Multicultural Fiction Bibliography

Boyd, Candy Dawson. Charlie Pippin. Charlie hopes to understand her rigid father by finding out everything she can about the Vietnam War, the war that let him survive but killed his dreams.

Boyd, Candy Dawson. Chevrolet Saturdays. When he enters fifth grade after his mother's remarriage, Joey has trouble adjusting to his new teacher and to his new stepfather. R.L. 5.3

Beatty, Patricia. Lupita Manana. To help her poverty-sticken family, 13-year-old Lupita enters California as an illegal alien and starts to work while constantly on the watch for "la migra".

Brooks, Bruce. The Moves Make the Man. A black boy and an emotionally troubled white boy in North Carolina form a precarious friendship.

Burks, Brian.  Walks Alone.  After a surprise attack leaves many of her people dead,  fifteen-year-old Walks Alone, an Apache girl wounded in the massacre, struggles to survive and rejoin the refugee band.

Buss, Fran Leeper. Journey of the Sparrows. 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.

Calvert, Patricia. The Hour of the Wolf. Following his suicide attempt, a loner and a loser who has never lived up to his father's expectations is sent to Alaska where he subsequently enters the annual thousand-mile-long Iditarod Trail Race from Anchorage to Nome in memory of his Athabascan Indian friend who dies.

Cannon, A.E. The Shadow Brothers. High school junior Marcus feels his entire world changing around him as Henry, the Navajo foster brother who has lived with him since the age of seven, starts to change his personality and wonder if he should return to his family's reservation in another state.

Carbone, Elisa.  Stealing Freedom.  A novel based on the events in the life of a young slave girl from Maryland who endures all kinds of mistreatment and cruelty, including being separated from her family, but who eventually escapes to freedom in Canada.

Casey, Maude. Over the Water. Fourteen-year-old Mary feels like a misfit, both in England where her family lives and in Ireland where they are from, until she visits her grandmother in Ireland.

Chambers, Veronica.  Quinceanera Means Sweet 15.  Eagerly anticipating her Quinceañera, the fifteenth birthday celebration that will signify her adulthood, Marisol is troubled by a lack of money, her mother's new boyfriend, changes in her best friend, and the absence of the father she never knew.

Childress, Alice. Rainbow Jordan. Her mother, her foster guardian, and 14-year-old Rainbow comment on the state of things as she prepares to return to a foster home for yet another stay.

Choi, Sook Nyul. Echoes of the White Giraffe. Fifteen-year-old Sookan adjusts to life in the refugee village in Pusan but continues to hope that the civil war will end and her family will be reunited in Seoul.

Choi, Sook Nyul. Year of Impossible Goodbyes. A young Korean girl survives the oppressive Japanese and Russian occupation of North Korea during the 1940s.

Clark, Ann Nolan. Secret of the Andes. An Indian boy who tends llamas in a hidden valley in Peru learns the traditions and secrets of his Inca ancestors.

Collier, James Lincoln. War Comes to Willy Freeman. A free thirteen-year-old black girl in Connecticut is caught up in the horror of the Revolutionary War and the danger of being returned to slavery when her patriot father is killed by the British and her mother disappears. R.L. 4.8

Collier, James Lincoln. Jump Ship to Freedom. In 1787 a fourteen-year-old slave, anxious to buy freedom for himself and his mother, escapes from his dishonest master and tries to find help in cashing the solidier's notes received by his father for fighting in the Revolution. R.L. 5.4

Collier, James Lincoln. Who is Carrie?. A young black girl living in New York City in the late eighteenth century observes the historic events taking place around her and at the same time solves the mystery of her own identity.R.L. 5.8

Collier, James Lincoln. With Every Drop of Blood. While trying to transport food to Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War, fourteen-year-old Johnny is captured by a black Union soldier.

Collura, Mary-Ellen Lang. Winners. After years in foster homes, Jordy Threebears returns to live on a Blackfoot reservation with his grandfather whom he hardly knows and finds his anger and resentment being overcome by the gift of a wild mare.

Crew, Linda. Children of the River. Having fled Cambodia four years earlier to escape the Khmer Rouge army, seventeen-year-old Sundara is torn between remaining faithful to her own people and adjusting to life in her Oregon high school as a "regular" American.

Craven, Margaret. I Heard the Owl Call My Name. A story about how an Anglican priest with a short time to live learns acceptance of death from the Indians.

Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963. 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.

Cutler, Jane.  Song of the Molimo.   When twelve-year-old Harry comes from Kansas to visit the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, he befriends an African pygmy who is part of an anthropology exhibit.

Davis, Ossie. Just Like Martin. 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.R.L. 5.9

De Jong, Meindert. The House of Sixty Fathers. In war-torn China a boy is separated from his family and tries desperately to find them.

Dorris, Michael. The Window. When ten-year-old Rayona's Native American mother enters a treatment facility, her estranged father, a Black man, finally introduces her to his side of the family, who are not at all what she expected.

Durbin, William.  Wintering.  In 1801, fourteen-year-old Pierre returns to work for the North West Company and makes the long and difficult journey to a winter camp.

Durrant, Lynda. Beaded Moccasins. After being captured by a group of Delaware Indians and given to their leader as a replacement for his dead granddaughter, twelve-year-old Mary Campbell is forced to travel west with them to Ohio.

Durrant, Lynda. Echohawk. A twelve-year-old white boy adapted and raised by Mohicans in the Hudson River Valley during the 1730s is sent with his younger brother to an English settlement for schooling.

Durrant, Lynda.  Turtle Clan Journey.As the captive white boy Echohawk and his Mohican father and brother make a perilous journey from the Hudson River Valley to a settlement on the Ohio River, Echohawk feels the conflicting pulls of his dual heritage.

English, Karen.  Francie.When the sixteen-year-old boy whom she tutors in reading is accused of attempting to murder a white man, Francie gets herself in serious trouble for her efforts at friendship.

Farmer, Nancy. Do You Know Me. Although he is continually getting into trouble, Tapiwa's uncle becomes her best friend when he comes to live with her family in Harare, Zimbabwe, after his village in Mozambique is burned by bandits.R.L. 5.0

Farmer, Nancy. A Girl Named Disaster. 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.

Fisher, Leonard Everett. A Russian Farewell. Depicts the anti-Semitic terror that finally drives Benjamin Shapiro, his wife, and 11 children out of Czarist Russia to America at the beginning of the 20th century.

Flake, Sharon G.  The Skin I'm In.  Maleeka, uncomfortable with her dark skin, meets a teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love, who she is, and what she looks like.

Forrester, Sandra. My Home Is Over Jordan. 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.

Forrester, Sandra. Sound the Jubilee. A slave and her family find refuge on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, during the Civil War.

Fox, Paula. The Slave Dancer. Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo.

Fritz, Jean. Homesick; My Own Story. The author's fictionalized version, though all the events are true, of her childhood in China in the 1920's. R.L. 5.5

Garrigue, Sheila. The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito. The fate of a 200-year-old bonsai tree is decided by a young girl and an old Japanese Canadian gardener who resists being imprisoned in an internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Garland, Sherry. Shadow of the Dragon. High school sophomore Danny Vo tries to resolve the conflict between the values of his Vietnamese refugee family and his new American way of life.

Gee, Maurice. The Champion. In 1943 twelve-year-old Rex sees his quiet New Zealand village dramatically changed by the arrival of a black American soldier on leave from the war.

George, Jean Craighead. Julie. When Julie returns to her father's Eskimo village, she struggles to find a way to save her beloved wolves in a changing Arctic world and she falls in love with a young Siberian man.

George, Jean Craighead. Julie of the Wolves. While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost and is befriended by a wolf pack . R.L. 5.6

George, Jean Craighead.  Shark Beneath the Reef.  On the Island of Coronado, a young Mexican fisherman comes of age as he becomes aware of the politics, corruption, and changes around him.

George, Jean Craighead. The Talking Earth. Billie Wind ventures out alone into the Florida Everglades to test the legends of her Indian ancestors and learns the importance of listening to the earth's vital messages. R.L. 5.5

George, Jean Craighead. Water Sky. A boy who goes to Barrow, Alaska, to live with friends of his father for awhile learns the importance of whaling to the Eskimo culture.

Gogol, Sara. Vatsana's Lucky New Year. Torn between Laotian and American cultures, twelve-year-old Vatsana faces prejudice from a boy at school as she helps her newly arrived Laotian cousin adjust to life in Portland, Oregon.
R.L. 5.3

Greene, Patricia Baird. The Sabbath Garden. When her elderly Jewish neighbor Solomon Leshko catches her spray-painting her tenement hallway as an expression of her anger and frustration, fourteen-year-old Opie Tyler begins an unusual friendship with him.

Gregory, Kristiana. Jenny of the Tetons. Orphaned by an Indian raid while traveling West with a wagon train, fifteen-year-old Carrie Hill is befriended by theEnglish trapper Beaver Dick and taken to live with his Indian wife Jenny and their six children. R.L. 5.3

Gregory, Kristiana. The Legend of Jimmy Spoon. The adventures of a young white boy living among the Shoshoni Indians during the early frontier days.

Grosser, Morton. The Fabulous Fifty. In the summer of 1921, fourteen-year-old Sol seeks independence from his family and his South Philadelphia neighborhood and joins his pals in their obsessive scheme to get to the World Series by clipping newspaper coupons.

Grove, Vicki.  The Starplace.  Thirteen-year-old Frannie learns hard lessons about prejudice and segregation when she becomes friends with a young black girl who moves into her small Oklahoma town in 1961.

Guy, Rosa. The Friends. Phyllisia eventually recognizes that her own selfish pride rather than her mother's death and her father's tyrannical behavior created the gulf between her and her best friend.

Guy, Rosa. New Guys Around the Block. Harlem teenager Imamu Jones, repainting his mother's apartment, hoping to help her overcome her alcoholism, is troubled as he begins to suspect one of his friends may be guilty of a series of burglaries and other crimes.

Guy, Rosa. The Ups and Downs of Carl Davis III. In a series of letters to his parents and friends, twelve-year-old Carl Davis III, chronicles his initial anger, confusion, and disdain as well as his gradual change of heart about being sent to a small Southern town to live with his grandmother.

Hamilton, Virginia. Arilla Sun Down. Young girl, half black and half Indian, lives in a small town where her life revolves around family, school, and friends.

Hamilton, Virginia. Cousins. Concerned that her grandmother may die, Cammy is unprepared for the accidental death of another relative. R.L. 5.5

Hamilton, Virginia. M.C. Higgins, the Great. As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M.C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.

Hamilton, Virginia. Plain City. Twelve-year-old Buhlaire, a "mixed" child who feels out of place in her community, struggles to unearth her past and her family history as she gradually discovers more and more about her long-missing father.

Hamilton, Virginia. Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush. Fourteen-year-old Tree, resentful of her working mother who leaves her in charge of a retarded brother, encounters the ghost of her dead uncle and comes to a deeper understanding of her family's problems.

Hamilton, Virginia. Willie Bea and the Time the Martians Landed. In October of 1938, on their farm homestead in Ohio, a black family is caught up in the fear generated by the Orson Welles "Martians have landed" broadcast.
R.L. 5.8

Hansen, Joyce. The Captive. Shortly after the American Revolution, a young Ashanti nobleman is stolen from his own people to be sold into slavery in New England.

Hansen, Joyce. The Gift-Giver. Doris meets a special friend in her Bronx neighborhood.

Hassler, Jon. Jemmy. Seventeen-year-old Jemmy struggles to fight her way out of poverty and to discover her identity as an Indian, a woman, and an artist.

Haugaard, Erik Christian. The Samurai's Tale. In turbulent sixteenth-century Japan, orphaned Taro is taken in by a general serving the great warlord Takeda Shingen and grows up to become a samurai fighting for the enemies of his dead family.

Hewett, Lorri. Soulfire. A rift develops in the closeness shared by Todd and Ezekiel, two African-American cousins, when Ezekiel tries to single-handedly end the problem of gang violence in his Denver neighborhood.

Hicyilmaz, Gaye. Against the Storm. Twelve-year-old Mehmet's move from his Turkish village with flowers everywhere to a shantytown existence in the city of Ankara brings him almost unbearable misery, but his desire to create a life for himself helps him to survive.

Higginsen, Vy. Mama, I Want to Sing. In the late 1940s Doris Winters follows her dream to be a singer, rising from church choir member to pop star.

Highwater, Jamake. Eyes of Darkness. A Santee Sioux Indian named Yesa, after being taken at age seventeen to live among white men, becomes a doctor and then returns to the reservation to live as an Indian.

Hillerman, Tony. Coyote Waits. Tribal Policeman Jim Chee and Lt. Joe Leaphorn investigate a murder on the Navajo reservation.

Ho, Minfong. Rice Without Rain. After social rebels convince the headman of a small village in northern Thailand to resist the land rent, his seventeen-year-old daughter Jinda finds herself caught up in the student uprising in Bangkok.

