people interviewed, who were in their 80s and 90s at the time of the interviews.
| Author: Hurmence, Belinda |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
So Far From the Sea
A Japanese American visits Manazar, a Japanese relocation camp in World War II, to visit the grave of a grandfather.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
That Summer
A boy looks back on the summer that his brother became ill and died.
This Land is My Land
By telling his own story in words and in art, Littlefield describes what it is to be Native-American in the United States. He pays tribute to his ancestors and to the Native-American culture and history.
| Author: Littlechild, George |
|
Wall, The: Growing up behind the iron curtain
Author-illustrator Peter Sis documents his growing up in Czechoslovakia behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, using extraordinary drawings in black, white, and red that precede two-page spreads of journal entries. Because the running text at the b
| Author: Sis, Peter |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
Wolf on the Fold
Six linked storeis follow an Australian family from 1935 to 2002 as different generations cope with discord and violence. The use of flashbacks may cause some readers difficulty.
Year Down Yonder, A
This is the sequel to A Long Way From Chicago. Both books have won awards, the Newbery Medal for this one. Mary Alice goes to live with her spunky, trouble-making grandma in rural Illinois because the Depression has torn her family apart.
Zlata's Diary
Eleven-year old Zlata keeps a diary during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992-93. The first part of the diary has insights about a child living her life in war torn Sarajevo, the second part becomes tedious and repetitive.
| Author: Filipovic, Zlata |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Family > children > foster children
Ellen Foster
11-year-old Ellen tells her own story in this "Oprah Book about a foster childhood." She is an amazingly resilient child and an amazingly perceptive observer of others.
Every Living Thing
Each story in this collection features an animal, and in every case the existence of the animal helps to foster the feelings of love or compassion in the people. The stories touch upon topics such as alcoholism, aging, loneliness, and foster parenting.
Finding Fish
This is the autobiography of Antwone Fisher (basis for a movie made by Denzel Washington). Antwone's childhood was filled with emotional and physical abuse. He found a way to overcome this difficult beginning.
Gratefully Yours
Orphaned by a New York tenement fire in 1920, Hattie rides an orphan train to Nebraska where she joins the Jansen household, Henry and his wife Elizabeth. The story relates the loss and healing process that both Hattie and Elizabeth experience. The stor
| Author: Buchanan, Jane |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Locomotion
Lonnie, a.k.a. Locomotion, is encouraged by his teacher Ms. Marcus to write poetry. His poems, in many, many forms but all accessible, tell his story of losing parents in a fire, separation from his sister, group homes, and foster care.
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
|
Long Walk to Water, A
When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven. Based on the life of Salva D
| Author: Park, Linda Sue |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Looks Like Daylight:Voices of Indigenous Kids
For two years writer and activist Deborah Ellis traveled across the United States and Canada, interviewing Indigenous young people. The result is a collection of frank and often surporising interviews with kids aged 9 to 19, as they talk about their dail
| Author: Ellis, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing | social studies | language arts - reading
|
Peace, Locomotion
This book is a collection of the letters and poems Lonnie, hero of the book Locomotion, writes to his sister Lili, who lives with a different foster parent than Lonnie does. The book is remarkably upbeat while dealing with the family issues that Lonnie an
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing
|
Peace, Locomotion
This book is a collection of the letters and poems Lonnie, hero of the book Locomotion, writes to his sister Lili, who lives with a different foster parent than Lonnie does. The book is remarkably upbeat while dealing with the family issues that Lonnie an
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing
|
Rite of Passage
The book is set in Harlem in the late 1940s. Protagonist Johnny Gibbs, 15, is a model child and student until he learns that he is a foster child who must go to live with another family. Johnny feels betrayed and reacts by running away. What follows pu
| Author: Wright, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Train to Somewhere
Marianne heads west with 14 other children on an Orphan Train, certain that her mother will be waiting for her at one of the stops. No one shows interest in adopting Marianne until the train arrives at a place called Somewhere, where Marianne meets her n
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Family > dating
Before I Was Your Mother
A mother tells her daughter stories about herself before she became a mother who does many things.
Couple of Kooks and Other Stories About Love, A
All of these eight short stories are appropriate for ABE or ESL classes, and some will work well in Family Literacy settings as well. The focus of the stories is on the small details of being in love, of the wonder and delight that love can bring. Some
True Believer
This is not exactly a sequel to Make Lemonade, but the style is similar and many of the characters are the same-- LaVaughn, her mother, Jolly and her children [they have a minor role in this book]. LaVaughn is 15, lives in the inner city, and str
| Author: Wolff, Virginia Euwer |
|
Family > extended family
Because of Winn-Dixie
10-year-old Opal and her preacher father move to a small Florida town. Opal finds a dog (Winn-Dixie), gradually eases her loneliness, and learns to accept some losses.
Bells of Christmas, The
This long picture book may be read slowly, although it is not broken into chapters. It is a reminiscence of an African-American family's celebration of Christmas in the 1890s and is set in the farmlands of Ohio.
| Author: Hamilton, Virginia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Bread and Roses, Too.
This is a fictionalized history of the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts, factory strike. The main characters are two children, a girl whose family is active in the strike, and a homeless boy. Aspects of the strike itself and of outsiders' attempts to help the
| Author: Paterson, Katherine |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Breadwinner, The
This coming-of-age story, told from the point of view of a young Afghan girl left to fend for her family in the times of repressive Taliban influence is both moving and suspenseful.
| Author: Ellis, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Breadwinner, The
This coming-of-age story, told from the point of view of a young Afghan girl left to fend for her family in the times of repressive Taliban influence is both moving and suspenseful.
| Author: Ellis, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea
This well illustrated book of poetry uses the metaphor of nurturing tea for the extended family.
| Author: Thomas, Joyce Carol |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Chanda's Secrets
Sixteen-year-old Chanda, who lives in a fictional sub-Saharan
country that is feeling the impact of HIV/AIDS psychologically(fears, lies, and sundered relationships)and socially (ostracism of tainted people, necessity of hiding), takes a courageous stand
| Author: Stratton, Allan |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Charlotte
When 10-year-old Charlotte's father forbids her to associate with her cousins because her uncle was a royalist in the American Revolution, she disobeys with lifelong consequences. The book includes an Afterword about Charlotte's later life.
| Author: Lunn, Janet |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Dear One, The
15-year-old, pregnant Rebecca arrives at her mother's college friend's house to await the birth of her baby. She and others in the house learn to embrace differences and develop friendships.
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
|
Ellen Foster
11-year-old Ellen tells her own story in this "Oprah Book about a foster childhood." She is an amazingly resilient child and an amazingly perceptive observer of others.
Family Farm
Two children learn that their family is in danger of losing its farm. They devise a plan for saving it.
Francie
This engaging novel shows a slice of life in small-town Alabama in the 1940s, as told from the perspective of 13-year-old Francie. Francie, her mother, and her brother anxiously await a chance to join her father in Chicago. In the meantime, Francie comes
Gifts from the Sea
The lives of a lighthousekeeper and his daughter are changed by the discovery of a baby washed ashore after a shipwreck on the coast of Maine in the 1850's.
| Author: Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie |
|
Heroes
Donnie, a Japanese American boy, finally escapes the role of "bad guy" in war games with his peers with the help of his father and uncle.
Hundred Penny Box, A
A young boy loves his Great Aunt Dew, her stories, and her box of one hundred pennies, one for each of her birthdays. But Michael's mother is impatient with them both and wants to throw the box out.
In Nueva York
This collection of short, interlocking stories depicts life in one of New York City's Puerto Rican communities.
| Author: Mohr, Nicholasa |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Irene Jennie and the Christmas Masquerade
Irene Jennie is missing her parents as Christmas Day approaches in the slave quarters. The wild parade known as the Johnkankus diverts her loneliness and brings her a surprise.
| Author: Smalls, Irene |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Knoxville, Tennessee
This brief and beautifully illustrated poem celebrates a young child's summer in Knoxville, TN.
| Author: Giovanni, Nikki |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Like Sisters on the Homefront
When 14-year-old Gayle gets into "trouble," she and her baby Jose leave New York City to live with family in rural Georgia. At first bored with and distressed about her situation, Gayle eventually makes friends with her cousin Cookie. Through "tellings" b
| Author: Williams-Garcia, Rita |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Luba, the Angel of Bergen-Belsen
This is the story of Luba Tryszynska, a prisoner at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp who hid 52 abandoned Jewish children until the camp was liberated. Front and back matter establish the historical context with a map and a bibliography. An epilogue tel
| Author: McCann, Michelle R. |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Memory Coat, The
In order to flee persecution as Jews in Russia, Rachel and her cousin Griska emigrate with their extended family to America where they encounter difficulty at Ellis Island. The author provides additional information on immigration from Russia in the endm
| Author: Woodruff, Elvira |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Missing May
A twelve-year-old girl named Summer and her uncle are dealing with the death of Aunt May (his wife). They decide, with the help of a strange boy from Summer's school, to try to contact May's spirit, and in the process learn how to let go.
Momma, Where Are You From?
When a young girl asks her mother where she comes from, she receives a loving description of her hard-working childhood in the segregated South told in rich, rhythmic language with lush illustrations.
| Author: Bradby, Marie |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Number the Stars
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis. It is about the power of the Danish Resistance, heroes of a nation, the power of human decency over th
| Author: Lowry, Lois |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, The
Margaret Rose Kane, 12 years old, escapes oppressive summer camp with the help of her great-uncles and then helps them rescue from urban renewal the sculptural "towers" that they have been creating for 45 years.
| Author: Konigsburg, E. L. |
|
Pride of Baghdad
This graphic novel of a family of lions liberated from the Baghdad zoo by U.S. bombing raids provides a symbolic understanding of the war from the dangers they encounter.
| Author: Vaughan, Brian K. |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Real Time
A gripping story told in real time (hence the title)from the viewpoints of several characters involved in the bombing of an Israeli bus.
| Author: Kass, Pnina Moed |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Relatively Speaking
Centered around a family reunion, a boy speaks about his older brother, his parents, grandparents, and extended family in short, easily accessible free verse.
Ruby's Wish
The author tells the story of her Chinese grandmother, Ruby, who yearned for learning and the opportunity to attend the university, which was against custom.
| Author: Bridges, Shirin Yim |
|
Same Stuff as Stars, The
Angel and her little brother Bernie are dropped off at their great-grandma's house. Dad is in jail, and mom is an alcoholic and selfishly unable to be a mother. Together, the new family learns to live together in the crumbling Vermont farmhouse.
| Author: Paterson, Katherine |
|
Seek
For a senior class autobiography assignment, Robbie creates "a sound portrait" in a radio script format, which includes his extended family and his search for his long-absent father. One reviewer thought that the text is too disjointed and confusing for
Silent Thunder: A Civil War Story
The book is set on a Virginia plantation in 1862. Eleven-year-old Summer and her older brother Rosco live with their mother on the Parnell Plantation as talk of President Lincoln's coming proclamation to free slaves reaches the community. Each of the mai
| Author: Pinkney, Andrea Davis |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Sweet Music in Harlem
Inspired by a real photograph of jazz musicians taken in 1958, the fictional story recounts young C. J.'s search through Harlem for his uncle's hat, a hat his uncle wants to wear in a photograph. Included is the historical photograph with the identities
| Author: Taylor, Debbie |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Tree Girl
Based on true experiences that were shared with the author, Gabriela, a Guatemalan girl who loves to climb trees, escapes a massacre, eventually reaching a refugee camp where she is reunited with her little sister, both of whom must overcome the trauma an
Uncle Jed's Barbershop
A woman tells the story of her Uncle Jed, an African-American barber who traveled a regular route, saving his money for his own shop. When she became sick, he gave up his money for her operation, and when the Depression came, he lost everything again. F
| Author: Mitchell, Margaree K. |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Waiting for the Evening Star
This beautifully illustrated book is about Berty, a small boy who lives a happy life in a Vermont farming community. Berty's life changes when his older brother, Luke, decides to leave the family farm to become a soldier in WWI.
| Author: Wells, Rosemary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Whale Journey
This book describes the migration journey of grey whales. Birthing and care of whale babies are also described. The illustrations are breathtaking.
| Author: French, Vivian |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | science
|
Wreck of the Zanzibar, The
When Laura Perryman dies, her great-nephew Michael gets her diary. The diary reveals remarkable stories about a time when people lived off the bounty (and at the mercy) of the ocean. This story "of a family bound by respect for nature seamlessly blends
| Author: Morpurgo, Michael |
|
Family > family heritage
Angel to Angel
The author-poet celebrates mothers in this collection of poems illustrated by archival photographs of African American families.
