Search Results
Subject=African Americans--Fiction.
Showing 1-381 of 381 items
741.5
Ale
The crossover
Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.
Available
Non-fiction - JH & HS
741.5
Cra
New kid
"Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds--and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?"--Publisher's description.
Available
Non-fiction - JH & HS
741.5
Med
I am Alfonso Jones
The ghost of fifteen-year-old Alfonso Jones travels in a New York subway car full of the living and the dead, watching his family and friends fight for justice after he's killed by an off-duty police officer while buying a suit in a Midtown department store.
Available
Non-fiction - JH & HS
810
Men
Mending the world : stories of family by contemporary Black writers
A celebration of modern black family life, featuring fiction, memoir, and poetry, by African American authors both new and renowned.
Available
Non-fiction - JH & HS
Audio
F
And
The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing, traitor to the nation
The adventure continues! Dr. Trefusis accompanies Octavian as he flees to Boston, which is occupied by British forces. When Lord Dunmore offers freedom to slaves in return for their service against the revolution, will Octavian be tempted to join?.
Available
Audiobooks - JH & HS
Audio
F
Mor
CD
The bluest eye
The Bluest Eye is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove, a black girl in an America whose love for its blonde, blue-eyed children can devastate all others, who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
Available
Audiobooks - JH & HS
Audio
F
Mye
CD
Monster
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.
Available
Audiobooks - JH & HS
Audio
F
Tho
The hate u give
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does, or does not, say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
Available
Audiobooks - JH & HS
EspaƱol
F
Tho
El odio que das
"Starr es una chica de diecisĆ©is aƱos que vive entre dos mundos: el barrio pobre de gente negra donde nació, y su escuela situada en un elegante barrio residencial blanco. El difĆcil equilibrio entre ambos se hace aƱicos cuando ella es testigo de la muerte a tiros de su mejor amigo, Khalil, a manos de un policĆa. A partir de ese momento, todo lo que Starr diga acerca de la aterradora noche que cambió su vida podrĆ” ser usado de excusa por unos y como arma por otros. Y lo peor de todo es que, tanto los de un lado como los de otro, la tienen en el punto de mira y amenazan con poner en riesgo su vida."--Oceanotravesia.mx.
Overdue
EspaƱol - Books in Spanish
F
Ado
Jimi & me
After his father's tragic death, twelve-year-old Keith James moves from Brooklyn to a small midwestern town where his mixed race heritage is not accepted, but he finds comfort in the music of Jimi Hendrix and the friendship of a white classmate.
Lost
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Ale
Rebound
In the summer of 1988, twelve-year-old Chuck Bell is sent to stay with his grandparents, where he discovers jazz and basketball and learns more about his family's past.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Ale
Swing
"Noah and his best friend Walt want to become cool, make the baseball team, and win over Sam, the girl Noah has loved for years. When Noah finds old love letters, Walt hatches a plan to woo Sam. But as Noah's love life and Walt's baseball career begin, the letters alter everything"-- Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Ale
The crossover
Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
And
Ashes
"As the Revolutionary War rages on, Isabel and Curzon are reported as runaways, and the awful Bellingham is determined to track them down. With purpose and faith, Isabel and Curzon march on, fiercely determined to find Isabel's little sister Ruth, who is enslaved in a Southern state"-- Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
And
Chains : seeds of America
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
And
Forge
Separated from his friend Isabel after their daring escape from slavery, fifteen-year-old Curzon serves as a free man in the Continental Army at Valley Forge until he and Isabel are thrown together again, as slaves once more.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
And
The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing, traitor to the nation
After escaping a death sentence in the summer of 1775, Octavian and his tutor find shelter but no safe harbor in British-occupied Boston and, persuaded by Lord Dunmore's proclamation offering freedom to slaves who join his counterrevolutionary Royal Ethiopian Regiment, Octavian and his friends soon find themselves engaged in naval raids on the Virginia coastline as the Revolutionary War breaks out in full force.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
And
The Pox party
Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Bel
Store bought baby
The death of Leah's beloved older brother, and her parents' reactions to the tragedy, raise questions for Leah about the meaning of family and about her place in her own.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Bol
Crossing Ebenezer Creek
Freed from slavery, Mariah and her young brother Zeke join Sherman's march through Georgia, where Mariah meets a free black named Caleb and dares to imagine the possibility of true love, but hope can come at a cost.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Boo
Tyrell
Fifteen-year-old Tyrell, who is living in a Bronx homeless shelter with his spaced-out mother and his younger brother, tries to avoid temptation so he does not end up in jail like his father.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Bro
Black angels
Three Southern children, two black and one white, escape from their homes during the horrors of the Civil War and, after meeting in the woods, gradually come to rely on each other as they make their way slowly north, enduring hunger, fear, sickness, and constant danger, before arriving in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Col
The revolution of Birdie Randolph
Sixteen-year-old Dove "Birdie" Randolph's close bond with her parents is threatened by a family secret, and by hiding her relationship with Booker, who has been in juvenile detention.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Col
Born in sin
Despite serious obstacles and setbacks, fourteen-year-old Keisha pursues her dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer and medical doctor.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Cro
Mississippi trial, 1955
In Mississippi in 1955, a sixteen-year-old finds himself at odds with his grandfather over issues surrounding the kidnapping and murder of a fourteen-year-old African American from Chicago.
Overdue
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Cur
Bucking the Sarge
Deeply involved in his cold and manipulative mother's shady business dealings in Flint, Michigan, fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy Neighbor Group Home For Men, all the while dreaming of going to college and becoming a philosopher.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Dav
Mare's war
Teens Octavia and Tali learn about strength, independence, and courage when they're forced to take a car trip with their grandmother, who tells about growing up Black in 1940s Alabama and serving in Europe during World War II as a member of the Women's Army Corps.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Dra
Copper sun
Two fifteen-year-old girls--one a slave and the other an indentured servant--escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Fla
Bang!
A teenage boy must face the harsh realities of inner city life, a disintegrating family, and destructive temptations as he struggles to find his identity as a young man.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Fla
Begging for change
Fourteen-year-old Raspberry Hill tries to sort out her confused feelings of disgust, shame, and love for her homeless, drug addicted father and worries that she may have inherited his lying and stealing ways.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Fla
The skin I'm in
Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Gil
Spin
"When DJ ParSec (Paris Secord), rising star of the local music scene, is found dead over her turntables, the two girls who found her, Kya (her pre-fame best friend) and Fuse (her current chief groupie) are torn between grief for Paris and hatred for each other--but when the lack of obvious suspects stalls the investigation, and the police seem to lose interest, despite pressure from social media and ParSec's loyal fans, the two girls unite, determined to find out who murdered their friend."--Publisher's description.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Heg
Pemba's song : a ghost story
As fifteen-year-old Pemba adjusts to leaving her Brooklyn, New York, home for small-town Connecticut, a Black history researcher helps her understand the paranormal experiences drawing her into the life of a mulatto girl who was once a slave in her house.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Hou
New boy
As a new sophomore at an exclusive New England boarding school, Rob is the first student of color in the school's history, while the Civil Rights movement is gaining steam back home in the South.
Lost
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Ire
Dread nation : rise up
When families go missing in Baltimore County, Jane McKeene, who is studying to become an Attendant, finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy that has her fighting for her life against powerful enemies.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Joh
The first part last
Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Jon
I'm not dying with you tonight
Told from two viewpoints, Atlanta high school seniors Lena and Campbell, one black, one white, must rely on each other to survive after a football rivalry escalates into a riot.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Jor
Hot girl
Kate, a fourteen-year-old Brooklyn girl and former gang member, risks losing her first good foster family when she adopts the risquƩ ways of her flirtatious new friend, Naleejah.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Kon
The porcupine of truth
Seventeen-year-old Carson Smith is bored with Billings, Montana, and resentful that he has to help his mother take care of his father, a dying alcoholic whom he has not seen in fourteen years--but then he meets Aisha, a beautiful African American girl who's run away from her own difficult family, and together they embark on a journey of discovery that may help them both come to terms with their lives.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
LaM
Like no other
Though their relationship is strictly forbidden, Devorah and Jax arrange secret meetings and risk everything to be together. But how far can they possibly go? Just how much are they willing to give up?
