The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon: The True Story of Alan BeanDean RobbinsAn account of Alan Bean, Apollo 12 astronaut and fourth person to walk on the moon, follows his journey from wanting to fly planes to reaching the lunar surface. After returning to Earth, Bean turned to painting because photographs could not convey his experience of the moon’s landscape. He created many paintings, using his astronaut boots, lunar tools, and moon dust, and the book includes a timeline along with paintings and related photos.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure AD590LATOS Book Level 3.4View book detailsNCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2020
The 2020 edition contains 128 selections published by the National Council for the Social Studies. The source organizes the selections into Kindergarten to Second Grade, Third to Fifth Grade, Sixth to Eighth Grade, and Ninth to Twelfth Grade. It is one annual edition of the NCSS bibliography for social studies teaching and learning.
2020 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young PeopleSee the original list
Selections128
Published byNational Council for the Social Studies
Sections4 sections
Browse sections4 sections
Kindergarten to Second Grade
48 selections
The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon: The True Story of Alan BeanDean RobbinsAn account of Alan Bean, Apollo 12 astronaut and fourth person to walk on the moon, follows his journey from wanting to fly planes to reaching the lunar surface. After returning to Earth, Bean turned to painting because photographs could not convey his experience of the moon’s landscape. He created many paintings, using his astronaut boots, lunar tools, and moon dust, and the book includes a timeline along with paintings and related photos.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure AD590LATOS Book Level 3.4View book details
At the Mountain’s BaseTraci SorellAt the foot of a mountain, a Cherokee family lives in a cabin beneath an old hickory tree. They weave, cook, and sing while separated from a loved one serving as a pilot in wartime. Their shared song helps sustain the family as they wait for the pilot to come home.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Back to SchoolMaya Ajmera, John D. IvankoUsing concise text and color photographs, this book describes school experiences of children in many countries. It invites readers to look at learning from the viewpoint of children around the world, placing them in an imagined front-row seat. A map and back matter accompany the photographs and text, adding geographic context to the varied school settings and experiences presented.Kindergarten to Second GradeWord Count 699View book details
Bilal Cooks DaalAisha SaeedBilal invites friends to join him and his father in making daal, a slow-cooked South Asian lentil dish. As the daal simmers through the day, more children arrive to wait for the meal. Bilal wonders whether his friends will enjoy his favorite food as much as he does. The story brings children together around cooking, waiting, and sharing a family tradition.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure AD520LATOS Book Level 2.4View book details
BirdsongJulie Flett. Greystone Kids, illustrated by Julie Flett. Greystone KidsAfter moving from a home by the sea to the country with her mother, young Cree girl Katherena gets to know Agnes, an older neighbor. Katherena draws while Agnes works with clay, and they share an interest in birds, nature, and the changing seasons. As Agnes needs more help and later becomes too weak to leave bed, Katherena fills her room with bird drawings. Cree words appear with a glossary and pronunciation guide.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 560LATOS Book Level 2.9View book details
The Boy Who Grew A Forest: The True Story of Jadev PayengSophia Gholz, illustrated by Kayla HarrenThis true story recounts how Jadav Payeng responded as a boy to deforestation and erosion on his island in India’s Brahmaputra River. He began by planting trees, starting with a small stand of bamboo. Over many years, that planting became a 1,300-acre forest containing native plants and animals. The book links one person’s work to the changing landscape of his home.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet CollinsMichelle MeadowsThis picture-book biography tells the story of Janet Collins, who wanted to become a ballerina in the 1930s and 1940s, when racial segregation remained widespread in the United States. She continued pursuing that goal despite obstacles and became the first African American principal dancer, also described as a prima ballerina, at the Metropolitan Opera. The book presents Collins’s path in rhymed text with gentle digitally created illustrations.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Clothesline Clues to the First Day of SchoolKathryn Heling, Deborah Hembrook, illustrated by Andy Robert DaviesOn the first day of school, children look at clothing displayed on a clothesline for hints about the people they will meet. Rhymes and visual clues guide the guessing as they walk to school and consider who needs which items to prepare for the day. The book focuses on identifying the people who take part in starting school.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
The Cool BeanJory John, illustrated by Pete OswaldA bean who feels uncool stays on the sidelines while trying unsuccessfully to fit in with a group known as the cool beans. The story follows the bean’s challenges with growing up and finding a place in the world. Unexpected friends offer help, and the book connects being cool with kindness.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure AD530LATOS Book Level 2.5View book details
Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President LincolnMargarita EngleThis picture-book biography follows Teresa Carreño, a young musician from Venezuela, as music becomes central to her life. Playing the piano lifts her spirits when she is sad and helps her share happiness; she also begins composing her own music. Her path takes her from her homeland to New York and celebrated concert halls. It culminates in a performance at the White House for President Lincoln. The book presents her early musical life through this journey as a pianist and composer.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Follow Chester!: A College Football Team Fights Racism and Makes HistoryGloria Respress-Churchwell, illustrated by Laura FreemanInspired by a true event, this historical-fiction picture book features Chester Pierce, a Black college football player in 1947. At that time, Black players could not compete at southern schools; opposing teams responded by benching a player of comparable ability. The book uses a football play to examine Jim Crow restrictions, race relations, and teamwork during the civil rights era.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Freedom SoupTami CharlesA family marks the New Year by cooking a traditional Haitian soup. Ti Gran teaches her granddaughter Belle the recipe she learned as a child and shares the story of Haitian independence. The tradition of eating the soup reaches back to the Haitian Revolution, so their kitchen celebration also opens a discussion of Haiti’s history of slavery. Maracas and dancing footsteps accompany the family’s preparations.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 491LATOS Book Level 3.3View book details
Fry Bread: A Native American Family StoryKevin Noble MaillardThis picture book explores fry bread as food, shape, sound, time, and history. It considers the bread’s place in Native American traditions across many tribal nations, from everyday meals to holidays, powwows, and festivals. Through sensory details and family scenes, the book also connects fry bread with Indigenous history, including displacement and stolen land.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
A Green Place to BeAshley Benham Yazdani, illustrated by Ashley Benham YazdaniSet in 1858, the book begins as rapid growth in New York City puts its remaining open land at risk from new streets and tall buildings. It follows the planners behind the creation of Central Park, describing how they transformed swampland into the city’s green heart. Watercolor illustrations show the park taking shape, and extensive back matter provides additional information.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 781LATOS Book Level 5View book details
Home in the WoodsEliza Wheeler, illustrated by Eliza WheelerAfter their father dies, six-year-old Marvel, her mother, and her seven siblings must begin again. The family moves to a home in the woods and works together to reclaim an abandoned woodland shack. Their story emphasizes the cooperation and courage involved in making a home after loss. The book includes ink-and-watercolor illustrations and an author’s note.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 690LATOS Book Level 3.5View book details
Home is a WindowStephanie Parsley LedyardA family leaves a beloved residence for another house and considers what home means during the move. Home is described through familiar things—a window, doorway, rug, and hug—rather than as a single place. As the family makes a home somewhere new, the story holds both the departure from the old house and the feelings attached to creating a new one. The family’s experience connects domestic objects and affection with the idea of home for them.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
The Important Thing About Margaret Wise BrownMac BarnettThis picture-book biography explores the life of children’s book creator Margaret Wise Brown. It connects her life and distinctive habits with her familiar stories, using imaginative connections in its telling. The book plays with form and language, while illustrations made with watercolor, Nupastel, and digital techniques accompany the account. It also includes sources, placing Brown’s work alongside details of her life.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 620LATOS Book Level 4.2View book details
Instructions Not Included: How a Team of Women Coded the FutureTami Lewis Brown, Debbie Loren Dunn, illustrated by Chelsea Beck Disney-HyperionThis book tells how three women skilled in mathematics faced obstacles while programming one of the first computers. It contrasts that early era with a time when math problems were solved with pencil and paper, mail was delivered by post, and files were kept in paper folders and metal cabinets. Told in free verse, it includes biographical back matter and resources.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the WayKyo MaclearThis picture-book biography introduces the life and work of American illustrator and writer Gyo Fujikawa. Raised among women who encouraged her to stand up for her beliefs, Fujikawa’s story also considers racial diversity in America. The book follows her as an artist and presents her illustrations and writing as part of her life’s work.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Jacob’s Room to ChooseSarah, Ian Hoffman, illustrated by Chris Case. Magination PressJacob is driven out of the boys’ bathroom when other students decide that his clothing makes him look like a girl. His friend Sophie is treated the same way. In response, their classmates work together to improve the situation, confronting rules and expectations around gender expression and bathroom use at school after both children have been excluded from those spaces.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 500LATOS Book Level 3.3View book details
Little Libraries, Big HeroesMiranda PaulThis informational picture book tells how Todd Bol began the Little Free Libraries movement in a small Wisconsin town. He built a schoolhouse-shaped library to honor his late mother, a teacher who loved books. Todd and a friend worked to build local interest, and the small libraries eventually spread through Wisconsin, across the United States, and around the world. The book also shares examples of places affected by the libraries.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Look Up with Me: Neil deGrasse Tyson: A Life Among the StarsJennifer Berne, illustrated by Lorraine Nam, introduction by Neil deGrasse Tyson Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint ofA picture-book biography of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of Cosmos. The book traces his scientific accomplishments to his enduring curiosity about the universe, beginning with the fact that he was born curious. An introduction by Tyson discusses childlike curiosity, while playful mixed-media illustrations, a glossary, and resources support the account of his life among the stars.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Love and the Rocking ChairLeo, Diane DillonLove and the Rocking Chair is a multigenerational family story. New parents purchase a rocking chair while they are expecting a baby. Simple language and colorful paintings tell of the love parents feel for their children and of connections that continue across generations. The rocking chair forms the center of a story about lasting family love as a new family begins.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Mary Wears What She WantsKeith NegleySet in the 1830s and inspired by Mary Edwards Walker, this story follows Mary as she chooses pants instead of the heavy dresses expected of girls and women. She finds pants more comfortable and easier to move in, but townspeople object when she wears them in public. Her father explains that people can fear what they do not understand. Mary answers those who challenge her clothing choice and continues to wear what she chooses. A short biography of Mary Edwards Walker follows the story.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 329LATOS Book Level 2.4View book details
Meet Miss FancyIrene LathamIn 1913 Birmingham, Alabama, Frank is fascinated by elephants, especially their trunks, feet, and swishing tails. When Miss Fancy leaves the circus and arrives at Avondale Park, only two blocks from his home, Frank wants to pet her. Segregation keeps him from entering the whites-only park, so he looks for a way to challenge the restriction and meet the elephant. When Miss Fancy escapes, chaos follows.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 570LATOS Book Level 3.4View book details
Mommy SayangRosana Sullivan. Disney Book Group / Disney Press, illustrated by Rosana Sullivan. Disney Book Group / Disney PressIn a Malaysian village, Aleeya and her mother spend their days together, and Aleeya dreams of them dancing among huge hibiscus flowers. Her mother promises to remain with her. When her mother becomes ill, Aleeya offers love and hope, placing their close relationship at the center of the story during her mother’s illness in their village.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Nya’s Long WalkLinda Sue ParkNya and her younger sister Akeer walk to collect water for their family. When Akeer becomes ill on the return journey, Nya cannot carry both her sister and a full container. She pours out half the water, carries Akeer, and focuses on reaching one nearby landmark at a time. The sisters make it back to their village, but the family must then travel to a clinic.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure AD530LATOS Book Level 2.9View book details
Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and ArtistJulie LeungThis picture-book biography follows Geng Yeo, who came to the United States at nine with his father under false histories used to evade racist immigration laws. He loved art as a child and later worked as an animator at Disney. While developing Bambi, his spare sketches shaped the film’s visual landscapes, though he received only a background-artist credit. In later life, he made kites.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota’s GardenHeather SmithMakio spends mornings in Mr. Hirota’s garden, watching his father and Mr. Hirota’s daughter work in the harbor below. After a tsunami sweeps away Makio’s father and many others, Makio cannot voice his grief. Mr. Hirota builds a phone booth with a disconnected telephone, where villagers speak to people they have lost. Makio eventually uses the booth and finds comfort. The fictional story draws on a phone booth in Otsuchi, Japan, visited after the 2011 tsunami.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura BelpréAnika AldamuyThis biography follows Pura Belpré from San Juan to New York in 1921, carrying the Puerto Rican folktales her grandmother had taught her. Working as a bilingual assistant at the New York Public Library, Pura finds no such stories on its shelves. She begins sharing them in bilingual story times, using puppets as well, then writes the cuentos down so they can become books. The account includes her first published tale, Pérez y Martina, and traces her work as a storyteller and writer.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Pride ColorsRobin StevensonPride Colors is a concept board book that introduces colors through the rainbow Pride flag. Rhymes pair each color with an affirming message for children, while full-page photographs show racially diverse children alone or with their LGBTQ+ parents. The book names Pride Day in its final rhyme and includes back matter explaining the day and the meanings assigned to the flag’s colors.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Raise Your HandAlice Paul Tapper, illustrated by Marta KissiInspired by Alice Paul Tapper’s experience, this picture book follows her response after noticing girls in her class joined in less often than boys. With support from her Girl Scout troop and parents, she develops a patch for girls who pledge greater confidence at school. Her response also includes writing an op-ed for the New York Times.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 570LATOS Book Level 3.3View book details