Hobbs, Will. Beardance. While accompanying an elderly rancher on a trip into th San Juan Mountains, Cloyd, a Ute Indian boy, tries to help two orphaned grizzly cubs survive the winter and , at the same time, completes his spirit mission. Sequel to "Bearstone."

Hobbs, Will. Bearstone. A troubled Indian boy goes to live with an elderly rancher whose caring ways help the boy become a man.

Hobbs, Will. Ghost Canoe. Fourteen-year-old Nathan, fishing with the Makah in the Pacific Northwest, finds himself holding a vital clue when a mysterious stranger comes to town looking for Spanish treasure.

Hobbs, Will. Kokopelli's Flute. Thirteen-year-old Tepary discovers an old flute in a cliff dwelling in New Mexico, and through its power he learns about ancient Native American magic.

Hotze, Sollace. A Circle Unbroken. Captured by a roving band of Sioux Indians and brought up as the chief's daughter, Rachel is recaptured by her white family and finds it difficult to adjust, as she longs to return to the tribe.

Houston, James. Drifting Snow. Having been taken from her Arctic home when a tiny child, a teenager returns to look for her parents and learn once again about her Eskimo culture.

Howard, Ellen. When Daylight Comes. After a slave uprising on an eighteenth century settlement in the Virgin Islands, a white girl held prisoner by the rebels follows a slow passage to understanding of her captors.

Hudson, Jan. Sweetgrass. Living on the western Canadian prairie in the nineteenth century, Sweetgrass, a fifteen-year-old Blackfoot Indian girl, saves her family from a smallpox epidemic and proves her maturity to her father.

Hughes, Dean. End of the Race. Two twelve-year-old boys, one black and one white, train for and compete in the 400-meter race, but find it hard to become friends because of racial differences and their fathers' past relationship.
R.L. 5.9

Hunt, Irene. William. Three orphaned black children get together with a teenage white girl to form a new and loving family group.

Hurmence, Belinda. Tancy. At the end of the Civil War, a young house slave on a small North Carolina plantation searches for her mother who was mysteriously sold when Tancy was a baby.

Hurmence, Belinda. Tough Tiffany. Eleven-year-old Tiffany, youngest member of a poor family in rural North Carolina, takes her first steps toward adulthood.

Irwin, Hadley. Kim/Kimi. Despite a warm relationship with her mother, stepfather, and half brother, sixteen-year-old Kim feels the need to find answers about the Japanese American father she never knew.

Jenkins, Lyll Becerra de. So Loud A Silence. Seventeen-year-old Juan Guillermo feels aloof from the rest of his family, until he spends time with his grandmother, a landowner in rural Colombia, is cught up in fighting between the guerrillas and the army, and comes to realize the importance of family ties.

Jones, Toeckey. Go Well, Stay Well. A white girl in South Africa finds out how difficult it is to be friends with a black girl.

Kirkpatrick, Katherine.  Trouble's Daughter.  When her family is massacred by Lenape Indians in 1643,  nine-year-old Susanna, daughter of Anne Hutchinson, is captured and raised as a Lenape.

Klass, David. Breakaway Run. Seventeen-year-old Tony, a soccer player whose parents are divorcing, goes to Atami, Japan, to spend four-and-a-half months with a Japanese family.

Koller, Jackie French. The Primrose Way. Sixteen-year-old Rebekah joins her missionary father in the New World in the 1630s and, after being introduced to Indian culture, begins to question whether these "savages" need saving after all.

Kortum, Jeanie. Ghost Vision. During a summer spent with relatives in northern Greenland, a twelve-year-old Eskimo boy is troubled by a feeling of being different, by visions he does not understand, and by a growing lack of respect for old traditions on the part of his contemporaries.

Laird, Elizabeth. Kiss the Dust. 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.

Lasky, Kathryn. The Night Journey. A young girl ignores her parents' wishes and persuades her great-grandmother to relate the story of her escape from czarist Russia.

Lasky, Kathryn. True North. Because of the strong influence which her grandfather, an abolitionist, has in her life, fourteen-year-old Lucy assists a fugitive slave girl in her escape.

Lee, Lauren. Stella. Hoping to be accepted by a popular seventh-grade clique, a Korean-American girl is embarrassed by her family's heritage--until a series of events gives her a better sense of who she is.

