Preschool - Grade 2

Ehlert, Lois. Moon rope: a Peruvian folktale = Un lazo a la luna : una leyenda peruana. 1992. Fox asks Mole to climb to the moon with him on a grass rope. But half way up, Mole lets go and falls back to earth. To hide his embarrassment from all the other animals, Mole hides in a deep tunnel and now comes out only at night. A Peruvian folktale in Spanish and in English. DB 40759

McKissack, Patricia. Flossie & the fox. 1986. Big Mama sends Flossie to deliver a basket of eggs to Miz Viola, and warns her about the fox terrorizing Miz Viola's chickens. Flossie has never seen a fox before, so when she meets a strange animal claiming to be one, she insists on proof. DB 26527

Pío peep! : traditional Spanish nursery rhymes. 2003. A collection of more than two dozen popular nursery rhymes in Spanish from Spain and Latin America, along with English adaptations of each verse. Includes an introduction in English. DB 58006

Grades K-3

Bania, Michael. Kumak's fish: a tall tale from the far north. 2004. One beautiful Arctic morning, Kumak packs his family and his Uncle Aglu's lucky hooking stick on a sled and goes ice fishing. When Kumak hooks what seems to be an enormous fish, the entire village comes to help him. DB 60886

Choi, Yangsook. Behind the mask. 2006. Kimin, a young Korean American boy, looks through two boxes of his grandfather's belongings in hopes of finding a costume to wear on Halloween. He recognizes the dancer's mask that frightened him long ago and discovers a message left for him by his grandpa. DB 63886

Goble, Paul. Iktomi and the boulder a Plains Indian story. 1988. Do you know why bats have flattened faces? Or why there are rocks scattered all over the Great Plains? It is because of Iktomi, a Plains Indian trickster who once tried to defeat a huge boulder with the help of some bats. DB 30039

In daddy's arms I am tall: African Americans celebrating fathers. 1997. Thirteen poems in praise of fathers. Contains short biographical notes about the poets. Coretta Scott King Award. DB 51324

Johnston, Tony. Uncle Rain Cloud. 2001. After moving to Los Angeles from Mexico, Carlos's uncle looks so dark and angry that Carlos secretly calls him "Uncle Rain Cloud." Then Carlos learns that his uncle shares his fear of speaking English, and they make a pact that helps them both. DB 53318

Say, Allen. The bicycle man. 1994. The author, who grew up on the south island of Japan, vividly recalls a "sports day" held at his school. World War II had been over for less than one year, and two American soldiers appeared. As a fitting finale to the day, the two performed amazing tricks on the principal's bicycle. DB 37297

Grades 2-4

Goble, Paul. Crow chief: a Plains Indian story. 1992. In this Native American tale, Crow Chief always warns the buffalo when the hunters are approaching. That is, until Falling Star, the savior, comes to the camp and teaches Crow Chief that all must share and live together. DB 38567

Goble, Paul. Crow chief: a Plains Indian story. 1992. In this Native American tale, Crow Chief always warns the buffalo when the hunters are approaching. That is, until Falling Star, the savior, comes to the camp and teaches Crow Chief that all must share and live together. DB 38567

Hermes, Patricia. Our strange new land. 2000. Nine-year-old Elizabeth keeps a journal in 1609, recording her experiences in the New World. She meets Indians, helps her father build their first home, goes hungry, and has a new baby sister. DB 61995

Lester, Julius. Black cowboy, wild horses: a true story. 1999. Story based on the life of a former slave, Bob Lemmons, who becomes a cowboy. Bob rides the plains seeking a herd of wild horses to capture and tame. DB 46423

Perez, Amada Irma. My diary from here to there = Mi diario de aqui hasta alla. 2002. A young girl describes her feelings as her family decides to leave their home in Mexico and look for work in the United States. The father, an American citizen, travels ahead and then sends for Amada, her five mischievous brothers, and their mother. In English and Spanish. DB 58948

Shaw, Janet Beeler. Meet Kaya: an American girl. 2002. The Pacific Northwest, 1764. When Kaya and her family join other members of the Nez Perce tribe to fish for red salmon, she learns that bragging, even about her swift horse, can lead to trouble. Includes historical notes on the Nez Perce Indians. DB 55342