Riding a Donkey Backwards: Wise and Foolish Tales of Mulla NasruddinSean Taylor, the Khayaal Theatre Company, illustrated by Shirin AdlThis collection centers on Mulla Nasruddin, an iconic Muslim character known as both the wisest person in his village and its greatest fool. The tales find wisdom in absurd situations and present Nasruddin’s contradictory reputation as a source of their humor. One story poses the question of how a thief could become a donkey. Together, the stories gather wise and foolish episodes around a character whose actions can be sagacious, ridiculous, or both.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
A Royal Ride: Catherine the Great’s Great InventionKristen Fulton, illustrated by Lucy FlemingThis nonfiction picture book follows Empress Catherine the Great of Russia as she looks for a way to keep ice-slide rides available after winter. Catherine enjoys snowy weather and the daring drops of giant ice slides, but spring melts the snow. The account presents her response as the invention of the roller coaster, connecting a seasonal problem with ingenuity and a royal invention.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Sing a Song: How “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Inspired GenerationsKelly Starling LyonsThis account traces how “Lift Every Voice and Sing” travels through generations of an African American family. A girl first sings the song, written by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson, in a chorus of 500 people in 1900. She teaches it to her child, and later family members carry it through personal milestones and historic moments, culminating in a 2016 National Mall chorus. An author’s note provides further history of the song and its writers.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Sisters: Venus & Serena WilliamsJeanette Winter, illustrated by Jeanette WinterThis picture-book biography follows sisters Venus and Serena Williams before they became tennis stars. Growing up in Compton, California, the sisters have big dreams. The account connects their childhood relationship and shared aspirations with their later lives as champion tennis players, telling their story as sisters whose early dreams precede their success in the sport.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
A Sky Without LinesKrystia Basil, illustrated by Laura Borràs. mineditionArturo likes studying maps and imagines the borders between countries as friendly connections. His mother explains that those lines can also stop people from crossing freely. One such border separates Arturo and his mother from his father and brother Antonio. The story follows Arturo as he lives with that separation and wonders whether he will be reunited with his brother.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A RevolutionRob SandersTold from the perspective of the buildings, this account follows the history of the Stonewall Inn and Greenwich Village. The buildings began as stables in the 1840s and later housed a bakery and a restaurant before becoming the inn. It covers police raids, including one on June 28, 1969, and the days of riots and protests that followed when people fought back. The uprising became a spark for the LGBTQ+ rights movement.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
SulweLupita Nyong’oSulwe is a young girl who feels she does not fit in because of her skin color and wishes her dark skin were lighter. Her mother tells her a story about day and night. Through that tale, Sulwe learns to love her dark skin. The book follows her struggle with belonging and her movement toward accepting herself.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure AD580LATOS Book Level 3.8View book details
Titan and the Wild Boars: The True Cave Rescue of the Thai Soccer TeamSusan Hood, Pathana Sornhiran, illustrated by Dow PhumirukThis nonfiction account tells of an international operation to get Thailand’s Wild Boars soccer team out of a flooded cave. Eleven-year-old Titan, friends from the team, and their coach ride bicycles to explore local caves one afternoon. The group later becomes trapped, and the book centers on the rescue that follows. Written by Susan Hood and Pathana Sornhiran, it recounts their experience.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
The UndefeatedKwame AlexanderThis poem honors Black life in the United States while confronting the harm of slavery and segregation. It recognizes Black Americans’ courage, creativity, endurance, and achievements, drawing on historical and contemporary people and cultural references. Artwork expands on the poem’s references, and an author’s note provides brief context for the people and events named in the text and illustrations. The book also affirms the possibilities held by Black youth.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 361LATOS Book Level 2.6View book details
The VoyageStéphane ServantDrawn to the horizon from childhood, a young woman wants to find what lies beyond the island where she lives. With her parents’ help, she builds a boat; they also give her a sword before she departs. Her voyage takes her through storms and encounters with sea monsters, and she aids sailors who are lost at sea. The story follows her decision to leave home and pursue a life of travel and adventure.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
What is a Refugee?Elise GravelWhat Is a Refugee? introduces the meaning of the word “refugee” through spare text and bold graphic illustrations. It considers why refugees leave their countries and why they may not be welcomed in a new country. Written and illustrated by Elise Gravel, the picture book presents the subject through direct questions about displacement, arrival, and belonging. The book’s explanation focuses on what it means to be a refugee and the circumstances that can lead people to seek a new home.Kindergarten to Second GradeLexile Text Measure 680LATOS Book Level 4.4View book details
When Sue Found Sue: Sue Hendrickson Discovers Her T. RexToni BuzzeoThis biography follows Sue Hendrickson from a childhood spent looking for lost coins, perfume bottles, and hidden treasure to careers in diving and paleontology. Her curiosity about science remains central as she continues making discoveries. The book culminates with her discovery of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton found before 1990. Gouache and watercolor illustrations show the Dakota landscape, with additional back matter included.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Wild Horse Annie: Friend of the MustangsTracey Fern, illustrated by Steven SalernoVelma Bronn Johnston, known as Wild Horse Annie, loved mustangs throughout her life. After seeing mustangs rounded up and killed to make space for ranchers’ livestock, she chose to speak out. The account identifies Johnston’s lifespan as 1912–77 and ties her response directly to the treatment of the horses. Her actions begin with what she witnessed happening to the mustangs.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
Wilma’s Way Home: The Life of Wilma MankillerDoreen RappaportThis picture-book biography follows Wilma Mankiller, who grew up on Cherokee land and learned Gadugi, a Cherokee practice of helping one another. In 1956, federal relocation moved her family from Oklahoma to California, separating her from home, friends, and traditions. She later found support at San Francisco’s Indian Center, helped strengthen the local Native community, supported Native political activists, and returned home to improve her people’s lives.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
You Are Home: An Ode to the National ParksEvan TurkThis ode visits 27 U.S. national parks through images that range from sweeping views to close-up scenes. Its repeating message presents the parks as a shared legacy and a place of home for many visitors. Natural features, including stone formations and cloud-piercing peaks, appear alongside wildflowers, pronghorn, fireflies, bison, and bobcats. The book also acknowledges Indigenous ancestors whose lands were taken.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book details
The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola CrayonsNatascha BiebowThis picture-book biography traces Edwin Binney’s invention of the Crayola crayon. It explains how attention to color and consumer requests shaped the invention, then describes both earlier and current production methods. The account connects Binney’s work as an inventor with the changing processes used to make crayons over time, including the choices behind their development and production.Kindergarten to Second GradeView book detailsThird to Fifth Grade
28 selections
