• Bigmama
  by Donald Crews
  Greenwillow, 1991
  E Cre (Grades 1-3)
  Author Donald Crews reminiscences his growing up in the 1940’s when he and his family made annual trips to spend the summer on his grandmother’s farm in Florida. He and his siblings spent their arrival day checking out the house, barn and yard- just making sure that nothing had changed since their last visit.
• Drylongso
  by Virginia Hamilton
  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992
  E Ham (Grades 1-3)
  Lindy is growing up in the drought stricken Midwest of the 1970’s When a windstorm does arrive, a strange young man names Drysonglo makes his appearance. A powerful story illustrated on double page spread about how hard work and gifted African-American people can make something out of nothing
• Aunt Flossie’s Hats and Crab Cakes Later
  by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
  Clarion, 1991
  E How (Grades 1-3)
  Susan and her sister Sarah love to visit Great Aunt Flossie’s house and are particularly intrigued with Aunt Flossie’s collection of hats. Each hat has a story, and the use of dialogue portrays a strong intergenerational relationship in an African American family.
• Flossie and the Fox
  by Patricia McKissack
  Penguin, 1986
  E McK (Grades 1-3)
  A conniving fox, notorious for stealing eggs, meets his match in a little girl who refuses to be frightened by him until her proves to her that he is a fox.
• Mirandy and Brother Wind
  by Patricia McKissack
  Knopf, 1988
  E McK (Grades 1-3)
  In order to win first prize at a Junior Cakewalk, Mirandy tried to capture the wind to be her partner
• The Sunday Outing
  by Gloria Jean Pinkney
  Dial, 1994
  E Pin (Grades 1-3)
  Shows the days and steps leading up to Ernestine’s visit to her relative’s rural southern home. The story provides a view of one middle-class African American family’s means of keeping in touch and passing down family traditions to their children.

• Bud, Not Buddy
  by Christopher Paul Curtis
  Delacorte, 1999
  + Cur
  Ten year old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, escapes a bad foster home and sets out to find the man he believes to be his father, the bandleader, H.E. Calloway, of Flint Michigan.
• A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl
  by Patricia McKissack
  Scholastic, 1997
  + McK
  In 1959, 12 year old Clotee , a slave girl who must hide the fact that she can read and write, and must decide if she’s going to escape to freedom.
• The Journal of Joshua Loper: a Black Cowboy
  by Walter Dean Myers
  Scholastic, 1999
  + Mye
  In 1871, Joshua Loper, a 16 year old black cowboy, records in his journal, while making a journey under an unsympathetic trail boss.
• Mouse Rap
  by Walter Dean Myers
  Harper and Row, 1990
  + Mye
  During an event filled summer in Harlem, 14year old Mouse and his friends fall in and out of love, and search for hidden treasure from the days of Al Capone.
• Monster
  by Walter Dean Myers
  Harper Collins, 1999
  YA Mye
  While on trial as an accomplice to murder, 16 year old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a movie manuscript, as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.
• Go Fish
  by Mary Stoltz
  Harper Collins, 1991
  + Sto
  After the day fishing with his Grandfather in the Gulf of Mexico, eight year old Thomas has a quiet evening on the porch hearing more about his African heritage.
• The Friendship
  by Mildred Taylor
  Dial Books for Young Readers, 1987
  + Tay
  Four children witness a confrontation between an elderly black man and a white storekeeper in rural Mississippi in the 1930’s.
• Mississippi Bridge
  by Mildred Taylor
  Dial Books for Young Readers, 1991
  + Tay
  During a heavy rainstorm in 1930’s rural Mississippi, a ten year old white boy sees a bus driver order all the black passengers off a crowded bus to make room for late-arriving white passengers and then set off across the raging Rosa Lee Creek.

• Through My Eyes
  by Ruby Bridges
  Scholastic, 1999
  + 921 Bri
  Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her involvement, as a six year old, in the integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960.
  
• Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
  by Patricia McKissack
  1994, Scholastic
  + 975.03 McK
  Describes the food, customs, poems and songs used to celebrate Christmas in the big house as well as in the slave quarter just before the Civil War.
• Duke Ellington
  by Andrea Davis Pinkney
  Hyperion Books for Children, 1999
  + 921 Pin
  A brief recounting of the career of this jazz musician and composer, who, along with his orchestra, created music that was beyond category.
• Minty, the Story of Young Harriet Tubman,
  by Alan Schroeder
  Dial Books for Young Readers, 1996
  + 921 Sch
  Young Harriet Tubman, whose nickname as a child was Minty, dreams of escaping slavery on the Brodas plantation in the 1820’s.
• The Real McCoy: the Life of an African American Inventor
  by Wendy Towle
  Scholastic, 1992
  + 921 Mcc
  A biography of Canadian born black Elijah McCoy, who studied engineering in Scotland, and patented over 50 inventions, despite the obstacles he faced because of his race.

Past Featured Books