Family
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
|
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