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You can fly: the Tuskegee Airmen
By Carole Boston Weatherford, Jeffery Boston Weatherford. 2016
History in verse that celebrates the Tuskegee Airmen. Recounts the challenges faced by the African American pilots in WWII, who…
triumphed in the skies and blew past the color barriers as fighter squadrons. For grades 5-8. 2016Separate is never equal: Sylvia Mendez & her family's fight for desegregation
By Duncan Tonatiuh. 2014
Recounts how young Sylvia Mendez and her brothers wanted to go to the school closest to their new home in…
California but were told they must attend a Mexican school. Their family organized, sued, and helped end segregation in the state. For grades 2-4 and older readers. 2014Marching to the mountaintop: how poverty, labor fights, and civil rights set the stage for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s final hours
By Ann Bausum, National Geographic Kids. 2012
Recounts the 1968 sanitation worker's strike in Memphis, Tennessee, that was sparked by low wages, unsafe working conditions, and a…
racially charged climate. Discusses Martin Luther King Jr.'s involvement with the movement and his assassination. For grades 6-9. 2012Amma, tell me about Holi! (Amma Tell Me #1)
By Bhakti Mathur. 2015
Larry gets lost in Seattle (Larry gets lost)
By Robert Schwartz, John Skewes, Michael Mullin. 2007
Pete and his dog Larry are about to take a trip to Seattle, but there's so much to see that…
Larry gets distracted and finds himself lost in the Emerald City. Join Pete as he looks for his missing friend around the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and Pioneer Square. For preschool-grade 2Freedom in Congo Square
By Carole Boston Weatherford, R. Gregory Christie. 2016
The story in rhyme of Congo Square--the one place that slaves could congregate in New Orleans on Sundays to celebrate…
their heritage by dancing and sharing music together. For grades K-3In the days of sand and stars
By Francois Thisdale, Marlee Pinsker. 2006
Ten stories based on women from the Bible: Eve Naamah, Sarai, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, Dina, and Yocheved. In "Rebecca…
Comes Home," a compassionate young woman's trip to the community well leads her to a husband. For grades 5-8. 2006On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
By Cathy Goldberg Fishman, Melanie W. Hall. 2000
A young girl describes the activities and meaning of the Jewish High Holy Days as she celebrates them with her…
family. Explains why Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, takes place in the seventh month and why Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a fasting day. For grades K-3. 1997Fields of fury: the American Civil War
By James M. McPherson, James M McPherson. 2002
Pulitzer Prize-winning author presents a brief introduction to the Civil War (1861-1865) emphasizing the battles and important leaders. Includes anecdotes…
from the participants, the role of women and slaves, and the task of reconstruction. For grades 5-8. 2002. For grades 5-8. 2002Don't you know there's a war on?
By Avi. 2001
During World War II, fifth-grader Howie lives in Brooklyn, New York, while his father is fighting overseas. Howie and his…
friend Denny fall in love with their teacher and keep up with the battle news. They try to keep her from being fired. For grades 5-8. 2001Brady
By Jean Fritz, Lynd Ward. 1987
In 1836, a Pennsylvania community is bitterly divided on the slavery question. Young Brady is at first undecided, but eventually…
takes an antislavery stand and helps with the "Underground Railroad" activities. For grades 6-9 and older readers. 1960Black, blue & gray: African Americans in the Civil War
By James Haskins, Jim Haskins. 1998
Examines the gradual acceptance of African American soldiers in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Includes excerpts…
from letters, documented accounts, and government transcripts. The last chapter describes how historians for many years ignored the role of African American troops in the war. For grades 5-8The circlemaker
By Maxine Rose Schur, Maxine Schur. 1994
Mendel is twelve in 1852 when the czar's soldiers come to his small Ukrainian town looking for Jewish conscripts. Knowing…
his parents will risk their lives to protect him, he runs away. He is helped by a mysterious freedom fighter who pairs him with another fugitive, Dovid, the town bully. Their dangerous trip to the Hungarian border teaches Mendel what his father meant when he said "only the closed circle can keep us whole." For grades 4-7 and older readersHear o Israel: a story of the Warsaw Ghetto
By Lloyd Bloom, Terry W Treseder, Terry W. Treseder. 1990
Isaac, a twelve-year-old boy in the Warsaw ghetto, tells this gripping, troubling story. It begins at his brother Simon's bar…
mitzvah soon after the Nazis invade Poland. Isaac describes his father's unwavering faith in God; Simon's disaffection from his faith; the deaths of most of the family from starvation; and the final moments before Isaac's death at Treblinka. Violence. For junior and senior high and older readersEl milagro de la primera flor de Nochebuena: un cuento mexicano sobre la Navidad
By Joanne F. Oppenheim, Fabian Negrin, Joanne Oppenheim, Barefoot Books Inc. 2003
Juanita, a young Mexican girl, has nothing to offer the Christ child for Christmas. But when she enters the church…
carrying a handful of weeds, they miraculously transform into the perfect gift: beautiful red flowers. For grades 2-4. Spanish language. 2003Sadri Returns to Bali
By Elisabeth Waldmeier, Susan Tuttle Laube. 2002
The Galungan festival in Bali marks the victory of dharma (order) over adharma(disorder). It is celebrated by the Balinese Hindus,…
who believe that duringthese ten days of prayers, offerings, and feasting, their revered ancestors return to their former homes to be welcomed and entertained. Using this entrancing setting, Swiss illustrator and painter Elisabeth Waldmeier relates the exhilarating festival of the fun-loving Balinesc people through the eyes of a former child dancer, Sadri, who descends to his previous home to participate in the annual rapturous village celebrations. A delightful story accompanying enchanting and detailed illustrations, this book will captivate both children and adults alike.The Amputated Memory
