For Younger
Children
Adoff, Arnold. All
the Colors of the Race. (Lothrop, 1982) j811
A collection of poems written from the point of view of a child
with a black mother and a white father.
Berenstain, Stan. The Berenstain
Bears' New Neighbors. (Random House,1994) j
Papa Bear learns a lesson in the importance of acceptance when
a new family of pandas moves in across the road.
Coleman, Evelyn. White Socks
Only. (Whitman, 1996) j
Grandma tells the story about her first trip alone into town during
the days when segregation existed in Mississippi.
Golenbock, Peter. Teammates.
(Harcourt, c1990) j796.357
Describes the racial prejudice experienced by Jackie Robinson
when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first black
player in Major League baseball, including support he received
from his white teammate, Pee Wee Reese.
McCourt, Lisa. Chicken Soup
for Little Souls: Della Splatnuk, Birthday Girl. (Health Communications,
1999) j
At first reluctant to attend Della's birthday party because all
the kids think that she is weird, Carrie finds herself the only
guest and decides to make it Della's best birthday ever.
McKissack, Pat. Goin' Someplace
Special. (Atheneum, 2001) j
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.
Miller, William. Richard Wright
and the Library Card. (Lee & Low, 1997) j921
W934m
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.
Miller, William. The Bus Ride.
(Lee & Low, 1998) j
A black child protests an unjust law in this story loosely based
on Rosa Parks' historic decision not to give up her seat to a
white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.
Polacco, Patricia. Chicken
Sunday. (Philomel, 1992) j
To thank Miss Eula for her wonderful Sunday chicken dinners, three
children sell decorated eggs to buy her a beautiful Easter hat.
Rappaport, Doreen. Martin's
Big Words: the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Hyperion,
2001)
j921 K585ra
Looks at the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, explaining his work
to bring about a peaceful end to segregation.
Ringgold, Faith. If a Bus Could
Talk: the Story of Rosa Parks. (Simon & Schuster, 1999)
j921 P237r
A biography of the African-American woman and civil rights worker
whose refusal to give up her seat on a bus led to a boycott which
lasted more than a year in Montgomery, Alabama.
Rosen, Michael. This Is Our
House. (Candlewick Press, 1996) j
George won't let any of the other children into his cardboard
box house, but when the tables are turned, he finds out how it
feels to be excluded.
Vigna, Judith. Black Like Kyra,
White Like Me. (Whitman, 1992) j
When a black family moves to an all-white neighborhood, prejudice
rears its ugly head as the white adults behave rudely and children's
friendships break up.
Wiles, Debbie. Freedom Summer.
(Atheneum, 2001) j
In 1964, Joe is pleased that a new law will allow his best friend
John Henry, who is black, to share the town pool and other public
places with him, but he is dismayed to find that prejudice still
exists.
Woodson, Jacqueline. The Other
Side. (Putnam, 2001) j
Two girls, one white and one black, gradually get to know each
other as they sit on the fence that divides their town.
For Older
Children and Teens
Armstrong, William H.
Sounder. (Harper, 1969) Juv Fic
Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for
stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage
and understanding by learning to read.
Birdseye, Debbie Holsclaw. Under
Our Skin: Kids Talk About Race. (Holiday House, 1997) j305.8
Six young people discuss their feelings about their own ethnic
backgrounds and about their experiences with people of different
races.
Bridges, Ruby. Through My Eyes.
(Scholastic, 1999) j921 B764AAt
Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her involvement, as a six-year-old,
in the integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960.
Crutcher, Chris. Whale Talk.
(Greenwillow, 2001) YA Fic
Intellectually and athletically gifted, T.J., a multiracial, adopted
teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his
high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits
some of the school's less popular students.
Curtis, Christopher Paul. The
Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963. (Delacorte, 1995) Juv
Fic
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.
English, Karen. Francie.
(Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1999) Juv Fic
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 to protect him.
Fox, Mem. Feathers and Fools.
(Harcourt, 1996) Juv Fic
A modern fable about some peacocks and swans that allow the fear
of their differences to become so great that they end up destroying
each other.
Hesse, Karen. Witness.
(Scholastic, 2001) Juv Fic
A series of poems express the views of various people in a small
Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish
girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to
infiltrate the town.
Innocenti, Roberto. Rose Blanche.
(Creative Education, 1985) j940.5318
During World War II, a young German girl's curiosity leads her
to discover something far more terrible than the day-to-day hardships
that she and her neighbors have experienced.
Krull, Kathleen. Wilma Unlimited:
How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman.
(Harcourt, 1996) j921 R835k
A biography of the African-American woman who overcame crippling
polio as a child to become the first woman to win three gold medals
in track in a single Olympics.
Levine, Ellen. Freedom's Children:
Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories.
(Putnam, 1993) YA 973.049
Southern blacks who were young and involved in the civil rights
movement during the 1950s and 1960s describe their experiences.
Martin, Ann M. Belle Teal.
(Scholastic, 2001) Juv Fic
Belle Teal Harper's entrance into fifth-grade in the early 1960s
brings many changes and challenges as her Gran's memory begins
to slip, her mom spends long hours away at work, and her class
gets two new students, including an African-American boy.
Moore, Yvette. Freedom Songs.
(Orchard, 1991) Juv Fic
In the sixties, when Sheryl's Uncle Pete joins the Freedom riders
down South, she organizes a gospel concert in Brooklyn to help
him.
Myers, Walter Dean. The Journal
of Biddy Owens. (Scholastic, 2001) Juv Fic
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.
Sebestyen, Ouida. Words by
Heart. (Little, Brown, 1979) YA Fic
A young black girl struggles to fulfill her papa's dream of a
better future for their family in the southwestern town where,
in 1910, they are the only blacks.
Shange, Ntozake. Whitewash.
(Walker, 1997) Juv Fic
A young African-American girl is traumatized when a gang attacks
her and her brother on their way home from school and spray-paints
her face white. Based on a true story.
Staples, Suzanne Fisher. Dangerous
Skies. (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1996) YA Fic
Hypocrisy and prejudice twist events in such a way as to implicate
two children, one from a prominent white family and the other
an African-American, in a murder.
Tillage, Leon. Leon's Story.
(Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1997) j921 T461AAl
The son of a North Carolina sharecropper recalls the hard times
faced by his family and other African-Americans in the first half
of the twentieth century and the changes that the civil rights
movement helped bring about.
Uchida, Yoshiko. The Invisible
Thread. (Simon & Schuster, 1991) j921 Uc44AAi
A children's author describes growing up in Berkeley, California,
as a Nisei, second generation Japanese American, and her family's
internment in a Nevada concentration camp during World War II.
Yep, Laurence. The Star Fisher.
(Morrow, 1991) Juv Fic
The Chinese legend of the star fisher serves as an analogy to
the plight of the Lee family, who in 1927 moves from Ohio to West
Virginia in search of a better life. They plan to open a laundry,
but the first words they hear are harsh words of discrimination.