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
LaM
Don't fail me now
Interracial half-siblings come together for the first time and embark on a cross-country road trip to confront their absentee father before he dies.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Les
Day of tears : a novel in dialogue
Emma has taken care of the Butler children since Sarah and Frances's mother, Fanny, left. Emma wants to raise the girls to have good hearts, as a rift over slavery has ripped the Butler household apart. Now, to pay off debts, Pierce Butler wants to cash in his slave "assets", possibly including Emma.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mag
How it went down
When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mal
Tight
After his quick-tempered father gets in a fight and is sent back to jail, sixth-grader Bryan, known for being quiet and thoughtful, snaps and follows new friend Mike into trouble.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
McK
Indigo Summer
When fifteen-year-old Indigo's perfect world falls apart she turns to her neighbor, sixteen-year-old Marcus Carter, for help but now that she has realized what a great guy he is, so does someone else.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
McK
A blade so black
"An ... urban fantasy retelling of Alice in Wonderland ... The first time the nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew. Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she's ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head--literally"-- Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Moo
This way home
Elijah, seventeen, has always been sure of just one thing--basketball--and believes it will be his way out of West Baltimore, but when gang violence knocks him down, helping a veteran repair his rickety home helps Elijah see what really matters.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mor
Home
"The story of a Korean war veteran on a quest to save his younger sister"-- Provided by publisher.
Overdue
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mor
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mos
The legend of Buddy Bush
In 1947, twelve-year-old Pattie Mae is sustained by her dreams of escaping Rich Square, North Carolina, and moving to Harlem when her Uncle Buddy is arrest for attempted rape of a white woman and her grandfather is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mos
47
Number 47, a fourteen-year-old slave boy growing up under the watchful eye of a brutal master in 1832, meets the mysterious Tall John, who introduces him to a magical science and also teaches him the meaning of freedom.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mye
Autobiography of my dead brother
Jesse uses his sketchbook and comic strips to make sense of his home in Harlem and the loss of a close friendship.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mye
The Beast
A visit to his Harlem neighborhood and the discovery that the girl he loves is using drugs give sixteen-year-old Anthony Witherspoon a new perspective both on his home and on his life at a Connecticut prep school.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mye
Darius & Twig
"Two best friends, a writer and a runner, deal with bullies, family issues, social pressures, and their quest for success coming out of Harlem"-- Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mye
Game
If Harlem high school senior Drew Lawson is going to realize his dream of playing college, then professional, basketball, he will have to improve at being coached and being a team player, especially after a new--white--student threatens to take the scouts' attention away from him.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mye
Riot
In 1863, fifteen-year-old Claire, the daughter of an Irish mother and a black father, faces ugly truths and great danger when Irish immigrants, enraged by the Civil War and a federal draft, lash out against blacks and wealthy "swells" of New York City.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mye
Street love
This story told in free verse is set against a background of street gangs and poverty in Harlem in which seventeen-year-old African American Damien takes a bold step to ensure that he and his new love will not be separated.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Mye
Sunrise over Fallujah
Robin Perry, from Harlem, is sent to Iraq in 2003 as a member of the Civilian Affairs Battalion, and his time there profoundly changes him.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Per
Out of darkness
Loosely based on a school explosion that took place in New London, Texas, in 1937, this is the story of two teenagers: Naomi, who's Mexican, and Wash, who's black, and their dealings with race, segregation, love, and the forces that destroy people.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Pic
Pick-up game : a full day of full court
A series of short stories by such authors as Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Joseph Bruchac, interspersed with poems and photographs, provides different perspectives on a game of streetball played one steamy July day at the West 4th Street court in New York City known as The Cage.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Pin
Into white
"LaToya Williams lives in Montgomery, Alabama, and attends a mostly white high school. It seems as if her only friend is her older brother, Alex. Toya doesn't know where she fits in, but after a run-in with another student, she wonders if life would be different if she were ... different. And then a higher power answers her prayer: to be anything but black. Toya is suddenly white, blond, and popular. Now what?"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Pow
Loving vs. Virginia : a documentary novel of the landmark civil rights case
Written in blank verse, this is the story of Mildred Loving, an African American girl, and Richard Loving, a Caucasian boy, who challenge the Viriginia law forbidding interracial marriages in the 1950s.
Overdue
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Qui
Boy21
Finley, an unnaturally quiet boy who is the only white player on his high school's varsity basketball team, lives in a dismal Pennsylvania town that is ruled by the Irish mob, and when his coach asks him to mentor a troubled African American student who has transferred there from an elite private school in California, he finds that they have a lot in common in spite of their apparent differences.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Rey
All American boys
When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. Told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints.
Due 01/06/20
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Rey
The boy in the black suit
Soon after his mother's death, Matt takes a job at a funeral home in his tough Brooklyn neighborhood and, while attending and assisting with funerals, begins to accept her death and his responsibilities as a man.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Rey
When I was the greatest
Ali lives in Bed-Stuy, a Brooklyn neighborhood known for guns and drugs, but he and his sister, Jazz, and their neighbors, Needles and Noodles, stay out of trouble until they go to the wrong party, where one gets badly hurt and another leaves with a target on his back.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Sit
Hip-hop high school
Theresa Anderson is every kind of smart, but with the example of her super-achieving older brother towering above her, Theresa hasn't even been trying. How can a girl compete against the family favorite, especially when he's a certified local hero? Then she finds hip hop music, and Devon.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Smi
Flygirl
During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
SPO
Spooks, spies, and private eyes : Black mystery, crime, and suspense fiction
Collection of mystery short stories and excerpts from longer works by African-American authors and black authors from other countries.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Sto
Dear Martin
Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., seventeen-year-old college-bound Justyce McAllister struggles to face the reality of race relations today and how they are shaping him.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Sto
Uncle Tom's cabin
A devoutly Christian slave becomes separated from his wife and family when he is sold to the brutal planter, Simon Legree.
Lost
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Tam
Calling my name
"Taja Brown, growing up in a conservative and tightly knit African American family, battles family expectations to discover a sense of self and find her unique voice and purpose"-- Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Tay
The land
Paul-Edward, the son of a part-Indian, part-African slave mother and a White plantation owner father, finds himself caught between the two worlds of his parents as he pursues his dream of owning land in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Tho
The hate u give
After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
VER
The good Negress
After leaving rural Virginia for Detroit in 1963, a young black girl struggles with divided loyalties as she begins to see her family in a new light.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Vol
Black and white
Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Vol
The Final Four
Four players at the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament struggle with the pressures of tournament play and the expectations of society at large.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Vol
Rikers High
Arrested on a minor offense, a New York City teenager attends high school in the jail facility on Rikers Island, as he waits for his case to go to court.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Vol
Rucker Park setup
While playing in a crucial basketball game on the very court where his best friend was murdered, Mackey tries to come to terms with his own part in that murder and decide whether to maintain his silence or tell J.R.'s father and the police what really happened.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Wat
Piecing me together
Tired of being singled out at her mostly-white private school as someone who needs support, high school junior Jade would rather participate in the school's amazing Study Abroad program than join Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk girls.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Wea
Becoming Billie Holiday
Jazz vocalist Billie Holiday looks back on her early years in this fictional memoir written in verse.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Woo
After Tupac and D Foster
In the New York City borough of Queens in 1996, three girls bond over their shared love of Tupac Shakur's music, as together they try to make sense of the unpredictable world in which they live.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Woo
Behind you
After fifteen-year-old Jeremiah is mistakenly shot by police, the people who love him struggle to cope with their loss as they recall his life and death, unaware that 'Miah is watching over them.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Woo
The house you pass on the way
When fourteen-year-old Staggerlee, the daughter of a racially mixed marriage, spends a summer with her cousin Trout, she begins to question her sexuality to Trout and catches a glimpse of her possible future self.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
F
Wri
When the black girl sings
Adopted by white parents and sent to an exclusive Connecticut girls' school where she is the only black student, fourteen-year-old Lahni Schuler feels like an outcast, particularly when her parents separate, but after attending a local church where she hears gospel music for the first time, she finds her voice.
Available
Fiction - JH & HS
FIC
CUR
The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Available
Audiobooks - Elementary
J
322.4
STA
Bessie Smith and the night riders
African-American blues singer Bessie Smith single-handedly scares off Ku Klux Klan members who are trying to disrupt her show one hot July night in Concord, North Carolina.
Available
Non-Fiction - Elementary
J
811
BRY
Freedom over me : eleven slaves, their lives and dreams brought to life
"Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, contrasts the monetary value of a slave with the priceless value of life experiences and dreams that a slave owner could never take away"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Non-Fiction - Elementary
J
811
SMI
Keeping the night watch
A thirteen-year-old African American boy chronicles what happens to his family when his father, who temporarily left, returns home and they all must deal with their feelings of anger, hope, abandonment, and fear.