By Marjolijn De Jager, Michelle Mielly, Werewere Liking. 2007
"....An expansive, eclectic, and innovative novel."--Women's Review of BooksA modern-day Things Fall Apart, The Amputated Memory explores the ways in…
which an African woman's memory preserves, and strategically forgets, moments in her tumultuous past as well as the cultural past of her country, in the hopes of making a healthier future possible.Pinned between the political ambitions of her philandering father, the colonial and global influences of encroaching and exploitative governments, and the traditions of her Cameroon village, Halla Njokè recalls childhood traumas and reconstructs forgotten experiences to reclaim her sense of self. Winner of the Noma Award--previous honorees include Mamphela Ramphele, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and Ken Saro-Wiwa--The Amputated Memory was called by the Noma jury "a truly remarkable achievement . . . a deeply felt presentation of the female condition in Africa; and a celebration of women as the country's memory."Since 1978, Cameroon-born artiste extraordinaireWerewere Liking has been living in the Ivory Coast, where she established the Village Ki-Yi, a self-supporting center for the performing and fine arts. A singer, dancer, actor, playwright, songwriter, and author of two titles previously published in the United States, Liking has been honored across the globe for her writing and theater work; she has performed at such venues as The Kennedy Center.Marjolijn de Jager teaches French, Dutch, and literary translation at New York University and works as an independent literary translator, most recently on Assia Djebar's Children of the New World.Michelle Mielly received her PhD from Harvard University and is now teaching in the Department of Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University.The Present Moment
By Valerie Kibera, Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye. 1987
Published in conjunction with the award-winning Coming to Birth, this novel is the first U.S. release of a major force…
in East African literature. Of her ability to both empathize with her characters and capture their complex levels, the Weekly Review said, "Macgoye's major virtue as a writer and social critic is the inclusiveness of her vision. Nothing human is alien to her. She refuses to bestow virtue or villainy along ideological or gender lines."The Present Moment tells the story of seven unforgettable Kenyan women as it traces more than sixty years of turbulent national history. Like their country, these women are divided by ethnicity, language, class, and religion. But around the charcoal fire at the Refuge, the old-age home they share, they uncover the hidden personal histories that connect them as women: stories of their struggles for self-determination; of conflict, violence, and loss, but also of survival. As they reflect upon their tragedies, they also become aware of the community they have formed--a community of collective history, strength, humor, and affection. A chronology by Jean Hay provides U.S. readers with context on Kenyan history."Marjorie Macgoye paints a group portrait colored by deep respect, compassion, and admiration."--Commonwealth Today (Great Britain)"With the vividly specific economy of the best poetry . . . [Macgoye] confers a stature and significance on humble lives; or, rather, shows that behind the most unpromising human façades lurk lives of extraordinary courage, enterprise, and resilience."--Sunday Nation (Kenya)Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye is the award-winning author of Coming to Birth, as well as many other novels and volumes of poetry. The first African woman writer to receive the Sinclair Prize in 1986, she lives in Nairobi, Kenya.Valerie Kibera has taught European and African literature at Kenyatta University, Nairobi. She is editor of An Anthology of East African Short Stories.Jean Hay teaches history at the African Studies Center of Boston University.Yekl and the Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories of the New York Ghetto
By Abraham Cahan. 1970
Yekl (1896), the first novel upon which the much acclaimed film Hester Street was based, was probably the first novel…
in English that had a New York East Side immigrant as its hero. Reviewing it, William Dean Howells hailed Cahan as "a new star of realism."Bloody Mary: A Novel
By Sharon Solwitz. 2003
After her debut with the widely praised stories in Blood and Milk, Sharon Solwitz offers us her first, darkly radiant,…
full-length novel. Bloody Mary, which takes its title from the childhood game, tells the story of socially adept, 12-year-old Hadley and her protective mother. They live a privileged life in the Chicago neighborhood of Lakeview, but soon find themselves in a state of chaos and flux.Writing with her signature, edgy prose and ironic humor, Solwitz demonstrates that happiness "isn't our birthright" and that "we have to work for it and even then we can't be sure." We are led to consider our own degree of complicity in the hard times that seem to fall from nowhere."A flair for dark comedy and the ability to turn on a dime are prized qualities for these unpredictable characters; time and again, their intrepid investigations lead them into uncharted territory where bizarre dramatic action seems to be the only possible move. Solwitz's fine-toothed examinations of complex emotional states are dead on...."--The New York Times Book Review Sharon Solwitz's first collection of stories, Blood and Milk, won the 1998 Carl Sandburg Prize from Friends of the Chicago Public Library, the prize for adult fiction from the Society of Midland Authors, and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Her short stories, published in such magazines as TriQuarterly, Mademoiselle, and Ploughshares, have won numerous awards, including the Pushcart Prize, the Katherine Anne Porter Prize, and grants and fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council. Currently, along with her husband, poet Barry Silesky, she has worked as fiction editor of Another Chicago Magazine. She teaches fiction at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana.