White Owl, Barn Owl by Nicola Davies

White Owl, Barn Owl by Nicola Davies Illustrated by Michael Foreman Publisher: Candlewick Press Pub. Date: April 2007 ISBN-13: 9780763633646 Sales Rank: 429,812 Age Range: 5 to 8 Red Clover Nominee: 2008-2009 Synopsis (from bn.com) An award-winning author and illustrator swoop into the wondrous world of the barn owl. A young girl and her grandfather [...]

Dadblamed Union Army Cow, by Susan Fletcher

Dadblamed Union Army Cow by Susan Fletcher ilustrated by Kimberly Bulcken Root Red Clover Nominee:  2009-2008 school year Publisher: Candlewick Press Pub. Date: June 2007 ISBN-13: 9780763622633 Sales Rank: 416,772 Age Range: 5 to 7 32pp Synopsis (from bn.com) She just won’t git! A Union army soldier can’t shake his dadblamed cow in this uplifting [...]

Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope, by Nikki Grimes

Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes illustrated by Bryan Collier Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Pub. Date: August 2008 ISBN-13: 9781416971443 Sales Rank: 340 Age Range: 5 to 10 48pp Synopsis (from bn.com) Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii [...]

The Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles

The Story of Ruby Bridges Author: Robert Coles Illustrator: George Ford Publisher and date: Scholastic, 1995 Genres: biography Age/Grade: 1-3 Author’s perspective: According to Scott London: Coles describes himself variously as a doctor, child psychiatrist, oral historian, social anthropologist, teacher, friend, storyteller, busybody, and nuisance. Interviewers, journalists, and reviewers often seize on the apparent contradictions [...]

Martin’s Big Words: The LIfe of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by Doreen Rappaport

Author: Doreen Rappaport Illustrator: Bryan Collier Publisher and date: Scholastic, 2001 Genres: biography Age/Grade: 1-5 Author’s perspective: Doreen Rappaport, although not African American, does have an insider’s perspective on the fight for civil rights. She participated in the March on Washington in 1963. She then taught in a Mississippi freedom school during the summer of [...]

I Lost My Tooth in Africa, Penda Diakite

I Lost My Tooth in Africa by Penda Diakite Illustrated by Baba Wague Diakite publisher and date: Scholastic Press, 2006 genre: it is listed as fiction in the library but it is based on a true event age/grade:ages 4-8 Synopsis (from www.bn.com) More than anything, Amina wants to lose her loose tooth while visiting her [...]

Going Home, Coming Home, by Truong Tran

Going Home, Coming Home by Truong Tran Illustrated by Ann Phong publisher and date: Children’s Book Press, 2003 genre: realistic fiction age/grade: ages 6-9 Synopsis: from www.bn.com Ami Chi is traveling to Vietnam, where the streets are crowded with scooters and the fruit are shaped like dragons and stars. Her parents still consider Vietnam home. [...]

In the Small, Small Night, by Jane Kurtz

by Jane Kurtz illustrated by Rachel Isadora Publisher and date: Greenwillow Books, 2005 Genres: fiction with folktales mixed in Age/Grade:ages 5 and up Synopsis: (from the author’s website) Kofi can’t sleep in his new home in the United States, so his older sister Abena soothes his fears about life in a different country by telling [...]

The Color of Home, by Mary Hoffman

by Mary Hoffman Illustrated by Karin Littlewood Publisher and date: Phyllis Fogelman Books, 2002 Genres: fiction Age/Grade:ages 4-8 Synopsis: (from www.bn.com) This remarkably moving picture book follows first-grader Hassan through his first few days at school. Hassan has only recently arrived in the United States after he and his family were forced to flee Somalia, [...]

Water Hole Waiting, by Jane Kurtz

by Jane Kurtz and Christopher Kurtz Illustrated by Lee Christiansen Publisher and date: Harper Collins, March 2002 Genres: fiction Age/Grade:ages 4-8 Synopsis: (from www.bn.com) Waiting is hard. And if you are a small vervet monkey with a big thirst, it’s even harder. But wait you must, because snap! go Crocodile’s jaws; slip, slap go Lion’s [...]