Overdue
Non-Fiction - Elementary
J
ABD
Sasquatch in the paint
Eighth-grader Theo Rollins' growth spurt has Coach Mandrake trying to transform him into a basketball star, but training time is hurting the science club's chances of winning the "Aca-lympics," and being accused of stealing could mean Theo is off both teams.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ABD
What color is my world? : the lost history of African-American inventors
While twins Ella and Herbie help the handyman Mr. Midal work on their new home, he tells them about such inventors as Granville Woods, Dr. Henry T. Sampson, and James West, giving them a new view of their heritage as African-Americans.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ALE
The crossover
Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
AME
Addy learns a lesson : a school story
After escaping from a plantation in North Carolina, Addy and her mother arrive in Philadelphia, where Addy goes to school and learns a lesson in true friendship.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
AME
Addy saves the day : a summer story
Addy and Harriet feud over everything, including fund-raising plans to help the families of freed slaves, but tragedy finally forces them to stop fighting and work together.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
AME
Addy's surprise : a Christmas story
Addy and her mother forgo their Christmas plans to help the newly freed slaves arriving in Philadelphia during the Civil War.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
AME
Meet Addy : an American girl
Nine-year-old Addy Walker escapes from a cruel life of slavery to freedom during the Civil War.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
AND
Ashes
"As the Revolutionary War rages on, Isabel and Curzon are reported as runaways, and the awful Bellingham is determined to track them down. With purpose and faith, Isabel and Curzon march on, fiercely determined to find Isabel's little sister Ruth, who is enslaved in a Southern state"-- Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
AND
Chains : seeds of America
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
AND
Forge
Separated from his friend Isabel after their daring escape from slavery, fifteen-year-old Curzon serves as a free man in the Continental Army at Valley Forge until he and Isabel are thrown together again, as slaves once more.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
APP
Home of the brave
Kek, a refugee from Sudan, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth-grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
AUDIO
CUR
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.
Available
Audiobooks - Elementary
J
AUDIO
F
FOG
Crossing Jordan
Twelve-year-old Cass meets her new African-American neighbor, Jemmie, and despite their families' prejudices, they build a strong friendship around their mutual talent for running and a pact to read Jane Eyre.
Available
Audiobooks - Elementary
J
Audio
PAT
Jip : his story
While living on a Vermont poor farm during 1855 and 1856, Jip learns his identity and that of his mother and comes to understand how he arrived at this place.
Available
Audiobooks - Elementary
J
BAN
Egg-drop blues
Twelve-year-old Judge Jenkins has a low science grade because of his dyslexia, so he convinces his twin brother Jury to work with him in a science competition in order to earn extra credit.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
BAR
End zone
Co-captains Tiki and Ronde Barber lead their junior high teammates to the Virginia state football championship.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
BAR
Extra innings
"Tiki and Ronde have their sights set on a big diamond--a baseball diamond! Sure, they're experienced athletes, but they've never played baseball before. Do they have what it takes to make the team?"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
BAR
Kickoff!
Twelve-year-olds Tiki and Ronde tryout for the junior high footabll team and hope to not only get a spot but also to be a part of the starting lineup.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
BAR
Brand-new school, brave new Ruby
Eight-year-old Ruby Booker is headed to a new school where her older brothers rule; however, Ruby has big plans to change that.
Due 01/06/20
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
BAR
Trivia queen, 3rd grade supreme
When the Hope Road Academy holds its annual animal trivia contest, Ruby represents the third grade and competes against two of her older brothers.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
BEL
The tallest tree
A group of young African-American children learn about Paul Robeson from one of the neighborhood elders, and decide to reclaim the town theater in order to celebrate Robeson's life.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
BOO
Kinda like brothers
"When his mother takes in a twelve-year-old foster boy, Jarrett is forced to share his room and his friends with the new boy"--OCLC.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
BRA
Jefferson's sons : a founding father's secret children
A fictionalized look at the last twenty years of Thomas Jefferson's life at Monticello through the eyes of three of his slaves, two of whom were his sons by his slave, Sally Hemings.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CAM
Gloria rising
A chance meeting with a woman astronaut encourages Gloria to try to be her best self, even with her difficult fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Yardley.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CAM
Gloria's way
Gloria shares special times with her mother and father and with her friends Julian, Huey, and Latisha.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CAM
Julian, dream doctor
Julian and Huey try to find the perfect birthday gift for Dad with amusing results.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CAM
Julian, secret agent
When Julian, his little brother Huey, and their friend Gloria decide to be "crime busters," they find themselves in one adventure after another.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CAR
Stealing freedom
A novel based on the events in the life of a young slave girl from Maryland who endures all kinds of mistreatment and cruelty, including being separated from her family, but who eventually escapes to freedom in Canada.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CAR
Storm warriors
In 1895, after his mother's death, twelve-year-old Nathan moves with his father and grandfather to Pea Island off the coast of North Carolina, where he hopes to join the all-black crew at the nearby lifesaving station, despite his father's objections.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CAR
Grandma's general store : the Ark
In the 1930s when their parents go north to Philadelphia to find work, five-year-old Pearl and seven-year-old Prince must stay behind with their grandmother in Florida and help her run her small store.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CLE
The jacket
Sixth-grader Phil comes to an awareness of his own racial prejudice after he sees Daniel, an African-American boy, wearing his brother's one-of-a-kind jacket and leaps to the conclusion that Daniel has stolen the coat.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CLI
Finding Langston
Discovering a book of Langston Hughes' poetry in the library helps Langston cope with the loss of his mother, relocating from Alabama to Chicago as part of the Great Migration, and being bullied.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
COL
Shadows on Society Hill : an Addy mystery
When her family moves to Philadelphia's Society Hill neighborhood in 1866, Addy, a former slave, discovers that her new home holds dangerous secrets--including one connected to the North Carolina plantation she escaped from only two years earlier. Includes an educational section on Reconstruction.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
COL
Jump ship to freedom
By rights young Daniel Arabus and his mother, slaves in Captain Iver's house in Stratford, Conn., should be free. But the Captain refuses to honor their agreement and instead sells Daniel on board a ship to the West Indies.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CUR
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.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CUR
The mighty Miss Malone
Deza Malone, the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, accompanies her mother and older brother on a trip to find her father, an African American man who left to find work after the Great Depression hit. They end up in a Hooverville outside of Flint, Michigan, and her brother attempts to be a performer while Deza and her mother search for a home.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CUR
Mr. Chickee's funny money
Flint Future Detective Club members Steven Carter, his friend Russell, and Russell's dog Zoopy solve the mystery of a quadrillion-dollar bill with the image of James Brown on it.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CUR
Mr. Chickee's messy mission
Flint Future Detective Club members Steven Carter and his friends Russell and Richelle follow Russell's dog, Rodney Rodent, into a mural to chase a demonic-looking gnome, only to find the mysterious Mr. Chickee on the other side.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
CUR
The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
DAH
The story of Jonas
In the mid-1800s, a slave boy dreams of escaping to freedom while on a journey from Missouri to the gold fields of Kansas Territory with his master's n'er-do-well son.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
DEA
I thought my soul would rise and fly : the diary of Patsy, a freed girl
Twelve-year-old Patsy keeps a diary of the ripe but confusing time following the end of the Civil War and the granting of freedom to former slaves.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
DEA
The journal of Biddy Owens : the Negro leagues
Teenager Biddy Owens' 1948 journal about working for the Birmingham Black Barons includes the games and the players, racism the team faces from New Orleans to Chicago, and his family's resistance to his becoming a professional baseball player. Includes a historical note about the evolution of the Negro Leagues.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
DEA
The journal of Joshua Loper : a Black cowboy
In 1871 Joshua Loper, a sixteen-year-old black cowboy, records in his journal his experiences while making his first cattle drive under an unsympathetic trail boss.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
DRA
The birthday storm
Sassy and her family go to Florida during summer vacation to visit Grammy for her birthday, and when the weather takes a turn for the worse, Sassy learns that love is more important than decorations and caterers.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
DRA
The dazzle disaster dinner party
Sassy's fancy dinner turns into a disaster, but with the help of the items in her handy sack and a little ingenuity, Sassy manages to make the meal memorable.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
DRA
Little Sister is not my name!
Nine-year-old Sassy Simone Sanford, known to her family members as "Little Sister," relies on her fashion sense and friends to help her solve any problems that come her way.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
DRA
The silver secret
Sassy, who cannot sing, wants to be in the school musical, but must first prove to her music teacher that she can make a positive difference in the program.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
DRA
Stella by starlight
When a burning cross set by the Klan causes panic and fear in 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina, fifth-grader Stella must face prejudice and find the strength to demand change in her segregated town.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ELL
Dragons in a bag
In Brooklyn, nine-year-old Jax joins Ma, a curmudgeonly witch who lives in his building, on a quest to deliver three baby dragons to a magical world, and along the way discovers his true calling.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ENG
Francie
When the sixteen-year-old boy whom she tutors in reading is accused of attempting to murder a white man, Francie gets herself in serious trouble for her efforts at friendship.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ENG
It all comes down to this
"In the summer of 1965, Sophie's family becomes the first African Americans to move into their upper middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles. When riots erupt in nearby Watts, she learns that life and her own place in it are a lot more complicated than they had seemed"-- Provided by publisher.