Grades 3-6

Bruchac, Joseph. Iroquois stories: heroes and heroines, monsters and magic. 1985. Collection of thirty-two traditional Iroquois tales often told around the longhouse fire in wintertime. Includes stories about the Creation, how the bear lost his tail, how the buzzard got his feathers, the turtle's race with a beaver and then a bear, the vampire skeleton, and the hunting of the great bear. DB 41284

Campoy, Isabel. Tales our abuelitas told: a Hispanic folktale collection. 2006. Presents retellings of twelve traditional tales accompanied by information on origins and variations. In "Martina Martinez and Perez the Mouse," Martina finds a suitable husband only to have him fall into a large pot of soup. DB 65677

Greene, Jacqueline Dembar. Meet Rebecca: an American girl. 2009. New York City, 1914. Rebecca enjoys her family's Sabbath suppers, but she worries about her uncle's family going hungry in Russia, where Jewish people are suffering. Unexpectedly, Rebecca finds a way to earn money to help her cousin Ana come to America. DB 69436

Laird, Elizabeth. A fistful of pearls and other tales from Iraq. 2008. Nine traditional folktales. In the title story the youngest of three daughters asks her father for a fistful of pearls, not suspecting that they will lead her to a magical realm. In "Lazy Ahmed" a clever wife helps her husband earn riches. DB 71651

Lin, Grace. Where the mountain meets the moon. 2009. Minli, an adventurous girl, lives in a poor Chinese village near Fruitless Mountain. Inspired by her father's stories, Minli sets out to find the Old Man of the Moon to restore the mountain's bounty. Along the way, Minli encounters magical creatures, including a helpful dragon. Newbery Honor. DB 70391

Miles, Miska. Annie and the Old One. 1971. Annie, a young Navajo girl, is upset thinking her grandmother could die. When her grandmother announces that she will return to the earth when the rug on the loom is finished, Annie tries to stop the weaving. Newbery Honor. DB 62374

Naidoo, Beverly. The great tug-of-war. 2006. Eight trickster rabbit tales from South Africa. In the title piece, Mmutla the hare claims to be stronger than Tlou the elephant and Kubu the hippo. He proposes a tug-of-war contest with each of them to prove it. DB 64856

Porter, Pamela Paige. Sky. 2004. Blackfeet Reservation, northern Montana; 1964. Eleven-year-old Georgia Salois is living with her grandparents when a dam breaks, sweeping away their home, barn, and sheep. After the flood, Georgia finds a foal she names Sky that helps her recover. DB 60343

Smith, Cynthia Leitich. Indian shoes. 2002. Ray Halfmoon, a Seminole-Cherokee boy, lives in Chicago with his grandfather, who grew up in Oklahoma. Together they find creative and amusing solutions to the challenges that come their way. DB 55593

Grades 4-7

Boyce, Frank Cottrell. Framed. 2005. Manod, Wales. Dylan Hughes's family runs the struggling Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel. When Dylan's father leaves town to avoid a tax inquiry, younger sister Minnie schemes to steal Van Gogh's Sunflowers, which is on display in the village, and sell it. DB 64349

Buckey, Sarah Masters. Enemy in the Fort. 2001. In 1754 twelve-year-old Rebecca lives at a fort in New Hampshire after her parents are taken prisoner by the Abenaki natives. A boy who had also been a hostage is returned after two years, but Rebecca suspects him of being a thief. DB 55781

Curry, Jane Louise. Hold up the sky: and other Indian tales from Texas and the Southern Plains. 2003. Twenty-six stories passed down through the generations from different tribes who inhabited the United States southwest plains. Includes brief information about each of the fourteen Native American storytelling tribes represented in this collection. DB 57441

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, not Buddy. 1999. During the Great Depression, ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy, runs away from his latest (bad) foster home in Flint, Michigan. He sets out for Grand Rapids in search of the man he believes to be his father--renowned bandleader Herman E. Calloway. Coretta Scott King and Newbery awards. DB 49311

Erdrich, Louise. The birchbark house. 1999. 1840s. In Omakayas's seventh spring, she helps her Ojibwa family build a summer home on an island in Lake Superior. That winter during a smallpox outbreak, Omakayas shows her devotion to her family and learns about her heritage. DB 48991

Grimes, Nikki. The road to Paris. 2006. Paris, a biracial eight-year-old, goes to a loving foster home while her ten-year-old brother Malcolm is sent to an institution for "incorrigible" boys. Paris must make a difficult decision when her birth mother wants to reunite the family. Coretta Scott King Honor Book. DB 66168

