Download Youth Reading Lists

THE BIG READ 2009
Recommended Reading List for Youth
Forsyth County Public Library
Pre K – K
E Davol, Marguerite. Black, White, Just Right! A girl explains how her parents are different in color,
tastes in art and food, and pet preferences, and how she herself is different too but just right. K, S
E Hartfield, Claire. Me and My Uncle Romie. A boy from North Carolina spends the summer in New York
City visiting the neighborhood of Harlem, where his uncle, collage artist Romare Bearden, grew up. Cen,
EW, S
E Hooks, Bell. Homemade Love. A girl who is Girlpie to her mama and Honey Bun Chocolate Dewdrop
to her daddy savors the warmth and love of her family. Cen, Car, C, K, RM, S
E Igus, Toyomi. When I Was Little. When Noel and his Grandpa Will go fishing, Noel learns about how
things were when his grandfather was little. Cen, Car, L, S
E Johnson, Dinah. All Around Town : The Photographs of Richard Samuel Roberts. Chronicles the rich
lives of the African American citizens of Columbia, South Carolina, as well as other towns and cities
during the 1920s and 1930s. Car, Rh
E Medearis, Michael. Daisy and the Doll. Daisy, an eight-year-old black girl living in rural Vermont in the
1890s, is given a black doll by her teacher and becomes uncomfortable that her skin is a different color
from that of her classmates, until she finds the courage to speak from her heart. Cen, Car, EW, RH, S
E Tarpley, Natasha. Joe-Joe's First Flight. Forbidden to fly because of their color, Joe-Joe and the men
who clean and repair airplanes in the 1920s are so discouraged that the moon cannot even shine, until
Joe-Joe's determination lures the moon back. Cen, Car, C, EW, K, Rh, S, W
E Tarpley, Natasha. I Love My Hair. A young African American girl describes the different, wonderful
ways she can wear her hair. Cen, Car, K, L, S
E Weatherford, Carole Boston. Jazz Baby. A group of children moves, plays, hums, and sleeps to a jazz
beat. Cen, Car, C, L, RM, S
st
nd
1 -2
J811 F. Daydreamers. Depicts the world of daydreamers. Poetry. Car
E Bunting, Eve. Smoky Night. When the Los Angeles riots break out in the streets of their neighborhood,
a young boy and his mother learn the values of getting along with others no matter what their background
or nationality. Cen, Car, C, EW, K, L, RM, RH, S, W
E Collier, Bryan. Uptown. A tour of the sights of Harlem, including the Metro-North Train, brownstones,
shopping on 125th Street, a barber shop, summer basketball, the Boy's Choir, and sunset over the
Harlem River. Cen, Car, C, EW, L, Rh, S, W
E Herron, Carolivia. Nappy Hair. Various people at a backyard picnic offer their comments on a young
girl's tightly curled, "nappy" hair. Car, K
E Pinkney, Andrea. Fishing Day. When Reenie and her mother, who are African Americans, go fishing,
Reenie decides to share the secret of their success with their needy white neighbors. Cen, Car, C, EW,
K, RM, S
E Ringgold, Faith. Dinner at Aunt Connie’s House. Dinner at Aunt Connie's is even more special than
usual when Melody meets not only her new adopted cousin but twelve inspiring African-American women,
who step out of their portraits and join the family for dinner. Cen, Car, C, K, S
E Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach. A young girl dreams of flying above her Harlem home, claiming all she
sees for herself and her family. Based on the author's quilt painting of the same name. Cen, Car, EW, K,
L, RM, RH, S, W
E Stauffacher, Sue. Bessie Smith and the Night Riders. Black blues singer Bessie Smith single-handedly
scares off Ku Klux Klan members who are trying to disrupt her show one hot July night in Concord, North
Carolina. Cen, Car, C, K, RM, W
E Taylor. Sweet Music in Harlem. C.J., who aspires to be as great a jazz musician as his uncle, searches
for Uncle Click's hat in preparation for an important photograph and inadvertently gathers some of the
greatest musicians of 1950s Harlem to join in on the picture. Cen, Car, EW,K RM, S
rd
th
3 -4
E Weatherford, Carole Boston. The Sound That Jazz Makes. An illustrated history of the origins and
influences of jazz, from Africa to contemporary America. Car, RH, S
J398 E3 What’s the Hurry, Fox? Presents a volume of pourquoi tales collected by Zora Neale Hurston
from her field research in the Gulf states in the 1920s. Cen, Car, C, K, RH
J398.209 M Lies and Other Tall Tales. A compilation of tall tales collected by folklorist Zora Neale
Hurston during her travels in the Gulf states during the 1930s. Cen
J811 G. Meet Danitra Brown. In a series of poems, an African American girl sings the praises of her best