Akissi: More Tales of MischiefMarguerite Abouet, illustrated by Mathieu SapinAkissi returns for more mischief on the Ivory Coast. In these episodes, the troublemaking Akissi must keep herself from drowning, confront a bully, and make peace with the girl she sees as her arch-nemesis. She also has to evade a witch doctor’s potion. The book gathers a series of comic predicaments around Akissi, whose mischief repeatedly places her in difficult situations involving school, rivals, and a potion she wants to avoid.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
AnotherChristian RobinsonA young Black girl wakes when a blue-collared black cat enters through a porthole of light and takes her own cat’s red mouse toy. She follows the cats into a bright, unfamiliar space, moving through openings and an Escher-like staircase. There she encounters children at play alongside doubles distinguished by the colors of their clothes. Eventually, the girl meets a version of herself in an adventure through another world.Third to Fifth GradeLexile Text Measure NP0LATOS Book Level 0.1View book details
Away With Words: The Daring Story of Isabella BirdLori Mortensen, illustrated by Kristy Caldwell. Peachtree Publishing Company IncThis picture-book biography tells of Isabella Bird, a Victorian-era explorer and author. As a young woman in nineteenth-century England, pursuing exploration was difficult. Her travels began in the English countryside and later took her to America, Canada, Africa, Asia, Australia, and other places. With each journey, Isabella developed new ways to observe and describe the world around her.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the BorderMitali PerkinsNear Christmas, Maria, her mother, and her younger brother Juan travel to the California–Mexico border for Las Posadas. Their grandmother waits on the other side of the fence. Because their time together is brief, Maria and Juan prepare stories and Christmas presents for her. The siblings have not seen their grandmother for years, and the family gathers at the border to exchange their gifts.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
The Bluest of Blues: Anna Atkins and the First Book of PhotographsFiona RobinsonThis picture-book biography follows Anna Atkins from her early interest in shells, plants, and insects in nineteenth-century England to her work as a botanist. She made carefully labeled drawings before experimenting with photography. After learning the cyanotype process, which uses chemicals and sunlight to make blue images on paper, she recorded her seaweed collection. Her three-volume publication, begun in 1843, became the first published book made with photographs. The book also includes information about her life and instructions for making cyanotypes.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to ComeSue MacyAaron Lansky searches for and saves books written in Yiddish, a language connected with generations of European Jews. His particular treasure is Yiddish literature. By gradually assembling a whole library, Lansky preserves not only the books themselves but also the history and culture carried in them. The account centers on his long-term effort to gather this body of writing and keep it available for future generations, with artwork made in acrylic and gouache.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Brave with Beauty: A Story of AfghanistanMaxine Rose Schur, illustrated by Patricia Grush, Robin Dewitt, Golsa Yaghoobi. Yali BooksThis book tells the story of Queen Goharshad, a fifteenth-century monarch who ruled from Herat in western Afghanistan, then a Timurid artistic and cultural center. During her rule, poetry, music, calligraphy, painting, and science flourished. A poet and architect herself, Goharshad designed notable buildings. The account centers on her leadership and achievements in a period of cultural and artistic life in Afghanistan.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Carter Reads the NewspaperDeborah HopkinsonThis biography follows Carter G. Woodson, who was born in 1875 to formerly enslaved parents. As a boy, he read the newspaper aloud to his father, who could not read but wanted to stay informed. Later, while working in coal mines, Carter read and researched subjects for other miners. His interest in the past led him to champion African American history.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Child of St KildaBeth Waters. Child’s Play, illustrated by Beth Waters. Child’s PlayNorman John Gillies was among the last children born on St Kilda. His birth came five years before the island’s whole population permanently left for the British mainland. The book places Gillies’s earliest years immediately before that evacuation. It records a child’s connection to St Kilda at the end of the community’s life there.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Going Down Home With DaddyKelly Starling LyonsAt a family reunion marking 75 years on land bought by Lil Alan’s great-grandparents, he wonders what gift he can offer Granny. He listens to relatives’ plans and to stories about the family’s connection to the land. When his turn comes, Lil Alan chooses a cotton cloud, a pecan, and a pinch of dirt to honor the quilts, trees, and shared home that shape his family history.Third to Fifth GradeLexile Text Measure 660LATOS Book Level 3.5View book details
Groundbreaking Guys: 40 Men Who Became Great by Doing GoodStephanie True Peters, illustrated by Shamel WashingtonGroundbreaking Guys presents illustrated biographies of forty men from different periods of history. Its profiles include inventors, explorers, presidents, Mr. Rogers, Barack Obama, Hayao Miyazaki, and others. The book focuses on men whose lives are associated with compassion, care, creativity, raising their voices for people in need, or breaking down barriers for those who came after them. It brings together historical figures whose accomplishments are considered alongside how they affected other people.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Ida B. Wells: Discovering History’s HeroesDiane BaileyDiane Bailey’s book profiles Ida B. Wells, an African-American journalist and activist who campaigned against lynching in the United States during the 1890s. It recounts a May 1884 journey by train between Memphis and Nashville, when staff ordered Wells—despite her first-class ticket—to leave her car for the one designated for African Americans. That experience became a turning point in her life.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Just Like Rube Goldberg: The Incredible True Story of the Man Behind the MachinesSarah Aronson, illustrated by Robert NeubeckerJust Like Rube Goldberg presents the early life of Rube Goldberg. From a young age, he showed a talent for art. His father, a German immigrant, wanted him to pursue work that would provide security. The book places Goldberg’s artistic ability alongside his father’s different hopes for his future. It follows the contrast between a boy drawn to art and a parent concerned with practical employment and a secure job.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Let ‘Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the People’s ChampionVaunda Micheaux NelsonGeorge Fletcher learns to ride from Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla horsemen and develops a gentle way of taming mustangs. As an African American rider, he enters the rodeo competitions that will admit him. At the 1911 Pendleton Roundup, he competes on a half-wild horse against Jackson Sundown and John Spain. When Spain receives first prize, disappointed spectators raise money for Fletcher by selling pieces of his hat.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Monument Maker: Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln MemorialLinda Booth SweeneyDaniel Chester French’s path from farm work to sculpture begins when, after struggling in school, he carves a frog from a turnip. The account follows his development as a sculptor, including help from Louisa May Alcott’s sister, and culminates in his creation of the Lincoln statue for the Lincoln Memorial. Pen-and-ink, crosshatched artwork accompanies the story, which also includes sources and a timeline.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
My Fate According to the ButterflyGail D. VillanuevaSab hopes to celebrate her eleventh birthday with her family at the resort run by her father and his partner outside Manila. Troubled by a black butterfly she sees as a sign of her death, she joins her best friend Pepper in investigating why her sister, Ate Nadine, has long been estranged from their father. Their search through Manila reveals Nadine’s efforts to expose drug dealing at her college and the violent tactics used against drug abuse.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