Hamilton, Virginia. The people could fly: American Black folktales. 1985. Animals, fantasy, the supernatural, and desire for freedom shape this anthology of retold African American folktales, born of slaves' sorrow but passed on in hope. Includes several stories where Bruh Rabbit triumphs. Coretta Scott King Award. DB 59991

Williams-Garcia, Rita. One crazy summer. 2010. Oakland, California; 1968. Eleven-year-old Delphine and her younger sisters Vonetta and Fern fly out from Brooklyn to spend the summer with their mother, the poet Cecile, who abandoned them years before. Cecile resents their arrival and sends them off to a nearby Black Panther summer camp. DB 71082

Woods, Brenda. The red rose box. 2002. In 1953, Leah's Aunt Olivia sends her a red rose traveling case for her tenth birthday and train tickets from New Orleans to Los Angeles, where there are no Jim Crow laws. A hurricane changes Leah's life and ideas about home and family. Coretta Scott King Honor Book. DB 56079

Woodson, Jacqueline. Feathers. 2007. Winter 1971. Puzzling over a poem that says "Hope is the thing with feathers," sixth-grader Frannie sees certain dilemmas in a new light: her classmate nicknamed Jesus Boy who claims he's not white, her pregnant mother's fears, a bully's anger, and her brother Sean's deafness. Newbery Honor. DB 65138

Grades 5-8

Flores-Galbis, Enrique. 90 miles to Havana. 2010. After the revolution in Cuba, with homes confiscated and teenaged boys forced to be soldiers, Julian's parents send him and his two older brothers to Miami via operation Pedro Pan. But bullies rule the overcrowded children's camp and Julian longs for the security of family. DB 72093

George, Jean Craighead. Julie of the wolves. 1972. Julie, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl, runs away rather than agree to an arranged marriage. Lost and starving on the barren tundra, she makes friends with a pack of wolves who save her life. Newbery Medal. DB 34451

Johnson, Angela. Heaven. 1999. Fourteen-year-old Marley is content with her life in Heaven, Ohio, until a letter arrives from a church in Alabama. Marley is shocked to find out that her parents are really her aunt and uncle--and she feels that they have been deceiving her. Coretta Scott King Award. DB 48669

Levine, Karen. Hana's suitcase. 2002. The life story of a young Czechoslovakian girl killed in the Holocaust in 1944 as gradually unraveled by a museum director and her students in 1998 Tokyo. Their efforts to learn about Hana began when they acquired the suitcase and a few personal belongings the girl had carried to Auschwitz. DB 56454

McKissack, Pat. The dark-thirty: Southern tales of the supernatural. 1993. The author invites readers to gather in the "dark-thirty"--the eerie half hour just before dark, for ten tales inspired by African-American folklore and history. In "We Organized" a cruel owner is forced by magic to free his slaves; in "Justice" a KKK lynching victim returns to haunt; and in "The 11:59" a porter knows when his time is up. Coretta Scott King Award. DB 36183

Park, Linda. A single shard. 2001. Tree-ear, an orphan in twelfth-century Korea, spends most of his time foraging for food for himself and Crane-man, an older companion. Tree-ear takes advantage of a mishap in master potter Min's yard to become his apprentice, learning a craft and gaining unforeseen rewards. Newbery Medal. DB 53670

Soto, Gary. Facts of life: stories. 2008. Ten short stories that explore decisive moments. In "Where Did I Go Wrong?" seventh-grader Mickey Cortez agrees to help a stranger move a television for good pay. But in the process Mickey realizes the man is a thief, and Mickey doesn't want to be one too. DB 67604

Taylor, Mildred D. The Friendship. 1988. Cassie Logan and her brothers witness a moving confrontation between Mr. Tom Bee an elderly black man, and Mr. John Wallace, the white storekeeper, in Mississippi in the 1930s. DB 27508

Grades 6-9

Alvarez, Julia. Before we were free. 2002. Dominican Republic. In the early 1960s, twelve-year-old Anita's family is harassed and under surveillance by the secret police. She learns that close relatives are involved in the underground movement to end the crushing dictatorship of General Trujillo, endangering the entire family. DB 56137

