• Diverse Book List: 3-5

     

    Amistad Cover  

    Amistad: The Story of a Slave Ship

    Author: Patricia McKissack

    Description: In Spanish, Amistad means friendship. It was also the name of a slave ship. In 1838, the Amistad took hundreds of kidnapped Africans on a long journey across the Atlantic, but the brave captives would not give up their freedom, taking over the ship so they could sail back to their homeland. 

     

    As Brave As You Cover  

    As Brave As You

    Author: Jason Reynolds

    Description: When two brothers decide to prove how brave they are, everything backfires—literally.

     

    Brothers in Hope Cover

    Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan

    Author: Mary Williams

    Description: Eight-year-old Garang is tending cattle far from his family's home in southern Sudan when war comes to his village. Frightened but unharmed, he returns to find everything has been destroyed.

     

    Danitra Brown Leaves Town Cover

    Danitra Brown Leaves Town

    Authors: Nikki Grimes and Floyd Cooper

    Description: Miles apart during summer vacation, best friends Zuri Jackson and Danitra Brown share their trials and tribulations through an entertaining collection of letters, in a delightful picture book that explores the power of friendship.

     

    Henry's Freedom Box Cover

    Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad

    Author: Ellen Levine

    Description: A stirring, dramatic story of a slave who mails himself to freedom by a Jane Addams Peace Award-winning author and a Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist.

     

    Hurricane Child Cover

    Hurricane Child

    Author: Jason Reynolds

    Description: Being born during a hurricane is unlucky, and twelve-year-old Caroline has had her share of bad luck lately. She's hated and bullied by everyone in her small school on St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, a spirit only she can see won't stop following her, and — worst of all — Caroline's mother left home one day and never came back.

     

    I Lived On Butterfly Hill Cover

    I Lived on Butterfly Hill

    Author: Marjorie Agosin

    Description: Eleven year old Celeste lives a peaceful life among family, friends, and neighbors in the idyllic seaside town of Valparaiso, Chile. But her world is turned upside down when one day warships arrive, and classmates start disappearing without an explanation.

     

    Little Leaders Cover

    Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History

    Author: Vashti Harrison

    Description: Featuring 40 extraordinary black women in American history, Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History offers true stories about breaking boundaries and achieving greatness.

     

    Merci Suarez Changes Gears Cover

    Merci Suárez Changes Gears

    Author: Meg Medina

    Description: Merci has never been like the other kids at her private school in Florida, because she and her older brother, Roli, are scholarship students. They don’t have a big house or a fancy boat, and they have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition. So when bossy Edna Santos sets her sights on the new boy who happens to be Merci’s school-assigned Sunshine Buddy, Merci becomes the target of Edna’s jealousy.

     

    Moses Cover

    Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

    Author: Carole Boston Weatherford

    Description: Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman hears these words from God one summer night and decides to leave her husband and family behind and escape.

     

    Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Cover

    Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters

    Author: John L. Steptoe

    Description: Mufaro has two daughters, the bad-tempered Manyara and the loving Nyasha, who must pass a series of tests in order for one of them to be considered a beautiful and worthy wife for the Great King.

     

    Nzinga Cover

    Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba, Angola, Africa, 1595

    Author: Patricia C. McKissack

    Description: As the Portuguese slave traders find their way to the city of Angola in West Africa, young Nzinga, daughter of King Kiluanji, must face up to the dangers around her and find a way to help lead her father's people through this tragic period.

     

    The People Could Fly Cover

    The People Could Fly

    Author: Virginia Hamilton

    Description: This is a fantasy tale of the slaves who possessed the ancient magic words that enabled them to literally fly away to freedom.

     

    Twelve Travelers, Twenty Horses Cover

    Twelve Travelers, Twenty Horses

    Author: Henriette Gillem Robinet

    Description: On the way to California in 1860 with their kind new master, thirteen-year-old Jacob Israel Christmas, his mother, and other slaves are caught up in adventures that include trying to stop a plot to help the South secede from the Union.

     

    The Usual Suspects Cover

    The Usual Suspects

    Author: Maurice Broaddus

    Description: Thelonius Mitchell is tired of being labeled. He’s in special ed, separated from the “normal” kids at school who don’t have any “issues.” When a gun is found at a neighborhood hangout, Thelonius and his pals become instant suspects.