O Captain, My Captain: Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil WarRobert BurleighThis picture book traces a poet’s response to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Experiences with terrible conditions in hospitals, together with deep respect for the president, shape both the poet’s writing and actions. Illustrations accompany the account, which also provides extensive back matter on the poet, the president, and the conflict that connected them.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a NationBarry Wittenstein andA Place to Land explores the 1963 address known as “I Have a Dream,” delivered by Martin Luther King Jr., along with the movement it spurred. It connects that history to a newer generation of activists who demand an end to racism. The book also considers the March on Washington and the writing process through which King developed this historic speech.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Prairie Boy: Frank Lloyd Wright Turns the Heartland into a HomeBarb Rosenstock, illustrated by Christopher Silas NealPrairie Boy introduces the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, presenting him as the first American architect to become famous around the world. It names the Wisconsin prairie as the place where Wright was born and says that he loved the landscape there. Barb Rosenstock wrote the book, which has 32 pages in this edition. Calkins Creek published that edition on September 10, 2019.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
The Sad Little FactJonah Winter, illustrated by Pete OswaldA fact that cannot lie finds that nobody believes him. The Authorities imprison the sad little fact along with other facts, and the world becomes dark. With help from skilled fact finders, the facts escape and return truth to the world. This story turns facts into characters whose confinement has consequences beyond the prison. It follows their effort to regain freedom and restore truth after authorities try to silence them.Third to Fifth GradeLexile Text Measure AD620LATOS Book Level 3.1View book details
Smile: How Young Charlie Chaplin Taught the World to Laugh (and Cry)Gary GolioThis book looks at Charlie Chaplin’s early life and his work as a silent-film star. It describes how he learned that good and bad experiences coexist, and connects that idea to the Little Tramp, the character through whom he brought laughter and tears to audiences. The story centers on Chaplin, his famous screen role, and the emotional range of his films.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz and the Great WarDuncan TonatiuhThis biography follows José de la Luz Sáenz, a Mexican American who experienced prejudice because of his heritage. He taught, served in the U.S. Army during World War I, and found that discrimination continued even in wartime. Later, Sáenz worked to advance equality for his Latinx community by helping create a civil rights organization. Stylized illustrations accompany the account, which also includes notes, a timeline, a glossary, and a bibliography.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Sweet Dreams, Sarah: From Slavery to InventorVivian Kirkfield, illustrated by Chris EwaldSarah E. Goode was among the first African American women to receive a U.S. patent. While working in a furniture store, she identified a need for a bed that could serve more than one purpose. She developed a cupboard bed in response, drawing on her work and inventive thinking. The book presents Goode’s invention and the steps that led to her patent.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
ThurgoodJonah WinterThurgood follows Thurgood Marshall from his childhood in segregated Baltimore to his career fighting discrimination. As a young person, Marshall was known for talking, telling jokes, and arguing; he later joined debate teams in high school and college and studied law at Howard University. He became the NAACP’s top lawyer after two years with the organization. The book also covers his becoming the first African American justice on the Supreme Court.Third to Fifth GradeLexile Text Measure 950LATOS Book Level 5.6View book details
Two Brothers, Four Hands: The Artists Alberto and Diego GiacomettiJan Greenberg, Sandra JordanThis picture-book biography follows Swiss brothers Alberto and Diego Giacometti as artists. Alberto is recognized early for his artistic ability, while younger Diego initially supports him before becoming an artist himself. Their lives include war, poverty, and mental-health struggles, all of which inform their art. The book focuses on their creative journeys, distinct personalities, and relationship as brothers, with a timeline, glossary, bibliography, and material on looking at one of Alberto’s artworks.Third to Fifth GradeView book details
Who Did It First?: 50 Scientists, Artists, and Mathematicians Who Revolutionized the WorldJulie Leung, illustrated by Caitlin KuhwaldThis illustrated collection presents fifty profiles of women and men identified as pioneers in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. Among the people included are Mae Jemison, Jane Goodall, Alan Turing, and Tu Youyou. Their entries note firsts involving space travel, acceptance into a chimpanzee community, the idea of artificial intelligence, and a Nobel Prize won by a Chinese woman. The book groups these achievements across several fields.Third to Fifth GradeLexile Text Measure 1120LATOS Book Level 8View book details
A Good Kind of TroubleLisa Moore RaméeTwelve-year-old Shayla prefers to follow rules and avoid attracting attention. At her more diverse middle school, she is hurt when other Black students think she believes herself superior to them. A verdict in the police shooting of a Black man leaves her upset, while her older sister Hana joins protests. Inspired by Hana and angered by injustice, Shayla begins a black-armband movement at school and faces opposition from the administration as friendships and new romantic feelings change around her.Third to Fifth GradeLexile Text Measure 720LATOS Book Level 4.5View book details
Orange for the SunsetsTina AthaideIn Entebbe, Asha and Yesofu are close friends. Asha is Indian and Yesofu is Ugandan, but these differences have not shaped their friendship, which includes after-school samosas and cricket games. When Idi Amin orders Indians to depart Uganda within ninety days, the two must confront the order’s effect on their relationship and on their sense of home. Back matter provides a timeline and resources.Third to Fifth GradeLexile Text Measure 600LATOS Book Level 4.1View book detailsSixth to Eighth Grade
27 selections
AlliesAlan GratzSet on D-Day during World War II, this novel follows people experiencing the Allied invasion of German-occupied France. Dee, a young American soldier, approaches the French coast by boat with his fellow soldiers, frightened by what lies ahead. In France, Samira works as a spy attempting to disrupt the German army. Other viewpoints include an American soldier whose family escaped Germany and French civilians living through the invasion.Sixth to Eighth GradeLexile Text Measure 870LATOS Book Level 5.6View book details
Anthem (The Sixties Trilogy #3)Deborah WilesIn 1969, two cousins take a road trip across America in order to reach a teenager. Their reason for traveling is to tell him that he has been drafted to fight in Vietnam. Deborah Wiles, identified as a two-time National Book Award finalist, wrote the 480-page book. Scholastic Press published it on 2019-10-01. The book belongs to The Sixties Trilogy.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Bringing Down a President: The Watergate ScandalAndrea Balis, Elizabeth LevyA fly-on-the-wall narrator supplies background as the Watergate scandal unfolds through the voices of Richard Nixon, White House staff, members of Congress, lawyers, reporters, and burglars. The book presents these participants as speakers within its account of the scandal. Line drawings accompany the text, and extensive back matter adds further material. Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy are identified as the book’s authors.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Child of the Dream (A Memoir of 1963)Sharon RobinsonIn this memoir, Sharon Robinson looks back on 1963, when she turned thirteen and learned more about the civil rights movement. She recounts her relationship with her father, Jackie Robinson, a baseball figure and activist, as well as her part in the March on Washington. Family photographs accompany her memories of a pivotal year in the movement in the United States.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Dear America: Young Readers’ Edition: The Story of an Undocumented CitizenJose Antonio VargasAdapted from Jose Antonio Vargas’s adult memoir, this book tells Vargas’s own story as an undocumented immigrant. He arrives from the Philippines at twelve to live with his grandparents in the United States, unaware that the move was illegal. When he seeks a learner’s permit, he learns his immigration status and then keeps it secret for almost twenty years. The narrative is framed alongside the undocumented population in the United States.