by Sandra Forrester (1997)
No longer a slave now that the Civil War is over, fifteen-year-old Maddie dreams of getting an education and becoming a teacher, but she finds the reality of freedom harsh.
William H. Armstrong
Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to read and through his relationship with his devoted dog Sounder.
Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
Jackie French Koller
Caring for her two younger siblings after their unreliable mother abandons them, fifteen-year-old Anna discovers the difficulties of trying to be a parent.
Betsy Byars
When Junior accidentally gets caught in his own coyote trap deep in the woods, he is rescued by the reclusive woman known as Mad Mary and begins an unforgettable adventure.