Pre-School – 4th Grade

Fiction

Mr. George Baker – Amy Hest (JE)
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.

Jeremiah Learns to Read - Jo Ellen Bogart (JE)
Elderly Jeremiah decides that it's finally time to learn to read.

Papa’s Mark - Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert (JE)
After his son helps him learn to write his name, Samuel T. Blow goes to the courthouse in his Southern town to cast his ballot on the first Election Day ever on which African Americans were allowed to vote.

Read to Me, Mama - Vashanti Rahaman (JE)
An African-American boy who loves to read helps his mother on the road to literacy.

Papa’s Stories - Dolores Johnson (JE)
Kari loves to have her father read to her until she discovers that he cannot read and is making the stories up.

All Joseph Wanted - Ruth Yaffe Radin (J)
Eleven-year-old Joseph deeply wishes that his mother could learn how to read, since her inability to read directions or street signs has complicated their life considerably.

My Mom Can’t Read - Muriel Stanek (JE/PC)
When Tina asks her mother for help in first-grade reading, she discovers to her shock that her mother can't read. A concerned teacher helps them to find tutors and they both learn to read together.

Nonfiction  

Davidson, Margaret. The Story of Jackie Robinson: The Bravest Man in Baseball . Yearling. 1987.

Hearth, Amy Hill. The Delany Sisters Reach High . Abingdon Press. 2003.

Nelson, Kadir. We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball . Jump at the Sun/Hyperion. 2008.

Media  

Our Friend Martin . 20 th Century Fox. 2004.

Ruby Bridges . Walt Disney Home Entertainment. 2004.

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5th thru 9th Grades

Fiction

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, not Buddy . Scholastic. 1999.

Lupica, Mike. Heat . Philomel Books. 2006.

Paulsen, Gary. Sarny . Delacort Press. 1997.

Paulsen, Gary. Nightjohn . Delacorte Press. 1993.

Taylor, Mildred. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry . Scholastic. 1976.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Feathers . G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 2007.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Maizon at Blue Hill . Delacorte Press. 1992.

Nonfiction

Alexander, Elizabeth. Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color: Poems . Wordsong. 2007.

Denenberg, Barry. Stealing Home: The Story of Jackie Robinson . Scholastic. 1990.

Lester, Julius. To Be a Slave . Scholastic. 1968.

Morrison, Toni. Remember: The Journey to School Integration . Houghton Mifflin. 2004.

Myers, Walter Dean. Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary . Scholastic. 1993.

Media  

Akeelah and the Bee . Lions Gate. 2006.

Nightjohn . Echo Bridge Entertainment. 2005.

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10th Grade through Adult

Fiction

Gaines, Ernest J. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman . Bantam Books. 1971.

Kinsella, W. P. Shoeless Joe . Houghton Mifflin. 1982.

Jones, Edward P. The Known World . Harper Collins Publishers. 2003.

Nicholas, Denise. Freshwater Road . Agate. 2005.

Tademy, Lalita. Red River . Warner Books. 2007.

Nonfiction

Corcoran, John and Carole C. Carlson. The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read: The True Story of a High School Instructor Who Triumphed Over Illiteracy . Focus On the Family. 1994.

Delany, Sarah , A. Elizabeth Delany and Amy Hill Hearth. Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years. Dell. 1993.

Ellis, Neenah. If I Live to be 100: Lessons from the Centenarians . Crown Publishers. 2002.

Hogan, Lawrence D. Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball . National Geographic. 2006.

Mortenson, Greg and David Oliver Relin. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ….. One School at a Time . Viking. 2005.

Suskind, Ron. A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League . Broadway Books. 1998.

Media

Freedom Writers . Paramount. 2007.

Once Upon a Time …. When We Were Colored. Republic Pictures. 1996 .

Pride of Jesse Hallum . Synergy Entertainment. 1981.

There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace: Life in the Negro Baseball Leagues . Refocus Films. 2003.

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