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Black Star, Bright Dawn
Bright Dawn, a teenaged Eskimo girl, takes her father's place in the grueling Iditarod, the 1000-mile dogsled race through the cold wilds of Alaska. In the process, she learns about herself, her family, and her culture.
Blues Singers, The
The author tells his granddaughter about the origin of blues in America through 10 stories of great blues musicians he and his father had known. The interesting illustrations are done in a thick line, solid color style. A bibliography and a recording li
| Author: Lester, Julius |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Calling the Doves
The author joyously recounts the songs, the food, and the love of his parents of his boyhood in a migrant Mexican family in rhythmic, lyrical language with a bilingual format. The colorful illustrations recall both Diego Rivera and Marc Chagall in their
Childtimes
Three African American women, grandmother, mother, and daughter, reminisce about their childhoods.
| Author: Greenfield, Eloise & Little, Lessive Jones |
|
Circle Unbroken
A young girl learns the tradition of making sweet grass baskets.
| Author: Raven, Margot |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Going Back Home: An Artist Returns to the South
This book is a partnership between African American artist, Michele Woods, who returned to the South and painted her family history, and author Toyomi Igus, who gave words to Woods's paintings.
| Author: Igus, Toyomi |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Holes
This story-within-a-story tells of Stanley Yelnats (and his distant relatives, one of whom "cursed" the family), mistakenly sent to a juvenile corrections camp in Texas. At the corrections camp, Stanley finds a real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of
I Saw Your Face
Sketches from Tom Feelings's sketch book are used to frame a simple yet powerful poem about the "face game" played by the author with his mother that celebrates African-American heritage.
| Author: Dawes, Kwame |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - writing
|
Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II
This amazing book takes the reader inside the internment camps and shows the fortitude of the people who survived and thrived despite the hardships imposed on them. An amazing book for readers of all ages. Beautiful photos add to the text.
| Author: Sandler, Martin W. |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Jack
This is a biography of JFK, from birth through HS graduation. A bit of his parents' backgrounds is also provided. Primary documents, letters and school reports, are sprinkled throughout the text.
| Author: Cooper, Ilene |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Life Is So Good
This is the autobiography of George Dawson, grandson of slaves, who began to learn to read at age 98. Like Having Our Say, this book offers an African American perspective to 100 years of history. Moreover, Dawson's character and philosophy for l
| Author: Dawson, George & Glaubman, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing | social studies
|
Looks Like Daylight:Voices of Indigenous Kids
For two years writer and activist Deborah Ellis traveled across the United States and Canada, interviewing Indigenous young people. The result is a collection of frank and often surporising interviews with kids aged 9 to 19, as they talk about their dail
| Author: Ellis, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing | social studies | language arts - reading
|
My Own True Name
This partially bilingual collection of uniformly thoughtful and accessible poems includes many verse forms.
Persepolis 2
This graphic novel sequel to Persepolis, depicts the author's rebellious adolescence and early adulthood among dissident outsider friends in Vienna and her voluntary return to her family in fundamentalist Tehran. Readers should be cautioned about referen
| Author: Satrapi, Marjane |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Princess Ka'iulani: Hope of a Nation, Heart of a People
This is a fascinating biography of Ka'iulani, Crown Princess of Hawaii. The history of Hawaii is also chronicled, as is a bit about life in the US and Europe in the late 19th century. Authentic photographs and political cartoons, a bibliography, and index
| Author: Linnea, Sharon |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Seven Brave Women
A young girl recounts her family history passed down to her through stories and family artifacts of remarkable, ordinary women. Each of the seven women who lived at the time of a war "made history by not fighting in wars."
Sioux, The
This book is part of the "Lifeway Series," which also includes titles called The Cherokee, The Iroquois, and The Navajo. This title examines the origins, history, culture, beliefs, and language of the Native American tribe the S
| Author: Bial, Raymond |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
This Jazzman
Using vibrant colors, typeface, and onomatopoetic words, the author and illustrator introduce readers to types of jazz musicians. Back pages provide biographical information on jazz greats.
| Author: Ehrhardt, Karen |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Voices from the Fields
Photographs, poems, and interviews capture glimpses of life for today's migrant children.
| Author: Atkin, S. Beth |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Walking the Choctaw Road
A collection of twelve stories from the Mississippi and Oklahoma branches of the Choctaw People, including traditional lore arising from beliefs and myths, historical tales pased down through generations, and personal stories of contemporary life.
| Author: Tingle, Tim |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Family > family history
All Around Town
Columbia, South Carolina of the 1920's and 1930's is chronicled by photographs by Richard Roberts and text by the author. One reader thought the text was too childish.
Anastasia's Album
This biography of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, is told through photos and memorabilia and reveals the mystery behind her death.
| Author: Brewster, Hugh |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
This nonfiction reference book is filled with photographs and details about Anne Frank, her family, and the world in which she lived.
| Author: Verhoeven, Rian & van der Rol, Ruud |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope
Framed by the story of an African American mother and her son, who keeps interjecting questions and comments, the narrative tells the story of Barack Obama around the theme of hope and the importance of education. Both the words of Nikki Grimes and the ar
| Author: Grimes, Nikki |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Before I Was Your Mother
A mother tells her daughter stories about herself before she became a mother who does many things.
Brothers War, The: Civil War Voices in Verse
Well-known poet J. Patrick Lewis includes archival photographs and factual information to expand the emotional of his poems that give voice to individuals who were caught up in the Civil War. The book also includes a map, a timeline, a bibliography, and
| Author: Lewis, J. Patrick |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea
This well illustrated book of poetry uses the metaphor of nurturing tea for the extended family.
| Author: Thomas, Joyce Carol |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Charlotte
When 10-year-old Charlotte's father forbids her to associate with her cousins because her uncle was a royalist in the American Revolution, she disobeys with lifelong consequences. The book includes an Afterword about Charlotte's later life.
| Author: Lunn, Janet |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Cracked Corn and Snow Ice Cream
Almanac information and family history are given for each month in sections called Dates and Festivals, Farmer's Calendar, Worth Knowing, and Worth Cooking.
E. E. Cummings
This extensive biography of the American poet and artist, E. E. Cummings, also conveys the history of the times, especially of artistic movements. Drawings, archival photographs, and segments of poems expand the biographical information.
| Author: Reef, Catherine |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
From Miss Ida's Porch
People from the street gather on Miss Ida's porch to hear stories, especially stories about important Black musicians (Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Marian Anderson) and their personal connections to them. These I-remember-when stories are both heartfelt a
| Author: Belton, Sandra |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Going Back Home: An Artist Returns to the South
This book is a partnership between African American artist, Michele Woods, who returned to the South and painted her family history, and author Toyomi Igus, who gave words to Woods's paintings.
| Author: Igus, Toyomi |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Good Brother, Bad Brother
Subtitled "The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth," this long biography portrays their lives before and after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. This is a GED level book.
| Author: Giblin, James Cross |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Grandmother and the Runaway Shadow
When she was a young girl, Grandmother immigrated to America from Russia accompanied by her shadow. Together, they made a new home.
| Author: Rosenberg, Liz |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Grandmothers
In the introduction, the editor, after describing her own strong grandmother, says that grandmothers help us make the transition from childhood to adulthood and "civilize" us. The essays, poems and short stories that follow introduce us to a wide cultura
| Author: Giovanni, Nikki (Ed.) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Great Stone Face, The
The author retells a famous Hawthorne story about how a New England village interprets a mountain's "face" over the years as fulfilling the prophecy of revealing the noblest person of the time.
| Author: Schmidt, Gary/Hawthorne Nathaniel |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
Bessie was 103 and Sadie was 105 when they collaborated with Amy Hill Hearth to write this story of their lives and times. Additionally the Delany sisters offer their perspectives on society, living conditions, people, events, etc. from the past century.
| Author: Delany, Sarah & Delany, A. Elizabeth |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Holes
This story-within-a-story tells of Stanley Yelnats (and his distant relatives, one of whom "cursed" the family), mistakenly sent to a juvenile corrections camp in Texas. At the corrections camp, Stanley finds a real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of
Home Place
While on a hike, a family discovers the site of a ruined house. They find a few abandoned objects and, through terse and poetic words, imagine the family who once lived there. Through superior illustrations Pinkney evokes a world that is part dream and
| Author: Dragonwagon, Cresent |
|
How I Discovered Poetry
Marilyn Nelson describes her childhood in America in the 1950s, as the daughter of an African American Army officer. The poems span from her fourth to fourteenth year and touch aspects of civil rights, "Red Scare," atom bomb and the stirrings of the femin
| Author: Nelson, Marilyn |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies | language arts - writing
|
I Have an Olive Tree
Colorful, stylized illustrations depict a girl and her mother as they travel back to Greece to see the olive tree her granfather left her when he died, a gift that grows in value as the story progresses.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
I Have Heard of a Land
A hardworking African American woman stakes a homestead claim in the Oklahoma Territory in the period after the Civil War. Told in rich, lyrical language, the beautifully illustrated story reminds us that African Americans were a part of the settlement o
| Author: Thomas, Joyce Carol |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Coal Country
Living in a small Ohio mining town, a small girl tells of her family's life in the first part of this century.
| Author: Hendershot, Judith |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Journey
Journey, an eleven-year-old boy whose Mom has left him and his sister to live with her parents, feels angry and betrayed. He spends the summer looking at family photos, learning to recognize the sustaining love of his grandparents, and letting go of his
| Author: MacLachlan, Patricia |
|
Life Is So Good
This is the autobiography of George Dawson, grandson of slaves, who began to learn to read at age 98. Like Having Our Say, this book offers an African American perspective to 100 years of history. Moreover, Dawson's character and philosophy for l
| Author: Dawson, George & Glaubman, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing | social studies
|
Lost: A Story in String
Using string figures, a grandmother tells a story of the uses of imagination and resourcefulness. Beautiful black-and-white clayboard and ink illustrations and clear diagrams and resources encourage readers to try the string figures.
Lotus Seed, The
A young girl tells her grandmother's story of carrying a lotus seed with her from Vietnam, losing it, and then regaining it. The author wants to share "how a family's heritage is passed from one generation to the next and how hope, like the lotus seed, ca
| Author: Garland, Sherry |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Miss Rumphius
The Lupine Lady, the great-aunt of the narrator, travels around the world but returns to Maine to plant lupines and make her world a better place.
| Author: Cooney, Barbara |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Momma, Where Are You From?