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Dreams from Many Rivers: A Hispanic History of the United States Told in PoemsMargarita Engle, illustrated by Beatriz Gutiérrez HernándezThis collection of poems presents a Hispanic history of the United States through many voices, reaching from early accounts to contemporary life. Its subjects include Juana Briones, Juan Ponce de León, enslaved people in the eighteenth century, and modern sixth graders. The poems trace Latino experiences and contributions across the nation’s past. Across the book, individual speakers illuminate how these communities shaped the country’s history.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Fighter in Velvet Gloves: Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth PeratrovichAnnie Boochever, with Roy Peratrovich, JrElizabeth Peratrovich was a young Alaska Native Tlingit when she encountered a storefront sign excluding Native people and dogs, words that stayed with her throughout her life. In 1945, this Tlingit activist gave an impassioned speech credited with helping advance the United States’ first antidiscrimination law. The volume contains photographs, a timeline, a glossary, and a bibliography about this history.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Fighting for the Forest: How FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps Helped Save AmericaP. O’Connell PearsonThis nonfiction account examines Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal project established during the Great Depression. The Corps employed millions of people without jobs and restored 120 million acres of forest and farmland. It situates the program in 1933, when Roosevelt took office as the United States faced economic collapse and environmental trouble. The book connects employment with large-scale land restoration.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Games of Deception: The True Story of the First U.S. Olympic Basketball Team at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s GermanyAndrew MaranissThis nonfiction history follows basketball’s path to becoming an Olympic sport and examines the U.S. team’s decision to compete at the 1936 Munich Games. It explores amateur-team organization, sports competition, politics, and ethical questions surrounding American participation. The account also considers Avery Brundage, head of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the way the Olympics were used to display German power rather than international unity. Events behind the scenes and militaristic displays signaled dangers ahead.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Genesis Begins AgainAlicia D. WilliamsThirteen-year-old Genesis Anderson enters a new, predominantly white middle school after her family rents a house outside Detroit. Repeated evictions tied to her father’s gambling have made home uncertain. Genesis also faces bullying and colorism at school and within her family, while struggling with a harsh view of herself. Singing offers her release, but sharing her voice with the school feels daunting.Sixth to Eighth GradeLexile Text Measure 670LATOS Book Level 4.5View book details
Girl Under a Red Moon: Growing Up During China’s Cultural RevolutionDa ChenDuring China’s Cultural Revolution, Sisi lives with her family in the southeastern village of Yellow Stone. She is a student, daughter, and older sister who helps care for her younger brother, Da. After she is excluded from the Red Guard and shamed because her family were landowners, Sisi flees the village with Da. In Bridge Town, the siblings face further dangers as Sisi must weigh family, nation, safety, and justice.Sixth to Eighth GradeLexile Text Measure 1120LView book details
The Good Son: A Story from the First World War, Told in MiniaturePierre-Jacques OberAt Christmas in 1914, Pierre, a young soldier serving in World War I, leaves his regiment to visit his widowed mother. After he returns, he faces an accusation of desertion and grave consequences. The story is presented through photographed scenes made with customized miniature figures, connecting an intimate family visit to the pressures of wartime service. It presents the conflict as a time when the whole world was at war.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Her Own Two Feet: A Rwandan Girl’s Brave Fight to WalkMeredith Davis, Rebeka UwitonzeRebeka Uwitonze, a nine-year-old girl from Rwanda, was born with clubfeet that left her crawling rather than walking on the soles of her feet. Her story follows the risky trip she makes to the United States for surgery, seeking the chance to walk differently for the first time. The account centers on her experience of a condition that shaped her movement and on the difficult journey undertaken for treatment.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young PeopleRoxanne Dunbar-OrtizThis history examines the land, its peoples, and its politics through Indigenous perspectives. It addresses settler colonialism, American Indian genocide, and racist violence against Native peoples while emphasizing Indigenous agency, resistance, and resilience across centuries. The book describes Native cultures and identities as numerous and complex, and includes a chapter on resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. Source notes, an index, and recommendations for Native-authored books appear in the end matter.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to PeaceAshley BryanAshley Bryan recounts his World War II service as a Black soldier in the segregated U.S. Army. Assigned to a service unit, he worked as a stevedore in Boston before being sent overseas. During the invasion of Normandy and the movement across France, he and other Black soldiers cleared beach mines and unloaded supplies. At the war’s end, he was responsible for bringing his unit home amid continuing segregation on transport ships. Bryan carried art supplies in his gas mask and drew whenever possible as he endured war and racism.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Leading the Way: Women In PowerJanet Howell, Theresa Howell, illustrated by Kylie Akia, Alexandra ByeLeading the Way offers biographies of more than fifty women in American political history. Its subjects include Jeannette Rankin, who won a congressional seat in 1916 as the first woman to do so; Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman voters elected to Congress; Sandra Day O’Connor, who became the Supreme Court’s first woman justice; and Bella Abzug. The book considers the actions, struggles, and accomplishments of these political leaders and includes a foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Maybe He Just Likes YouBarbara DeeMila feels that four boys at school are directing inappropriate and unwanted attention toward her. Their behavior leaves her feeling singled out and uncertain about how to respond. As the situation continues, Mila ultimately finds the strength to confront what is happening. The story centers on her experience of unwanted attention at school and her effort to speak up for herself when the behavior crosses a line.Sixth to Eighth GradeLexile Text Measure 630LATOS Book Level 4.1View book details
Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington’s Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away; Young Readers EditionErica Armstrong Dunbar, Kathleen Van CleveIn 1796, Ona Judge was a 22-year-old enslaved servant of George and Martha Washington. She escaped from the president’s Philadelphia home and sought freedom in New Hampshire. This young readers edition recounts her flight from enslavement by the Washington family, then among the most powerful families in the United States. It places Judge’s escape within the history of slavery in early America.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Our Castle by the SeaLucy StrangeEleven-year-old Pet grows up in a lighthouse surrounded by storms, hidden tunnels, and tales of sea monsters. Her world is also shaped by a seafaring myth. As World War II reaches the country, the clifftops become a frightening place of conflict. The novel brings together Pet’s lighthouse life, maritime stories, and the wartime reality closing in around her.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Playlist: The Rebels and Revolutionaries of SoundJames Rhodes, illustrated by Martin O’Neill. Candlewick StudioJames Rhodes presents a piano-led introduction to seven composers whose music has made a lasting mark. The book connects each composer with a live musical performance, giving readers a way to encounter these figures through both context and sound. Its focus is on composers and the expressive possibilities of piano performance, making music the central subject. Published by Wren & Rook in 2019, this 72-page volume offers a concise entry point into the lives and work of these musical figures.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
