Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison


Lois Lenski - 1941
    Meticulously researched and illustrated with many detailed drawings, this novel offers an exceptionally vivid and personal portrait of Native American life and customs.

Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story


Joseph Bruchac - 2018
    But Chester refused to give up his heritage. Years later, during World War II, Chester—and other Navajo men like him—was recruited by the US Marines to use the Navajo language to create an unbreakable military code. Suddenly the language he had been told to forget was needed to fight a war. This powerful picture book biography contains backmatter including a timeline and a portion of the Navajo code, and also depicts the life of an original Navajo code talker while capturing the importance of heritage.

Mo'ne Davis: Remember My Name: My Story from First Pitch to Game Changer


Mo Davis - 2015
    A month later she earned a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.This inspiring memoir from a girl who learned to play baseball with the boys and rose to national stardom before beginning eighth grade will encourage young readers to reach for their dreams no matter the odds. Mo'ne's story is one of determination, hard work, and an incredible fastball.Mo'ne Davis is a multisport athlete who also plays basketball and soccer, and is an honor roll student at her school in Philadelphia.With an 8-page full-color photo insert, this memoir celebrates our fascination with baseball in a story of triumph to be shared with generations of young athletes to come.

Strong Inside (Young Readers Edition): The True Story of How Perry Wallace Broke College Basketball's Color Line


Andrew Maraniss - 2016
    history. He entered kindergarten the year that the Brown v. Board of Education decision led to integrated schools, allowing blacks and whites to learn side by side. A week after Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Wallace enrolled in high school and his sensational jumping, dunking, and rebounding abilities quickly earned him the attention of college basketball recruiters from top schools across the nation. In his senior year his Pearl High School basketball team won Tennessee's first racially-integrated state tournament.The world seemed to be opening up at just the right time, and when Vanderbilt University recruited Wallace to play basketball, he courageously accepted the assignment to desegregate the Southeastern Conference. The hateful experiences he would endure on campus and in the hostile gymnasiums of the Deep South turned out to be the stuff of nightmares. Yet Wallace persisted, endured, and met this unthinkable challenge head on. This insightful biography digs deep beneath the surface to reveal a complicated, profound, and inspiring story of an athlete turned civil rights trailblazer.Praise for Strong Inside★ "This moving biography is thought-provoking, riveting and heart-wrenching, though it remains hopeful as it takes readers into the midst of the basketball and civil rights action."--Booklist, STARRED review"This portrait of the fortitude of a young athlete will make a huge impact on teens and is guaranteed to spark serious discussion."--School Library Journal "Even if you're not a history buff, this important story is worth your time."-- Sports Illustrated Kids "A fascinating, very personal account of the effect that the civil rights movement had on one individual. . . a must purchase for any middle school or high school library."--Miss Yingling Reads

The New Kid on the Block


Jack Prelutsky - 1984
    “The illustrations bring the frivolity to a fever pitch.”—School Library Journal.Open this book to any page to begin your exploration. Here are poems about things that you may never have thought about before. You'll be introduced to jellyfish stew, a bouncing mouse, a ridiculous dog, and a boneless chicken.You'll learn why you shouldn't argue with a shark, eat a dinosaur, or have an alligator for a pet. You'll meet the world's worst singer and the greatest video game player in history. You'll even find an invitation to a dragon's birthday party....This playful collection is a wonderful introduction to the pleasures of poetry and word play from a master of the genre, Jack Prelutsky.“It’s the author’s joyous sense of the absurd that propels the reader from page to page.”—Horn Book (starred review)

Bluffton: My Summers with Buster


Matt Phelan - 2013
    In the summer of 1908, in Muskegon, Michigan, a visiting troupe of vaudeville performers is about the most exciting thing since baseball. They’re summering in nearby Bluffton, so Henry has a few months to ogle the elephant and the zebra, the tightrope walkers and — lo and behold — a slapstick actor his own age named Buster Keaton. The show folk say Buster is indestructible; his father throws him around as part of the act and the audience roars, while Buster never cracks a smile. Henry longs to learn to take a fall like Buster, "the human mop," but Buster just wants to play ball with Henry and his friends. With signature nostalgia, Scott O’Dell Award–winning graphic novelist Matt Phelan visualizes a bygone era with lustrous color, dynamic lines, and flawless dramatic pacing.

