African Americans

The People Could Fly

Retold Afro-American folktales of animals, fantasy, the supernatural, and desire for freedom, born of the sorrow of the slaves, but passed on in hope.

By the Dawn’s Early Light – Spanish (Libros Colibri)

This Spanish translation of the gentle story By the Dawn’s Early Light reflects an experience familiar to many Spanish-speaking children: life in a household where the parent works at night. There isn’t much time to see Mama; but sometimes, early in the morning, Raquel hears her mother come home. She wakes her brother and they go downstairs to share some quiet time with Mama. Full color.

Bronx Masquerade

When Wesley Boone writes a poem for his high school English class, some of his classmates clamor to read their poems aloud too. Soon they’re having weekly poetry sessions and, one by one, the eighteen students are opening up and taking on the risky challenge of self-revelation. There’s Lupe Alvarin, desperate to have a baby so she will feel loved. Raynard Patterson, hiding a secret behind his silence. Porscha Johnson, needing an outlet for her anger after her mother OD’s. Through the poetry they share and narratives in which they reveal their most intimate thoughts about themselves and one another, their words and lives show what lies beneath the skin, behind the eyes, beyond the masquerade.

Days Of Jubilee (Days Of Jubilee)

Uses slave narratives, letters, diaries, military orders, and other documents to chronicle the various stages leading to the emancipation of slaves in the United States.

Bud, Not Buddy

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father–the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

Almost To Freedom

Tells the story of a young girl’s dramatic escape from slavery via the Underground Railroad, from the perspective of her beloved rag doll.

(Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book)

Freedom River

Describes an incident in the life of John Parker, a formerly enslaved person who became a successful businessman in Ripley, Ohio, and who repeatedly risked his life to help other slaves escape to freedom.

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books

Sunrise over Fallujah

Robin Perry, from Harlem, is sent to Iraq in 2003 as a member of the Civilian Affairs Battalion at the beginning of Operation Iraqui Freedom, and he will be the liaison between the military and the Iraqis. His time there profoundly changes him.