When a young girl asks her mother where she comes from, she receives a loving description of her hard-working childhood in the segregated South told in rich, rhythmic language with lush illustrations.
| Author: Bradby, Marie |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
My Grandmother's Journey
The narrator tells the story of the grandmother's life and of the many wars and troubles she experienced in Eastern Europe, until she came to the U.S.
| Author: Cech, John |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
My Great Aunt Arizona
Based on the author's great aunt, Arizona was born in a log cabin. All her life she dreamed of visiting far-away places. She became a teacher and never left the area, but taught several generations of children to share her dreams.
| Author: Houston, Gloria |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Once On This Island
Twelve-year-old Mary and her older brother and sister tend the family farm on Michigan's Mackinac Island while their father is away fighting the British in the War of 1812.
| Author: Whelan, Gloria |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Other Side, The
Spurred by a letter from her grandmother saying that "they're pulling Shorter down," the poet returns to the people and places of her childhood in Shorter, Alabama. The poems are accessible and concise but filled with powerful feeling. Photographs from
Out of the Dump: Writings and Photogrpahs by Children from Guatemala
Approximately 1500 people, most children, live in a dump at the center of Guatemala City. In 1991 Nancy McGirr began a photography project with about 2 dozen children. She provided cameras; the children photographed their world. In 1993 Kris Franklin bega
| Author: Franklin, Kristine, & McGirr, Nancy (Eds.) |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Relatively Speaking
Centered around a family reunion, a boy speaks about his older brother, his parents, grandparents, and extended family in short, easily accessible free verse.
Rio Grande Stories
In Albuquerque, 7th grade students decide to write a book on their diverse heritage to raise money for the school. As they research traditions and family stories, they learn unexpected things about themselves. Chapters alternate between stories about th
Seven Brave Women
A young girl recounts her family history passed down to her through stories and family artifacts of remarkable, ordinary women. Each of the seven women who lived at the time of a war "made history by not fighting in wars."
Seventeenth Child, The
The author writes the oral history of her mother, who is the seventeenth child in her family growing up in the South during the Depression.
| Author: Rice, Dorothy & Payne, Lucille |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Show Way
Simple text and stunning illustrations tell the intergenerational story of Woodson's ancestors.
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
So Far From the Sea
A Japanese American visits Manazar, a Japanese relocation camp in World War II, to visit the grave of a grandfather.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Soul Looks Back in Wonder, The
This lavishly illustrated book is a collection of 13 poems by African American poets such as Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Alexis de Veaux.
| Author: Feelings, Tom |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Stitches: A Memoir
An autobiographical graphic novel that profoundly describes the author's disturbing and often horrific childhood. This is a riveting and groundbreaking work by children's book illustrator David Small.
| Author: Small, David |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
Stone Lamp, The
This book of poems and accounts gives a personal and historical perspective of the meaning of lighting the Menorah lamps representing the eight nights of Hanukkah. The author tells in prose and poetry of real events from 1190 to 1995. Brian Pinkney's vi
| Author: Hesse, Karen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet
A collection of 49 poems, these vignettes of Appalachian life are funny, sad, moving, and silly. Not all of them are of great quality; teachers may want to pick and choose among them. The poem (on pg. 50) on abuse is powerful and likely to provoke good
| Author: Carson, Jo |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Tea With Milk
May (the author's mother) is learning American ways when her family moves back to Japan. When her parents hire a matchmaker to find her a husband, May moves to Osaka, begins a career, and finds her own happiness.
This Land is My Land
By telling his own story in words and in art, Littlefield describes what it is to be Native-American in the United States. He pays tribute to his ancestors and to the Native-American culture and history.
| Author: Littlechild, George |
|
Up the Tracks to Grandma's
A girl describes her visits to her grandmother's home in a small-town Ohio in the middle 1900s, a time when her widowed grandmother plucked her own chickens, shoveled her own coal, and could not read English.
| Author: Hendershot, Judith |
|
Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys
This is a recounting of a true family story about Virgie, who wants to go to school with her big brothers, despite her young age, the fact that girls were thought not to need an education, and the distance she must travel (7 miles).
| Author: Howard, Elizabeth |
|
Walking the Log
The author paints scenes and reminisces about her childhood in the turn of the century South. The books contains information about daily life, work (especially picking cotton), childhood games, family values, and the author's life long interest in art.
What You Know First
A young girl does not want to leave the family farm that is being sold. She resolves her feelings realistically. The woodcut illustrations that look like old color-tinted photographs add veracity to the text.
| Author: MacLachlan, Patricia |
|
When I Was Young in the Mountains
The narrator remembers various aspects and details of growing up in a mountain community.
Wolf on the Fold
Six linked storeis follow an Australian family from 1935 to 2002 as different generations cope with discord and violence. The use of flashbacks may cause some readers difficulty.
Wright Sister, The,
Often portrayed through letters, this biography, of Katherine Wright, the sister of Orville and Wilbur Wright, is told against the historical background of the restrictions on women.
| Author: Maurer, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Family > family life
Ann and Seamus
This story of a real event in 1828 alternates chapters in free verse of the two characters of the title. Ann, a real teenager, wants to experience the world beyond Newfoundland, and Seamus, a fictional Irish immigrant, wants to find fortune and a wife.
| Author: Major, Kevin |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Barrio
Photographs present the life of Jose and his family who live in a barrio or Hispanic neighborhood in San Francisco. A glossary contains Spanish words used in the story. One reviewer felt that the glorification/simplification of the issues addressed may m
| Author: Ancona, George |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Before I Was Your Mother
A mother tells her daughter stories about herself before she became a mother who does many things.
Can't Get There from Here
This fictional story of homeless teens trying to survive on NYC streets in winter recounts the perils of drugs, sex, starvation, cold, and the help of a few who try to intervene. This is a gripping story, but not for the faint of heart.
Charles and Emma
Charles Darwin's struggles with religious beliefs and his developing theory of evolution are the backdrop for this domestic biography of the Darwins. The author includes a genealogy chart, extensive source notes, a bibliography, and a thorough index.
| Author: Heligman, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
science
|
Charles and Emma
Charles Darwin's struggles with religious beliefs and his developing theory of evolution are the backdrop for this domestic biography of the Darwins. The author includes a genealogy chart, extensive source notes, a bibliography, and a thorough index.
| Author: Heligman, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
science
|
Christmas Gift, The
This beautifully illustrated bilingual story tells of the Christmas of a migrant family in California, which first appeared as a chapter in The Circuit. His family has to move again a few days before Christmas in order to find work, and Panchito
| Author: Jimenez, Francisco |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Circuit, The
The author tells the heartbreaking story of a young boy growing up as an undocumented migrant whose family traveled the crop circuit in California in the 1930's. The narrative is told as linked stories. At least two of the chapters have been published a
| Author: Jimenez, Francisco |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Cool Moonlight, A
Lila, who has an allergy to sunlight, lives with her disability helped by her family and friends, real and imaginary. The author uses lyrical language deftly to tell the story with great sensitivity and lightness.
E. E. Cummings
This extensive biography of the American poet and artist, E. E. Cummings, also conveys the history of the times, especially of artistic movements. Drawings, archival photographs, and segments of poems expand the biographical information.
| Author: Reef, Catherine |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
ellington was not a street
The poet lovingly remembers her family's recent history that was filled with stars of the African American firmament. Brief biographies of the people depicted add welcome information.
| Author: Shange, Ntozake |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Escaping into the Night
Thirteen year old Halina escapes from a Polish ghetto to a forest community of Jews where she and her friends Batya and Reuven learn to survive despite brutality, extreme hardship, and loss of family. Although this book is fiction, there were real commu
| Author: Friedman, D. Dina |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Fannie in the Kitchen
Accompanied by delightful Victorian-style illustrations, this biography of Fannie Farmer, the cookbook writer, is told in a storybook format with a recipe and cooking tips thrown in for good measure.
| Author: Hopkinson, Deborah |
|
Francie
This engaging novel shows a slice of life in small-town Alabama in the 1940s, as told from the perspective of 13-year-old Francie. Francie, her mother, and her brother anxiously await a chance to join her father in Chicago. In the meantime, Francie comes
Hana's Suitcase
When a suitcase with Hana Brady's name on it arrives at the Toyko Children's Holocaust Education Center, the children have many question about who Hana might have been. In an effort to answer those questions, Fumiko Ishioka, the center's curator, begins a
| Author: Levine, Karen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Leaving and Other Stories, The
The nine short stories in this collection all feature young people on the brink of adulthood. Although themes vary according to story, most are written as reminiscences. Since the author is Canadian, readers will learn about Canadian culture.
Lincolns, The
Using a scrapbook format with blocks of stories and archival photographs, the author provides a chatty, up-close biography of Abraham and Mary Lincoln. Since the book is in a scrapbook format, students can start reading anywhere in the book or read in the
| Author: Fleming, Candice |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Locomotion
Lonnie, a.k.a. Locomotion, is encouraged by his teacher Ms. Marcus to write poetry. His poems, in many, many forms but all accessible, tell his story of losing parents in a fire, separation from his sister, group homes, and foster care.
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
|
Marley and Me
This is a memoir about a family's "life and love with the world's worst dog." It's interesting and funny and sad. Reviewers report that this book appeals to non-readers who can read but don't.
Memories of Survival
A mother and daughter create a narrative in stitchery and text of the mother's life in Poland during the Nazi occupation.This collection of memories of the holocaust provides a first hand account of danger, despair and hope. The detailed tapestries provid
| Author: Krinitz, Esther Nisenthal & Steinhardt, Bernice |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Moon Over Tennessee
A boy accompanies his father into the Confederate Army in the Civil War, eventually arriving at the battle of Gettysburg. The story-poem is told in a format of journal entries. Somber black and white woodcuts contribute to the tragic tone. A map and an
| Author: Crist-Evans, Craig |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Moving Mama to Town
Enterprising Freddy James moves his mother and younger brother to town after his father leaves and the farm fails. He works at the local saloon where he learns from everyone he meets.
| Author: Young, Ronder Thomas |
|
North by Night
Lucy Spencer and her Ohio farm family are involved in the Underground Railroad in 1851, a time when The Fugitive Slave Act levied severe punishment and fines for harboring runaway slaves. Lucy makes a courageous decision that changes her life and that of
| Author: Ayres, Katherine |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Once On This Island
Twelve-year-old Mary and her older brother and sister tend the family farm on Michigan's Mackinac Island while their father is away fighting the British in the War of 1812.
| Author: Whelan, Gloria |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Our Eleanor
Organized like a scrapbook with themed chronological divisions that contain short texts, this very personable and balanced biography of Eleanor Roosevelt emphasizes her complexity and self-growth and her evolution as a political activist. The author incl
| Author: Fleming, Candace |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Perfect Shot, The
Ostensibly a murder mystery, this book explores many issues--civil rights, prejudice, judicial system, stereotyping, meaningful teaching--while offering exciting descriptions of basketball. Brian must decide whether to speak out when his girlfriend, her
| Author: Alphin, Elaine Marie |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Persepolis I: The Story of a Childhood
In this first of two volumes about the author's life, Satrapi tells of her childhood and coming of age in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran/Iraq war.
| Author: Satrapi, Marjane |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - writing
|
Poetry for Young People: Edna St. Vincent Millay
Beautifully illustrated collection of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry. The volume also includes a sketch of the poet's life.
| Author: Francis Schoonmaker |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Raisin in the Sun, A
When an African-American family chooses to integrate an all-white neighborhood, all of their value systems and relationships come under pressure.
| Author: Hansberry, Lorraine |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Roses in My Carpet, The
This story of a young refugee boy from Afghanistan was inspired by a real child. The boy lives in a refugee camp and weaves rugs.
| Author: Khan, Rukhsana |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Silent Boy, The
Katy,the young and curious daughter of a small-town doctor living in 1908, learns about life, death, and social distinctions from her family and her friend, Jacob, who is "touched."