To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel


Siena Cherson Siegel - 2006
    Siena was six—and her dreams kept skipping and leaping, circling and spinning, from airy runs along a beach near her home in Puerto Rico, to dance classes at the School of American Ballet, to her debut performance on stage with the New York City Ballet while working with ballet legend George Balanchine. Part family history, part backstage drama, this beautifully updated graphic memoir—which features a refreshed design and a brand-new scrapbook of Siena’s mementoes—is an original, firsthand look a young dancer’s beginnings.

If You Take Away the Otter


Susannah Buhrman-Deever - 2020
    But there was a time when people hunted the otters almost to extinction. Without sea otters to eat them, an army of hungry sea urchins grew and destroyed entire kelp forests. Fish and other animals that depended on the kelp were lost, too. But when people protected the sea otters with new laws, their numbers began to recover, and so did the kelp forests. Susannah Buhrman-Deever offers a beautifully written account of a trophic cascade, which happens when the removal of a single element affects an entire habitat. Asides that dig deeper are woven throughout Matthew Trueman’s dynamic illustrations, starring a raft of charismatic sea otters. Back matter includes more information about sea otters and kelp forests, including their importance and current status, the effects of the international fur trade on indigenous peoples, and a list of books and websites for readers who wish to continue to explore.

Baseball Saved Us


Ken Mochizuki - 1993
    Fighting the heat and dust of the desert, Shorty and his father decide to build a baseball diamond and form a league in order to boost the spirits of the internees. Shorty quickly learns that he is playing not only to win, but to gain dignity and self-respect as well.Baseball Saved Us is the ultimate rite of passage story. It will appeal again and again to readers who enjoy cheering for the underdog.

Vincent's Starry Night and Other Stories: A Children's History of Art


Michael Bird - 2016
    The book also includes reproductions of featured artworks, a comprehensive timeline of events, and extra feature spreads on places connected with art.An essential reference book for all children who love art and stories, this book is the perfect blend of both. Discover artists and their art around the world, in exciting and imaginative tales about artists and the way they created their work.• Fresh, new take on presenting the history of art – using a well-thought-out timeline, carefully selected artists and artworks, beautiful illustrations, and engaging storytelling, this book will delight all curious minds• Perfect for home, classroom or school library – an interesting supplement to learning about art and history for parents and teachers• Be inspired – the stories explore art from different parts of the world, and they draw on events from history that inspired many great works of art• A beautiful gift – this is a beautiful book; hardcover with exquisite illustrations and photographs throughoutLet your child discover the wonder of art and history with Vincent's Starry Night and Other Stories. Michael Bird is a writer, art historian and radio broadcaster. His books include 100 Ideas that Changed Art. He has also published many essays and articles, and lectures widely. He currently holds a Goodison Fellowship at the British Library, where he is researching the oral history of modern British art.Kate Evans is a freelance illustrator with clients including HarperCollins, The Guardian, Macmillan Books, National Geographic, Transport for London and V&A Magazine. She has had exhibitions in Bristol, Bath, London and Stockholm. Kate lives and works in Bristol.

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark


Debbie Levy - 2016
    This biographical picture book about the Notorious RBG, tells the justice’s story through the lens of her many famous dissents, or disagreements.

Who Was Marie Curie?


Megan Stine - 2014
    There she met a professor named Pierre Curie, and the two soon married, forming one of the most famous scientific partnerships in history. Together they discovered two elements and won a Nobel Prize in 1903. (Later Marie won another Nobel award for chemistry in 1911.) She died in Savoy, France, on July 4, 1934, a victim of many years of exposure to toxic radiation.

Hiroshima


Laurence Yep - 1995
    Based on real accounts by Hiroshima survivors, the fictional story of twelve-year-old Sachi follows her witness to the devastation in her city as a result of the bombing and describes her healing process as she helps to rebuild her home.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village


Laura Amy Schlitz - 2007
     Hugo, the lord’s nephew, proves his manhood by hunting a wild boar. Sharp-tongued Nelly supports her family by selling live eels. Peasant Mogg gets a clever lesson in how to save a cow from a greedy landlord. Barbary slings mud on noble Jack. Alice is the singing shepherdess. And many more . . . .

Falling Up


Shel Silverstein - 1996
    Here you will also meet Allison Beals and her twenty-five eels; Danny O'Dare, the dancin' bear; the Human Balloon; and Headphone Harold.So come, wander through the Nose Garden, ride the Little Hoarse, eat in the Strange Restaurant, and let the magic of Shel Silverstein open your eyes and tickle your mind.