Booklist
for Kids & Teens
To Kill a Mockingbird may be too difficult for readers younger
than 9th grade. The following books with similar themes have been
selected for younger readers:
| Preschool | Loudmouth George and the New Neighbors by Nancy Carlson - When a family of pigs moves in next door, the rabbit George wants nothing to do with them, but finally he gives in and finds out they aren't so bad after all. ( j ) |
| Grades K-2 | The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles - For months six-year-old Ruby Bridges must confront the hostility of white parents when she becomes the first African American girl to integrate Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960. (j921 B764c) |
| Grades 3-4 | The Friendship by Mildred Taylor - Four children witness a confrontation between an elderly black man and a white storekeeper in rural Mississippi in the 1930s. (Juv Fic) |
| Grades 5-6 | Mississippi Bridge by Mildred Taylor - During a heavy rainstorm in 1930s rural Mississippi, a 10-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 a raging creek. (Juv Fic) |
| Grades 7-8 | Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor - A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination, which the children find hard to understand. (Juv Fic) |
| Smoky Night by Eve Bunting - When the Los Angeles riots break out in the streets of their neighborhood, a young boy and his mother learn the values of getting along with others no matter what their background or nationality. ( j ) |
Discussion Questions For
Kids & Families
1. What did you notice when you read this book?
2. How did what you read make you feel?
3. How can you relate what you read to your own life?
4. What are the different ways that the characters deal with racial prejudice and discrimination? What ways work most effectively and last longest?
5. Who do you think are the heroes in this book? Why?
6. How do the values of the characters' families influence their actions?
7. How would your life be different if you were living in the time this book was set?
8. How would the characters' lives
be different if they were living today?
