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Art and Photography
Art and Photography > art
Art and Photography > art > symbolism
    Black Book of Colors, The
      This book is written in Braille alphabet so the sighted reader can share the reading experience with the blind reader. The books is printed in black pages to further simulate the reading experience of the blind reader. This books has been printed around
      Author: Cottin, Menena HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading | social studies

    Blues Journey
      Father and son team up to celebrate the blues in beautiful illustrations and lyrics. A short essay introduces the reader to the history and structure of blues. A timeline and glossary enable the reader to immerse himself in the form.
      Author: Myers, Walter Dean

    Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts
      "Drawing on extensive historical and anthropological research, personal accounts, and interviews of people who work in the funeral industry, Penny Colman examines... death and burial across cultures and societies" (dust jacket). Appendices include a chron
      Author: Colman, Penny HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Flag Maker, The
      This is the story of the flag that prompted Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner. Events surrounding the attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore are also chronicled.
      Author: Bartoletti, Susan 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

    Home of the Brave
      In a dream-like story and illustrations, Allen Say captures the infamy, dislocation, and loss experienced by Japanese Americans in the internment camps during World War II.
      Author: Say, Allen HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Mysterious Thelonious
      Chris Raschka has blended musical notes with glorious color to make the reader see how Thelonious Monk's music would appear on paper. Reading the words on the page resembles reading musical notes on a scale rather than the traditional left-to-right, top-
      Author: Raschka, Chris HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading

    Rabbits, The
      A myth/allegory about rabbits who take over a country and destroy the environment. The illustrations are simultaneously thought-provoking, beautiful, and ominous. The type face may confuse new readers although it is large and easy to read.
      Author: Marsden, John

    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

    There Goes the Neighborhood
      Ten buildings that caused controversy when erected are the subjects of this book. Included are the famous (Washington Monument, Eiffel Tower) and the not-so-famous (the glass house, Frank O. Gehry's house). In the process of learning about these buildings
      Author: Rubin, Susan Goldman HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Waiting for the Owl's Call
      This narrative is rich in beautiful language - similes, personifications that describes the daily lives of Afghanistani children who work at rug looms looms using ancient patterns handed down from their ancestors. The narrator mentally creates new patter
      Author: Whelan, Gloria HSE Descriptors: social studies

Literature and Language
Literature and Language > figurative language
Literature and Language > figurative language > symbolism
    America's White Table
      A simple story about a family's Veterans' Day dinner preparation is used to tell the true story of the white tables set for POWs/MIAs.
      Author: Raven, Margot HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Black Swan White Crow
      The book introduces the reader to Haiku poetry that is accompanied by delicate and suggestive woodcut illustrations.
      Author: Lewis, J. Patricia HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading

    Butterfly, The
      During the Nazi occupation of France, Monique discovers that her mother is a member of the Resistance, and that a secret trap door conceals a Jewish family in hiding. Monique and the secret "guest" become nighttime playmates until terror threatens.
      Author: Polacco, Patricia HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Catskill Eagle, A
      The book quotes a few lines from Melville's classic, Moby Dick. The art is beautifully evocative and turns the book into more of a coffee table art book than a typical picture book.
      Author: Melville, Herman HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading

    Follow the Drinking Gourd
      Peg Leg Joe travels from plantation to plantation teaching slaves the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd," which conceals directions for the route north to freedom. The book follows one slave family as they are directed north to the Underground Railroad and
      Author: Winter, Jeanette HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Fortune's Bones
      A powerful poem, written in the form of a requiem, recovers the life and reconstructed history of a skeleton used by a Dr. Porter to teach anatomy in Waterbury, Connecticut. The format places author's notes across from sections of the poem told by differ
      Author: Nelson, Marilyn HSE Descriptors: science | social studies

    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
      Author: Hooks, William

    Give Me A Sign
      This colorfully illustrated book explores the universality of the language of signs from uses of signs in everyday life to wordless pictograms. A glossary provides useful definitions.
      Author: Samoyault, Tiphaine HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Home of the Brave
      In a dream-like story and illustrations, Allen Say captures the infamy, dislocation, and loss experienced by Japanese Americans in the internment camps during World War II.
      Author: Say, Allen HSE Descriptors: social studies

    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

    Knock at a Star (Rev. Ed.)
      Subtitled "A Child's Introduction to Poetry," this book is an anthology of poetry for children (many are also appropriate for adults) organized to make several points about poetry: typical contents, common poetic devices, types of poetic formats, etc. The
      Author: Kennedy. X, & Kennedy, D. (Eds.) HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading

    Langston's Train Ride
      This easy-reading picture book focuses on one episode from Langston Hughes's life--his realization that he WAS a poet. Reference is made to "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and of the way its ideas developed.
      Author: Burleigh, Robert HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading

    Last Giants, The
      During the days of sailing ships a European gentleman buys a mysterious tooth with a map on it which takes him on a long adventure to a land of peaceful giants. When he writes a book about his travels, tragic events occur. The illustrations are reminisc
      Author: Place, Francois HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Musicians of the Sun
      This beautifully illustrated book of an Aztec myth of the beginning of the earth celebrates Native American folktales.
      Author: McDermott, Gerald HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading

    Mysterious Thelonious
      Chris Raschka has blended musical notes with glorious color to make the reader see how Thelonious Monk's music would appear on paper. Reading the words on the page resembles reading musical notes on a scale rather than the traditional left-to-right, top-
      Author: Raschka, Chris HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading

    One Yellow Daffodil: A Hanukkah Story
      Morris Kaplan, a Holocaust survivor, owns a flower shop that two children visit each Friday to buy Sabbath flowers. The children are surprised to learn that their friend Morris hasn't celebrated Hanukkah since his childhood. They insist that he join the
      Author: Adler, David HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Pledge of Allegiance, The
      This book illustrates the phrases in the Pledge of Allegiance with photographs. Included is a description of what the pledge means (literally), dates to diplay the flag, and some basic flag history.
      Author: No author cited HSE Descriptors: social studies

    Riding the Tiger
      This is an allegory that features a bored, lonely 10-year-old's who is offered a ride by an exciting and somewhat scary tiger and discovers that it is easier to get on the tiger than to get off.
      Author: Bunting, Eve HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading | social studies

    Secret-Keeper, The
      This is a fairy tale about Kalli, the secret-keeper, who takes others' secrets on so that they can be released from them. All the bad secrets threaten to make her ill until the townspeople come to her rescue.
      Author: Coombs, Kate

    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

    Through the Mickle Woods
      The king is grieving for his dead wife, but with the help of a wise bear and a young boy learns the three lessons about living and loving.
      Author: Gregory, Valiska

    Tin Forest, The
      An old man living in a wasteland of scrap metal dreams of a green forest full of birds and animals. This charming, beautifully illustrated modern legend extolls the benefits of dreaming and ideas in accomplishing change.
      Author: Ward, Helen

    Veil of Snows, The
      In the absence of her husband who has not returned from battle, the queen prepares her city for assault. Aided by a small force of loyal soldiers and the Singer of Tales who narrates the story, the queen escapes the besieged city and heads for the safety
      Author: Helprin, Mark HSE Descriptors: language arts - reading | social studies

    Wagon, The
      At the time of Emancipation and Lincoln's death, a young boy, born into slavery, looks back on his anger at slavery and the support of his family as he helps his father build a wagon for the master which later carries them to freedom.
      Author: Johnston, Tony HSE Descriptors: social studies


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