Voice That Challenged a Nation, The
A detailed biography of Marian Anderson, an exceedingly talented woman who overcame some racial barriers and tolerated others in order to do what she loved best, recounts how she became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. In addition to wonderful arch
| Author: Freedman, Russell |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Way Things Never Were, The
The eight chapters of this interesting book, subtitled "The Truth About the 'Good Old Days,'" contrast life in the 50s and 60s with today. Topics addressed include communication, health, transportation, education, world events, etc. The print insets for p
| Author: Finkelstein, Norman |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Wild Boy, The
The author tells a very sympathetic account of the wild child of Aveyron, France, who was captured and studied in the early 1800's. Dr. Itard and his housekeeper become the family of this boy who never acquired all the traits of a "civilized" person.
| Author: Gerstein, Mordicai |
|
Words West: Voices of Young Pioneers
Diary and journal excerpts and archival photographs enliven a well-written text about the Westward Movement as seen from the perspective of children. The book includes short biographies of the children who are quoted often as well as a chronology, furthe
| Author: Wadsworth, Ginger |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Family > family violence
E. E. Cummings
This extensive biography of the American poet and artist, E. E. Cummings, also conveys the history of the times, especially of artistic movements. Drawings, archival photographs, and segments of poems expand the biographical information.
| Author: Reef, Catherine |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Hoot
This charming and funny young adult mystery by the well-known adult mystery writer, Carl Hiassen, involves corporate greed, suburban expansion, environmental protection, child abuse and neglect, bullying, and social protest.
I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This
A moving story of the friendship between two motherless 12-year-old girls--one black and one white--presents issues of racial prejudice, poverty, and child abuse.
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
|
Secret Life of Bees, The
Fourteen-year-old Lily and Rosaleen, the black servant who has look after her since her mother died 10 years earlier, run from Lily's abusive father and the brutality and racism of the police. Against the historical events of 1964 in South Carolina, they
Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet
A collection of 49 poems, these vignettes of Appalachian life are funny, sad, moving, and silly. Not all of them are of great quality; teachers may want to pick and choose among them. The poem (on pg. 50) on abuse is powerful and likely to provoke good
| Author: Carson, Jo |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Touching Spirit Bear
Cole, a juvenile "delinquent," is offered jail or "circle justice," a system based on Native American traditions that attempts to provide healing for the criminal, his victim, and the community. Cole's time at a remote Alaskan island and his interactions
What Jamie Saw
The power and lyricism of this remarkable book is evident in the opening sentence. "When Jamie saw him throw the baby, saw Van throw the little baby, saw Van throw his little sister Nin, when Jamie saw Van throw his baby sister Nin, then they moved." Jam
Family > father
Just the Two of Us
Lyrics from the song put in illustrated book form. Father reminisces about raising his son incorporating themes about good decision making, love, and respect. A love song of a father to his son. The illustrations by Kadir Nelson really amplify the message
| Author: Smith, Will |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
My Ol' Man
Patricia Polacco once again uses her rich family background to tell the story of her father, a traveling salesman, and the magic, hope, and dreams he inspired. (Photos of the author and her family adorn the inside covers.)
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
|
Tibet Through the Red Box
The author-illustrator returns to his father's home as an adult to learn the contents of a mysterious red box that his father had brought back from Tibet years before. The past is revealed through a diary, memories, and extraordinary illustrations.
Family > father > father-child relationships
Ajeemah and His Son
This very powerful, short chapter book (83 pages) is set first in Africa, then on a slave ship, and then in Jamaica where Ajeemah and his son are taken. It tells the story of a father and son who are captured outside of their village and torn from their
| Author: Berry, James |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Ann and Seamus
This story of a real event in 1828 alternates chapters in free verse of the two characters of the title. Ann, a real teenager, wants to experience the world beyond Newfoundland, and Seamus, a fictional Irish immigrant, wants to find fortune and a wife.
| Author: Major, Kevin |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
At Gleason's Gym
The story of Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn NY, and the many people who use it. It includes a brief story of Sugar Boy Younan, National Silver Gloves Champion 2006. The words and pictures tap into the senses. The illustrations demonstrate the rhythm to the mus
| Author: Lewin, Ted |
HSE Descriptors:
literature and arts | social studies
|
Bat Boy and His Violin, The
Reginald is more interested in his violin than his father's job managing the worst baseball team in the Negro Leagues. Then his father makes him the team's bat boy, and his music begins to lead the team to victory. Father and son begin to understand each
Because of Winn-Dixie
10-year-old Opal and her preacher father move to a small Florida town. Opal finds a dog (Winn-Dixie), gradually eases her loneliness, and learns to accept some losses.
Becoming Billie Holiday
Weatherford uses the titles of Billie Holiday songs as titles for poems that tell the story of Billie's life and road to fame.
| Author: Weatherford, Carole Boston |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Bee & Jacky
A brother and sister suffer the effects of their father's Vietnam trauma and their mother's ineffectualness by resuming a physical relationship. This moving, psychologically honest book is difficult to read because the real or imagined incest is portraye
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-with" (Auschwitz) in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence. Bruno climbs into the camp to spend more time with hi
| Author: Boyne, John |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Boy Named Reckoning, A: A: The True Story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American Hero
The author has pieced together the writings of Dr. Carlos Montezuma to tell his life story in letter form. He was a Native American boy who was kidnapped, sold into slavery and eventually educated in Chicago. He devoted the rest of his life to lobbying fo
| Author: Capaldi, Gina |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Boy of the Deeps
On his first day in the coal mines, a boy with his father survive an accident.
| Author: Wallace, Ian |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Bud, Not Buddy
It's 1936, Flint, Michigan, and 10-year-old Bud (not Buddy) has run away from foster care to search for his father. (Newbery winner)
| Author: Curtis, Christopher Paul |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Butter Man, The
The father of a young child recalls a time of poverty and famine in Morocco. Written in descriptive language, this is a story within a story. Rich author's note and glossary help support this read to become a literary event. Folk art paintings by Julie
| Author: Alalou, Elizabeth |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Charlotte
When 10-year-old Charlotte's father forbids her to associate with her cousins because her uncle was a royalist in the American Revolution, she disobeys with lifelong consequences. The book includes an Afterword about Charlotte's later life.
| Author: Lunn, Janet |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Christmas Tapestry
While seeking to renovate their church, a minister and his son help reunite a Jewish couple separated in World War II.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
|
Clara Schumann
This biography chronicles the life of Clara Schumann, child prodigy and wife of composer Robert Schumann and mother of eight children. The book is illustrated with portraits and diary excerpts. A preface, an epilogue, a timeline, and an index make the b
| Author: Reich, Susan |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Dog Lost
An eleven-year old boy and pit bull terrier become best of friends. In an angry rage, the father throws the dog out into the street and the dog is forced to survive. Eventually the boy and his dog are reunited but not before the dog becomes a local hero
| Author: Lee, Ingrid |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
ellington was not a street
The poet lovingly remembers her family's recent history that was filled with stars of the African American firmament. Brief biographies of the people depicted add welcome information.
| Author: Shange, Ntozake |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
First Impressions: Andrew Wyeth
This biography of Andrew Wyeth is the result of a friendship between the artist and the author. The book focuses on Wyeth's early years, his relationship with his father, and his development as an artist. One reader felt that the vocabulary might be diff
| Author: Meryman, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Fly Away Home
A homeless boy and his dad live at the airport while the father tries to find an apartment and a job. They hide out from airport officials but receive support from another down-on-their-luck family.
Ghost Train
Choon-yi is a painter. Her father leaves China for North America to find work. He asks her to join him, but when she arrives, she discovers that he has been killed on the job. As Choon-yi tries to paint the train, a ghostly presence beckons her.
Glass Castle, The: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls' memoir of her dysfunctional but vibrant family and the resilience and loyalty they exhibited.
Glass Castle, The: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls' memoir of her dysfunctional but vibrant family and the resilience and loyalty they exhibited.
I Dream of Trains
This is the story of an African-American boy who lives in the South before the Great Migration, who loves trains, and who stands in awe of Casey Jones.
| Author: Johnson, Angela |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
If: A Fathers Advice to His Son
Sports themed photographs accompany Kiplings poem about the qualities that make up a mature person.
| Author: Kipling, Rudyard |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow
Told in vivid language and stunningly illustrated, this is a story of a talented child who discovers his love of music and learns to see, hear, and interpret the world around him in his own unique way.
| Author: Golio, Gary |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
Just the Two of Us
Lyrics from the song put in illustrated book form. Father reminisces about raising his son incorporating themes about good decision making, love, and respect. A love song of a father to his son. The illustrations by Kadir Nelson really amplify the message
| Author: Smith, Will |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Last Leaf First Snowflake to Fall
Part creation myth, part father/son initiation story, the book beautifully depicts a journey through the woods as the scene changes from fall to winter.
| Author: Yerxa, Leo |
HSE Descriptors:
science
|
Life Is So Good
This is the autobiography of George Dawson, grandson of slaves, who began to learn to read at age 98. Like Having Our Say, this book offers an African American perspective to 100 years of history. Moreover, Dawson's character and philosophy for l
| Author: Dawson, George & Glaubman, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing | social studies
|
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
This coming-of-age novel is a Newbery Honor Book. It tells the story of people in Maine in the early 1900s, a friendship between a minister's son and an island girl, and the ways greed and prejudice change all their lives.
Lost Lake, The
A boy and his dad go out trekking, looking for a private lake, and in the process they grow closer.
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
This is the first of two volumes about the experiences of the author's parents in the Nazi concentration camps during WWII. The author depicts Jews as mice and Nazis as cats in his illustrations.
| Author: Spiegelman, Art |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale
A powerful graphic novel about a father who survived the Nazi concentration camps and his son in which Jews are depicted as mice and Nazis as cats. The story jumps back and forth between the present life in the Catskills and the past life in the camps.
| Author: Spiegelman, Art |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Memories of Summer
The novel is set in 1955. A father and 2 daughters (Lyric, the narrator, is 13 and sister Summer is 16) move from rural Kentucky to Flint, MI. The story is about the move, about Lyric's adjustment, but mostly about Summer's descent into mental illness and
Moon Over Tennessee
A boy accompanies his father into the Confederate Army in the Civil War, eventually arriving at the battle of Gettysburg. The story-poem is told in a format of journal entries. Somber black and white woodcuts contribute to the tragic tone. A map and an
| Author: Crist-Evans, Craig |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Out of the Dust
Set in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl years of the Depression, this powerful book tells in unobtrusive blank verse the story of personal tragedy and community hardship through the experiences of Billy Jo, a 15-year-old girl. The book is so credible that
| Author: Hesse, Karen |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Peppe the Lamplighter
A young Italian immigrant boy has to find a job lighting the lamps to help support his invalid father and many sisters. His proud father thinks it is inferior work until the night the boy refuses to light the lamps, and his little sister does not return
| Author: Bartone, Elisa |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Printer, The
A son retells the story of his father, a deaf printer working in a newspaper plant in the 1940's who used sugn language to save his co-workers from a fire. In addition, the author gives biographical information about his father who was the model for the
Romeo and Juliet, (The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of)
This lively, clear, prose retelling of
Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet follows the original story very closely.
| Author: Shakespeare, William |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Ruby's Wish
The author tells the story of her Chinese grandmother, Ruby, who yearned for learning and the opportunity to attend the university, which was against custom.
| Author: Bridges, Shirin Yim |
|
Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois
This biography of Louise Bourgeois traces the influences of her childhood in France and her independent development as a woman artist later in the U.S. The book includes beautiful reproductions of her work and numerous back pages for further exploration.
| Author: Greenberg & Jordan, Sandra |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing | social studies
|
Seek
For a senior class autobiography assignment, Robbie creates "a sound portrait" in a radio script format, which includes his extended family and his search for his long-absent father. One reviewer thought that the text is too disjointed and confusing for
Silent Boy, The
Katy,the young and curious daughter of a small-town doctor living in 1908, learns about life, death, and social distinctions from her family and her friend, Jacob, who is "touched."