Due 01/06/20
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ENG
Skateboard party
"Richard can't wait to show off his skills at a friend's skateboard birthday party, but a note home from his teacher threatens to ruin his plans"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ENG
Substitute trouble
While Ms. Shelby-Ortiz is recovering from an injury, substitute Mr. Willow takes over Nikki and Deja's third-grade class with disastrous results.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
FLA
Unstoppable Octobia May
In 1953 ten-year-old Octobia May lives in her Aunt's boarding house in the South, surrounded by an African American community which has its own secrets and internal racism, and spends her days wondering if Mr. Davenport in room 204 is really a vampire--or something else entirely.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
FLE
Nobody's boy
A fictional story featuring historical figures, in which George, a slave boy in 1850s St. Louis, gains his freedom with his mother, future White House dressmaker Elizabeth Keckly, and decides to use his liberty to help others escape.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
FOG
Crossing Jordan
Twelve-year-old Cass meets her new African-American neighbor, Jemmie, and despite their families' prejudices, they build a strong friendship around their mutual talent for running and a pact to read Jane Eyre.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
FRA
Armstrong & Charlie
"During the pilot year of a Los Angeles school system integration program, two sixth grade boys, one black, one white, become best friends as they learn to cope with everything from first crushes and playground politics to the loss of loved ones and racial prejudice in the 1970s"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
FRA
Cleo Edison Oliver, playground millionaire
Fifth-grader Cleo Edison Oliver is full of money-making ideas, and her fifth-grade Passion Project is no different--but things get more complicated when she has to keep her business running, be a good listener when her best friend needs her, and deal with the bully teasing her about being adopted at the same time.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
FUQ
Darby
In 1926, nine-year-old Darby Carmichael stirs up trouble in Marlboro County, South Carolina, when she writes a story for the local newspaper promoting racial equality.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
GRI
Danitra Brown, class clown
Rhyming text tells the story of how Zuri faces her fears about starting a new school year, with the help of her free-spirited best friend Danitra.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
GRI
Garvey's choice
Preferring science and reading to the sports his father wants him to play, Garvey comforts himself with food and endures bullying before joining the school chorus, where he learns how to accept himself and bond with his father.
Due 12/10/19
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
GRI
Halfway to perfect
Dyamonde Daniels, having noticed a change in Damaris's eating habits, try to figure out a way to show Damaris that she is perfect just the way she is and should not let what other people say about people's weight negatively affect her.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
GRI
Make way for Dyamonde Daniel
Spunky third-grader Dyamonde Daniel misses her old neighborhood, but when she befriends a boy named Free, another new student at school, she finally starts to feel at home.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
GRI
Rich
Free is excited about a local poetry contest because of its cash prize, but when he and Dyamonde befriend a classmate who is homeless and living in a shelter, they rethink what it means to be rich or poor.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
GRI
The road to Paris
Inconsolable at being separated from her older brother, eight-year-old Paris is apprehensive about her new foster family but just as she learns to trust them, she faces a life-changing decision.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
GUT
Jackie and me : a baseball card adventure
With his ability to travel through time by using baseball cards, Joe goes back to 1947 to meet Jackie Robinson, turning into a black boy in the process.
Lost
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
GUT
Satch & me : a baseball card adventure
With his ability to travel through time using vintage baseball cards, Joe takes Flip with him to find out whether Satchel Paige really was the fastest pitcher ever.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
HAM
Time pieces : the book of times
Valena, her family, and dog live in rural Ohio, where she and her cousin Melinda share experiences that include seeing the aurora borealis, surviving a tornado, and going to an amazing circus.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
HAN
Yellow Bird and me
Doris becomes friends with Yellow Bird as she helps him with his studies and his part in the school play and discovers that he has a problem known as dyslexia.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
HAT
Missy Violet & me
During the early 1900s, eleven-year-old Viney spends her summer working for the local midwife and learns firsthand about birth, death, and "catchin' babies."
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
JAC
Midnight without a moon
Rose Lee Carter, a thirteen-year-old African-American girl, dreams of life beyond the Mississippi cotton fields during the summer of 1955, but when Emmett Till is murdered and his killers are unjustly acquitted, Rose is torn between seeking her destiny outside of Mississippi or staying and being a part of an important movement.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
JOH
Bird
Devastated by the loss of a second father, thirteen-year-old Bird follows her stepfather from Cleveland to Alabama in hopes of convincing him to come home, and along the way helps two boys cope with their difficulties.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
JOH
The Parker inheritance
Twelve-year-old Candice Miller is spending the summer in Lambert, South Carolina, in the old house that belonged to her grandmother, who died after being dismissed as city manager for having the city tennis courts dug up looking for buried treasure--but when she finds the letter that sent her grandmother on the treasure hunt, she finds herself caught up in the mystery and, with the help of her new friend and fellow book-worm, Brandon, she sets out to find the inheritance, exonerate her grandmother, and expose an injustice once committed against an African American family in Lambert.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
JOR
Lost Goat Lane
Two families--one white, one black--living near one another in rural Florida overcome their suspicions of each other and find ways to work together, with the help of their children and a few goats.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
LAS
True north : a novel of the underground railroad
Because of the strong influence which her grandfather, an abolitionist, has in her life, fourteen-year-old Lucy assists a fugitive slave girl in her escape.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
LAT
Leaving Gee's Bend
Ludelphia Bennett, a determined, ten-year-old African American girl in 1932 Gee's Bend, Alabama, leaves home in an effort to find medical help for her sick mother, and she recounts her ensuing adventures in a quilt she is making.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
LES
The Old African
An elderly slave uses the power of his mind to ease the suffering of other slaves and eventually leads them back to Africa.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
LEV
The lions of Little Rock
Twelve-year-old Marlee develops a strong friendship with Liz, the new girl in school, but when Liz suddenly stops attending school and Marlee hears a rumor that her friend is actually an African American girl passing herself off as white, the two young girls must decide whether their friendship is worth taking on integration and the dangers it could bring to their families.
Due 12/19/19
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MAG
The rock and the river
In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam Childs is caught in a conflict between his father's nonviolent approach to seeking civil rights for African-Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black Panther Party.
Lost
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MAG
The season of Styx Malone
"Caleb Franklin and his younger brother, Bobby Gene, spend an extraordinary summer their new, older neighbor, Styx Malone, a foster boy from the city"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MAL
Secret Saturdays
Justin, a fatherless twelve-year-old in a dangerous neighborhood in New York, starts to worry about his friend Sean, who has started telling lies and getting into trouble at school, and when he suspects that the change in attitude is connected to mysterious trips Sean takes with his mother, he tries to get involved.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MCK
Away west
In 1879, thirteen-year-old Everett Turner leaves a life of struggle on his family's farm and runs away to St. Louis, where he works in a livery stable before heading to the all-Black town of Nicodemus, Kansas.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MCK
A friendship for today
Twelve-year-old Rosemary Patterson learns that she will be attending an all-white school in the fall; but when her best friend is diagnosed with polio, she must face the first day of school alone.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MCK
The home-run king
Eleven-year-old Tank and his older brother Jimbo, who both love baseball, can't believe their good fortune when Josh Gibson, home-run king of the Homestead Grays, stays at their house during a series in Nashville.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MCK
Let my people go : Bible stories told by a freeman of color to his daughter, Charlotte, in Charleston, South Carolina, 1806-1816
The daughter of a free black man who worked as a blacksmith in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1800s recalls the stories from the Bible that her father shared with her, relating them to the experiences of African Americans.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MCK
Never forgotten
A lyrical story-in-verse that details the experiences of an African boy who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MCK
Porch lies : tales of slicksters, tricksters, and other wily characters
Presents a collection of nine original tales drawn from African American oral tradition that blends history and legend with sly humor, creepy horror, villainous characters, and wild farce.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MCK
A song for Harlem
In the summer of 1928, Lilly Belle Turner of Smyrna, Tennessee, participates in a young author's writing program, taught by Zora Neale Hurston and hosted by A'Lelia Walker in her Harlem teahouse at the height of the Harlem Renaissance.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MEA
Junebug
An inquisitive young boy who lives with his mother and younger sister in a rough housing project in New Haven, Connecticut, approaches his tenth birthday with a mixture of anticipation and worry.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MUR
Black angels
The summer of 1961 brings change to eleven-year-old Celli and her town of Mystic, Georgia, when her beloved Sophie becomes involved in the Civil Rights Movement and Celli learns a secret about the father who left her and her family long ago.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
MYE
Darnell Rock reporting
Thirteen-year-old Darnell's twin sister and the other members of the Corner Crew have doubts about his work on the school newspaper, but the article he writes about a homeless man changes his attitude about school.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
NEL
Beyond Mayfield
In 1961 the children of Mayfield are concerned with air-raid drills and fallout shelters, but the civil rights movement becomes real when a neighbor joins the Freedom Riders.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
OSB
A big day for baseball
"Jack and Annie use the magic tree house to travel back in time to 1947 Brooklyn, New York, where they pretend to be batboys at Jackie Robinson's first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Boston Braves"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
OSB
A good night for ghosts / #42
Jack and Annie must travel back in time to New Orleans in 1915 to help a teenaged Louis Armstrong fulfill his destiny and become the "King of Jazz.".
