Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison uses more than 50 archival photographs, many of children, to take readers on a journey to remember “the narrow path, the open door and the wide road” to integration of American schools before and after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board decision in 1954.
Remember: The Journey to School Integration
This boy’s curse begins when his teacher suggests that the “poetry of science” can be heard everywhere. From Moore to Frost, familiar poems are parodied and turned into science verse. Again art and illustration are inseparable as are the laughs in this offbeat look at science.
Science Verse
What Susan does everyday is revealed in a simple, rhyming text and light-lined, colored pencil illustrations. What Susan does and how she behaves is what all children do but she does it using a wheelchair, revealed — without sentimentality — in the final spread.
Susan Laughs
Learning how to read isn’t easy for Trisha. But with the help and support of a wise new teacher, she begins to blossom. Told with warmth and sensitivity, and illustrated in Polacco’s signature style, the story of a girl overcoming dyslexia is based on the author’s own experience.
Thank You, Mr. Falker
More than anything, 14-year-old Ida Bidson wants to become a teacher. But her dream falters when the one-room school in her remote Colorado town shuts down. Her only hope is to keep the school open without anyone finding out. Yet even a secret school needs a teacher. Is Ida ready to take charge?
The Secret School
Frankie lives in Brooklyn, New York, during World War II. He has an active imagination that is enhanced by popular radio shows: The Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, and others. The story, setting, and characters unfold through the dialogue of the characters and the radio shows to which they listen.
“Who Was That Masked Man, Anyway?”
I’m normal because I am a normal kid — going to school, being happy, getting homework, having a family. I’m not normal because I’m dyslexic… Thus begins the autobiography of an eleven-year-old boy who describes how he created a board game based on the popular Harry Potter series and entered it into his school’s yearly Invention Convention, where it became an instant hit.
My Year With Harry Potter: How I Discovered My Own Magical World
Is there really such a thing as a “photographic memory”? That’s how Cam Jansen got her nickname — Cam is short for Camera. And she uses her amazing ability all the time to solve mysteries — this time, to find a lost tooth.
Young Cam Jansen and the Lost Tooth
It’s parent-teacher conference time and Hank is in a panic! He’s terrified that his teacher is going to tell his parents that he’ll have to repeat the fourth grade. If only Hank could get his parents out of town. Wait! Hank just might have a plan! (See more books from the Hank Zipzer series (opens in a new window))
Help! Somebody Get Me Out of Fourth Grade (Hank Zipzer)
The new kid in school needs a new name! Or does she? Being the new kid in school is hard enough, but what about when nobody can pronounce your name? Having just moved from Korea, Unhei is anxious that American kids will like her.
The Name Jar
It’s time for the “best field trip of the year” — a night on an old-fashioned three-mast sailing ship in New York Harbor. Then Hank accidentally sets the boat adrift! The best field trip of the year is becoming the worst night of Hank’s life — how’s he going to get out of this one? (See more books from the Hank Zipzer series (opens in a new window))
The Night I Flunked My Field Trip (Hank Zipzer)
Life as a paper-thin boy is not all bad as Stanley finds out. He was flattened by a bulletin board bit adjusts quite well with the help of his parents to his new dimensions — all of which makes for very funny reading (and travels in later books about Stanley and his family).
Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure
This book explores the truth, and the myths, behind cliques, phonies, and true friendships.
Cliques, Phonies, & Other Baloney
Just like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up. But Zinkoff also raises his hand with all the wrong answers, trips over his own feet, and falls down with laughter over a word like “Jabip.” Other kids have their own word to describe him, but Zinkoff is too busy to hear it. He doesn’t know he’s not like everyone else. And one winter night, Zinkoff’s differences show that any name can someday become “hero.”
Loser
Having ADD causes Ben to get into more trouble than he would like, yet when Trout, another child with ADD enters his world, greater problems arise as Trout’s actions cause Ben to get a bad reputation for being a problem child at school.
Trout and Me
It’s report card day-the most dreaded day in Hank’s school year. And when Hank gets his grades, they’re his worst nightmare come true: a D in spelling, a D in reading, a D in math. After school, Hank and his friends go to his mom’s deli. His mom is on the prowl-she knows a report card day when she sees one. Hank tries to stall her, but she’s going for his backpack. He’s cornered. Hank hands the report card off to his friend Frankie, who gives it to his friend Ashley, who gives it to Robert, who puts it into a meat grinder! Hank watches as his Ds are ground into a big salami, and this particular salami is being made for a very important client. How will Hank get out of this one? (See more books from the Hank Zipzer series (opens in a new window))
I Got a D in Salami (Hank Zipzer)
On the first day of fourth grade, Hank’s teacher assigns a five-paragraph essay, “What I did on my summer vacation,” and he knows he’s in trouble. It has always been difficult for him to read, write, and spell so he decides to “build” his assignment instead — to “bring Niagara Falls into the classroom, water and all.” This is the first book in the Hank Zipzer series. (opens in a new window)