Somewhere In the Darkness
Jimmy, a teenager, lives in the city with Mama Jean. Then he meets Crab, a "man with something to prove. Maybe Crab's not sure what it is; maybe Jimmy's not sure he wants to know. But it may be the last chance Crab has to tell Jimmy who he was, and who
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Step Toward Heaven, A
When Young Ju emigrates with her immediate family to America from Korea, she misses her grandparents. As she grows older, she finds a refuge from her father's physical abuse in school achievement. The author mimics the style of narration with the age of
Stitches: A Memoir
An autobiographical graphic novel that profoundly describes the author's disturbing and often horrific childhood. This is a riveting and groundbreaking work by children's book illustrator David Small.
| Author: Small, David |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
Time to Love, A
Beautifully illustrated and ably introduced by sons of the author, this book retells six Bible stories from different perspectives, all revealing aspects of love--father/son, friends, brothers, lovers, and daughters-in-law. Teachers can promote religious
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Wall, The
In this emotionally charged book told from the point of view of the child, a boy and his dad look for the grandfather's name on the Vietnam Memorial.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Way a Door Closes, The
Told in a poetry format, a teenage boy describes his reaction to his father's leaving the family, and then to his return.
| Author: Smith, Hope Anita |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
Welcome to the World
This poetry book also includes stunning photos from all over the world, from a Seminole poem written in the U.S. to poetry from Southeast Asia. It ends with two pages of information on birthing traditions.
| Author: Siegen-Smith, Nikki (compiled by) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
With a Hammer for My Heart
When 15-year-old Lawanda befriends a WW II veteran living in an old school bus, she sets in motion events that will change her life and all those around her. The well-written story unfolds with each chapter telling the story from the point of view of eac
| Author: Lyon, George Ella |
|
Young Man and the Sea, The
In an attempt to push his father out of the alcohol-fueled funk he's been in since his wife died, 12-year-old Skiff Beaman repairs the family fishing boat and meets a 900-lb. tuna 30 miles at sea.
| Author: Philbrick, Rodman |
|
Young Man and the Sea, The
In an attempt to push his father out of the alcohol-fueled funk he's been in since his wife died, 12-year-old Skiff Beaman repairs the family fishing boat and meets a 900-lb. tuna 30 miles at sea.
| Author: Philbrick, Rodman |
|
Young Teddy Roosevelt
A biography of the life of Theodore Roosevelt up to the time of his presidency has illustrations that are as interesting as the well-written text.
| Author: Harness, Cheryl |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Family > grandparents
All the Places to Love
A young boy talks about all his favorite places, those of his family and his grandparents, the farm, and the adjacent countryside. The book is a celebration of those natural settings where we are most alive and feel we belong.
| Author: MacLachlan, Patricia |
|
Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope
Framed by the story of an African American mother and her son, who keeps interjecting questions and comments, the narrative tells the story of Barack Obama around the theme of hope and the importance of education. Both the words of Nikki Grimes and the ar
| Author: Grimes, Nikki |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
By Dawn's Early Light
The book follows the activities of two children cared for by their grandmother and the activities of their mother who works the night shift at a factory. The story illustrates how a family still finds time to be together.
Children of Christmas
This collection of short stories celebrates the spirit of giving at Christmas.
| Author: Rylant, Cynthia |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Farm Summer 1942, The
Beautifully illustrated by Barry Moser, this reminiscence tells the story of a young boy's summer months at his grandparent's farm during World War II.
Heart is Big Enough, The
Each of these five stories focuses on a protagonist with special challenges who is approaching adolescence. As author Steven Kellogg notes on the dust jacket, these stories "bring illumination and enjoyment to those of us who have already passed through"
Journey
Journey, an eleven-year-old boy whose Mom has left him and his sister to live with her parents, feels angry and betrayed. He spends the summer looking at family photos, learning to recognize the sustaining love of his grandparents, and letting go of his
| Author: MacLachlan, Patricia |
|
Picnic in October, A
At the insistence of the immigrant grandparents, a family celebrates coming to America and the October birthday of the Statue of Liberty.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Relatively Speaking
Centered around a family reunion, a boy speaks about his older brother, his parents, grandparents, and extended family in short, easily accessible free verse.
Thank you, Mr. Falker
While in 5th grade, Trisha, the central, autobiographical character, encounters a new teacher who helps her overcome her difficulties with reading that had caused her such humiliation since first grade.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
|
Up the Tracks to Grandma's
A girl describes her visits to her grandmother's home in a small-town Ohio in the middle 1900s, a time when her widowed grandmother plucked her own chickens, shoveled her own coal, and could not read English.
| Author: Hendershot, Judith |
|
Year of Fire, The
Grandpa tells granddaughter about the worst fire he has ever known, a fire that happened when the grandfather was a child. (based on a true story)
Family > grandparents > grandfathers
Auction, The
In this sad intergenerational story, a boy and his grandfather reminisce the night before their farm is put up for sale.
Bud, Not Buddy
It's 1936, Flint, Michigan, and 10-year-old Bud (not Buddy) has run away from foster care to search for his father. (Newbery winner)
| Author: Curtis, Christopher Paul |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Butter Man, The
The father of a young child recalls a time of poverty and famine in Morocco. Written in descriptive language, this is a story within a story. Rich author's note and glossary help support this read to become a literary event. Folk art paintings by Julie
| Author: Alalou, Elizabeth |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Butterfly Seeds, The
When Jake sails with his family for America, his grandfather gives him a gift of special seeds that will evoke memories of his grandfather in his new home.
| Author: Watson, Mary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Day Before Christmas, The
Four years after the death of her mother, seven-year-old Allie goes with her grandfather to a performance of the ballet "The Nutcracker" on Christmas Eve. Warned by her father before leaving that Grandpa may be a little sad, Allie learns that Grandpa had
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Day's Work, A
When a Mexican-American boy tries to help his Spanish-speaking grandfather find a day's work, he lies about what the man is qualified to do. After a full day, the lie is exposed, and the grandfather teaches the boy a lesson about honesty.
I Have an Olive Tree
Colorful, stylized illustrations depict a girl and her mother as they travel back to Greece to see the olive tree her granfather left her when he died, a gift that grows in value as the story progresses.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Islander, The
An orphaned boy, who grows up with his grandfather on an island off the coast of British Columbia, finds a key-literally--that helps him overcome his loneliness and loss.
Song of Be
When Be was a child, she and her mother left their people--the Namibian Bushmen--to work on a white man's plantation. Spending time with her grandfather helps her forget how much she misses others. With Namibia on the verge of freedom, Be finds the cour
| Author: Beake, Lesley |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Tomas and the Library Lady
This is the true, if somewhat fictionalized, story of a librarian in Iowa who befriends Tomas, a migrant child from Texas. Tomas discovers the world of books and the librarian learns some Spanish phrases. The author includes a note at the end of the boo
Unbreakable Code, The
A young Navajo boy, who must leave his Southwest home, draws courage from his grandfather's story about being a "Code Talker" during WWII.
| Author: Hunter, Sara |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Wall, The
In this emotionally charged book told from the point of view of the child, a boy and his dad look for the grandfather's name on the Vietnam Memorial.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Family > grandparents > grandmothers
Grandmother and the Runaway Shadow
When she was a young girl, Grandmother immigrated to America from Russia accompanied by her shadow. Together, they made a new home.
| Author: Rosenberg, Liz |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Grandmothers
In the introduction, the editor, after describing her own strong grandmother, says that grandmothers help us make the transition from childhood to adulthood and "civilize" us. The essays, poems and short stories that follow introduce us to a wide cultura
| Author: Giovanni, Nikki (Ed.) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Lights on the River
A migrant girl keeps memories of her grandma close as she deals with hard times in the United States. Her voice is strong, and the illustrations are stunning.
| Author: Thomas, Jane Resh |
|
Long Way From Chicago, A
Subtitled "A Novel in Stories," this is a book about Joey and Mary Alice, who leave their home in Chicago each summer during the Depression to spend a week with Grandma Dowdel, who lives in a very small downstate town and who is, to say the least, an unfo
Lotus Seed, The
A young girl tells her grandmother's story of carrying a lotus seed with her from Vietnam, losing it, and then regaining it. The author wants to share "how a family's heritage is passed from one generation to the next and how hope, like the lotus seed, ca
| Author: Garland, Sherry |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Ma Dear's Aprons
The life of the author's great grandmother, a single parent who was a domestic worker in Alabama, is celebrated.
| Author: McKissack, Patricia C. |
|
My Grandmother's Journey
The narrator tells the story of the grandmother's life and of the many wars and troubles she experienced in Eastern Europe, until she came to the U.S.
| Author: Cech, John |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Ninth Ward
This is a powerful reenactment of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and how it affected the poor section of the ninth ward. The hurricane and subsequent levee failure come to life through the eyes of a twelve year old special girl. The voi
| Author: Rhodes, Jewell Parker |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies | science
|
Raft, The
A city boy spends a magical summer in the woods with an unusual grandmother and discovers not only the creatures of the woods and river but himself as well. This is a beautifully illustrated portrait of a childhood we all might like to claim.
Seven Brave Women
A young girl recounts her family history passed down to her through stories and family artifacts of remarkable, ordinary women. Each of the seven women who lived at the time of a war "made history by not fighting in wars."
Toning the Sweep
Emily goes to the desert with her mother to help her dying grandmother Ola pack up her house and move. She slowly comes to terms with her family history and her coming loss.
When Jessie Came Across the Sea
Jesse leaves her village for America where she earns money to bring her grandmother to America in time for her wedding.
| Author: Hest, Amy |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Year Down Yonder, A
This is the sequel to A Long Way From Chicago. Both books have won awards, the Newbery Medal for this one. Mary Alice goes to live with her spunky, trouble-making grandma in rural Illinois because the Depression has torn her family apart.
Family > grandparents > grandparent-child relationships
Auction, The
In this sad intergenerational story, a boy and his grandfather reminisce the night before their farm is put up for sale.
Beekeepers
A grandfather teaches his granddaughter how to care for bees.
| Author: High, Linda Oatman |
|
Blues Singers, The
The author tells his granddaughter about the origin of blues in America through 10 stories of great blues musicians he and his father had known. The interesting illustrations are done in a thick line, solid color style. A bibliography and a recording li
| Author: Lester, Julius |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Butterfly House
A girl and her grandfather care for a larvae through the stages of becoming a butterfly and then set it free. The story is told in rhythmic prose with occasional rhyme. The author includes information on How to Raise a Butterfly.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
science
|
Cloudmakers, The
In A.D. 751 during a time of war, a Chinese grandfather and grandson have 7 days to prove that they can "make clouds" or risk being sold into slavery. The result is Chinese paper, which earns them their freedom and marks a turning point in human history.
| Author: Rumford, James |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Coming On Home Soon
A kitten comforts a young African American girl as she and her grandmother wait for the mother's return from working in Chicago during World War II.
| Author: Woodson, Jaqueline |
|
Day's Work, A
When a Mexican-American boy tries to help his Spanish-speaking grandfather find a day's work, he lies about what the man is qualified to do. After a full day, the lie is exposed, and the grandfather teaches the boy a lesson about honesty.
Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became an American Boy
This is an informative account of a child left behind when his American soldier father left Vietnam and his mother died. It traces his journey to America, his adopted family and his eventual return to his homeland to help orphans.
| Author: Warren, Andrea |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Grandfather's Journey
This book shows through its photographic-like illustrations and through its minimal text the displacement people feel when they immigrate, the longing they have for the old country and old ways, and the confusion that new loyalties bring.
| Author: Say, Allen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Grandmama's Pride
This is a most beautiful book focusing on the segregation practiced in the south during the 1950's leading to the civil rights laws passed in the 60's. The illustrations make the book come alive with details showing the inequalities practiced in every day
| Author: Birtha, Becky |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Grandmama's Pride
This is a most beautiful book focusing on the segregation practiced in the south during the 1950's leading to the civil rights laws passed in the 60's. The illustrations make the book come alive with details showing the inequalities practiced in every day
| Author: Birtha, Becky |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Coal Country
Living in a small Ohio mining town, a small girl tells of her family's life in the first part of this century.
| Author: Hendershot, Judith |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Language of Doves, The
On her sixth birthday, Julietta's grandfather gives her one of his homing pigeons and tells her about his experiences raising and training doves for military use in Italy during WWI.
| Author: Wells, Rosemary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Long Way From Chicago, A
Subtitled "A Novel in Stories," this is a book about Joey and Mary Alice, who leave their home in Chicago each summer during the Depression to spend a week with Grandma Dowdel, who lives in a very small downstate town and who is, to say the least, an unfo
Matchbox Diary, The
An Italian immigrant grandfather uses objects he's preserved in matchboxes to tell his granddaughter the story of his life. He created this unique diary because he could not read or write.
| Author: Fleischman, Paul |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Same Stuff as Stars, The
Angel and her little brother Bernie are dropped off at their great-grandma's house. Dad is in jail, and mom is an alcoholic and selfishly unable to be a mother. Together, the new family learns to live together in the crumbling Vermont farmhouse.
| Author: Paterson, Katherine |
|
Stone Water
Grant, a 15-year-old boy, grapples with his grandfather's request to remove him from life support systems. This is a realistic and emotionally riveting portrayal of issues surrounding death.
Trouble Don't Last
This is the story of 11-year-old Samuel and "cranky old Harrison," who leave the Kentucky farm where they are slaves and head north to freedom, encountering non-stereotypical members of trhe Underground Railroad. The author is the historian at Hale Farm a
| Author: Pearsall, Shelley |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Family > marriage
Ballet for Martha
This is the story of the collaboration between Martha Graham and Aaron Copeland that resulted in a famous work of music and a famous ballet. Reveals the work that happens behind the scenes by the choreographer, composer and set developer of a ballet.
| Author: Greenberg, J. & Jordan, S. |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
Choices
George Ella Lyon, an accomplished writer of children's books, wrote this collection of stories (and its accompanying text, More Choices) specifically for adult new readers; in fact, she conferred with ABE students from Kentucky while creating the
| Author: Lyon, George Ella |
|
Couple of Kooks and Other Stories About Love, A
All of these eight short stories are appropriate for ABE or ESL classes, and some will work well in Family Literacy settings as well. The focus of the stories is on the small details of being in love, of the wonder and delight that love can bring. Some
Dawn
In this adaptation of a traditional tale, a wounded Canada goose takes on the shape of a woman. An island man, a sailmaker, loves her and she him. But when he demands that she help him make an intricate sail, she plucks out all her feathers and kills he
First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story, The
A quarrel between husband and wife is resolved when strawberries begin to grow.
Once On This Island
Twelve-year-old Mary and her older brother and sister tend the family farm on Michigan's Mackinac Island while their father is away fighting the British in the War of 1812.
| Author: Whelan, Gloria |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Twelfth Night
This is a narrative retelling of Shakespeare's play. Many of the famous lines are embedded in the narrative.
| Author: Shakespeare, William (retold B. Coville) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Weddings
The book explores weddings around the world through photographs and simple text. An index identifies the geographic location and the religious custom involved.
Family > marriage > marriage customs
Coal Miner's Bride, A: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska
In journal format, the life of a thirteen year old girl in 1896 comes to life. Anetra Kaminska is sold to an older widower of three children in a mining town, for the price of her and her brother's tickets from Poland to America. Her life is extremely ha
| Author: Bartoletti, Susan Campbell |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing | social studies
|
Jumping the Broom
An eight-year-old slave girl describes the preparations and customs for her sister's wedding on the plantation. The combination of hardships and vitality depicted in this book creates a strong sense of community and of extended family.
| Author: Wright, Courtni |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Tea With Milk
May (the author's mother) is learning American ways when her family moves back to Japan. When her parents hire a matchmaker to find her a husband, May moves to Osaka, begins a career, and finds her own happiness.
Family > mothers
At the End of Words: A Daughter's Memoir
What happens "at the end of words"? The author faced this difficult question as a teenager. Through alternating narration and poetry, she shares her anger, sorrow, confusion, and healing after her mother's death from breast cancer.
Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope
Framed by the story of an African American mother and her son, who keeps interjecting questions and comments, the narrative tells the story of Barack Obama around the theme of hope and the importance of education. Both the words of Nikki Grimes and the ar
| Author: Grimes, Nikki |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
By Dawn's Early Light
The book follows the activities of two children cared for by their grandmother and the activities of their mother who works the night shift at a factory. The story illustrates how a family still finds time to be together.
E. E. Cummings
This extensive biography of the American poet and artist, E. E. Cummings, also conveys the history of the times, especially of artistic movements. Drawings, archival photographs, and segments of poems expand the biographical information.
| Author: Reef, Catherine |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Eleanor, Quiet No More
The author tells the story of Eleanor Roosevelt's life simply, each phase emphasizing a quote of hers. In addition to lovely, soft illustrations, the author includes a timeline, selected bibliograph, and web sites.
| Author: Rappaport, Doreen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Eleanor, Quiet No More
The author tells the story of Eleanor Roosevelt's life simply, each phase emphasizing a quote of hers. In addition to lovely, soft illustrations, the author includes a timeline, selected bibliograph, and web sites.
| Author: Rappaport, Doreen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
My Mama Had a Dancing Heart
In simple poetic language, a ballet dancer recalls how she and her mother welcomed the seasons by dancing outdoors and being together.
| Author: Gray, Libba Moore |
|
Pink and Say
This long picture book tells the story of Pinkus Aylee, an African-American soldier in the Civil War, and of his mother, Moe Bay and of his friendship with a young White boy. A moving book that may be more appropriate for adults than for children, it cel
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
shadow spinner
1
| Author: fletcher, susan |
HSE Descriptors:
literature and arts | literature and arts | literature and arts | literature and arts | literature and arts
|
Time to Love, A
Beautifully illustrated and ably introduced by sons of the author, this book retells six Bible stories from different perspectives, all revealing aspects of love--father/son, friends, brothers, lovers, and daughters-in-law. Teachers can promote religious
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Family > mothers > mother-child relationships
145th Street: Short Stories
Engaging short stories written in Myers' natural writing styles that contain serious side plots and portray some of the people who live on one block of 145th Street in Harlem. Characters are portrayed honestly and jump off the page to keep the reader enga
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
Angel to Angel
The author-poet celebrates mothers in this collection of poems illustrated by archival photographs of African American families.
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Bee & Jacky
A brother and sister suffer the effects of their father's Vietnam trauma and their mother's ineffectualness by resuming a physical relationship. This moving, psychologically honest book is difficult to read because the real or imagined incest is portraye
Before I Was Your Mother
A mother tells her daughter stories about herself before she became a mother who does many things.
Big Mama Makes the World
A simple text and colorful illustrations retell the creation story with a mother as the creator. Some readers might be offended by the non-traditional creation story. Others could find the illustrations childish.
Bucking the Sarge
Teenage Luther, who is exploited by his slumlord mother, keeps his equilbrium through many humorous misadventures before finding his own way.
| Author: Curtis, Christopher Paul |
|
Bud, Not Buddy
It's 1936, Flint, Michigan, and 10-year-old Bud (not Buddy) has run away from foster care to search for his father. (Newbery winner)
| Author: Curtis, Christopher Paul |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Carver
Personal and professional details of the life of George Washington Carver are told in poems from the perspectives of many people.
| Author: Nelson, Marilyn |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | science
|
Chanda's Secrets
Sixteen-year-old Chanda, who lives in a fictional sub-Saharan
country that is feeling the impact of HIV/AIDS psychologically(fears, lies, and sundered relationships)and socially (ostracism of tainted people, necessity of hiding), takes a courageous stand
| Author: Stratton, Allan |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Charlie Chaplin
This interesting biography of Charlie Chaplin discusses his life and work from his impoverished boyhood in London through his Hollywood film career to exile in Europe, ending with knighthood in England. The author expands the use of the book with a bibli
| Author: Turk, Ruth |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Coming On Home Soon
A kitten comforts a young African American girl as she and her grandmother wait for the mother's return from working in Chicago during World War II.
| Author: Woodson, Jaqueline |
|
Eleanor
This biography of Eleanor Roosevelt's early life conveys the emotionally impoverished childhood amid wealth and power. The book captures the indomitable spirit of the woman who would become the greatest and most beloved First Lady and a leader in her own
| Author: Cooney, Barbara |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Gifts from the Sea
The lives of a lighthousekeeper and his daughter are changed by the discovery of a baby washed ashore after a shipwreck on the coast of Maine in the 1850's.
| Author: Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie |
|
Glass Castle, The: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls' memoir of her dysfunctional but vibrant family and the resilience and loyalty they exhibited.
Glass Castle, The: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls' memoir of her dysfunctional but vibrant family and the resilience and loyalty they exhibited.
I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This
A moving story of the friendship between two motherless 12-year-old girls--one black and one white--presents issues of racial prejudice, poverty, and child abuse.
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
|
I Have an Olive Tree
Colorful, stylized illustrations depict a girl and her mother as they travel back to Greece to see the olive tree her granfather left her when he died, a gift that grows in value as the story progresses.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Indigo and Moonlight Gold
A little girl looks at the stars and dreams.
Langston Hughes
This well written and engaging biography is accompanied by many of Hughes's poems, some of his other writing, and intriguing illustrations. Especially interesting for Ohio readers is the focus on his life in Cleveland and the influence of Karamu House.
| Author: Meltzer, Milton |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Love You, Soldier
This touching story about the effects of WW II on one family is told through the eyes of seven-year-old Katie. (NOTE: This is a short chapter book that will be very easy for students to read.)
| Author: Hest, Amy |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
My Freedom Trip: A Child's Escape from North Korea
This story describes the flight of a young girl from North to South Korea just before the outbreak of the Korean War. The story is told simply with superb illustrations.
| Author: Park, Frances and Park, Ginger |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
My Mama Had a Dancing Heart
In simple poetic language, a ballet dancer recalls how she and her mother welcomed the seasons by dancing outdoors and being together.
| Author: Gray, Libba Moore |
|
Ray Charles
In a beautiful reprint of a 1973 book, the author tells the story of the legendary blind musician Ray Charles. An Afterword updates the earlier version.
| Author: Mathis, Sharon |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Sarney
A sequel to Nightjohn, the book follows the life of Sarny, the slave girl that Nightjohn taught to read, as she travels to New Orleans in the aftermath of the Civil War to find her children who had been sold into slavery.
| Author: Paulsen, Gary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Secret Life of Bees, The
Fourteen-year-old Lily and Rosaleen, the black servant who has look after her since her mother died 10 years earlier, run from Lily's abusive father and the brutality and racism of the police. Against the historical events of 1964 in South Carolina, they
Seek
For a senior class autobiography assignment, Robbie creates "a sound portrait" in a radio script format, which includes his extended family and his search for his long-absent father. One reviewer thought that the text is too disjointed and confusing for
Sees Behind Trees
A blind Native American boy learns to "see behind trees", guided by his mother, to use his other senses. He uses his gift to help an old warrior find a land of mystery and beauty that he'd discovered years ago, and could not find again himself.
| Author: Dorris, Michael |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Si, Se Puede (Yes, We Can!)