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
PEA
Jump into the sky
In 1945, thirteen-year-old Levi is sent to find the father he has not seen in three years, going from Chicago, to segregated North Carolina, and finally to Pendleton, Oregon,where he learns that his father's unit, the all-Black 555th paratrooper battalion, will never see combat but finally has a mission. Includes historical notes.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
PEA
The seventh most important thing
"In 1963, thirteen-year-old Arthur is sentenced to community service helping the neighborhood Junk Man after he throws a brick at the old man's head in a moment of rage, but the junk he collects might be more important than he suspects. Inspired by the work of American folk artist James Hampton"--Provided by publisher.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
PEA
Trouble don't last
Samuel, an eleven-year-old Kentucky slave, and Harrison, the elderly slave who helped raise him, attempt to escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
PIN
Bird in a box
In 1936, three children meet at the Mercy Home for Negro Orphans in New York State, and while not all three are orphans, they are all dealing with grief and loss which together, along with the help of a sympathetic staff member and the boxing matches of Joe Louis, they manage to overcome. Includes author's notes.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
PIN
Raven in a dove house
While twelve-year-old Nell and her fourteen-year-old cousin struggle with the loss of parents and other hardships, both African-American youths learn to rely on themselves.
Lost
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
PIN
Silent thunder : a Civil War story
In 1862 eleven-year-old Summer and her thirteen-year-old brother Rosco take turns describing how life on the quiet Virginia plantation where they are slaves is affected by the Civil War.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
POL
January's sparrow
After a fellow slave is beaten to death, Sadie and her family flee the plantation, traveling north through the Underground Railroad in search of freedom.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
REY
As brave as you
"When two brothers decide to prove how brave they are, everything backfires -- literally."--Provided by publisher.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
REY
Lu
"Lu knows he can lead Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and the team to victory at the championships, but it might not be as easy as it seems. Suddenly, there are hurdles in Lu's way--literally and not-so-literally--and Lu needs to figure out, fast, what winning the gold really means"--Provided by publisher.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
REY
Patina
"A newbie to the track team, Patina "Patty" Jones must learn to rely on her family and teammates as she tries to outrun her personal demons"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
RHO
Bayou magic
Visiting her grandmother in the Louisiana bayou, ten-year-old Maddy begins to realize that she may be the only sibling to carry on the gift of her family's magical legacy.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
RHO
Ghost boys
"After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a white police officer, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
RIN
Hang a thousand trees with ribbons : the story of Phillis Wheatley
A fictionalized biography of the eighteenth-century African woman who, as a child, was brought to New England to be a slave, and after publishing her first poem when a teenager, gained renown throughout the colonies as an important African-American poet.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
RIN
Numbering all the bones
Thirteen-year-old Eulinda, a house slave on a Georgia plantation in 1864, turns to Clara Barton, the eventual founder of the American Red Cross, for help in finding her brother Neddy who ran away to join the Northern war effort and is rumored to be at Andersonville Prison.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ROB
Children of the fire
A young African-American girl named Hallelujah lives through the great Chicago fire with courage and resourcefulness.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ROB
Walking to the bus-rider blues
Twelve-year-old Alfa Merryfield, his older sister, and their grandmother struggle for rent money, food, and their dignity as they participate in the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott in the summer of 1956.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ROD
Yankee girl
When her FBI-agent father is transferred to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1964, eleven-year-old Alice wants to be popular but also wants to reach out to the one black girl in her class in a newly-integrated school.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
ROS
A school for Pompey Walker
At the dedication of a school named after him, an old former slave tells the story of his life and how, with the help of a white friend, he managed to save money to build a school for black children in Ohio by being repeatedly sold into slavery and escaping.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
SAC
Small steps
Three years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is trying hard to keep his life on track, but when his old pal X-Ray shows up with a tempting plan to make some easy money scalping concert tickets, Armpit reluctantly goes along.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
SCH
Leaving Fletchville
Leon, Winnie, and Sam, three African-American siblings who recently changed schools, receive help from an unlikely source--Brandon the school bully.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
SIM
Zora and Me
A fictionalized account of Zora Neale Hurston's childhood with her best friend Carrie, in Eatonville, Florida, as they learn about life, death, and the differences between truth, lies, and pretending. Includes an annotated bibliography of the works of Zora Neale Hurston, a short biography of the author, and information about Eatonville, Florida.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
SLO
Finding Buck McHenry
Eleven-year-old Jason, believing the school custodian Mack Henry to be Buck McHenry, a famous pitcher from the old Negro League, tries to enlist him as a coach for his Little League team by revealing his identity to the world.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
SMI
Hoodoo
In 1930s Alabama, twelve-year-old Hoodoo Hatcher is the only member of his family who seems unable to practice folk magic, but when a mysterious man called the Stranger puts the entire town at risk from his black magic, Hoodoo must learn to conjure to defeat him.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
TAT
The secret of Gumbo Grove
While helping restore the cemetery of the old Baptist church, eleven-year-old Raisin solves the mystery surrounding the founding of her home town and gains pride in her family's past.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
TAY
Mississippi bridge
During a heavy rainstorm in 1930s rural Mississippi, a ten-year-old white boy sees a bus driver order all the black passengers off a crowded bus to make room for late-arriving white passengers and then set off across the raging Rosa Lee River.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
TAY
The road to Memphis
Sadistically teased by two white boys in 1940's rural Mississippi, a black youth severely injures one of the boys with a tire iron and enlists Cassie's help in trying to flee the state.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
THO
Keena Ford and the field trip mix-up
Keena and her second-grade class go on a field trip to the United States Capitol where they meet a congressman; and Keena makes a big impression, which she documents in her new journal.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
THO
Keena Ford and the second-grade mix-up
Second grader Kenna Ford tries to do the right thing, but always seems to make things worse, especially when it comes to a mixed up birthday.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
J
WAL
Second daughter : the story of a slave girl
Aissa, the teen-age fictional sister of Elizabeth Freeman, struggles against a system which declares that she is property and that she is to remain silent.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WAT
Piecing me together
Tired of being singled out at her mostly-white private school as someone who needs support, high school junior Jade would rather participate in the school's amazing Study Abroad program than join Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk girls.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WAT
Kizzy Ann Stamps
Kizzie Ann Stamps is nervous about starting at a new school that was just integrated, and wonders if she and her dog Shag will be allowed to compete in a herding competition because she is African-American.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WES
How to lose your cookie money
When good-hearted third-grader Willimena spends her Girl Scout cookie money on lunch for some friends in need, she tries to creatively earn back the money she spent; ultimately she must face the consequences of not being responsible with the money.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WIL
Revolution
"It's 1964 in Greenwood, Mississippi, and Sunny's town is being invaded by people from up north who are coming to help people register to vote. Her personal life isn't much better, as a new stepmother, brother, and sister are crowding into her life, giving her little room to breathe"--From publisher's description.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WIL
Clayton Byrd goes underground
Clayton is forbidden by his mother from playing the blues after his grandfather dies and runs away to the subways to join a band.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WIL
One crazy summer
In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WIL
P.S. be eleven
After spending the Summer of 1968 with their mother and the Black Panthers, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern return home to Brooklyn with a new feeling of independence, but they discover their father has a new girlfriend, Uncle Darnell has come home from Vietnam a changed man, and Big Ma still expects Delphine to take care of everything. Feeling overwhelmed, Delphine writes to her mother, who reminds her to enjoy being eleven and not grow up too fast.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WOO
The blossoming universe of Violet Diamond
"A biracial girl finally gets the chance to meet the African American side of her family"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WOO
The red rose box
In 1953, Leah Hopper dreams of leaving the poverty and segregation of her home in Sulphur, Louisiana, and when Aunt Olivia sends train tickets to Los Angeles as part of her tenth birthday present, Leah gets a first taste of freedom.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WOO
Feathers
When a new, white student nicknamed "The Jesus Boy" joins her sixth grade class in the winter of 1971, Frannie's growing friendship with him makes her start to see some things in a new light.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WOO
Harbor me
"When six students are chosen to participate in a weekly talk with no adults allowed, they discover that when they're together, it's safe to share the hopes and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world"--Provided by publisher.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WOO
Hush
Twelve-year-old Toswiah finds her life changed when her family enters the witness protection program.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WOO
Last summer with Maizon
Eleven-year-old Margaret tries to accept the inevitable changes that come one summer when her father dies and her best friend Maizon goes away to a private boarding school.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WRI
Crow
Moses Thomas's summer vacation in 1898 does not go as planned, and while he deals with family problems and fickle friends, Moses comes to be more aware of the escalating tension between the African American and white communities of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
WYE
Vampire bugs : stories conjured from the past
Collection of six supernatural tales that are inspired by the oral tradition of African-American storytellers.