The Poison Eaters: Fighting Danger and Fraud in Our Food and DrugsGail JarrowThis nonfiction book looks at Harvey Washington Wiley's work on food, medicines, and consumer safety. Before regular food testing and rigorous scrutiny of product claims, people sometimes consumed harmful ingredients without knowing it. Wiley studied volunteers called the poison eaters, who ingested questionable substances, and his broader efforts helped lead to the FDA's formation. The book also considers corporate lobbying and profit-making that could put ordinary people's health and safety at risk.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Secret SoldiersKeely HuttonDuring World War I, thirteen-year-old Thomas is a coal miner whose older brother has disappeared while serving in the English army. Hoping to find him, Thomas lies about his age and joins the Claykickers, a specialized tunnel-digging unit working beneath the Allied front. His search for his brother takes him into a dangerous underground wartime mission rather than onto an open battlefield.Sixth to Eighth GradeLexile Text Measure 910LATOS Book Level 5.8View book details
Stand on the SkyErin BowAmong Kazakh nomads, Aisulu’s decision to train an eagle challenges a tradition that reserves eagle flying for men. She discovers that her brother Serik has concealed a serious limp, then secretly cares for an orphaned baby eagle while her parents travel to seek treatment for him. Aisulu rescues and trains the bird in hopes of competing at the Mongolian Eagle Festival, defying expectations along the way.Sixth to Eighth GradeLexile Text Measure HL670LATOS Book Level 4.8View book details
Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary ChildrenKath ShackletonThis graphic-memoir collection presents the experiences of six children who survived the Holocaust. Heinz remembers Kristallnacht and later internment in England as an enemy alien. Trude was moved among English homes while her parents were held and killed in concentration camps. Ruth recalls the chances that brought her family from Germany to London, while Martin remembers air raids in England. Suzanne was hidden in rural France, and Arek escaped selection at Auschwitz by changing lines. Digital illustrations use dark colors and sharp forms to convey Nazi brutality and fear.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School EqualityJo Ann Allen Boyce, Debbie LevyIn 1956, fourteen-year-old Jo Ann Allen is one of twelve Black students integrating Clinton High School in Tennessee. Her present-tense account combines poems in her voice with news clippings and other documents from the 1956–57 school year. The early days are tense but quiet until outsiders foster protests and violence. Jo Ann and her classmates face daily harassment, while threats spread through the wider Black community. Soldiers arrive to maintain peace, and families must weigh their safety against the struggle for equal education. An afterword follows the twelve students’ later lives.Sixth to Eighth GradeView book details
Under the Broken SkyMariko NagaiWritten in verse, the novel follows Natsu and her younger sister Asa as they flee a Japanese settlement in occupied Manchuria during World War II’s last year. After their father is drafted, a neighbor cares for them. The sisters later leave on foot and reach a city by train, where they take shelter in a school. Illness separates them, and Natsu resolves to find Asa so they can seek their father in Japan.Sixth to Eighth GradeLexile Text Measure 870LATOS Book Level 5.5View book details
The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USABrenda WoodsIn the summer of 1946, twelve-year-old Gabriel Haberlin forms a friendship with an African American World War II veteran in South Carolina. Gabriel is white, and the friendship changes how he understands the town around him. Through their relationship, he confronts racism in the Jim Crow South and the unwelcoming conditions faced by the veteran after returning from war.Sixth to Eighth GradeLexile Text Measure 780LATOS Book Level 5View book detailsNinth to Twelfth Grade
25 selections
Accused!: The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys: Lies, Prejudice, and the Fourteenth AmendmentLarry Dane BrimnerThis nonfiction account examines the Scottsboro Boys, nine Black teenagers falsely accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. Set during the Great Depression, it follows their ordeal through a racist judicial system after two white women made the accusations. The book includes archival photographs as well as a bibliography, footnotes, and an index, documenting a case shaped by false charges, prejudice, and the legal system.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Among the FallenVirginia Frances SchwartzSixteen-year-old Orpha is imprisoned at Tothill prison but will not explain what brought her there because she believes no one would accept her account. Troubled by frightening memories and worn down by the prison’s harsh conditions, she persists. While trying to endure confinement, Orpha also reaches out to the other imprisoned girls, forming connections and doing what she can to keep them safe.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Becoming BeatrizTami CharlesSet in Newark, New Jersey, during the 1980s, this novel centers on fifteen-year-old Beatriz after her brother, the leader of the Diablos gang, is murdered. His death brings earlier trauma back to the surface and leaves her confronting the gang life surrounding her family. Beatriz has long wanted to become a professional dancer, and the story asks whether she can move away from the gang and return to dancing, the pursuit that matters most to her.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in AmericaIbi ZoboiEdited by Ibi Zoboi, this anthology brings together fictional stories by seventeen Black authors about the varied experiences of young Black people in America. The collection includes a Nigerian American boy drawn to heavy metal through a neighbor’s band, half-sisters trying to connect at camp, four boys imagining an ideal sandwich, and stories involving queer love, sexual assault, religion, grief, family, and social class. Across these different perspectives, the book explores Black identity, connection, and teenage concerns.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
The Downstairs GirlStacey LeeIn 1890s Atlanta, a Chinese American girl named Jo works as a maid while confronting prejudice. Away from her work, she writes an anonymous newspaper advice column under the name Dear Miss Sweetie. As the column gains a wide readership, Jo uses it to address social problems, but the response brings backlash. The novel follows her double life as a worker and unseen columnist in a society shaped by discrimination.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
The Far Away Brothers (Adapted for Young Adults): Two Teenage Immigrants Making a Life in AmericaLauren MarkhamErnesto and Raúl Flores are identical twin brothers who are often confused with one another. At seventeen, they live in rural El Salvador and imagine the United States as a distant possibility rather than an immediate destination. Starting a life there seems both dangerous and financially out of reach to them. Their shared circumstances frame a portrait of two brothers considering a future beyond home.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today (Revised Edition)Cynthia Levinson, Sanford Levinson, illustrated by Adela Pons. Peachtree Publishing Company IncFault Lines in the Constitution examines the U.S. Constitution as an origin point for political issues that remain urgent today. Written by a children’s nonfiction author and a constitutional scholar, it puts the country’s founding document at the center of present-day political struggles. The book links constitutional origins from the past with questions and debates facing politics today.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
HeroineMindy McGinnisMickey is a talented softball catcher whose senior season is disrupted after a car accident sends her and her best friend Carolina to the hospital. Prescribed OxyContin, Mickey runs out of the medication early and obtains more through another student. Her use escalates to heroin, and she tries to hide it from her family while stealing money for drugs and struggling on the field. The novel traces her path into opioid addiction.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
I Am a Feminist: Claiming the F-Word in Turbulent TimesMonique Polak, illustrated by Meags FitzgeraldThis nonfiction book begins with the history of feminism and considers why feminism still matters. It explains intersectionality and addresses continuing issues faced by girls and women. The discussion brings feminist history into contact with present-day inequalities. It also encourages teens to support equality and to speak out against injustice. Its subject matter connects ideas about feminism with social concerns affecting women and girls.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Love from A to ZS. K. AliZayneb, a West Indian and Pakistani American Muslim teen, spends an extended break with her aunt in Doha after challenging a teacher’s Islamophobia. There she meets Adam, a Chinese and white Muslim student visiting from college in London. Both keep journals called Marvels and Oddities, recording their daily highs and lows. As they grow closer, Zayneb shares her activism, grief, and experiences of Islamophobia, while Adam reveals that he has been diagnosed with MS and left college to focus on art.Ninth to Twelfth GradeLexile Text Measure HL740LATOS Book Level 4.7View book details
