Multicultural Books for Middle School Readers
at the Elmhurst Public Library
This booklist includes books in the following categories:
FICTION
Africa
African American
Caribbean
China
Chinese American
India & Pakistan
East Indian
Japan
Japanese American
Jewish American
Mexican American / Hispanic American / Latino
Middle East
East Asia & Southeast Asia
South America & Central America
Fiction - Africa
Afrika by Colleen Craig (South Africa)
Traveling to South Africa with her journalist mother, thirteen-year-old Kim finds her life forever changed as she explores the country's diverse and often shocking history, while trying to unlock the secret that has always kept her from knowing her father. 233p.
A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer (Zimbabwe)
While journeying to Zimbabwe, eleven-year-old Nhamo struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits. 309p.
Waiting for the Rain: A Novel of South Africa by Sheila Gordon (South Africa)
Chronicles nine years in the lives of two South African youths--one black, one white--as their friendship ends in a violent confrontation between student and soldier. 214p.
Over a Thousand Hills I Walk with You by Hanna Jansen (Rwanda)
Nearly one million people did not survive the killing in Rwanda. The only survivor of her family's massacre, Jeanne witnessed unspeakable acts. But through courage, wits, and sheer force of will, she survived. Based on a true story, this haunting novel by Jeanne's adoptive mother makes unforgettably real the events of the 1994 Rwandan genocide as one family experienced it.” 342p.
Jakarta Missing by Jane Kurtz (Kenya)
When Dakar’s family left East Africa to spend a year in North Dakota, her sister Jakarta was adamant about staying behind. Now Jakarta is all by herself in Kenya… and she’s missing. 268p.
Saba: Under the Hyena’s Foot by Jane Kurtz (Ethiopia)
After being kidnapped and brought to the emperor's palace in Gondar, Ethiopia, twelve-year-old Saba discovers that she and her brother are part of the emperor's desperate attempt to consolidate political power in the mid-1840's. An American Girl book. 207p.
The Storyteller’s Beads by Jane Kurtz (Ethiopia)
During the political strife and famine of the 1980's, two Ethiopian girls, one Christian and the other Jewish and blind, struggle to overcome many difficulties, including their prejudices about each other, as they make the dangerous journey out of Ethiopia. 154p.
The Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird (Ethiopia)
When disaster strikes their families, Mamo and Dani are compelled to live as street urchins in the slums of an Ethiopian city. 329p.
The Return by Sonia Levitin (Ethiopia)
Desta and the other members of her Falasha family, Jews suffering from discrimination in Ethiopia, finally flee the country and attempt the dangerous journey to Israel. 213p.
Sahwira: An African Friendship by Carolyn Marsden (Zimbabwe)
The strong friendship between two boys, one black and one white, who live on a mission in Rhodesia, begins to unravel as protests against white colonial rule intensify in 1964. 189p.
Burn My Heart by Beverley Naidoo (Kenya)
Two boys--one white, one black--share an uneasy friendship in Kenya in the 1950s, a country shaken by a rebellion of Africans against white landowners, but suspicions and accusations are escalating, and an act of betrayal could change everything. 209p.
No Turning Back: A Novel of South Africa by Beverly Naidoo (South Africa)
When the abuse at home becomes too much for twelve-year-old Sipho, he runs away to the streets of Johannesburg and learns to survive in the post-apartheid world. 189p.
The Other Side of Truth by Beverley Naidoo (Nigeria)
Smuggled out of Nigeria after their mother's murder, Sade and her younger brother are abandoned in London when their uncle fails to meet them at the airport and they are fearful of their new surroundings and of what may have happened to their journalist father back in Nigeria. 252p.
Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen (African American)Twelve-year-old Sarny's brutal life as a slave becomes even more dangerous when a newly arrived slave offers to teach her how to read. 92p.
Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji (Uganda)
In Uganda in 1972, fifteen-year-old Sabine and her family, wealthy citizens of Indian descent, try to preserve their normal life during the ninety days allowed by President Idi Amin for all foreign Indians to leave the country, while soldiers and others terrorize them and people disappear. 214p.
Fiction - African American
Chains: Seeds of America by Laurie Halse Anderson (African American)
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War. 316p.
Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate (African American)
Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her owner. 249p.
Store Bought Baby by Sandra Belton (African American)
The death of Leah's beloved older brother, and her parents' reactions to the tragedy, raise questions for Leah about the meaning of family and about her place in her own. 246p.
A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg (African American)
As the civil rights movement in the South gains momentum in 1963--and violence against African Americans intensifies--the black residents, including seventh-grader Addie Ann Pickett, in the small town of Kuckachoo, Mississippi, begin their own courageous struggle for racial justice. 301p.
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (African American)
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. 245p.
The Watsons go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis (African American)
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963. 210p.
Just Like Martin by Ossie Davis (African American)
Following the deaths of two classmates in a bomb explosion at his Alabama church, fourteen-year-old Stone organizes a children’s march for civil rights in the autumn of 1963. Actor Ossie Davis “retells a vital part of American history in an honest, refreshing, and inspiring way, making it a little easier to understand the exciting but maddening times we live in.” – Spike Lee 215p.
Fire from the Rock by Sharon M. Draper (African American)
In 1957, Sylvia Patterson's life--that of a normal African American teenager--is disrupted by the impending integration of Little Rock's Central High when she is selected to be one of the first black students to attend the previously all white school. 231p.
Romiette and Julio by Sharon M. Draper (African American)
Romiette, an African-American girl, and Julio, a Hispanic boy, discover that they attend the same high school after falling in love on the Internet, but are harrassed by a gang whose members object to their interracial dating. 236p.
Money Hungry by Sharon Flake (African American)
All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never have to worry about living on the streets again. 187p.
Begging for Change by Sharon Flake (African American)
Teenaged Raspberry Hill tries to sort out her confused feelings of disgust, shame, and love for her homeless, drug addicted father and worries that she may have inherited his lying and stealing ways. Sequel to: Money Hungry. 235p.
The Power of One: Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine by Judith Bloom Fradin (African American)
Born in a small town in rural Arkansas, Daisy Bates was a journalist and activist who became one of the foremost civil rights leaders in America. In 1957 she mentored the nine black students who were integrated into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. 178p.
Standing Against the Wind by Traci L. Jones (African American)
As she tries to escape her poor Chicago neighborhood by winning a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school, shy and studious eighth-grader Patrice discovers that she has more options in life than she previously realized. 184p.
Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue by Julius Lester (African American)
Emma has taken care of the Butler children since Sarah and Frances's mother, Fanny, left. Emma wants to raise the girls to have good hearts, as a rift over slavery has ripped the Butler household apart. Now, to pay off debts, Pierce Butler wants to cash in his slave "assets", possibly including Emma. 177p.
The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon (African American)
In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam Childs is caught in a conflict between his father's nonviolent approach to seeking civil rights for African Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black Panther Party. 290p.
Joseph by Shelia P. Moses (African American)
Fourteen-year-old Joseph tries to avoid trouble and keep in touch with his father, who is serving in Iraq, as he and his alcoholic, drug-addicted mother move from one homeless shelter to another. 174p.
Harlem Summer by Walter Dean Myers (African American)
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. 165p.
Mouse Rap by Walter Dean Myers (African American)
During an eventful summer in Harlem, fourteen-year-old Mouse and his friends fall in and out of love and search for a hidden treasure from the days of Al Capone. 186p.
Silent Thunder: A Civil War Story by Andrea Davis Pinkney (African American)
In 1862 eleven-year-old Summer and her thirteen-year-old brother Rosco take turns describing life on the quiet Virginia plantation where they are slaves, and how that life is affected by the Civil War, and by their determination to learn to read. 218p.
Small Steps by Louis Sachar (African American)
Three years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is trying hard to keep his life on track, but when his old pal X-Ray shows up with a tempting plan to make some easy money scalping concert tickets, Armpit reluctantly goes along. 257p.
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith (African American)
During World War II, a light-skinned African American girl "passes" for white in order to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots. 275p.
Another Way to Dance by Martha Southgate (African American)
While spending the summer at the School of American Ballet in New York City, fourteen-year-old Vicki Harris must come to terms with the reality of her parents' divorce, her crush on Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the impact of being an African American on her future as a dancer. 179p.
Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance: A Novel by Eleanora E. Tate (African American)
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. 165p.
If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson (African American)
After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-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 peoples' reactions. 181p.
When the Black Girl Sings by Bil Wright (African American)
In this moving book, acclaimed author Bil Wright tells the story of one girl's search to find a home where she truly belongs. 266p.
Fiction - Caribbean
Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez (Dominican Republic)
In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo. 167p.
In the Shade of the Nispero Tree by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand (Puerto Rico)
Because her mother wants her to be part of the world of high society in their native Puerto Rico, nine-year-old Teresa attends a private school but loses her best friend. 186p.
Flight to Freedom by Ana Veciana-Suarez (Cuban American)
Writing in the diary which her father gave her, thirteen-year-old Yara describes life in Havana, Cuba, in 1967 and her experiences in Miami, Florida, after immigrating there. 197p.
Tonight By Sea by Frances Temple (Haiti)
As governmental brutality and poverty become unbearable, Paulie joins with others in her small Haitian village to help her uncle secretly build a boat they will use to try to escape to the United States. 152p.
Fiction - China
Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine (China)
Starting in 1972 when she is nine years old, Ling, the daughter of two doctors, struggles to make sense of the communists' Cultural Revolution, which empties stores of food, homes of appliances deemed "bourgeois," and people of laughter. 248p.
Sword by Da Chen (China)
When Miu Miu turns fifteen, she learns the truth about her father's violent death and discovers that she must avenge his murder before she can marry the man to whom she is betrothed. Based on a story told to the author by a former prisoner during China's Cultural Revolution. 232p.
Shen and the Treasure Fleet by Ray Conlogue (China)
After rebel forces seize the Chinese royal city of Nanjing in 1403, thirteen-year-old Shen and his younger sister Chang take refuge with a traveling acrobat troupe who gains passage on a vast fleet of ships setting sail to explore the world. Based on the life of the explorer Zheng He, this book captures what life was like during this period of Chinese history. 320p.
Fiction - Chinese American
Mismatch by Lensey Namioka (Chinese American)
Excited about meeting another Asian American in her small suburban town, Sue Hua begins an immediate friendship and romance with Andy, a talented and handsome violinist, yet Sue Hua knows that there are vast differences between them and worries what her family will think when she brings home her boyfriend with a Japanese surname. 217p.
Seeing Emily by Joyce Lee Wong (Chinese American)
Relates in free verse the experiences of sixteen-year-old Emily, a gifted artist and the daughter of immigrants to the United States, as she tries to reconcile her American self with her Chinese heritage. 268p.
The Secret Voice of Gina Zhang by Dori Jones Yang (Chinese American)
When her extreme shyness makes her unable to speak at her new American school, twelve-year-old Jinna, newly arrived from China, retreats into her own fairy tale world. 215p.
Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time by Lisa Yee (Chinese American)
After flunking sixth-grade English, basketball prodigy Stanford Wong must struggle to pass his summer-school class, keep his failure a secret from his friends, and satisfy his academically demanding father. 296p.
Angelfish by Lawrence Yep (Chinese American)
Robin, a young ballet dancer who is half Chinese and half white, works in a fish store for Mr. Tsow, a brusque Chinese who accuses her of being a half-person and who harbors a bitter secret. 216p.
The Case of the Lion Dance by Lawrence Yep (Chinese American)
When $2000 is stolen during the opening of a restaurant, Lily and her aunt, a Chinese American movie actress, search for the thief throughout San Francisco's Chinatown. 214p.
Child of the Owl by Laurence Yep (Chinese American)
A twelve-year-old girl who knows little about her Chinese heritage is sent to live with her grandmother in San Francisco's Chinatown. 217p.
Ribbons by Lawrence Yep (Chinese American)
A promising young ballet student cannot afford to continue lessons when her Chinese grandmother emigrates from Hong Kong, creating jealousy and conflict among the entire family. 184p.
The Cook’s Family by Lawrence Yep (Chinese American)
As her parents' arguments become more frequent, Robin looks forward to the visits that she and her grandmother make to Chinatown, where they pretend to be an elderly cook's family, giving Robin new insights into her Chinese heritage. 184p.
Sea Glass by Lawrence Yep (Chinese American)
A Chinese-American boy whose father wants him to be good in sports finally asserts his right to be himself. 248p.
Fiction - India & Pakistan
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan (India)
When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it. 216p.
Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth (India)
In India in the 1940s, thirteen-year-old Leela's happy, spoiled childhood ends when her husband since age nine, whom she barely knows, dies, leaving her a widow whose only hope of happiness could come from Mahatma Ghandi's social and political reforms. 281p.
Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman (India)
In India, in 1941, when her father becomes brain-damaged in a non-violent protest march, fifteen-year-old Vidya and her family are forced to move in with her father's extended family and become accustomed to a totally different way of life. 247p.
Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples (Pakistan)
When eleven-year old Shabanu, the daughter of a nomad in the Cholistan Desert of present-day Pakistan, is pledged in marriage to an older man whose money will bring prestige to the family, she must either accept the decision, as is the custom, or risk the consequences of defying her father's wishes. 240p.
Fiction - East Indian
Bindi Babes by Narinder Dhami (East Indian / British)
Three Indian-British sisters team up to marry off their traditional, nosy aunt and get her out of the house. 184p.
Naming Maya by Uma Krishnaswami (East Indian American)
When Maya accompanies her mother to India to sell her grandfather's house, she uncovers family history relating to her parents divorce and learns more about herself and her relationship with her mother. 178p.
Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji (Uganda)
In Uganda in 1972, fifteen-year-old Sabine and her family, wealthy citizens of Indian descent, try to preserve their normal life during the ninety days allowed by President Idi Amin for all foreign Indians to leave the country, while soldiers and others terrorize them and people disappear. 214p.
Blue Jasmine by Kashmira Sheth (East Indian American)
When twelve-year-old Seema moves to Iowa City with her parents and younger sister, she leaves friends and family behind in her native India but gradually begins to feel at home in her new country. 186p.
Sumitra’s Story by Rukshana Smith (East Indian)
When her East Indian family is displaced from its home in Uganda by the repressive Idi Amin regime, and resettles in London, the eldest daughter Sumitra is torn between two cultures. 168p.
Fiction - Japan
Shen and the Treasure Fleet by Ray Conlogue (China)
After rebel forces seize the Chinese royal city of Nanjing in 1403, thirteen-year-old Shen and his younger sister Chang take refuge with a traveling acrobat troupe who gains passage on a vast fleet of ships setting sail to explore the world. Based on the life of the explorer Zheng He, this book captures what life was like during this period of Chinese history. 320p.
The Revenge of the Forty-Seven Samurai by Eric Christian Haugaard (Japan)
A fourteen-year-old serving boy finds himself surrounded by suspicion and betrayal as his master gathers a group of samurai to avenge Lord Asano's death. 226p.
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy Hoobler (Japan)
While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan. 214p.
Ties That Bind, Ties That Break by Lensey Namioka (Japan)
Ailin's life takes a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper class Chinese society by refusing to have her feet bound. 154p.
Sisters of the Sword by Maya Snow (Japan)
Two aristocratic sisters in ancient Japan disguise themselves as samurai warriors to take revenge on the uncle who betrayed their family. 275p.
My Brother, My Sister, and I by Yoko Kawashima Watkins (Japan)
Living as refugees in Japan in 1947 while trying to locate their missing father, thirteen-year-old Yoko and her older brother and sister must endure a bad fire, injury, and false charges of arson, theft, and murder. 275p.
Fiction - Japanese American
1001 Cranes by Naomi Hirahara (Japanese American)
With her parents on the verge of separating, a devastated twelve-year-old Japanese American girl spends the summer in Los Angeles with her grandparents, where she folds paper cranes into wedding displays, becomes involved with a young skateboarder, and learns how complicated relationships can be. 230p.
Kira-Kira Cynthia Kadohata (Japanese American)
Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill. 244p.
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata (Japanese American)
After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family and neighbors, becomes friends with a local Indian boy, and tries to hold on to her dream of owning a flower shop. 260p
The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson (Albanian)
In 1998 when the Kosovo hostilities escalate, thirteen-year-old Meli's life as an ethnic Albanian, changes forever after her brother escapes his Serbian captors and the entire family flees from one refugee camp to another until they are able to immigrate to America. 145p.
Thin Wood Walls by David Patneaude (Japanese American)
When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Joe Hamada and his family face growing prejudice, eventually being torn away from their home and sent to a relocation camp in California, even as his older brother joins the United States Army to fight in the war. 231p.
Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury (Japanese American)
When twelve-year-old Seema moves to Iowa City with her parents and younger sister, she leaves friends and family behind in her native India but gradually begins to feel at home in her new country. 228p.
House of the Red Fish by Graham Salisbury (Japanese American)
Over a year after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and the arrest of Tomi's father and grandfather, Tomi and his friends, battling anti-Japanese-American sentiment in Hawaii, try to find a way to salvage his father's sunken fishing boat. 291p.
Fiction - Jewish American
The Truth about My Bat Mitzvah by Nora Raleigh Baskin (Jewish American)
After her beloved grandmother, Nana, dies, non-religious twelve-year-old Caroline becomes curious about her mother's Jewish ancestry. 138p.
Brooklyn Bridge: A Novel by Karen Hesse (Jewish American)
In 1903 Brooklyn, fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom's life changes for the worse when his parents, Russian immigrants, invent the teddy bear and turn their apartment into a factory, while nearby the glitter of Coney Island contrasts with the dismal lives of children dwelling under the Brooklyn Bridge. 229p.
Silver Days by Sonia Levitin (Jewish American)
Escaping from Hitler's Germany, a prosperous Jewish family lives in a New York City tenement until Papa decides to move the family to California. 185p.
Annie Promise by Sonia Levitin (Jewish American)
Her experiences at a summer camp in the California mountains in 1945 give twelve-year-old Annie Platt new insight into her overprotective family of German-Jewish immigrants. Sequel to Silver Days. 186p.
Strange Relations by Sonia Levetin (Jewish American)
Fifteen-year-old Marne is excited to be able to spend her summer vacation in Hawaii, not realizing the change in her lifestyle it would bring staying with her aunt, seven cousins, and uncle who is a Chasidic rabbi. 298p.
Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Littman (Jewish American)
To be more like her best friend, eleven-year-old Justine decides to give up Judaism to become Catholic, but after her beloved, religious grandmother dies, she realizes that she needs to seek her own way of being Jewish. 193p.
Sparks Fly Upward by Carol Matas (Jewish Canadian)
In 1910, when a family of Russian Jews moves from Saskatchewan to Winnipeg, Canada, twelve-year-old Rebecca must live with Christians temporarily and struggles with anti-Semitism, confusion about God, and changing relationships with family and friends. 180p.
Gideon’s People by Carolyn Meyer (Jewish American)
Torn between youthful rebellion and their traditional heritages, two boys from very different cultures--one Amish, one Orthodox Jew--discover just how similar they really are. 297p.
The Saturday Secret by Miriam Rinn (Jewish American)
Frustrated and angry over his new stepfather's strictness about Jewish traditions, such as being kosher at home and observing the Shabbat, twelve-year-old Jason fights for the right to play baseball on Saturdays. 150p.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah! By Fiona Rosenbloom (Jewish American)
As her bat mitzvah approaches, Stacy Adelaide Friedman of White Plains, New York, has a lot on her mind--her parents have separated, her mother dresses her like an American Girl doll, her younger brother is embarrassing, and she is totally in love with Andy Goldfarb. 190p.
Miriam by Iris Rosofsky (Jewish American)
A young Jewish girl must learn to reconcile her family's--and her own--orthodoxy with her need for independence and her desire to fit in with the rapidly changing outside world. 188p.
Fiction - Mexican American / Hispanic American / Latino
Estrella’s Quinceanera by Malin Alegria (Mexican American)
Estrella's mother and aunt are planning a gaudy, traditional quinceañera for her, even though it is the last thing she wants. 260p.
Journey of the Sparrows by Fran Leeper Buss (Hispanic American)
Maria and her brother and sister, Salvadoran refugees, are smuggled into the United States in crates and try to eke out a living in Chicago with the help of a sympathetic family. 155p.
The Tequila Worm by Viola Canales (Mexican American)
Sofia grows up in the close-knit community of the barrio in McAllen, Texas, then finds that her experiences as a scholarship student at an Episcopal boarding school in Austin only strengthen her ties to family and her "comadres." 199p.
Behind the Mountains by Edwidge Danticat (Haitian American)
Thirteen-year-old Celiane describes life with her mother and brother in Haiti as well as her experiences in Brooklyn after the family finally immigrates there to be reunited with her father. 153p.
Salsa Stories by Lulu Delacre (Latin America)
A collection of stories within the story of a family celebration where the guests relate their memories of growing up in various Latin American countries. Also contains recipes. 105p.
Downtown Boy by Juan Felipe Herrera (Mexican American)
From June of 1958 to June of 1959, Juanito tries to stay out of mischief and be good as he, his mother, and his father move around the state of California, never quite feeling at home. 293p.
Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez (Mexican American)
Having come from Mexico to California ten years ago, fourteen-year-old Francisco is still working in the fields but fighting to improve his life and complete his education. 195p.
The Truth about Las Mariposas by Ofelia Dumas Lachtman (Mexican American)
When sixteen-year-old Caro Torres goes to help her Tia Matilda at her bed-and-breakfast in Two Sands, California, she ends up also helping her aunt fend off the attempts of her ex-husband to buy the property and steal the treasures that are hidden there. 171p.
Sparrow Hawk Red by Ben Mikaelsen (Mexican American)
Thirteen-year-old Ricky, the Mexican American son of a former Drug Enforcement Agency man, tries to avenge his mother's murder by crossing over into Mexico to steal a high-tech radar plane from drug smugglers. 185p.
Crazy Loco stories by David Rice (Mexican American)
Loco is a dog with a passion for driving and Jordan and Todd are in for a shock when they pick on their cousins one time too many. These are just a few of the characters in these nine stories about Mexican American kids growing up in the Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas. 135p.
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan (Mexican American)
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression. 262p.
The Jumping Tree Y Otros Cuentitos: A Novel by René Saldaña, Jr. (Mexican American)
Rey, a Mexican American living with his close-knit family in a Texas town near the Mexican border, describes his transition from boy to young man. 181p.
Petty Crimes by Gary Soto (Mexican American)
A collection of short stories about Mexican American youth growing up in California's Central Valley. 156p.
Flight to Freedom by Ana Veciana-Suarez (Cuban American)
Writing in the diary which her father gave her, thirteen-year-old Yara describes life in Havana, Cuba, in 1967 and her experiences in Miami, Florida, after immigrating there. 197p.
Star of Luis by Marc Talbert (Mexican American)
Just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a Mexican American boy goes with his mother from Los Angeles to New Mexico to meet her family for the first time, and, while there, he discovers his family's hidden Jewish heritage. 181p.
Fiction - Middle East
Camel Bells by Janne Carlsson (Afghanistan)
It is 1978, and Hajdar is living in a small farming village in the mountains of Afghanistan. He dreams of a more exciting life beyond the village, but when he gets the chance to visit the great capital city of Kabul, as the government is overthrown and Russian tanks and troops move in, Hajdar is caught in forces beyond his control. 120p.
A Stone in My Hand by Cathryn Clinton (Palestine)
Eleven-year-old Malaak and her family are touched by the violence in Gaza between Jews and Palestinians when first her father disappears and then her older brother is drawn to the Islamic Jihad. 191p.
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis (Afghanistan)
Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, impose strict limitation on women's freedom and behavior, eleven-year-old Parvana must disguise herself as a boy so that her family can survive after her father's arrest. 170p.
Kiss the Dust by Elizabeth Laird (Iraq)
Her father's involvement with the Kurdish resistance movement in Iraq forces thirteen-year-old Tara to flee with her family over the border into Iran, where they face an unknown future. 278p.
A Little Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird (Palestine)
During the Israeli occupation of Ramallah in the West Bank of Palestine, twelve-year-old Karim and his friends create a secret place for themselves where they can momentarily forget the horrors of war. 216p.
The Garden by Carol Matas (Israel)
After leading a group of Jewish refugees to Israel after World War II, sixteen-year-old Ruth joins the Haganah, the Jewish Army, and helps her people fight to keep the land granted to them by the United Nations. 102p.
Anahita’s Woven Riddle by Meghan Nuttall Sayres (Iran)
In Iran, more than 100 years ago, a young girl with three suitors gets permission from her father and a holy man to weave into her wedding rug a riddle to be solved by her future husband, which will ensure that he has wit to match hers. 352p.
Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye (Palestine)
When fourteen-year-old Liyanne Abboud, her younger brother, and her parents move from St. Louis to a new home between Jerusalem and the Palestinian village where her father was born, they face many changes and must deal with the tensions between Jews and Palestinians. 271p.
Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples (Afghanistan)
During the 2001 Afghan War, the lives of Najmal, a young refugee from Kunduz, Afghanistan, and Nusrat, an American-Muslim teacher who is awaiting her huband's return from Mazar-i-Sharif, intersect at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan. 275p.
Fiction - East Asia & Southeast Asia
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (Korea)
Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters' village, and longs to learn how to throw the beautiful celadon ceramics himself, but cannot find a potter willing to teach him. 152p.
Goodbye, Vietnam by Gloria Whelan (Vietnam)
Thirteen-year-old Mai and her family embark on a dangerous sea voyage from Vietnam to Hong Kong to escape the unpredictable and often brutal Vietnamese government. 135p.
Fiction - Native American
Crossing the Panther’s Path by Elizabeth Alder (Native American)
Sixteen-year-old Billy Caldwell, son of a British soldier and a Mohawk woman, leaves school to join Tecumseh in his efforts to prevent the Americans from taking any more land from the Indians in the Northwest Territory. 229p.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Native American)
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. 229p.
Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac (Native American)
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue. 231p.
The Heart of a Chief by Joseph Bruchac (Native American)
An eleven-year-old Penacook Indian boy living on a reservation faces his father's alcoholism, a controversy surrounding plans for a casino on a tribal island, and insensitivity toward Native Americans in his school and nearby town. 153p.
The Way by Joseph Bruchac (Native American)
Cody LeBeau is the new kid at school and the new target for the bullies. He's Abenaki, like most of the school, but still doesn't fit in. Things begin to change when his uncle comes to town for a martial arts competition and he and Cody begin training together. 156p.
Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell (Native American)
In alternating passages, two Mohawk sisters describe their lives at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, established in 1879 to educate Native Americans, as they try to assimilate into white culture and one of them is falsely accused of stealing. 243p.
Offsides: A Novel by Erik E. Esckilsen (Native American)
Tom Gray, a Mohawk Indian and star soccer player, moves to a new high school and refuses to play for the Warriors with their insulting mascot. 172p.
Twilight Boy by Timothy Green (Native American)
Jesse Begay begins to investigate the strange circumstances surrounding a fire at his Navajo grandfather's hogan, even though the old man remains convinced that a "skinwalker" is haunting him. 227p.
The Secret of Dead Man’s Mine: A Rinnah Two Feathers Mystery by Rodney Johnson (Native American)
Rinnah Two Feathers, a sleuth-minded Lakota Indian in South Dakota, investigates a mysterious stranger poking around a long-abandoned house and stumbles across the secret of Dead Man's Mine. 241p.
The Brave by Robert Lipsyte (Native American)
After leaving the Indian reservation for New York, Sonny Bear learns to control his rage in order to train for the boxing ring with Alfred Brooks, an ex-boxer who is now a policeman. 195p.
The Chief by Robert Lipsyte (Native American)
On the verge of having a shot at the heavyweight boxing championship, nineteen-year-old Sonny Bear finds himself with conflicting loyalties when trouble erupts on his reservation over the construction of a new gambling casino. Sequel to "The Brave." 226p.
The Eagle’s Shadow by Nora Martin (Native American)
In 1946, while her emotionally distant father is in occupied Japan, a twelve-year-old girl spends a year with her mother's relatives in a Tlingit Indian village in Alaska and begins to love and respect her heritage as she confronts the secret of her mother's disappearance. 172p.
Comanche Song by Janice Jordan Shefelman (Native American)
A young Comanche boy experiences his tribe's conflicts with the Tejanos in 1840s Texas. 253p.
The Trap by John E. Smelcer (Native American)
In alternating chapters, seventeen-year-old Johnny Least-Weasel, who is better known for brains than brawn, worries about his missing grandfather, and the grandfather, Albert Least-Weasel, struggles to survive, caught in his own steel trap in the Alaskan winter. 170p.
Rain Is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Native American)
Tired of staying in seclusion since the death of her best friend, a fourteen-year-old Native American girl takes on a photographic assignment with her local newspaper to cover events at the Native American summer youth camp. 135p.
Fiction - South American & Central American
Colibri by Ann Cameron (Guatemala)
Kidnapped when she was very young by an unscrupulous man who has forced her to lie and beg to get money, a twelve-year-old Mayan girl endures an abusive life, always wishing she could return to the parents she can hardly remember. 227p.
Salsa Stories by Lulu Delacre (Latin America)
A collection of stories within the story of a family celebration where the guests relate their memories of growing up in various Latin American countries. Also contains recipes. 105p.
I Am a Taxi by Deborah Ellis (Bolivia)
Living with his family in a prison in Bolivia due to his parents' convictions for drug trafficking, twelve-year-old Diego does his best to live a normal life by going to school and running errands for the other prisoners, but when his mother receives additional fines, Diego risks everything to earn quick money the only way he can to help her. 205p.
The Color of My Words by Lynn Joseph (Dominican Republic)
When life gets difficult for Ana Rosa, a twelve-year-old would-be writer living in a small village in the Dominican Republic, she can depend on her older brother to make her feel better--until the life-changing events on her thirteenth birthday. 138p.
Keeper by Mal Peet (Brazil)
In an interview with a young journalist, World Cup hero, El Gato, describes his youth in the Brazilian rain forest and the events, experiences, and people that helped make him a great goalkeeper and renowned soccer star. 225p.
Journey of Dreams by Marge Pellegrino (Guatemala)
When their village is destroyed in the Guatemalan Civil War, Tomasa and her family, except her mother and brother, who have been taken by the authorities, begin the long trek north in search of somewhere they will be safe. 250p.
Grab Hands and Run by Frances Temple (El Salvador)
After his father disappears, twelve-year-old Felipe, his mother, and his younger sister set out on a difficult and dangerous journey, trying to make their way from their home in El Salvador to Canada. 165p.
BIOGRAPHIES
Roy Wilkins: Leader of the NAACP by Calvin Craig Miller (African American)
Contents: From poverty to prosperity -- Birth of the NAACP -- Newspaper crusader -- Return to the South -- Time for change -- A new career -- Jim Crow goes to war -- The fight becomes clear -- The top job -- Not backing down -- Promises kept. 176p.
Leon’s Story by Leon Walter Tillage (African American)
The son of a North Carolina sharecropper recalls the hard times faced by his family and other African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century and the changes that the civil rights movement helped bring about. 107p. (J 975.655 Til)
A Stranger in My Own House: The Story of W.E.B. Du Bois by Bonnie Hinman (African American)
Contents: A challenging start -- New horizons -- Finding his place -- Atlanta -- The NAACP -- Gathering storm -- Questions and conflicts -- War and peace -- The Peace Information Center -- Back to Africa. 176p.
W.E.B. Du Bois: A Twentieth-century Life by Tonya Bolden (African American)
This fascinating Up Close biography tells the story of how one man, tirelessly and never quietly, fought for equality until his death at age ninety-five. 224p.
Ella Fitzgerald: A Twentieth-century Life by Tanya Lee Stone (African American)
As a young runaway who had to live on the streets, Ella Fitzgerald overcame her financial and personal hardships in her adult years; shining on stage as a world-revered jazz singer who won thirteen Grammys, toured for more than 50 years, and became known as the First Lady of Song. 203p.
Thurgood Marshall: ATtwentieth-century Life by Chris Crowe (African American)
Thurgood Marshall became the first African American appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it's his life leading up to that point--from school troublemaker to passionate lawyer--that makes him both accessibly real and a role model to Americans of every color. 248p.
Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks (African American)
Discusses Parks' role in the Montgomery NAACP, her refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man, the Montgomery bus boycott, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 192p.
Zlata's Diary : A Child's Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic (Bosnia)
200p. (J 949.742 Filipovic)
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang (China)
The true story of Ji-li Jiang, a twelve-year-old girl growing up in China in 1966, the year that Chairman Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, and the changes it brought to her and her family. 285p.
The Golda Meir Story by Margaret Davidson (Israel)
A biography of Golda Meir whose childhood memories of Russia helped her work to establish the independent state of Israel. 228p.
Jaime Escalante: Sensational Teacher by Ann Byers (Latino)
Presents the life of the Bolivian-born teacher who immigrated to the United States where he inspired and motivated his inner city students to excel in mathematics. 128p.
The Invisible Thread: An Autobiography by Yoshiko Uchida (Japanese American)
Children's author, Yoshiko Uchido, describes growing up in Berkeley, California, as a Nisei, second generation Japanese American, and her family's internment in a Nevada concentration camp during World War II. 136p. (J 921 Uchida)
OTHER NON-FICTION
Fight On!: Mary Church Terrell’s Battle for Integration by Dennis B. Fradin (African American)
Profiles the first black Washington, D.C. Board of Education member, who helped to found the NAACP and organized of pickets and boycotts that led to the 1953 Supreme Court decision to integrate D.C. area restaurants. 181p.
When the Children Marched: The Birmingham Civil Rights Movement by Robert H. Mayer (African American)
Contents: "Discusses the Birmingham civil rights movement, the great leaders of the movement, and the role of the children who helped fight for equal rights and to end segregation in Birmingham"--Provided by publisher. 176p.
There Comes a Time: The Struggles for Civil Rights by Milton Meltzer (African American)
Presents an overview of the events in African American history that culminated in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s and represented a striving for equal rights. 193p.
The Murder of Emmett Till by David Aretha (African American)
Contents: Summer vacation -- How it is down South -- The abduction -- North Vs. South -- The trial -- Repercussions around the world -- The killers talk -- Rumblings – The movement -- Fifty years later -- Timeline. 160p.
Until Justice Rolls Down: The Birmingham Church Bombing Case by Frank Sikora (African American)
Contents: Bring light to this dark city -- By person or persons unknown -- Enough stuff to flatten half of Birmingham -- I told the people to remember the lesson – Until justice rolls down – Postscript. 266p.
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales by Virginia Hamilton
This work is dedicated to mothers, grandmothers and aunts, who have often been the bearers of such stories from generation to generation. 112p. (J 398.208996 Ham)
Flying Free: America’s First Black Aviators by Philip S. Hart
Surveys the history of black aviators, from the early black aviation community in Chicago in the 1920s through World War II to modern times. 64p. (J 629.13089 Har)
To Be a Slave by Julius Lester (African American)
A compilation of the reminiscences of slaves and ex-slaves about their experiences from the leaving of Africa through the Civil War and into the early twentieth century. 160p. (J 326 Les)
Powerful Words: More than 200 Years of Extraordinary Writing by African Americans by Wade Hudson (African American)
A collection of speeches and writings by African Americans, with commentary about the time period in which each person lived, information about the speaker/writer, and public response to the words. 178p.
The Rainbow People by Laurence Yep (Asian American)
A collection of twenty Chinese folk tales that were passed on by word of mouth for generations, as told by some oldtimers newly settled in the United States. 194p. (J 398.20951 Yep)
When I Dance by James Berry (Caribbean)
A collection of fifty-nine poems with a Caribbean cadence that celebrate life in inner-city Britain and in the rural Caribbean. 120p. (J 821 B459)
Toussaint L’Ouverture: The Fight for Haiti’s Freedom by Walter Dean Myers (Haiti)
A collection of paintings by Jacob Lawrence chronicling the liberation of Haiti in 1804 under the leadership of General Toussaint L'Ouverture. 33p. (J 972.94 Mye)
Wachale!: Poetry and Prose on Growing up Latino in America by Ilan Stavans (Latino)
A bilingual collection of poems, stories, and other writings which celebrates diversity among Latinos. 146p.
Quinceanera: Celebrating Fifteen by Elizabeth King (Mexican American)
This book focuses on describing the celebration of this rite of passage in the life of a specific Mexican American girl, while also presenting historical background for the occasion. 40p. (J 395.24 Kin)
The Tree is Older Than You Are (Mexico)
A bilingual gathering of poems and stories from Mexico, with paintings by Mexican artists. 112p. (J 860.9972 Tre)
This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from around the World Selected by Naomi Shihab Nye
212p. (J 808.81 Thi)
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me at All: Poems Selected by John Agard
A collection of 85 poems about “love, family, politics, injustice, and growing up” for teenagers that includes selections from around the world, by poets like Maya Angelou, W.B. Yeats, and Attila the Stockbroker. 96p. (J 821.008 Lif)
A Gathering of Flowers edited by Joyce Carol Thomes
Eleven short stories depicting what it is like to be young in America, exploring such diverse cultures as urban San Francisco, a Chippewa Indian reservation, and a Latino barrio in Chicago. 232p. (J 808.3 Gat)
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