friend and their special relationship. Cen, Car, K, RH, S
J811.54 M. Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse. A collection of poems, accompanied by
photographs, about African American children living around the turn of the century. Cen, Car, EW, RM, S
J B Anderson, Marian. When Marian Sang. An introduction to the life of Marian Anderson, extraordinary
singer and civil rights activist, who was the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera,
whose life and career encouraged social change. Cen, Car, C, L, RM
J Armstrong, William. Sounder. Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing
food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to read and
through his relationship with his devoted dog Sounder. Cen, Car, Clem, EW, K, L, RM, RH, W
J Coleman, Evelyn. Mystery of the Dark Tower. In 1928, when her father tears her and her brother from
their mother in North Carolina and takes them to live with aunts in Harlem, twelve-year-old Bessie is
trapped in a strange place, especially after her father mysteriously disappears. Cen, Car, C, EW, K, W
J Levine, Gail Carson. Dave at Night. When orphaned Dave is sent to the Hebrew Home for Boys
where he is treated cruelly, he sneaks out at night and is welcomed into the music- and culture-filled
world of the Harlem Renaissance. Cen, EW, K, L, RM, Rh, W
J Lewis, Zoe. Keisha Discovers Harlem. While trying to find a topic for her school assignment, Keisha
visits Ellie's attic and discovers the excitement of the music and writing that flourished among African
Americans in Harlem during the 1920s. Cen, Car, C, EW, W
J Tate, Eleanora. Celeste’s Journey. In 1921, thirteen-year-old Celeste leaves North Carolina to stay with
her glamorous Aunt Valentina in Harlem, New York, where she discovers the vibrant Harlem Renaissance
in full swing, even though her aunt's life is not exactly what she was led to believe. Cen, Car, C, EW, K,
RM, S
th
th
5 -6
J810.989 H Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance. A whirlwind tour of the
Harlem Renaissance era of the early 20th century. Cen, Car, EW, RM, S
J B Hurston, Zora. Zora Neale Hurston: I Have Been in Sorrow’s Kitchen. Biography of Zora Neale
Hurston. Cen, L
J Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy. Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan,
during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to
be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids. Cen, Car, C, EW, K, L, RM, S,
W
J Hurston, Zora Neale. The Skull Talks Back and Other Haunting Tales. Spooky, chilling, and fantastical,
this collection of six scary tales will send shivers up your spine! Cen, EW, K, W
J Taylor, Mildred. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. A black family living in the South during the 1930’s is
faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand.
Young Adult
YA Draper, Sharon. Forged by Fire. Teenage Gerald, who has spent years protecting his fragile halfsister from their abusive father, faces the prospect of one final confrontation before the problem can be
solved. RH, W
YA Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade. While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high
school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly
clueless classmates. Cen, Car, C, EW, K, L, RM, RH, W
YA McKissack, Pat. A Song for Harlem. In the summer of 1928, Lilly Belle Turner of Smyrna,
Tennessee, participates in a young author's writing program, taught by Zora Neale Hurston and hosted by
A'Lelia Walker in her Harlem teahouse at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Cen, Car, S
YA Myers, Walter Dean. Harlem Summer. In 1920s Harlem, sixteen-year-old Mark Purvis, an aspiring
jazz saxophonist, gets a summer job as an errand boy for the publishers of the groundbreaking African
American magazine, "The Crisis," but soon finds himself on the enemy list of mobster Dutch Shultz. Car,
EW
J Weatherford, Carole Boston. Becoming Billie Holiday. Jazz vocalist Billie Holiday looks back on her
early years in this fictional memoir written in verse. Cen
YA Woodson, Jacqueline. If You Come Softly. After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteenyear-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose
mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions. Cen, Car, EW,
RM, RH, W
811.54 S Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate : Looking at the Harlem Renaissance through
poems. Includes poems by such authors as Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen,
Gwendolyn Brooks, and Amiri Baraka. Car, EW, K, S