Some Writer!: The Story of E. B. White


Melissa Sweet - 2016
    B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. In Some Writer!, the two-time Caldecott Honor winner Melissa Sweet mixes White’s personal letters, photos, and family ephemera with her own exquisite artwork to tell his story, from his birth in 1899 to his death in 1985. Budding young writers will be fascinated and inspired by the journalist, New Yorker contributor, and children’s book author who loved words his whole life. This authorized tribute is the first fully illustrated biography of E. B. White and includes an afterword by Martha White, E. B. White's granddaughter.

Charlie Parker Played Be Bop


Chris Raschka - 1992
    Look at this board book and you'll hear Charlie Parker; you'll hear music in your mind."Be bop. Fisk, fisk. Lollipop. Boomba, boomba."Look. That's Charlie swinging and spinning all over the pages. And that's Charlie's cat, waiting, waiting for him to come home....

Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up To Become Malcolm X


Ilyasah Shabazz - 2014
    But first, he was a boy named Malcolm Little. Written by his daughter, this inspiring picture book biography celebrates a vision of freedom and justice.Bolstered by the love and wisdom of his large, warm family, young Malcolm Little was a natural born leader. But when confronted with intolerance and a series of tragedies, Malcolm’s optimism and faith were threatened. He had to learn how to be strong and how to hold on to his individuality. He had to learn self-reliance. Together with acclaimed illustrator AG Ford, Ilyasah Shabazz gives us a unique glimpse into the childhood of her father, Malcolm X, with a lyrical story that carries a message that resonates still today—that we must all strive to live to our highest potential.

Coretta Scott


Ntozake Shange - 2008
    Walking many miles to school in the dusty road, young Coretta knew, too well, the unfairness of life in the segregated south.A yearning for equality began to grow.Together with Martin Luther King, Jr., she gave birth to a vision and a journey—with dreams of freedom for all.This extraordinary union of poetic text by Ntozake Shange and monumental artwork by Kadir Nelson captures the movement for civil rights in the United States and honors its most elegant inspiration, Coretta Scott.

The Water Lady: How Darlene Arviso Helps a Thirsty Navajo Nation


Alice B. McGinty - 2021
     Underneath the New Mexico sky, a Navajo boy named Cody finds that his family's barrels of water are empty. He checks the chicken coop-- nothing. He walks down the road to the horses' watering hole. Dry. Meanwhile, a few miles away, Darlene Arviso drives a school bus and picks up students for school. After dropping them off, she heads to another job: she drives her big yellow tanker truck to the water tower, fills it with three thousand gallons of water, and returns to the reservation, bringing water to Cody's family, and many, many others. Here is the incredible and inspiring true story of a Native American woman who continuously gives back to her community and celebrates her people.

My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


Christine King Farris - 2003
    Martin Luther King Jr., joins with celebrated illustrator Chris Soentpiet to tell this “outstanding” (School Library Journal) and inspirational story of how one boyhood experience inspired a movement that would change the world as we know it.Mother Dear, one day I’m going to turn this world upside down. Long before he became a world-famous dreamer, Martin Luther King Jr. was a little boy who played jokes and practiced the piano and made friends without considering race. But growing up in the segregated south of the 1930s taught young Martin a bitter lesson—little white children and little black children were not to play with one another. Martin decided then and there that something had to be done. And so he began the journey that would change the course of American history.

The Fossil Girl


Catherine Brighton - 1999
    Ten-year-old Mary Anning, her brother Joe, and their widowed mother are eking out a meager existence running a little fossil shop in the seaside town of Lyme Regis. After a storm wipes out most of the shop's merchandise, Mary and Joe begin the slow work of restocking the shelves. They search high and low for fossils, and one day Mary spots a huge eye in a cliff face high above the town. She resolves to bring the creature down --- no matter what the risk. The exciting discovery and recovery of the first complete fossil of an Ichthyosaurus is told in an attractive graphic novel format, perfect for reluctant readers.

La Frontera: El Viaje Con Papa / My Journey with Papa


Deborah Mills - 2018
    They'll need all the resilience and courage they can muster to safely cross the border -- la frontera -- and to make a home for themselves in a new land.

Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing


James Rumford - 2004
    The task he set for himself was daunting. Sequoyah knew no English and had no idea how to capture speech on paper. But slowly and painstakingly, ignoring the hoots and jibes of his neighbors and friends, he worked out a system that surprised the Cherokee Nation—and the world of the 1820s—with its beauty and simplicity. James Rumford’s Sequoyah is a poem to celebrate literacy, a song of a people’s struggle to stand tall and proud.

Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children


Kath Shackleton - 2019
    Yet [this] new extraordinary work in the form of a nonfiction graphic novel for children is a valiant attempt to do just that. These testimonials... serve as a reminder never to allow such a tragedy to happen again."--BookTribBetween 1933 and 1945, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party were responsible for the persecution of millions of Jews across Europe. This extraordinary graphic novel tells the true stories of six Jewish children who survived the Holocaust. From suffering the horrors of Auschwitz, to hiding from Nazi soldiers in war-torn Paris, to sheltering from the Blitz in England, each true story is a powerful testament to the survivors' courage. These remarkable testimonials serve as a reminder never to allow such a tragedy to happen again.Features a current photograph of each contributor and an update about their lives, along with a glossary and timeline to support reader understanding of this period in world history.

Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's Story


Caren Stelson - 2016
    Having conducted extensive interviews with Sachiko Yasui, Caren Stelson chronicles Sachiko’s trauma and loss as well as her long journey to find peace. This book offers readers a remarkable new perspective on the final moments of World War II and their aftermath.

Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey from Darkness into Light


Tim Tingle - 2010
    Tim was about to enter a world of the past, with bullying boys, stones and Indian spirits of long ago. But they were real spirits, real stones, very real memories…In this powerful family saga, author Tim Tingle tells the story of his family’s move from Oklahoma Choctaw country to Pasadena, TX. Spanning 50 years, Saltypie describes the problems encountered by his Choctaw grandmother—from her orphan days at an Indian boarding school to hardships encountered in her new home on the Gulf Coast.Tingle says, “Stories of modern Indian families rarely grace the printed page. Long before I began writing, I knew this story must be told.” Seen through the innocent eyes of a young boy, Saltypie — a 2011 Skipping Stones honor book, WordCraft Circle 2012 Children's Literature Award-winner, and winner of the 2011 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People in the category of Grades 4-6 — is the story of one family’s efforts to honor the past while struggling to gain a foothold in modern America.Tim Tingle, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is a sought-after storyteller for folklore festivals, library conferences, and schools across America. At the request of Choctaw Chief Pyle, Tim tells a story to the tribe every year before Pyle’s State of the Nation Address at the Choctaw Labor Day Gathering. Tim’s previous and often reprinted books from Cinco Puntos Press—Walking the Choctaw Road and Crossing Bok Chitto—received numerous awards, but what makes Tim the proudest is the recognition he receives from the American Indian communities.Karen Clarkson, a Choctaw tribal member, is a self-taught artist who specializes in portraits of Native Americans. She did not start painting until after her children had left home; she has since been widely acclaimed as a Native American painter. She lives in San Leandro, California.

John, Paul, George & Ben


Lane Smith - 2006
    . . John [Hancock], Paul [Revere], George [Washington], and Ben [Franklin]. Oh yes, there was also Tom [Jefferson], but he was annoyingly independent and hardly ever around. These lads were always getting into trouble for one reason or another. In other words, they took a few . . . liberties. And to be honest, they were not always appreciated. Until one day, they all played a part in securing America's freedom."Deftly drawn, witty, and instantly appealing, the illustrations creatively blend period elements such as wood-grain and crackle-glaze texturing, woodcut lines, and formal compositions typical of the era, with gaping mouths and stylized, spiraling eyes typical of modern cartoons," wrote Booklist, and School Library Journal declared, "Exercise your freedom to scoop up this one."

Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp


Jerry Stanley - 1993
    with photographs from the Dust Bowl era. This true story took place at the emergency farm-labor camp immortalized in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Ostracized as "dumb Okies," the children of Dust Bowl migrant laborers went without school--until Superintendent Leo Hart and 50 Okie kids built their own school in a nearby field.

Diego: Bigger Than Life


Carmen T. Bernier-Grand - 2009
    Bernier-Grand's inspiring free verse and David Diaz's vivid paintings capture the defining moments and emotions of Diego Rivera's tumultuous life, including his stormy relationship with artist Frida Kahlo and his passion for his art. Rivera's energy, physique, love for women, and work were all "bigger than life." A biography, chronology, glossary, sources, notes, and famous quotations are included.