Available
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
J
YOU
Love like sky
Eleven-year-old Georgie is still adjusting to leaving Atlanta for a small town, having a stepfather, and being unable to get close to her stepsister when her six-year-old sister, Peaches, suddenly becomes very ill.
Overdue
Fiction (Chapterbooks) - Elementary
P
ADL
Get a hit, Mo!
"Mo Jackson is excited for his baseball game, but Coach Marie tells him he is batting last and playing right field, again. Will Mo ever get a hit?"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
ADL
Kick it, Mo!
"When soccer season starts, Mo, who has been working hard to improve his kicking skills, wonders if he will ever get a chance to show his team what he can do"--OCLC.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
ADL
Pass the ball, Mo!
"With the big game coming up, Mo Jackson, the shortest member of the basketball team, is determined to learn how to pass the ball in time to help his team win."--OCLC.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BAN
White water : inspired by a true story
After tasting the warm, rusty water from the fountain designated for African Americans, a young boy questions why he cannot drink the cool, refreshing water from the "Whites Only" fountain. Based on a true experience co-author Michael S. Bandy had as a boy.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BAR
Crown : an ode to the fresh cut
Celebrates the magnificent feeling that comes from walking out of a barber shop with newly-cut hair.
Available
Regular
P
BAR
No mirrors in my Nana's house
A girl discovers the beauty in herself by looking into her Nana's eyes.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BAT
The music in Derrick's heart
Uncle Booker T., who makes magic by playing his harmonica music from his heart, spends the summer teaching Derrick how to play.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BEA
Li'l Dan, the drummer boy : a Civil War story
L'il Dan, informed by a company of Union solders that he is no longer a slave, follows them and uses his beloved drum to save them from attack. Includes a reading by Maya Angelou on CD.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BIL
The Hallelujah Flight
In 1932, James Banning, along with his co-pilot Thomas Allen, make history by becoming the first African Americans to fly across the United States, relying on the generosity of people they meet in the towns along the way who help keep their "flying jalopy" going.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BIR
Grandmama's pride
While on a trip in 1956 to visit her grandmother in the South, six-year-old Sarah Marie experiences segregation for the first time, but discovers that things have changed by the time she returns the following year.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BIR
Lucky beans
During the Great Depression, Marshall, an African American boy, uses lessons learned in arithmetic class and guidance from his mother to figure out how many beans are in a jar in order to win her a new sewing machine in a contest.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BLU
Ron's big mission
Nine-year-old Ron, a frequent visitor to the Lake City Public Library in South Carolina in the 1950s, where he pores over books on airplanes and flight, makes his own quiet stand against segregation when he decides to apply for his own library card. Based on the life of astronaut Ron McNair.
Due 12/12/19
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BRA
More than anything else
Nine-year-old Booker works with his father and brother at the saltworks but dreams of the day when he'll be able to read.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
BUR
Lookin' for Bird in the big city
A fictionalized account of the time when, as a teen-age music student, trumpeter Miles Davis spent many hours trying to find Charlie Parker in New York City.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
CAR
Night running : how James escaped with the help of his faithful dog
A runaway slave makes a daring escape to freedom with the help of his faithful hunting dog, Zeus. Based on the true story of James Smith's journey from Virginia to Ohio in the mid-1800s.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
CAR
Nappy
An African-American mother styling her young daughter's hair teaches her to be proud of her heritage, showing her that she shares her "nappy" hair with strong African-American women who came before her, such as Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
CLA
Let the children march
Under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, children and teenagers march against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
CLI
Light in the darkness
Risking a whipping if they are discovered, Rosa and her mama sneak away from their slave quarters during the night to a hidden location in a field where they learn to read and write in a pit school.
Due 12/19/19
Picture Book - Elementary
P
COL
To be a drum
Daddy Wes tells how Africans were brought to America as slaves, but promises his children that as long as they can hear the rhythm of the earth, they will be free.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
COL
White socks only
Grandma tells the story about her first trip alone into town during the days when segregation still existed in Mississippi.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
COL
Uptown
A tour of the sights of Harlem, including the Metro-North Train, brownstones, shopping on 125th Street, a barber shop, summer basketball, the Boy's Choir, and sunset over the Harlem River.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
COO
Full, full, full of love
For young Jay Jay, Sunday dinner at Gran's house is full of hugs and kisses, tasty dishes, all kinds of fishes, happy faces, and love.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
COP
Firebird : ballerina Misty Copeland shows a young girl how to dance like the firebird
American Ballet Theater soloist Misty Copeland encourages a young ballet student, with brown skin like her own, by telling her that she, too, had to learn basic steps and how to be graceful when she was starting out, and that some day, with practice and dedication, the little girl will become a firebird, too. Includes author's note about dancers who led her to find her voice.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
CRE
You are here
When the rain keeps Mariah and Joy confined to the indoors, they create a magic map and go on a fantastic imaginary voyage.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
CRO
Just as good : how Larry Doby changed America's game
An African American family in Cleveland, Ohio, listens on their new radio to the first game of the 1948 World Series, in which Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League, won the game for the Cleveland Indians.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
CUM
Due 01/06/20
Picture Book - Elementary
P
CUR
The bat boy & his violin
Reginald is more interested in practicing his violin than in his father's job managing the worst team in the Negro Leagues, but when Papa makes him the bat boy and his music begins to lead the team to victory, Papa realizes the value of his son's passion.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
DE
Last stop on Market Street
A young boy rides the bus across town with his grandmother and learns to appreciate the beauty in everyday things.
Reserved
Picture Book - Elementary
P
DEM
A dance like starlight : one ballerina's dream
A young girl growing up in Harlem in the 1950s, whose mother cleans and stitches costumes for a ballet company, dreams of becoming a prima ballerina one day, and is thrilled to see a performance of Janet Collins, the first "colored" prima ballerina.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
DIL
Rap a tap tap : here's Bojangles-- think of that!
Rhyming text and illustrations describe the dancing of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, one of the most famous tap dancers of all time.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
ENG
The baby on the way
When a young boy asks his grandmother if she was ever a baby, she tells him the story of how she was born.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
ENG
Hot day on Abbott Avenue
After having a fight, two friends spend the day ignoring each other, until the lure of a game of jump rope helps them to forget about being mad.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
FOR
Shop talk
An African-American boy named Solomon explains why the local barbershop is his favorite place.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
GAR
The buffalo soldier
Realizing that his future lies in owning land, not just being free, a young man raised as a slave becomes a buffalo soldier--a member of an all-black cavalry regiment formed to protect white settlers from Indians, bandits, and outlaws, and that later fought in the Spanish American War. Includes historical note.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
GOU
Bring me some apples and I'll make you a pie : a story about Edna Lewis
Edna and members of her family gather fruits, berries, and vegetables on their Virginia farm and turn them into wonderful meals. Includes five recipes and facts about the life of Edna Lewis, a descendant of slaves who grew up to be a famous chef.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
GRI
Danitra Brown leaves town
Recounts, in a series of poems and letters, Danitra's summer at her aunt's house in the country and her best friend Zuri's summer at home in town.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
GRI
When Gorilla goes walking
In this story told in a series of rhyming poems, Gorilla the cat enjoys answering the telephone, eating soul food, and sharing mischievous adventures with her young owner.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HAR
The chicken-chasing queen of Lamar County
A young farm girl tries to catch her favorite chicken, until she learns something about the hen that makes her change her ways.
Due 12/18/19
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HAR
Going north
A young African American girl and her family leave their home in Alabama and head for Lincoln, Nebraska, where they hope to escape segregation and find a better life.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HAV
Jamaica's blue marker
Jamaica thinks her classmate Russell is a pest who is always getting into trouble, but then she discovers he is moving away.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HAV
Jamaica's find
A little girl finds a stuffed dog in the park and decides to take it home.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HEG
Most loved in all the world
Even though Mama is an agent on the Underground Railroad, in order to help others she must remain a slave, but she teaches her daughter the value of freedom through a gift of love and sacrifice.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HER
Nappy hair
Various people at a backyard picnic offer their comments on a young girl's tightly curled, "nappy" hair.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HES
Mr. George Baker
Harry sits on the porch with Mr. George Baker, an African American who is one hundred years old but can still dance and play the drums, waiting for the school bus that will take them both to the class where they are learning to read.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HOF
Boundless Grace
Grace is invited for a visit with her father and his new family in Africa.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HOF
Grace at Christmas
When her grandmother takes in a stranded family at Christmas, Grace is reluctant to share her favorite holiday with strangers, even though the visiting family includes a "real live ballerina."
