The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

The Oldest Student

By Rita Lorraine Hubbard

Can you imagine living from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement? Can you imagine learning to read at age 116? Mary Walker achieved her lifelong dream to learn to read when she was 116. How about imagining your first airplane flight at age 119? Mary surmised that "flying was a lot like reading: they both made a body feel free as a bird."

Chains

Chains

By Laurie Halse Anderson

When their former owner dies, Isabel and Ruth should be free. Instead they are sold to a cruel Loyalist couple in New York City. There, 13-year old Isabel struggles to protect her younger sister and soon she discovers that the island of New York makes for an ideal prison from which escape is near impossible. With the Revolutionary War beginning and England taking over the city, Isabel is torn between aiding the Colonists or the Loyalists. Both sides fail slaves, continually using them. To find her own way Isabel must use her head and determine who she can trust and how to use what little power she has. Tories, loyalists and spies ... Wonderfully written!

Dragons in a Bag

Dragons in a Bag

By Zella Elliott

A fresh new chapter book fantasy series in an urban setting, Dragons in a Bag follows Jaxon as his mom leaves him with Ma, an older woman he's never met. He soon discovers Ma is not his grandmother, but a witch! And his mother was her apprentice. Ma tells Jaxon she needs help delivering baby dragons to a magical realm, but there are two important rules: do not open the bag they are in and do not feed them anything sweet. His friends, Vikram and Kavita, become involved in the adventure by freeing the baby dragons and sharing their sweets.

Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming

By Jacqueline Woodson

On the surface, Brown Girl Dreaming is the story of a girl’s journey from the South to the North and how her perceptions of race and self changed during that time. Go a bit deeper, and you may discover it to be a kind of touchstone for other children’s books about the African-American experience in North America. Brown Girl Dreaming may be the story of a girl’s journey to find her vocation and her voice but Jacqueline Woodson's novel in verse is more than a story. For it tells us more than most of our children’s nonfiction history books do.

When We Say Black Lives Matter

When We Say Black Lives Matter

By Maxine Beneba Clarke

A poetic picturebook to introduce the complex topic of Black Lives Matter. Aspects highlighted are straightforward and not overwhelming for a small child. The illustrations are bold and simplified, allowing the message to take center stage. This is an important book to read as a family and discuss together. People's faces are left blank, in hopes the reader will effortlessly insert their own family.