Text in both English and Spanish on each page tells the story of a mother who becomes active in union organization. This story is based on the 2000 janitors' strike in Los Angeles. An essay by Luis J. Rodriguez describes a real-life activist whose goals a
| Author: Cohn, Diana |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Sold
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a village in Nepal. Her stepfather sells her into sexual slavery and her life of prostitution begins in a large city in India. The book is written in short paragraphs, sentences, and phrases
| Author: McCormick, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Step Toward Heaven, A
When Young Ju emigrates with her immediate family to America from Korea, she misses her grandparents. As she grows older, she finds a refuge from her father's physical abuse in school achievement. The author mimics the style of narration with the age of
Stitches: A Memoir
An autobiographical graphic novel that profoundly describes the author's disturbing and often horrific childhood. This is a riveting and groundbreaking work by children's book illustrator David Small.
| Author: Small, David |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
True Believer
This is not exactly a sequel to Make Lemonade, but the style is similar and many of the characters are the same-- LaVaughn, her mother, Jolly and her children [they have a minor role in this book]. LaVaughn is 15, lives in the inner city, and str
| Author: Wolff, Virginia Euwer |
|
Under the Sun
After his father sends him and his mother to relatives outside Sarajevo to escape the perils of the war in the former Yugoslavia, 13-year-old Ehmet must find the way through land mines, burned villages, and hostile bands of armed men to his grandparents i
| Author: Dorros, Arthur |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Welcome to the World
This poetry book also includes stunning photos from all over the world, from a Seminole poem written in the U.S. to poetry from Southeast Asia. It ends with two pages of information on birthing traditions.
| Author: Siegen-Smith, Nikki (compiled by) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Whale Journey
This book describes the migration journey of grey whales. Birthing and care of whale babies are also described. The illustrations are breathtaking.
| Author: French, Vivian |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | science
|
Who Came Down That Road?
A mother answers her son's question, "Who came down that road, Mama?" by going back through time to the creation of the world.
| Author: Lyon, George Ella |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | science
|
Young Man and the Sea, The
In an attempt to push his father out of the alcohol-fueled funk he's been in since his wife died, 12-year-old Skiff Beaman repairs the family fishing boat and meets a 900-lb. tuna 30 miles at sea.
| Author: Philbrick, Rodman |
|
Young Man and the Sea, The
In an attempt to push his father out of the alcohol-fueled funk he's been in since his wife died, 12-year-old Skiff Beaman repairs the family fishing boat and meets a 900-lb. tuna 30 miles at sea.
| Author: Philbrick, Rodman |
|
Ziba Came on a Boat
This story is based on a real incident. Ziba and her mother run from their country because of fighting. They are on an overloaded boat coming to freedom. Ziba spends the time thinking of what she left behind, why she left her home and what the future wo
| Author: Lofthouse, Liz |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Family > mothers > motherly love
Freedom's Fruit
Mama Marina, a conjure woman in the Low Country of the Carolinas in the time of slavery, uses a magic spell to free her daughter and the man she loves. The book includes an Author's Note that compares the American folktale with the Greek myth of Persepho
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Persephone and the Pomegranate
The Persephone myth explains the seasons. The daughter is kidnapped by the ruler of the underworld, Pluto, who makes her his queen. But Persephone's mother, Demeter, grieving, refuses to let Spring return until she is again with her daughter. In the en
| Author: Waldherr, Kris |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Tucker Pfeffercorn
This retelling of Rumpelstiltskin is set in small town Southern USA. The dialogue and dialect are delightful, and the illustrations by one of America's finest artists also contribute to telling the tale.
Family > mothers > stepmothers
Sarah, Plain and Tall
A mail-order bride comes from Maine to the midwest; the children (who have lost their mother) desperately hope she'll stay.
| Author: MacLachlan, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Skylark
This is the sequel to the award-winning Sarah, Plain and Tall. When a drought forces Sarah and the children to leave the farm, leaving Jacob behind, everyone wonders if they will ever be a family again.
| Author: MacLachlan, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
To Go Singing Through the World
The childhood of one of Chile's most famous poets is told through a juxtaposition of the author's narrative and Neruda's own words. This beautifully illustrated biography includes excerpts of poems, maps, a time line, and a concise full-life biography.
| Author: Ray, Deborah Kogan |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Family > mothers > teenage parents
Dear One, The
15-year-old, pregnant Rebecca arrives at her mother's college friend's house to await the birth of her baby. She and others in the house learn to embrace differences and develop friendships.
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
|
First Part Last, The
[revised from dust jacket] Bobby is a classic urban teenaged boy-- impulsive, eager, restless. On his 16th birthday, he learns that his girlfriend Nia is pregnant. Their lives change dramatically, both during the pregnancy and after baby Feather is born.
Make Lemonade
When fourteen-year-old LaVaughn takes a job baby-sitting for seventeen-year-old Jolly's two children, neither girl realizes how much she'll learn from the other. Despite no job, a lousy apartment, and a bleak future, Jolly, with the help of LaVaughn and
| Author: Wolff, Virginia Euwer |
|
Family > oral history
Come Go With Me: Old-timer Stories from the Southern Mountains
The author recorded these oral histories of "Southern Mountain" old folks over a twenty-five year period in order to preserve aspects of community that were disappearing.
| Author: Thomas, Ray Edwin (collected by) |
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Freedom's Gifts
An African American girl visits Texas relatives and learns about the history of Juneteenth, the day for celebrating freedom from slavery.
| Author: Wesley, Valery |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Happy Feet
This very easy, lyrical text with gorgeous illustrations tells the story of the opening of the Savoy in Harlem, which is of special interest to the narrator "Happy Feet" because he was born on that night. The book not only educates the reader about the S
| Author: Richard Michelson |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
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Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
Bessie was 103 and Sadie was 105 when they collaborated with Amy Hill Hearth to write this story of their lives and times. Additionally the Delany sisters offer their perspectives on society, living conditions, people, events, etc. from the past century.
| Author: Delany, Sarah & Delany, A. Elizabeth |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Her Stories
The book focuses on stories of females-animal stories, supernatural tales, folktales, and oral histories. It includes an afterword by Virginia Hamilton and an excellent bibliography.
| Author: Hamilton, Virginia |
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Kamishibai Man
The award-winning author/illustrator introduces the reader to the street storytelling tradition of the "paper-theater man" from his Japanese childhood.
Katie's Trunk
This book, which provides a glimpse of the beginnings of the American Revolution, is based on a true incident that happened to one of the author's ancestors. It's set around the time of the Boston Tea Party and tells the story of what happened to Katie,
| Author: Turner, Ann |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Life Is So Good
This is the autobiography of George Dawson, grandson of slaves, who began to learn to read at age 98. Like Having Our Say, this book offers an African American perspective to 100 years of history. Moreover, Dawson's character and philosophy for l
| Author: Dawson, George & Glaubman, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing | social studies
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My Ol' Man
Patricia Polacco once again uses her rich family background to tell the story of her father, a traveling salesman, and the magic, hope, and dreams he inspired. (Photos of the author and her family adorn the inside covers.)
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
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Nightjohn
An escaped slave returns to the South to teach others how to read. This 92-page book is very bleak, and the violence is quite graphic.
| Author: Paulsen, Gary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Seven Brave Women
A young girl recounts her family history passed down to her through stories and family artifacts of remarkable, ordinary women. Each of the seven women who lived at the time of a war "made history by not fighting in wars."
Slavery Time: When I Was Chillun
Excerpts from 12 oral histories from former slaves, gathered during the Depression by WPA workers, provide several perspectives about slave life as remembered by the people interviewed, who were in their 80s and 90s at the time of the interviews.
| Author: Hurmence, Belinda |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Stitching Stars: The Story Quilts of Harriet Powers
The book recounts both the story of Harriet Powers during the century of the Civil War and the story of her two "story quilts" that now reside in museums. The book is illustrated with photographs of Bible stories from the quilts with explanatory captions
| Author: Lyons, Mary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet
A collection of 49 poems, these vignettes of Appalachian life are funny, sad, moving, and silly. Not all of them are of great quality; teachers may want to pick and choose among them. The poem (on pg. 50) on abuse is powerful and likely to provoke good
| Author: Carson, Jo |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Sundiata
With roots in the 13th Century history of Mali in West Central Africa, the legend of Sundiata and how he gains the kingship prophesied at his birth is illustrated with exquisite cut paper artwork. Historical facts are included in the endmatter and a beau
| Author: Wisniewski, David |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
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Underground Railroad, The
The photos and illustrations and text combine into a wonderful teaching tool on slavery. Several readers commented on how much new information they gleaned from this book of nonfiction. The book includes a timeline.
| Author: Bial, Raymond |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Walking the Choctaw Road
A collection of twelve stories from the Mississippi and Oklahoma branches of the Choctaw People, including traditional lore arising from beliefs and myths, historical tales pased down through generations, and personal stories of contemporary life.
| Author: Tingle, Tim |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
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Year of Fire, The
Grandpa tells granddaughter about the worst fire he has ever known, a fire that happened when the grandfather was a child. (based on a true story)
Family > orphan
Gratefully Yours
Orphaned by a New York tenement fire in 1920, Hattie rides an orphan train to Nebraska where she joins the Jansen household, Henry and his wife Elizabeth. The story relates the loss and healing process that both Hattie and Elizabeth experience. The stor
| Author: Buchanan, Jane |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Half Spoon of Rice
Nine-year old Nat is forced from his home and marched into the countryside when the Khmer Rouge takes power. He is separated from his family and is forced to labor in the rice fields for four years. He survives and is reunited with his family. A surviva
| Author: Smith, Icy |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Half Spoon of Rice
Nine-year old Nat is forced from his home and marched into the countryside when the Khmer Rouge takes power. He is separated from his family and is forced to labor in the rice fields for four years. He survives and is reunited with his family. A surviva
| Author: Smith, Icy |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Invention of Hugo Cabret, The
Part fiction, part graphic novel, this winner of the 2008 Caldecott Medal tells the story of an orphaned boy who maintains and repairs clocks in a Paris train station and discovers the history of an automaton and its maker. When he meets a mysterious toy
| Author: Selznick, Brian |
HSE Descriptors:
science | social studies
|
Islander, The
An orphaned boy, who grows up with his grandfather on an island off the coast of British Columbia, finds a key-literally--that helps him overcome his loneliness and loss.
Locomotion
Lonnie, a.k.a. Locomotion, is encouraged by his teacher Ms. Marcus to write poetry. His poems, in many, many forms but all accessible, tell his story of losing parents in a fire, separation from his sister, group homes, and foster care.
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
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Long Way Gone, A: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
The story of a Sierra Leonian boy who at age 12 was recruited and forced into being a gun toting, drug crazed soldier and then learned how to live with what he had done after going through a UNICEF rehabilitation program.
| Author: Beah, Ishmael |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Luba, the Angel of Bergen-Belsen
This is the story of Luba Tryszynska, a prisoner at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp who hid 52 abandoned Jewish children until the camp was liberated. Front and back matter establish the historical context with a map and a bibliography. An epilogue tel
| Author: McCann, Michelle R. |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Train to Somewhere
Marianne heads west with 14 other children on an Orphan Train, certain that her mother will be waiting for her at one of the stops. No one shows interest in adopting Marianne until the train arrives at a place called Somewhere, where Marianne meets her n
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Family > parent
Family > parent > babies
Couple of Kooks and Other Stories About Love, A
All of these eight short stories are appropriate for ABE or ESL classes, and some will work well in Family Literacy settings as well. The focus of the stories is on the small details of being in love, of the wonder and delight that love can bring. Some
First Part Last, The
[revised from dust jacket] Bobby is a classic urban teenaged boy-- impulsive, eager, restless. On his 16th birthday, he learns that his girlfriend Nia is pregnant. Their lives change dramatically, both during the pregnancy and after baby Feather is born.
