Embedded Files
Grades K-2 (24-25)
ALL ABOARD THE ALASKA TRAIN
ALL ABOARD THE ALASKA TRAIN
Brooke Hartman
Toot toot! Come aboard the Alaska Train for a rollicking rhyming adventure with Alaska's favorite animals! (from the publisher)
I AM BOTH
I AM BOTH
Kerisa Greene
A picture book inspired by the author's family's journey on the last flight out of Saigon, I Am Both is a compelling exploration of identity, immigration, and family. (from the publisher)
Grades 3-5 (24-25)
PLAGUE THIEVES
PLAGUE THIEVES
Caroline Fernandez
Rose must survive the plague. That is the objective her dying father gives twelve-year-old Rose and her brother, Lem, as he sends them away from their home. In the year 1665, London is overpopulated and still growing while a plague runs rampant through its households. Ever resourceful, Rose manages to find hope in new friends who help each other steal the essentials to survive the cruel streets of London. But Rose also has something that may help them survive the plague. (from the publisher)
ONE BIG OPEN SKY
ONE BIG OPEN SKY
Lena Cline-Ransome
Three women narrate a perilous wagon journey westward that could set them free--or cost them everything they have--in this intergenerational verse novel that explores the history of the Black homesteader movement. (from the publisher)
THE LUMINOUS LIFE OF LUCY LANDRY
THE LUMINOUS LIFE OF LUCY LANDRY
Anna Rose Johnson
Lucy, a spirited French-Ojibwe orphan, is sent to the stormy waters of Lake Superior to live with a mysterious family of lighthouse-keepers--and, she hopes, to find the legendary necklace her father spent his life seeking...But someone else is hunting for the treasure, too. And as the lighthouse company becomes increasingly skeptical that the Martins can juggle Lucy and their duties, Lucy and the Martin children will need to find the necklace quickly--or they may not have a home at all. (from the publisher)
Grades K-2 (23-24)
ALL ABOARD THE SCHOOLTRAIN: A LITTLE STORY FROM THE GREAT MIGRATION
ALL ABOARD THE SCHOOLTRAIN: A LITTLE STORY FROM THE GREAT MIGRATION
Glenda Armand
Summary: Preschool-Grade 3. During the 1930s, Thelma, a third-grader, lives with her parents and little sisters in rural Louisiana. After “Mr. Jim Crow” made trouble for Uncle Ed, he and Aunt Bea moved to California. Thelma loves waving to passing trains, and she enjoys taking a different kind of train to school: walking single file with other children, led by an eighth-grader as engineer and watched over by a sixth-grader as caboose. The story is firmly rooted in experiences from the author’s childhood and her mother’s. The narrative’s setting is the small, rural Louisiana town where her parents grew up. A child-friendly picture book introducing the Great Migration.
Curricular use: This book has beautiful illustrations that help to tell the story for younger children. Introducing the 1930’s south, Jim Crow, and the Great Migration.
Audience: For students K-3. The beautiful, bright illustrations will appeal to students.
A FLAG FOR JUNETEENTH
A FLAG FOR JUNETEENTH
Kim Taylor
Summary: Grades K-2. It’s June 19, 1865, and Huldah’s tenth birthday, but festivities take on more significance for the enslaved girl when soldiers arrive at the Texas plantation where she lives. When one soldier reads President Abraham Lincoln's proclamation declaring all enslaved people free, the newly emancipated Black people deem June 19 a day of jubilee and freedom.
Curricular use: Use when teaching about Juneteenth. Could use in art class if talking about collage or quilting.
Grades 3-4 (23-24)
THERE WAS A PARTY FOR LANGSTON
THERE WAS A PARTY FOR LANGSTON
Jason Reynolds
Summary: The creators’ high-stepping testament to the enduring cultural influence of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes (1901-1967) begins with the promise of a party: "a jam in Harlem to celebrate the word-making man."
Curricular use: This picture book, a fictionalized version of a famous picture, could be used during a poetry unit, in music class, in art class, or to dig deeper into the lives of Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, or Amiri Baraka. Perfect for Black History Month or throughout the year.