On the Come UpAngie ThomasBri, a sixteen-year-old African American rapper, wants to follow her late father’s path in hip-hop. With money scarce at home, she sells candy at her largely white arts high school. After a security check leads to her being handcuffed and rumors that she dealt drugs, Bri turns her anger over the treatment of Black and brown students into a rap song. The song spreads online, bringing attention and controversy as Bri pursues her ambitions.Ninth to Twelfth GradeLexile Text Measure HL550LATOS Book Level 3.8View book details
The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the BorderJuan Pablo VillalobosThis collection follows eleven young people who leave dangerous conditions in their home countries and immigrate to the United States in search of safety and stability. Their routes include trains, cars, buses, walking, river crossings, and hidden spaces beneath buses or in trailers. Some stories focus on the dangers that forced them to leave and the risks of travel; others describe what happens before or after crossing the border, including time in temporary detention and homes.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Robert E. Lee: The Man, the Soldier, the MythBrandon Marie MillerThis biography examines Robert E. Lee’s public and private life, including his role as a general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. It considers a figure whose legacy has been viewed very differently: revered as a hero by many and regarded as a traitor by others. The book includes photographs and provides extensive source material and a bibliography while exploring responsibility, loyalty, military service, and the myths surrounding Lee.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
SHOUTLaurie Halse AndersonIn this poetry memoir, Laurie Halse Anderson recounts her life from childhood through adulthood. The poems introduce her family life in the 1970s and address the sexual assault she experienced at thirteen, as well as the silence surrounding women and their bodies. Anderson writes about subsequent drug and alcohol use, competitive swimming, a year in Denmark as an exchange student, and encounters with readers affected by sexual assault. The memoir also reflects on her parents’ deaths and her family history.Ninth to Twelfth GradeLexile Text Measure 1080LATOS Book Level 7.5View book details
SlayBrittney MorrisKiera is a seventeen-year-old game designer who created Slay, a fantasy role-playing game online, designed around Afrocentric elements and reserved for Black players. When a gamer is murdered, she must defend both the game and the community she built. A troll threatens Kiera’s secret game and her identity, bringing the danger surrounding her creation into focus. The story centers on her effort to protect it from that threat.Ninth to Twelfth GradeLexile Text Measure 930LATOS Book Level 6View book details
Soaring Earth: A Companion Memoir to Enchanted AirMargarita EngleIn this companion memoir, Margarita Engle recalls a childhood divided between Cuba and Los Angeles. Cuba is remembered as a lush, welcoming island, while life in Los Angeles carries loneliness and dreams. After the revolution, Cuba becomes inaccessible to her in ordinary life and takes on the character of an unreachable mystery. The book contrasts connection to a beloved homeland with separation brought by political change.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
This Time Will Be DifferentMisa SugiuraCJ feels unlike her highly ambitious mother and is content helping her aunt Hannah at the family flower shop. Although Hannah believes flowers carry romantic meanings, CJ does not share that view. Still, while putting together bouquets, CJ discovers an ability she had not recognized in herself. The story centers on her place within her family business, her relationship with her mother and aunt, and the unexpected skill she finds through arranging flowers.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of ArcDavid Elliott, map by Cara LlewelynThis verse narrative draws on brief statements from Joan of Arc’s Trial of Condemnation and from people who spoke at a later trial. It recounts and imagines Joan’s final days while revisiting her earlier efforts against the English claim on France in the fifteenth century. Poems move among the voices of historical and religious figures, animals, objects, ideas, Joan herself, and fire. The book addresses her spiritual visions, gender nonconformity, church power, and misogyny.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Warhead: The True Story of One Teen Who Almost Saved the WorldJeff HenigsonSet in 1986, this memoir recounts Jeff Henigson’s experience with brain cancer as a fifteen-year-old. Through the Starlight Children’s Foundation, he makes a wish to meet Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia. Jeff hopes to use that meeting to urge nuclear disarmament and peace. The book brings together his illness, his wish, travel to Russia, and his effort to speak about the danger of nuclear weapons.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Watch Us RiseRenée Watson, Ellen HaganBest friends Jasmine and Chelsea attend a New York City high school that publicly supports social justice, yet they encounter sexism there, including harassment and limited backing for a Women’s Rights Club. Jasmine is Black; Chelsea is Jewish and white. They create a blog, receive guidance from a woman in their community, and take further action. Jasmine navigates body image and her father’s terminal illness, while Chelsea considers tensions between her feminist beliefs, her relationship, and supporting Jasmine through grief.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
We Are Here to Stay: Voices of Undocumented Young AdultsSusan KuklinWe Are Here to Stay brings together the accounts of nine undocumented young adults living in the United States. They explain how and why they came to the country, as well as the experiences that followed. Arriving as children or teens, they came from South Korea, Mexico, Independent Samoa, Ghana, and Colombia, usually with their parents; one arrival involved trafficking. Each chose to speak about personal experiences and dreams. To protect identities, the book represents each person only with a first initial and a dash. Notes about the interviews and additional resources appear in the end matter.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
The Weight of Our SkyHanna AlkafIn 1969 Kuala Lumpur, sixteen-year-old Melati Ahmad is caught amid racial violence while trying to reach her mother. Melati loves music, films, and the Beatles, and she has OCD. She believes a djinn threatens her with visions of her mother’s death unless she follows counting and tapping rituals. As fighting surrounds her, Melati must find a way home safely.Ninth to Twelfth GradeLexile Text Measure 830LATOS Book Level 5.7View book details
White RoseKip WilsonThis novel in verse follows Sophie Scholl and Germany’s anti-Nazi White Rose Movement during World War II. It begins after Sophie and her brother Hans are arrested for distributing leaflets opposing the Nazi regime, then moves among her interrogation, earlier life and activism, and the day of their arrest. The narrative also includes the search for those producing the leaflets and perspectives from Sophie’s interrogators. Sophie’s spiritual and political resistance is met with hostility toward her gender and actions.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
The World on Either SideDiane TerranaDiane Terrana's novel portrays sixteen-year-old Valentine in the aftermath of her boyfriend's death. Valentine withdraws from the parts of life that once connected her to others: she no longer attends school, stops spending time with friends, and eventually stays in bed rather than going out. Published by Orca Book Publishers in 2019, the book presents her escalating isolation through these changes in daily life.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details
Yes She Can: 10 Stories of Hope & Change from Young Female Staffers of the Obama White HouseCompiled by Molly DillonTen women reflect on entering the Obama administration while in their twenties. Their first-person accounts cover government work connected with policy, immigration, technology, major events, and other public-service areas. They explain how they reached their positions, describe their day-to-day duties, and reflect on successes and mistakes. Compiled by Molly Dillon, the collection also includes photographs, practical guidance, and an introduction by Yara Shahidi.Ninth to Twelfth GradeView book details