Family > parent > birth
Borning Room, The
The narrator remembers growing up in southern Ohio in the 19th century, remembers farm life, celebrates her relatives with their varying ideas about slavery and religion, remembers her part in hiding slaves.
| Author: Fleischman, Paul |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Welcome to the World
This poetry book also includes stunning photos from all over the world, from a Seminole poem written in the U.S. to poetry from Southeast Asia. It ends with two pages of information on birthing traditions.
| Author: Siegen-Smith, Nikki (compiled by) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Family > parent > daughters
Anastasia's Album
This biography of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, is told through photos and memorabilia and reveals the mystery behind her death.
| Author: Brewster, Hugh |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Ann and Seamus
This story of a real event in 1828 alternates chapters in free verse of the two characters of the title. Ann, a real teenager, wants to experience the world beyond Newfoundland, and Seamus, a fictional Irish immigrant, wants to find fortune and a wife.
| Author: Major, Kevin |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Dandelions
As her family struggles to establish a sod home on the Nebraska prairie, Emma finds a way to cheer up her mother.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Family > parent > foster children
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Peace, Locomotion
This book is a collection of the letters and poems Lonnie, hero of the book Locomotion, writes to his sister Lili, who lives with a different foster parent than Lonnie does. The book is remarkably upbeat while dealing with the family issues that Lonnie an
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing
|
Peace, Locomotion
This book is a collection of the letters and poems Lonnie, hero of the book Locomotion, writes to his sister Lili, who lives with a different foster parent than Lonnie does. The book is remarkably upbeat while dealing with the family issues that Lonnie an
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing
|
Family > parent > parenting
Angel to Angel
The author-poet celebrates mothers in this collection of poems illustrated by archival photographs of African American families.
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Armageddon Summer
Fourteen-year-old Marina and 16-year-old Jed accompany their parents' religious cult, the Believers, to the top of a mountain to await the end of the world. The book is narrated in three "voices"--Marina, Jed, and objective accounts such as the newspaper
| Author: Yolen, Jane & Coville, Bruce |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Couple of Kooks and Other Stories About Love, A
All of these eight short stories are appropriate for ABE or ESL classes, and some will work well in Family Literacy settings as well. The focus of the stories is on the small details of being in love, of the wonder and delight that love can bring. Some
Glass Castle, The: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls' memoir of her dysfunctional but vibrant family and the resilience and loyalty they exhibited.
Glass Castle, The: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls' memoir of her dysfunctional but vibrant family and the resilience and loyalty they exhibited.
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Our Mothers' House
Marmee and Meema, two wonderfully innovative, creative mothers, provide a loving home for adopted children and are the glue for a community-oriented neighborhood, except for one family who snubs them for being different.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Just the Two of Us
Lyrics from the song put in illustrated book form. Father reminisces about raising his son incorporating themes about good decision making, love, and respect. A love song of a father to his son. The illustrations by Kadir Nelson really amplify the message
| Author: Smith, Will |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Silent Boy, The
Katy,the young and curious daughter of a small-town doctor living in 1908, learns about life, death, and social distinctions from her family and her friend, Jacob, who is "touched."
To Kill A Mockingbird
In this classic American novel set in the 30s, Lee tells the story of two children growing up in the South with their lawyer father who represents an African-American man accused of raping a white woman. The novel is rich and complex in plot and theme.
| Author: Lee, Harper |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, The
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family from Flint, Michigan are drastically changed after a trip to Alabama in 1963. This is a powerful book, sometimes powerfully funny and sometimes powerfully touching
| Author: Curtis, Christopher P. |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Welcome to the World
This poetry book also includes stunning photos from all over the world, from a Seminole poem written in the U.S. to poetry from Southeast Asia. It ends with two pages of information on birthing traditions.
| Author: Siegen-Smith, Nikki (compiled by) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
What Jamie Saw
The power and lyricism of this remarkable book is evident in the opening sentence. "When Jamie saw him throw the baby, saw Van throw the little baby, saw Van throw his little sister Nin, when Jamie saw Van throw his baby sister Nin, then they moved." Jam
Family > parent > single parent
Blanche on the Lam
A spunky African-American woman, who works as a housekeeper for a wealthy southern family with many secrets, must solve a murder in order to clear herself. Blanche relies on her own intelligence and an "old girl" network of domestics. The language is oc
| Author: Neely, B. |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
By Dawn's Early Light
The book follows the activities of two children cared for by their grandmother and the activities of their mother who works the night shift at a factory. The story illustrates how a family still finds time to be together.
Home Lovely
Janelle and Tiffany move to a trailer, where Tiffany is alone after school while Janelle works. Tiffany finds some plants, makes a garden, and becomes friends with the mailman. (NOTE: Teachers may want to be aware that the child, clearly elementary-scho
| Author: Perkins, Lynne Rae |
|
Seek
For a senior class autobiography assignment, Robbie creates "a sound portrait" in a radio script format, which includes his extended family and his search for his long-absent father. One reviewer thought that the text is too disjointed and confusing for
Family > parent > sons
Just the Two of Us
Lyrics from the song put in illustrated book form. Father reminisces about raising his son incorporating themes about good decision making, love, and respect. A love song of a father to his son. The illustrations by Kadir Nelson really amplify the message
| Author: Smith, Will |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Family > siblings
Bee & Jacky
A brother and sister suffer the effects of their father's Vietnam trauma and their mother's ineffectualness by resuming a physical relationship. This moving, psychologically honest book is difficult to read because the real or imagined incest is portraye
Before I Was Your Mother
A mother tells her daughter stories about herself before she became a mother who does many things.
Color of My Words, The
This is an easy-reading novel, part poetry and part prose, about Ana Rosa, a young writer who is growing up poor in a seaside village in the Dominican Republic where she learns about family community, the merengue, and the power of words.
| Author: Joseph, Lynn |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
First to Fly
This biography of the Wright Brothers is accompanied by archival photographs (as well as illustrations). Text boxes describe related events. Glossary, timeline, bibliography, and list of related WWW sites are included.
| Author: Busby, Peter |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Good Brother, Bad Brother
Subtitled "The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth," this long biography portrays their lives before and after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. This is a GED level book.
| Author: Giblin, James Cross |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Hana's Suitcase
When a suitcase with Hana Brady's name on it arrives at the Toyko Children's Holocaust Education Center, the children have many question about who Hana might have been. In an effort to answer those questions, Fumiko Ishioka, the center's curator, begins a
| Author: Levine, Karen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Into the Volcano
Two brothers face an erupting volcano and a variety of other troubles in their search for their mother.
Into the Volcano
Two brothers face an erupting volcano and a variety of other troubles in their search for their mother.
Jack
This is a biography of JFK, from birth through HS graduation. A bit of his parents' backgrounds is also provided. Primary documents, letters and school reports, are sprinkled throughout the text.
| Author: Cooper, Ilene |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Locomotion
Lonnie, a.k.a. Locomotion, is encouraged by his teacher Ms. Marcus to write poetry. His poems, in many, many forms but all accessible, tell his story of losing parents in a fire, separation from his sister, group homes, and foster care.
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
|
Memories of Summer
The novel is set in 1955. A father and 2 daughters (Lyric, the narrator, is 13 and sister Summer is 16) move from rural Kentucky to Flint, MI. The story is about the move, about Lyric's adjustment, but mostly about Summer's descent into mental illness and
Midnight Zoo, The
When their Gypsy encampment is attacked by Germans during WWII, three Romanian children flee. In an abandoned town, they find a zoo where the animals tell their stories as everyone seeks to reclaim their lives and freedom.
| Author: Harnett, Sonya |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies | language arts - writing
|
Morning Girl
In alternating chapters, Morning Girl (age 12) and her brother describe life on a Bahamian island in 1492. (Note: this book won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.)
| Author: Dorris, Michael |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
My Brothers' Flying Machine
This biography of Wilber and Orville Wright is told by their younger sister.
| Author: Yolen, Jane |
HSE Descriptors:
science
|
My Sister's Keeper
Set in modern day Rhode Island, this novel tells the story of two sisters: Kate, the elder sister, has a rare form of leukemia and Anna, the younger sister, was conceived as a bone marrow donor for her sister. This book deals with medical and moral ethics
One City, Two Brothers
Wonderfully illustrated retelling of the Jewish and Arabic folktale about the founding of Jerusalem. The tale is story of King Solomon and his attempt to mediate a dispute between two brothers squabbling over an inheritance. Simple, but powerful themes d
| Author: Smith, Chris |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Peace, Locomotion
This book is a collection of the letters and poems Lonnie, hero of the book Locomotion, writes to his sister Lili, who lives with a different foster parent than Lonnie does. The book is remarkably upbeat while dealing with the family issues that Lonnie an
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing
|
Peace, Locomotion
This book is a collection of the letters and poems Lonnie, hero of the book Locomotion, writes to his sister Lili, who lives with a different foster parent than Lonnie does. The book is remarkably upbeat while dealing with the family issues that Lonnie an
| Author: Woodson, Jacqueline |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing
|
Relatively Speaking
Centered around a family reunion, a boy speaks about his older brother, his parents, grandparents, and extended family in short, easily accessible free verse.
Same Stuff as Stars, The
Angel and her little brother Bernie are dropped off at their great-grandma's house. Dad is in jail, and mom is an alcoholic and selfishly unable to be a mother. Together, the new family learns to live together in the crumbling Vermont farmhouse.
| Author: Paterson, Katherine |
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Sweet Smell of Roses, A
The book jacket says it all: "There's a sweet, sweet smell in the air as two young girls sneak out of their house, down the street, and across town to where men and women are gathered, ready to march for freedom and justice?--with Martin Luther King, Jr.
| Author: Johnson, Angela |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
That Summer
A boy looks back on the summer that his brother became ill and died.
Time to Love, A
Beautifully illustrated and ably introduced by sons of the author, this book retells six Bible stories from different perspectives, all revealing aspects of love--father/son, friends, brothers, lovers, and daughters-in-law. Teachers can promote religious
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
To Fly
In short 2-3 page chapers with delightful watercolor illustrations, the narrative traces the Wright bothers' step-by-step evolution as aviation engineers. The author provides a timeline, a bibliography, notes, and an index.
| Author: Old, Wendie |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | science
|
Two Brothers, The
King Solomon observes a miracle that results from the love and concern that two brothers have for each other. This helps him decide on the site for his great temple.
Under the Shadow of Wings
Obie, a developmentally disabled boy dies causing a variety of emotional response from his friend Tatnall, an 11-year-old girl.
Wright Sister, The,
Often portrayed through letters, this biography, of Katherine Wright, the sister of Orville and Wilbur Wright, is told against the historical background of the restrictions on women.
| Author: Maurer, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Your Move
When gang initiation threatens his younger brother, James summons the courage to make up his own mind.
Family > teenagers
Buried Alive
This collection of linked poems explores the rich, puzzling and painful experiences of love from teenagers' points of view.
| Author: Fletcher, Ralph |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Can't Get There from Here
This fictional story of homeless teens trying to survive on NYC streets in winter recounts the perils of drugs, sex, starvation, cold, and the help of a few who try to intervene. This is a gripping story, but not for the faint of heart.
First Part Last, The
[revised from dust jacket] Bobby is a classic urban teenaged boy-- impulsive, eager, restless. On his 16th birthday, he learns that his girlfriend Nia is pregnant. Their lives change dramatically, both during the pregnancy and after baby Feather is born.
Looks Like Daylight:Voices of Indigenous Kids
For two years writer and activist Deborah Ellis traveled across the United States and Canada, interviewing Indigenous young people. The result is a collection of frank and often surporising interviews with kids aged 9 to 19, as they talk about their dail
| Author: Ellis, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - writing | social studies | language arts - reading
|
Monster
16-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial for murder. This riveting book tells his story in the form of his journals and a film script he is writing.
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
|
Speak
This compelling story recounts Melinda's freshman year in high school. She is an outcast because she called the police to an end-of-the-summer party. Her reasons for doing this and her gradual emotional acceptance and psychological healing are the focus o
True Believer
This is not exactly a sequel to Make Lemonade, but the style is similar and many of the characters are the same-- LaVaughn, her mother, Jolly and her children [they have a minor role in this book]. LaVaughn is 15, lives in the inner city, and str
| Author: Wolff, Virginia Euwer |
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