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HOF
Princess Grace
Grace wants to participate in her community festival's princess float, but first she must decide what sort of a princess she wants to be--from an African princess in kente cloth robes to a floaty pink fairy tale princess.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HOP
A band of angels : a story inspired by the jubilee singers
The daughter of a slave forms a gospel singing group and goes on tour to raise money to save Fisk University.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HOP
From slave to soldier : based on a true Civil War story
A boy who hates being a slave joins the Union Army to fight for freedom, and proves himself brave and capable of handling a mule team when the need arises.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HOP
Steamboat school : inspired by a true story : St. Louis, Missouri: 1847
In 1847 St. Louis, Missouri, when a new law against educating African Americans forces Reverend John to close his school, he finds an ingenious solution to the new state law by moving his school to a steamboat in the Mississippi River. Includes author's note on Reverend John Berry Meachum, a minister, entrepreneur, and educator who fought tirelessly for the rights of African Americans.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HOP
Under the quilt of night
A young girl flees from the farm where she has been worked as a slave and uses the Underground Railroad to escape to freedom in the north.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HOW
Virgie goes to school with us boys
In the post-Civil War South, a young African American girl is determined to prove that she can go to school just like her older brothers.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
HUB
Black all around!
An African American girl contemplates the many wonderful black things around her, from the inside of a pocket, where surprises hide, to the cozy night where there is no light.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
IGU
Two Mrs. Gibsons
The biracial daughter of an African-American father and a Japanese mother fondly recalls growing up with her mother and her father's mother, two very different but equally loving women.
Due 01/06/20
Picture Book - Elementary
P
JAC
In plain sight
"An ailing grandfather and his helpful granddaughter play a unique game of seek and find"-- Provided by publisher.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
JOH
All different now : Juneteenth, the first day of freedom
In 1865, members of a family start their day as slaves, working in a Texas cotton field, and end it celebrating their freedom on what came to be known as Juneteenth.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
JOH
Just like Josh Gibson
A young girl's grandmother tells her of her love for baseball and the day they let her play in the game even though she was a girl.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
JOH
Lily Brown's paintings
When Lily Brown paints, she imagines all sorts of fantastic things in the scenes that she sees every day.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
JOH
A sweet smell of roses
Two young girls participate in a freedom march and listen to Dr. Martin Luther King speak during the Civil Rights movement.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
JOH
Julius
Maya's grandfather brings her a pig from Alaska and the two of them learn about fun and sharing together.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
JOH
Of corn silk and black braids
After one bad hair day, Sarah doesn't feel good about herself, but Aunt Lubelle brings soothing comfort, a gentle touch, and ideas for a new hairstyle as Sarah discovers her deep down beauty.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
JOH
Angel City
Joseph, an old African-American man, finds a Mexican baby abandoned in a Dumpster and raises him in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood to know both African-American and Mexican American ways.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
KEA
Goggles!
Two boys must outsmart the neighborhood bullies before they can enjoy their new treasure, a pair of lensless motorcycle goggles.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
KUR
Faraway home
Desta's father, who needs to return briefly to his Ethiopian homeland, describes what it was like for him to grow up there.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
LEE
Please, baby, please
A toddler's antics keep his mother busy as she tries to feed him, watch him on the playground, give him a bath, and put him to bed.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
LES
Black cowboy, wild horses : a true story
An African-American cowboy is so in tune with wild mustangs that they accept him into the herd, thus enabling him singlehandedly to take them to the corral.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
LEV
Henry's freedom box
A fictionalized account of how in 1849 a Virginia slave, Henry "Box" Brown, escapes to freedom by shipping himself in a wooden crate from Richmond to Philadelphia.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
LIT
Freedom school, yes!
When their house is attacked because her mother volunteered to take in the young white woman who has come to teach African-American children at the Freedom School, Jolie is afraid, but she overcomes her fear after learning the value of education.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
LIT
Tree of hope
Florrie's daddy used to be a stage actor in Harlem before the Depression forced the Lafayette Theater to close, but he gets a chance to act again when Orson Welles reopens the theater to stage an all-black version of Macbeth.
Lost
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MAS
These hands
An African American man tells his grandson about a time when, despite all the wonderful things his hands could do, they could not touch bread at the Wonder Bread factory. Based on stories of bakery union workers; includes historical note.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MCC
The escape of Oney Judge : Martha Washington's slave finds freedom
Young Oney Judge risks everything to escape a life of slavery in the household of George and Martha Washington and to make her own way as a free black woman.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MCK
The all-I'll-ever-want Christmas doll
During the Depression, three young sisters get one baby doll for Christmas and must find a way to share.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MCK
Flossie & the fox
A wily fox, notorious for stealing eggs, meets his match when he encounters a bold little girl in the woods who insists upon proof that he is a fox before she will be frightened.
Due 12/19/19
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MCK
Goin' someplace special
In segregated 1950s Nashville, a young African American girl braves a series of indignities and obstacles to get to one of the few integrated places in town: the public library.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MCK
Precious and the Boo Hag
Home alone with a stomachache while the family works in the fields, a young girl faces up to the horrifying Boo Hag that her brother warned her about.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MCK
Stitchin' and pullin' : a Gee's Bend quilt
As a young African American girl pieces her first quilt together, the history of her family, community, and the struggle for justice and freedom in Gee's Bend, Alabama unfolds.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MCQ
Lola at the library
Every Tuesday Lola and her mother visit their local library to return and check out books, attend story readings, and share a special treat.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MED
Lights out!
At bedtime, a young girl enjoys looking out her window and then creates a puppet show with shadows on the wall.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MED
Singing for Dr. King
In 1965, third-grader Sheyann Webb and her friend Rachel West help change America by singing and marching for civil rights with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Includes activity ideas for parents and children.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MED
Daisy and the doll
Daisy, an eight-year-old African-American girl living in rural Vermont in the 1890s, is given a black doll by her teacher and becomes uncomfortable that her skin is a different color from that of her classmates, until she finds the courage to speak from her heart.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MEY
New shoes
"In this historical fiction picture book, Ella Mae and her cousin Charlotte, both African American, start their own shoe store when they learn that they cannot try on shoes at the shoe store"--Provided by publisher.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MIC
Across the alley
Jewish Abe's grandfather wants him to be a violinist while African-American Wille's father plans for him to be a great baseball pitcher, but it turns out that the two boys are more talented when they switch hobbies.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MIL
The quickest kid in Clarksville
Growing up in the segregated town of Clarksville, Tennessee, in the 1960s, Alta's family cannot afford to buy her new sneakers--but she still plans to attend the parade celebrating her hero Wilma Rudolph's three Olympic gold medals.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MIL
Don't touch my hair!
Aria loves her soft and bouncy hair, but must go to extremes to avoid people who touch it without permission until, finally, she speaks up. Includes author's note.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MIL
Richard Wright and the library card
Based on a scene from Wright's autobiography, "Black Boy", in which the seventeen-year-old African-American borrows a white man's library card and devours every book as a ticket to freedom.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
MYE
Looking like me
Jeremy sets out to discover all of the different "people" that make him who he is, including brother, son, writer, and runner.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
NEL
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.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
NEL
Who will I be, Lord?
A young girl recalls the stories she has been told about the members of her family and wonders what kind of person she will become.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
NOL
Big Jabe
Momma Mary tells stories about a special young man who does wondrous things, especially for the slaves on the Plenty Plantation.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
NOL
In my momma's kitchen
A child describes the family events, like making apple jelly and having relatives visit, that center around Momma's kitchen.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
NOL
Thunder Rose
Unusual from the day she is born, Thunder Rose performs all sorts of amazing feats, including building fences, taming a stampeding herd of steers, capturing a gang of rustlers, and turning aside a tornado.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
PIN
Boycott blues : how Rosa Parks inspired a nation
Uses the form of a blues song to share the story of the year-long bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, sparked by seamstress Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger in 1955, which resulted in a repeal of the Jim Crow segregation laws.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
PIN
Ella Fitzgerald : the tale of a vocal virtuosa
Scat Cat Monroe, a feline fan, tells the story of how small town girl Ella Fitzgerald became one of the world's best-known songstresses.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
PIN
Peggony-Po : a whale of a tale
Peggony-Po, carved out of wood by his father, a one-legged whaler, determines to catch the huge whale that ate his father's leg.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
PIN
JoJo's flying side kick
Everyone gives JoJo advice on how to perform in order to earn her yellow belt in tae kwon do class, but in the end she figures it out for herself.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
PIN
Max found two sticks
Although he doesn't feel like talking, a young boy responds to questions by drumming on various objects, including a bucket, hat boxes, and garbage cans, echoing the city sounds around him.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
PIN
Shades of black : a celebration of our children
Photographs and poetic text celebrate the beauty and diversity of African-American children.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
POL
Chicken Sunday
To thank Miss Eula for her wonderful Sunday chicken dinners, three children sell decorated eggs to buy her a beautiful Easter hat.