WHAT ROSA BROUGHT
WHAT ROSA BROUGHT
Jacob Sager Weinstein
Summary: PreS-Gr 4-A story that may be challenging for younger children to fully understand but is compelling even before readers know that it is based in true events. Rosa is a Jewish girl in Vienna in 1938. Her grandmother watches her during the day, while her parents run the family shop. "Then the Nazis came, and things changed." The girl is confused as the appearance of Swastika symbols and vandalism become more commonplace in her neighborhood. Within the context of guided family and classroom conversations, this gorgeously illustrated picture book can be an important age-appropriate tool to educate children about the Holocaust while emphasizing the enduring power of perseverance and love. (from Jane Huh)
Curricular use: Those studying immigration, refugees, war, and the Holocaust. You could also use this book to have students think about what is most important to them. You could pair this with Linda Sue Park’s book, The One Thing You’d Save for further discussion.
Audience: Students 3rd and up but can be read to younger students with discussion.
Grades 5-6 (23-24)
A SKY FULL OF SONG
A SKY FULL OF SONG
Susan Lynn Meyer
Summary: Gr 4-8
In 1905, 11-year-old Shoshana and her mother and sisters experience antisemitic violence and leave Ukraine for the United States. She arrives in North Dakota and moves into a dugout with her father and brother, who have been working to "prove up" their homestead. Solid historical fiction that fleshes out the diversity of the pioneer experience. Pair with books like Louise Erdrich's Birchbark House or Linda Sue Park's Prairie Lotus. (from Kristin L. Anderson)
Curricular Use: For those who loved the Little House on the Prairie series, you will recognize some familiar themes.
ICEBERG
ICEBERG
Jennifer A. Nielsen
Summary: A young girl stows away on the Titanic. Twelve-year-old narrator Hazel Rothbury arrives in Southampton on April 10, 1912, only to discover she doesn’t have enough money for a ticket. Hazel is bound for factory work in America, leaving behind the family farm. She sneaks aboard inside another passenger’s trunk, and a young crewman finds her an empty cabin to stow away in.
Curricular use: Those fascinated by the Titanic will love this story. Nielsen brings historical events to light in ways that young people can understand.
Too good not to mention:
NOTHING ELSE BUT MIRACLES
Kate Albus
WHEN CLOUDS TOUCH US
Thanhha Lai
THE LOST YEAR
Katherine Marsh
ZORA, THE STORY KEEPER
Ebony Joy Wilkins
Grades K-2 (22-23)
HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS
Thanhha Lai
HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS
Thanhha Lai
An's grandmother, Bà, can no longer remember. An spends time after school with Bà, feeding her sweet fruit and singing a forgotten song about a baby elephant. An's grandfather, Ông, is devoted to his wife, thinking of ways to remind her of herself. Enlisting An's help, Ông plants seeds, hoping to grow the vines that will render the special fruit used in Vietnamese sticky rice. This dish holds a special place in the family history, as it was eaten at the couple's long-ago wedding as family wished them a "Hundred Years of Happiness." (From SLJ)
SS.K.17. Compare life in the past to life today / SS.K.15. Explain why and how people move from place to place.
LOVE IN THE LIBRARY
Maggie Tokuda-Hall
LOVE IN THE LIBRARY
Maggie Tokuda-Hall
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama is sent to live in a War Relocation Center in the desert. All Japanese Americans from the West Coast--elderly people, children, babies--now live in prison camps like Minidoka. To be who she is has become a crime, it seems, and Tama doesn't know when or if she will ever leave. Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the camp's tiny library, taking solace in pages bursting with color and light, love and fairness. And she isn't the only one. (From Candlewick Press)
SS.K.17. Compare life in the past to life today / SS.K.15. Explain why and how people move from place to place.
Grades 3-4 (2022-23)
LOYALTY
Avi
LOYALTY
Avi
A young Loyalist turned British spy navigating patriotism and personal responsibility during the lead-up to the War of Independence. When his father is killed by rebel vigilantes, Noah flees with his family to Boston. Intent on avenging his father, Noah becomes a spy for the British and firsthand witness to the power of partisan rumor to distort facts, the hypocrisy of men who demand freedom while enslaving others, and the human connections that bind people together regardless of stated allegiances. Awash in contradictory information and participating in key events leading to the American Revolution, Noah must forge his own understanding of right and wrong and determine for himself where his loyalty truly lies. (From Clarion Books)
SS.3.23. Compare and contrast conflicting historical perspectives about a past event or issue. SS.3.25. Explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.