Bruchac, Joseph. Code talker: a novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two. 2005. At the white man's school, Ned Begay is taught that Navajo is a useless language. But when the United States enters World War II, the Marines recruit Ned and other Navajo as code talkers sending messages based on their native language and unknown to the enemy. DB 60312

Davis, Tanita. Mare's war. 2009. Teens Octavia and Tali reluctantly take a cross-country road trip with their eighty-year-old grandmother. But Mare's stories about growing up black in 1940s Alabama and running away from home to join the army during World War II make the journey worthwhile. DB 70850

Engle, Margarita. The surrender tree: poems of Cuba's struggle for freedom. 2008. Recounts the history of Cuba from 1850 to 1899 in free verse. Various voices reveal the troubled lives of slaves, rebels, nurses, and soldiers in the unending cycle of war. DB 68702

Jones, Traci. Standing against the wind. 2006. Inner city Chicago. Shy, studious eighth-grader Patrice Williams hopes to win a scholarship to a boarding school in Mississippi. When classmate Monty Freeman defends her from some harassing boys, Patrice finds an unexpected ally. John Steptoe New Talent Award. DB 64961

Lopez, Lorraine. Call Me Henri. 2006. Enrique dreams of studying French but is stuck in English as a Second Language (ESL) class at Peralta Middle School. He copes with bullies, his stepfather's anger, and caring for his triplet baby brothers by himself. Joining the French club gives him hope. DB 66065

Magoon, Kekla. The rock and the river. 2009. Chicago, 1968. Sam respects the teachings of his peaceful civil-rights activist father. But when Sam and his girlfriend Maxie witness a friend's brutal beating by white police officers, Sam questions waiting versus action. And his brother joins the Black Panther Party. Some violence. For junior and senior high readers. DB 69290

Thompson, Sarah. Tree cups of tea: one man's journey to change the world one child at a time. 2009. Recounts adventures of Greg Mortenson, a mountain climber who became lost in northern Pakistan in 1993 and was cared for in a remote village. Discusses Greg's promise to build the children a school and his ongoing efforts to establish other schools where they never before existed. DB 68651

Grades 10-12

Alexie, Sherman. The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian. 2007. Spokane Indian Reservation. Fourteen-year-old Junior--beset with physical problems caused by brain damage--transfers to an all-white town school. Called a traitor by his best friend and Tonto by his new classmates, Junior uses humor and wit to bridge the cultural divide. DB 65403

Clarke, Judith. One whole and perfect day. 2006. Katoomba, Australia. Seventeen-year-old Lily's family--her grandparents, single mum, and college brother--have eccentric habits that embarrass her. Lily wants to fall in love but will settle for creating the perfect eightieth-birthday party for her grandfather. She gets her party wish--with some surprises. Printz Honor Book. DB 66351

Draper, Sharon. Copper sun. 2007. Amari is taken from her African village when she is fifteen and sold to a southern plantation owner in America. Amari and Polly, a white indentured servant, risk everything to escape. DB 63855

Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. 2000. Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon sits in jail accused of being a lookout in a deadly robbery. An aspiring filmmaker, Steve reviews his time in jail as a movie script. He wonders if he has become the monster that the prosecutor has made him out to be. Printz Award. King Honor book. DB 56569

Nelson, Marilyn. A wreath for Emmett Till. 2007. A sequence of fifteen interlinked sonnets written as a poetic homage to Emmett Till, the fourteen-year-old victim of racial prejudice and lynching in 1955 Mississippi. Includes a historic note on the events and sonnet notes. Printz Honor book. DB 69550

Pilkington, Doris. Rabbit proof fence. 1996. Australia, 1931. Novelization of the trip on foot across Australia by three part-Aboriginal girls, who run away from their inhumane government resettlement school to return home. Molly, Daisy, and Gracie trek through the wilderness to be reunited with their families. DB 57127

Stratton, Allan. Chanda's secret. 2004. Sub-Saharan Africa, early twenty-first century. The very word "AIDS" causes panic in sixteen-year-old Chanda Kabelo's community. But when her mother catches the disease, Chanda defies local conventions to bring her home to die. Printz Honor Book. DB 59802

Zusak, Markus. The book thief. 2006. Death narrates the tale of nine-year-old Liesel from 1939 to 1943 in Nazi Germany. Liesel copes with a foster family, air raids, her friend Rudy, and a hidden Jew, sustained by the books she steals. DB 62431