Due 12/18/19
Picture Book - Elementary
P
POL
Mrs. Katz and Tush
A long-lasting friendship develops between Larnel, a young African-American, and Mrs. Katz, a lonely Jewish widow, when Larnel presents Mrs. Katz with a scrawny kitten without a tail.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
PRI
These hands
Illustrations and simple text describe some of the many things the hands of a young African American girl and her family can do.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
RAM
Belle, the last mule at Gee's Bend : a civil rights story
In Gee's Bend, Alabama, Miz Pettway tells young Alex about the historic role her mule played in the struggle for civil rights led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Includes factual information about the community of Gee's Bend and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
RAM
Ruth and The Green Book
When Ruth and her parents take a motor trip from Chicago to Alabama to visit her grandma, they rely on a pamphlet called "The Negro Motorist Green Book" to find places that will serve them. Includes facts about "The Green Book.".
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
RAV
Circle unbroken : the story of a basket and its people
A grandmother tells the tale of Gullahs and their beautiful sweetgrass baskets that keep their African heritage alive.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
RAV
Night boat to freedom
At the request of his fellow slave Granny Judith, Christmas John risks his life to take runaways across a river from Kentucky to Ohio. Based on slave narratives recorded in the 1930s.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
REY
Back of the bus
From the back of the bus, an African American child watches the arrest of Rosa Parks.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
RIN
Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the sky
With Harriet Tubman as her guide, Cassie retraces the steps escaping slaves took on the Underground Railroad in order to reunite with her younger brother.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
RIN
Bonjour, Lonnie
An African-American Jewish boy traces his ancestry with the help of the Love Bird of Paris.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
RIN
Cassie's word quilt
Names the people and objects that make a girl's New York City apartment, school, and neighborhood special.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
RIN
The Invisible Princess
Mama and Papa Love have a child, the Invisible Princess, who saves them and the other plantation slaves from their cruel master so that they can all find happiness in the Invisible Village of Peace, Freedom, and Love.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
RIN
Tar Beach
A young girl dreams of flying above her Harlem home, claiming all she sees for herself and her family. Based on the author's quilt painting of the same name.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
ROB
The new girl-- and me
Two African-American girls named Shakeeta and Mia become friends when Shakeeta boasts that she has a pet iguana and Mia learns how to help Shakeeta "feel at home" even when she is in school.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
ROB
Jazzy Miz Mozetta
On a beautiful evening, Miz Mozetta puts on her red dress and blue shoes and dances the jitterbug just like she did many years before.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
ROB
Jackie's gift
When young Steve, who is Jewish, tells his new neighbor, Jackie Robinson, that his family does not have a Christmas tree, Jackie brings one to his neighbors, not knowing that they celebrate Hanukkah instead of Christmas.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
ROB
Testing the ice : a true story about Jackie Robinson
As a testament to his courage, Jackie Robinson's daughter shares memories of him, from his baseball career to the day he tests the ice for her, her brothers, and their friends.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
ROB
Under the same sun
"It is Grandmother Bibi's eighty-fifth birthday, and when she travels to Tanzania from America to visit her son and grandchildren, they surprise her with a birthday safari. And while visiting an old African slave port, Jackie Robinson's seven African grandchildren discover how their family came to America"--Provided by publisher.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
SCH
Carolina shout!
A young girl describes the music she hears in the cries of various vendors on the streets of Charleston, South Carolina.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
SCI
Pappy's handkerchief
Young Moses and his family sell everything they own and leave their Baltimore, Maryland, home in 1889 to join many other settlers in a race to claim land in the newly-opened territory of Oklahoma.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
SIE
Dancing the Ring Shout!
It is the first year that Toby is old enough to attend the Ring Shout, a celebration when the hard work of harvest is done, but he cannot find an object that makes a noise which will speak from his heart to God's ears.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
SOS
Charlotte and the quiet place
"Sometimes children need a break from our noisy, overstimulating world. Charlotte and the Quiet Place shows how a child learns and practices mindful breathing on her own and experiences the beauty of silence"-- Provided by publisher.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
STE
The Jones family express
Steven tries to find just the right present for Aunt Carolyn in time for the annual block party.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
STE
Creativity
Charles helps Hector, a student who has just moved from Puerto Rico, adjust to his new life.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
STR
The patchwork path : a quilt map to freedom
While her father leads her toward Canada and away from the plantation where they have been slaves, a young girl thinks of the quilt her mother used to teach her a code that will help guide them to freedom.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
TAR
Bippity bop barbershop
A story celebrating a young African-American boy's first trip to the barbershop.
Due 01/06/20
Picture Book - Elementary
P
TAR
I love my hair!
A young African-American girl describes the different, wonderful ways she can wear her hair.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WAL
Freedom song : the story of Henry "Box" Brown
Henry Brown copes with slavery by singing, but after his wife and children are sold away he is left with only his freedom song, which gives him strength when friends put him in a box and mail him to a free state.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WAL
Alec's primer
A young slave's journey to freedom begins when a plantation owner's granddaughter teaches him how to read. Based on the childhood of Alec Turner (1845-1923) who escaped from slavery by joining the Union Army during the Civil War and later became a landowner in Vermont.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WEA
Champions on the bench : the Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars
Story based on the discrimination faced by the 1955 Cannon Street YMCA Little League All-Stars when the white teams refused to play them in the series tournament.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WEA
Freedom on the menu : the Greensboro sit-ins
The 1960 civil rights sit-ins at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, are seen through the eyes of a young Southern black girl.
Due 12/16/19
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WEA
Sugar Hill : Harlem's historic neighborhood
Rhyming text celebrates the Harlem neighborhood that successful African-Americans first called home during the 1920s. Includes brief biographies of jazz greats Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, and Miles Davis; artists Aaron Douglas and Faith Ringgold; entertainers Lena Horne and the Nicholas Brothers; writer Zora Neale Hurston; civil rights leader W. E. B. DuBois; and lawyer Thurgood Marshall.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WEI
When Louis Armstrong taught me scat
After dancing to music on the radio before she goes to bed, a young girl learns how to sing scat when Louis Armstrong comes to her in a dream. Includes facts about Louis Armstrong and scat singing.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WHE
Friend on freedom river
The Winter of 1850 finds young Louis alone with his mother when his father heads north for work, but when runaway slaves ask Louis for help being ferryed across the Detroit River he wonders what his father would do.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WHE
The listeners
After a day of picking cotton in late 1860, Ella May, a young slave, joins her friends Bobby and Sue at their second job of listening outside the windows of their master's house for useful information.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WIL
Freedom Summer
In 1964, Joe is pleased that a new law will allow his best friend John Henry, who is African-American, to share the town pool and other public places with him, but he is dismayed to find that prejudice still exists.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WIL
Dave and the tooth fairy
Dave sneezes out his wobbly tooth and then he can't find it, but his grandfather and the tooth fairy get a big surprise when they look under his pillow that night.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WIN
Squashed in the middle
When Daisy, a middle child, is invited to spend the night at her friend's house, her family finally pays attention to her.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WOO
Coming on home soon
After Mama takes a job in Chicago during World War II, Ada Ruth stays with Grandma but misses her mother who loves her more than rain and snow.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WOO
The other side
Two girls, one white and one African-American, gradually get to know each other as they sit on the fence that divides their town.
Overdue
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WOO
Show way
The making of "Show ways," or quilts which once served as secret maps for freedom-seeking slaves, is a tradition passed from mother to daughter in the author's family.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WOO
Sweet, sweet memory
A child and her grandmother feel sad when Grandpa dies, but as time passes, funny memories of him make them laugh and feel better.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WOO
We had a picnic this Sunday past
Teeka's family is having a picnic and everyone is dreading the arrival of Cousin Martha and her dried-up pie. However, this year Cousin Martha is late.
Available
Picture Book - Elementary
P
WYE
Something beautiful
When she goes looking for "something beautiful" in her city neighborhood, a young girl finds beauty in many different forms.
Reserved
Picture Book - Elementary
V
808
Wri
Almos' a man
Based on the short story. In the 1930s Deep South, a young black boy finds disaster, rather than manhood, in a newly aquired pistol.
Available
Movie (VHS or DVD)
V
812
Rai
1961
A raisin in the sun
In the 1950s, an African-American family on Chicago's south side is torn by different dreams for the future when they receive an insurance settlement: son Walter Lee wants to open a liquor store; daughter Beneatha wants to go to medical school; and the matriarch, Lena, wants to buy a home in a white suburb.
Available
Movie (VHS or DVD)