NORTHWIND
Gary Paulsen
NORTHWIND
Gary Paulsen
When a deadly plague reaches the small fish camp where he lives, an orphan named Leif is forced to take to the water in a cedar canoe. He flees northward, following a wild, fjord-riven shore, navigating from one danger to the next, unsure of his destination. Yet the deeper into his journey he paddles, the closer he comes to his truest self as he connects to "the heartbeat of the ocean . . . the pulse of the sea." With hints of Nordic mythology and an irresistible narrative pull, Northwind is Gary Paulsen at his captivating, adventuresome best. (From Farrar Straus Giroux)
SS.3.23. Compare and contrast conflicting historical perspectives about a past event or issue. SS.3.25. Explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.
Grades 5-6 (2022-23)
MY NEST OF SILENCE
Matt Faulkner
MY NEST OF SILENCE
Matt Faulkner
Manzanar is nothing like home. Yet the relocation center is where Mari and her family have to live, now that the government has decided that Japanese Americans aren't American enough. Determined to prove them wrong, Mari's brother Mak has joined the army and is heading off to war. In protest, Mari has stopped talking for the duration of the war. Or at least until Mak comes home safe. Still, Mari has no trouble expressing herself through her drawings. Mak, too, expresses himself in his letters home, first from training camp and later from the front lines of World War II, where he is fighting with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. (From Antheneum Books)
SS.3.23. Compare and contrast conflicting historical perspectives about a past event or issue. SS.3.25. Explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.
LINES OF COURAGE
Jennifer A. Nielsen
LINES OF COURAGE
Jennifer A. Nielsen
World War I stretches its cruel fingers across Europe, where five young people, each from different backgrounds and nations, face the terror of battle, the deprivations of hunger, and all the awful challenges of war. None of them will find exactly what they want. But the winds of fate may cross their paths to give each of them just what they need. (From Scholastic)
SS.3.23. Compare and contrast conflicting historical perspectives about a past event or issue. SS.3.25. Explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.
Grades K-2 (2021-22)
A DAY FOR REMEMBERIN'
A DAY FOR REMEMBERIN'
Leah Henderson
A perfect book for enhancing collections celebrating national holidays and for adding to those honoring emancipation. (From Booklist)
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
A SONG OF FRUTAS
A SONG OF FRUTAS
Margarita Engie
Engle’s latest lyrical picture book portrays an enchanting tradition in Cuba, wherein produce vendors push their carts throughout the neighborhood, singing songs to lure customers to their wares. Readers join the young narrator in a colorful town with the liveliest street vendors, including her abuelo, who markets his produce with rhythm and joy in a beautiful singing voice. (From Booklist)
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
Grades 3-4 (2021-22)
GROUND ZERO
GROUND ZERO
Alan Gratz
With his signature accessibility and insight, Gratz tackles events on both U.S. soil and abroad. With a moving author’s note, pertinent back matter, and a surprise twist that brings the book full circle, Gratz delivers another winning read. Ground Zero will appeal to middle-grade readers, who were born after the events of 9/11, and to those adults who lived through it and will never forget. (From Booklist)
Describe characters in a story (eg., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
SET ME FREE
SET ME FREE
Ann Clare LeZotte
In this story full of adventure and twists, LeZotte never shies away from addressing racism, ableism, or sexism. Despite its early-nineteenth-century setting, many of the book’s themes resonate today, as Mary fights for the rights of all people and offers hope to readers facing challenges. The author’s note at the end gives details on the research and factual portions of the story. (From Booklist)
Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.
