brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Nancy Paulson Books
2014

From Goodreads:
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become

Port Chicago 50 by Steve Sheinkin

Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin
Scholastic
2014

Goodreads:
On July 17, 1944, a massive explosion rocked the segregated Navy base at Port Chicago, California, killing more than 300 sailors who were at the docks, critically injuring off-duty men in their bunks, and shattering windows up to a mile away. On August 9th, 244 men refused to go back to work until unsafe and unfair conditions at the docks were addressed. When the dust settled, fifty were charged with mutiny, facing decades in jail and even execution. This is a fascinating story of the prejudice that faced black men and women in America's armed forces during World War II, and a nuanced look at those who gave their lives in service of a country where they lacked the most basic rights.

Revolution by Deborah Wiles

Revolution (Sixties Trilogy, 2) by Deborah Wiles 
Scholastic Press
2014

From Goodreads:
It's 1964, and Sunny's town is being invaded.  Or at least that's what the adults of Greenwood, Mississippi are saying. All Sunny knows is that people from up north are coming to help people register to vote.  They're calling it Freedom Summer.

Meanwhile, Sunny can't help but feel like her house is being invaded, too.  She has a new stepmother, a new brother, and a new sister crowding her life, giving her little room to breathe.  And things get even trickier when Sunny and her brother are caught sneaking into the local swimming pool -- where they bump into a mystery boy whose life is going to become tangled up in theirs.

As she did in her groundbreaking documentary novel COUNTDOWN award-winning author Deborah Wiles uses stories and images to tell the riveting story of a certain time and place -- and of kids who, in a world where everyone is choosing sides, must figure out how to stand up for themselves and fight for what's right.

Courage Has No Color by Tanya Lee Stone - 2014

Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickels: America's First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Stone
Candlewick
147p.

PS Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia - 2014

P.S. Be Eleven
Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad
274p.


Summary: "Eleven-year-old Brooklyn girl Delphine feels overwhelmed with worries and responsibilities. She's just started sixth grade and is self-conscious about being the tallest girl in the class, and nervous about her first school dance. She's supposed to be watching her sisters, but Fern and Vonetta are hard to control. Her uncle Darnell is home from Vietnam and seems different. And her pa has a girlfriend. At least Delphine can write to her mother in Oakland, California, for advice. But why does her mother tell her to 'be eleven' when Delphine is now twelve?" -- from publisher's web site.

No Crystal Stair by Vaunda Nelson

No crystal stair : a documentary novel of the life and work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem bookseller
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Carolrhoda Press
188 pg.

In this work of historical fiction, Nelson tells the story of a man with a passion for knowledge and of a bookstore whose influence has become legendary.

Final Four by Paul Volponi

Final Four by Paul Volponi
Viking
244 pg.


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.

We've Got a Job by Cynthia Levinson

We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March by Cynthia Levinson
Peachtree Publishers
176 pg.


Discusses the events of the 4,000 African American students who marched to jail to secure their freedom in May 1963.

Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

Lions of Little Rock
Kristin Levine
GP Putnam and Sons
298 pgs.

In 1958 Little Rock, Arkansas, painfully shy twelve-year-old Marlee sees her city and family divided over school integration, but her friendship with Liz, a new student, helps her find her voice and fight against racism. 

Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

The Mighty Miss Malone
Christopher Paul Curtis
Wendy Lamb Books
307 pg.


With love and determination befitting the "world's greatest family," twelve-year-old Deza Malone, her older brother Jimmie, and their parents endure tough times in Gary, Indiana, and later Flint, Michigan during the Great Depression.

Crow by Barbara Wright

Crow
Barbara Wright
Random House
297 pg.


In 1898, Moses Thomas's summer vacation does not go exactly as planned as he contends with family problems and the ever-changing alliances among his friends at the same time as he is exposed to the escalating tension between the African-American and white communities of Wilmington, North Carolina.

Miles to Go For Freedom by Linda Osborne

Miles to Go For Freedom: Segregation and Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years
Linda Osborne
Abrams Books for Young Readers
118 pg.

Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African-Americans by Kadir Nelson
Balzer and Bray
2011
108p.

An simple introduction to African-American history, from Revolutionary-era slavery up to the election of President Obama.

Never Forgotten by Patricia McKissack

Never Forgotten by Patricia McKissack
Schwartz and Wade
2011
Unpaged

In eighteenth-century West Africa, a boy raised by his blacksmith father and the Mother Elements--Wind, Fire, Water, and Earth--is captured and taken to America as a slave.

Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Jefferson's Sons: A Founding Father's Secret Children by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Dial Books for Young Readers
2011
360p.

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.

Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri

Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri
Candlewick Press
2011
218p.


Twelve-year-old Cole's behavior causes his mother to drive him from Detroit to Philadelphia to live with a father he has never known, but who soon has Cole involved with a group of African-American "cowboys" who rescue horses and use them to steer youths away from drugs and gangs.

Lunch-Box Dream by Tony Abbott

Lunch-Box Dream by Tony Abbott
Farrar Straus Giroux
2011
178p.

Told from multiple points of view, a white family on a 1959 road trip between Ohio and Florida, visiting Civil War battlefields along the way, crosses paths with a black family near Atlanta, where one of their children has gone missing.

Silhouetted by the Blue by Traci L. Jones

Silhouetted by the Blue by Traci L. Jones
Farrar Strauss Giroux
2011
200p.

After the death of her mother in an automobile accident, seventh-grader Serena, who has gotten the lead in her middle school play, is left to handle the day-to-day challenges of caring for herself and her younger brother when their father cannot pull himself out of his depression.

Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Little, Brown
2011
278p.

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.

Roots and Blues by Arnold Adoff

Roots and Blues: A Celebration by Arnold Adoff
Clarion Books
2011
86p.