Selected Children’s Books

Four black children growing up in rural Mississippi during the Depression experience racial antagonisms and hard times, but learn from their parents the pride and self-respect they need to survive.

Taylor, Mildred D.  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.  New York: Puffin Books, 1976. ISBN: 0140384510

A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.

Taylor, Mildred D.  The Land.  New York: Puffin Books, 2001.  ISBN: 0142501468

After the Civil War Paul, the son of a white father and a black mother, finds himself caught between the two worlds of colored folks and white folks as he pursues his dream of owning land of his own.

Taylor, Mildred. The Road to Memphis. Dial Press. 1990. ISBN: 0-8037-0340-6

Sadistically teased by two white boys in 1940's rural Mississippi, a black youth severely injures one of the boys with a tire iron and enlists Cassie's help in trying to flee the state.

Taylor, Theodore. Maria: A Christmas Story. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993. ISBN: 0-15-217763-9

Eleven-year-old Maria and her family are the first Mexican Americans to enter a float in the annual Christmas parade in San Lazaro, California.

Uchida, Yoshiko. Desert Exile. United States: University of Washington Press, 1984.  ISBN: 0295961902

In Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family, Yoshiko Uchida blends an autobiography, a review of American war policy during World War II from the Japanese-American point of view, and a sociological study of human beings incarcerated under primitive conditions. While her main emphasis is on her years in relocation camps (1942–1945), Uchida provides information on her family background in order to set the stage for these events.

A fifteen-year-old Hopi boy and his freckled companion travel back 800 years to the world of the Sinagua culture, a group of people beset by drought and illness and in need of a leader.

Vos, Ida. Tr. Edelstein, Therese and Smidt, Inez. Hide and Seek. Houghton Mifflin, 1991.  ISBN: 0395564700

A young Jewish girl living in Holland tells of her experiences during the Nazi occupation, her years in hiding, and the aftershock when the war finally ends.

Walter, Mildred Pitts.  Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World.  New York: HarperCollins, 1990. 
ISBN: 0679803467

Suffering in a family full of females, ten-year-old Justin feels that cleaning and keeping house are women's work until he spends time on his beloved grandfather's ranch.

Whelan, Gloria. Goodbye Vietnam. New York: Yearling, 1992. ISBN: 067982376X

Thirteen-year-old Mai and her family embark on a dangerous sea voyage from Vietnam to Hong Kong to escape the unpredictable and often brutal Vietnamese government.

Williams-Garcia, Rita.  Like Sisters on the Homefront.  New York: Penguin, 1995. ISBN: 0575674659

Wing, Natasha.  Jalapeno Bagels.  Illus. Robert Casilla. Atheneum, 1996. ISBN: 0689805306

For International Day at school, Pablo wants to bring something that reflects the cultures of both his parents.

Woodson, Jacqueline.  Miracle’s Boys. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2000. ISBN: 0399231137

Twelve-year-old Lafayette's close relationship with his older brother Charlie changes after Charlie is released from a detention home and blames Lafayette for the death of their mother.

Woodson, Jacqueline.  If You Come Softly.  New York: Penguin, 1998. ISBN: 0698118626

After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions.

Woodson, Jacqueline.  I Hadn’t Meant To Tell You This.  New York: Bantam Doubleday, 1994. 
ISBN: 0440219604

Marie, the only black girl in the eighth grade willing to befriend her white classmate Lena, discovers that Lena's father is doing horrible things to her in private.

Woodson, Jacqueline.  Last Summer With Maizon.  New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1990.  ISBN: 0399237550   

Eleven-year-old Margaret tries to accept the inevitable changes that come one summer when her father dies and her best friend Maizon goes away to a private boarding school.

Woodson, Jacqueline.  Maizon at Blue Hill.  New York: Penguin, 1992. ISBN: 0698119576

After winning a scholarship to an academically challenging boarding school, Maizon finds herself one of only five blacks there and wonders if she will ever fit in. Sequel to "Last Summer with Maizon."

Yarbrough, Camille. The Shimmershine Queens. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1989. ISBN: 0-399-21465-8

Two fifth graders try to uplift themselves and their classmates out of a less than beautiful urban present by encouraging dreams and the desire to achieve them.

Yep, Laurence.  Dragonwings: Golden Mountain Chronicles 1903. New York: Harper Row Publishers, 1975.
ISBN: 0822213265

In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine.

Yep, Laurence. Dragon’s Gate.  New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993. ISBN: 0064404897

When he accidentally kills a Manchu, a fifteen-year-old Chinese boy is sent to America to join his father, an uncle, and other Chinese working to build a tunnel for the transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1867. Sequel to "Mountain light."

Yep, Laurence. Child of the Owl.  New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1977.   ISBN: 006440336X

A twelve-year-old girl who knows little about her Chinese heritage is sent to live with her grandmother in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Yep, Laurence. The Cook’s Family.  New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young  Readers, 1998.
ISBN: 0399229078

As her parents' arguments become more frequent, Robin looks forward to the visits that she and her grandmother make to Chinatown, where they pretend to be an elderly cook's family, giving Robin new insights into her Chinese heritage.

Yep, Laurence. Hiroshima.  New York: Scholastic Paperbacks, 1995. ISBN: 0590208330

Describes the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, particularly as it affects Sachi, who becomes one of the Hiroshima Maidens.

Yep Laurence. The Star Fisher.  New York: Puffin Books. 1991.  ISBN 0-688-09365-5

Fifteen-year-old Joan Lee and her family find the adjustment hard when they move from Ohio to West Virginia in the 1920s.

Yolen, Jane. The Devil’s Arithmetic. Viking, 1988. ISBN 0-670-81027-4

Hannah resents stories of her Jewish heritage and of the past until, when opening the door during a Passover Seder, she finds herself in Poland during World War II where she experiences the horrors of a concentration camp, and learns why she-- and we--need to remember the past. This critically acclaimed novel by award-winning author Jane Yolen is now available in a beautifully designed new edition. Hannah dreads going to her family's Passover Seder -- she's tired of hearing her relatives talk about the past. But when she opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she's transported to a Polish village in the year 1942, where she becomes caught up in the tragedy of the time.