Grades 5-6 (2021-22)
WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS
WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS
Liz Kessler
Inspired by her family's history, Kessler tells a story of the Holocaust from the point of view of three children: Elsa, Leo, and Max, best friends who live in Vienna. This is a well-researched story that portrays life as it was during the horrors of World War II in Europe. (From School Library Journal)
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
VIEW FROM PAGODA HILL
VIEW FROM PAGODA HILL
Michaela MacColl
MacColl does not shy away from detailing the anti-Chinese sentiment and prejudices that Neenah encounters in upstate New York, and readers will empathize with the decision she must make: does she need to give up her Chinese side completely in order to be accepted? (From Booklist)
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
K-3 (2019-20)
FREEDOM SOUP
Tami Charles
A Haitian grandmother and granddaughter share a holiday, a family recipe, and a story of freedom.
(from Kirkus Reviews)
BIG PAPA AND THE TIME MACHINE
Daniel Bernstrom
An unnamed, ungendered child is nervous about starting school, so they're taken for a ride with Big Papa in his old blue car. As they move through the grandfather's past, leaving the South in the 1950's as a young man and eventually becoming the caregiver of the child, it is revealed that Big Papa was never able to attend school. (from SLJ)
OVERGROUND RAILROAD
Lesa Cline-Ransome
An appended note clarifies the term overground railroad, referring to the railways that enabled Black sharecroppers to escape the coercive tenant farms in the South and move northward. (From Booklist)
ROSIE: STRONGER THAN STEEL
Lindsay Ward
Cross-cultural feminist history goes down easy in this kid-friendly story. Factual details about female factory workers in the United States and the Women’s Land Army in England merge in this fictional tale of a sunny little tractor.
Grades 3-6 (2019-20)
PRAIRE LOTUS
PRAIRE LOTUS
Linda Sue Park
𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘵𝘶𝘴 is a historical fiction book set in the Dakota Territory in 1880. Hanna’s father is white, and her mother was Chinese. Because of her appearance, Hanna is treated differently in LaForge, a town in the Dakota Territory.
CATHERINE'S WAR
Juliet Billet
CATHERINE'S WAR
Juliet Billet
Billet tells the story of Catherine Colin, born Rachel Cohen, and her experiences as a Jewish girl living in France during WWII in this graphic novel.
THE BLACKBIRD GIRLS
THE BLACKBIRD GIRLS
Anne Blankman
Despite their dislike for the other person, two girls are forced to flee Pripyat together after the Chernobyl nuclear explosion. (historical fiction)
SHOW ME A SIGN
SHOW ME A SIGN
Ann Clare LeZotte
LeZotte weaves threads of adventure, family tragedy, community, racism, and hearing people’s negative assumptions about Deaf people into a beautiful and complex whole. (from Kirkus Reviews)
ORANGE FOR THE SUNSETS
ORANGE FOR THE SUNSETS
Tina Athaide
In 1972, the president of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of the country’s “foreign Indians,” giving them 90 days to leave the country. In alternating chapters, Athaide tells the story of best friends Asha, who is Indian, and Yesofu, who is African and whose mother is a servant in Asha’s home, as they navigate this xenophobic, nationalist chaos. (from Kirkus Reviews)
LORETTA LITTLE LOOKS BACK
LORETTA LITTLE LOOKS BACK
Andrea Davis Pinkney
Loretta, Roly, and Aggie B., members of the Little family, recount their lives through original first-person narratives, poetry, and spiritual hymns. (from SLJ)
ECHO MOUNTAIN
ECHO MOUNTAIN
Lauren Wolk
A book about a mountain that both hurt and saved people. The mountain setting felt like a character itself.
CLEAN GETAWAY
CLEAN GETAWAY
Nic Stone
Scoob doesn’t quite expect his Grandma to up and sell her house to buy an RV, but that’s what she does, and the two of them set out on a historical journey that is way more than Scoob bargained for. Scoob learns about his white grandmother’s past, along with that of his black grandfather, and how history treated multi-racial couples during the Civil Rights time period.
BROTHER'S KEEPER
BROTHER'S KEEPER
Julie Lee
Life in North Korea for 12-year-old Sora and her family has been hard since the Russians “liberated” it from Japanese rule. Enticed by tales of their grandfather who had lived in America, Sora and her younger brother, Youngsoo, dream of living away from the rigid controls and brainwashing of the Communist regime. (from Booklist)
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