Lee, Marie G. Necessary Roughness. Sixteen-year-old Korean-American Chan moves from Los Angeles to a small town in Minnesota, where he must cope not only with racism on the football team but also with the tensions in his relationship with his strict father.

Levitin, Sonia.  Dream Freedom. Marcus and his classmates learn about the terrible problem of slavery in present-day Sudan and raise money to help buy the freedom of some of the slaves. Alternate chapters tell the stories of the slaves.

Levitin, Sonia. Journey to America. A Jewish family fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 endures innumerable separations before they are once again united. R.L. 5.7

Levitin, Sonia. The Return. 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.

Levitin, Sonia.  Singing Mountain.  While traveling in Israel for the summer, seventeen-year-old Mitch decides to stay and pursue a life of Jewish orthodoxy, forcing him to make some important decisions about the family and life he is leaving in southern California.

Levy, Marilyn. Run for Your Life. When living in a housing project in Oakland, California, thirteen-year-old Kisha joins a track team which helps her discover that she can be a winner.

Lewis, Elizabeth. Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze. In the 1920's, a Chinese youth from the country comes to Chungking with his mother where the bustling city offers adventure.

Lipsyte, Robert. The Brave. Having left the Indian reservation for the streets of New York, seventeen-year-old boxer Sonny Bear tries to harness his inner rage by training with Alfred Brooks, who has left the sport to become a policeman.

Lutzeier, Elizabeth. The Wall . After her mother is killed while trying to escape across the Berlin Wall in April 1989, Hannah and her father become caught up in the movement to change the repressive regime in East Germany.
R.L. 5.6

Martinez, Floyd. Spirit's of the High Mesa. Flavio is a young Mexican-American boy growing up in the small, rural town of Capulin, New Mexico when he learns that an atomic bomb is being tested just over the next mountain range.

Matas, Carol. Code Name Kris. After the Nazi occupation of Denmark forces his Jewish friends to flee the country, seventeen-year-old Jesper continueshis work in the underground resistance movement. Sequel to Lisa's War.

Matas, Carol. Lisa's War. During the Nazi occupation of Denmark, Lisa and other teenage Jews become involved in an underground resistance movement and eventually must flee for their lives.

Matcheck, Diane.  The Sacrifice.  When her father's death leaves her orphaned and an outcast among her Apsaalooka (Crow) people, a fifteen-year-old sets out to avenge his death and prove that she, not her dead twin brother, is destined to be the Great One.

Meyer, Carolyn. White Lilacs. In 1921 in Dillon, Texas, twelve-year-old Rose Lee sees trouble threatening her black community when the whites decide to take the land there for a park and forcibly relocate the black families to an ugly stretch of territory outside the town. R.L. 5.0

Mikaelsen, Ben. Countdown. In two parallel stories, a fourteen-year-old boy who is NASA's first Junior Astronaut and a fourteen-year-old Maasai herder in Kenya both edge into maturity while questioning their family traditions.

Mikaelsen, Ben. Sparrow Hawk Red. 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.

Mowat, Farley. Lost in the Barrens. Two boys, one a Cree Indian and the other the city-born nephew of a trapper, need all their skills and knowledge to survive in the Arctic wilderness they are exploring alone.

Mowry, Jess. Ghost Train. Thirteen-year-old Remi, who has just moved to California from Haiti, and his neighbor Niya travel back in time to solve the mystery of the night train.

Myers, Walter Dean. Crystal. Fifteen-year-old Crystal has difficulty trying to reconcile her personal and school life with the sophisticated persona her career as a quickly advancing high-fashion model has forced upon her.

Myers, Walter Dean. Darnell Rock Reporting. Thirteen-year-old Darnell's twin sister and the other members of the Corner Crew have doubts about his work on the school newspaper. R.L. 4.5

Myers, Walter Dean. Fallen Angels. Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

Myers, Walter Dean. Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff. A young black boy must decide whether to go along with his father, who is a thief, or reject his father's way of life and risk losing him.

Myers, Walter Dean. Hoops. A teenage basketball player from Harlem is befriended by a former professional player who, after being forced to quit because of a point shaving scandal, hopes to prevent other young athletes from repeating his mistake.

Myers, Walter Dean. The Mouse Rap. 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. R.L. 5.2

Myers, Walter Dean. The Outside Shot. When Lonnie leaves Harlem to play basketball at a midwestern college, he must face the pressures of tough classes and the temptation to fix games for gamblers.

Myers, Walter Dean. The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner. Fifteen-year-old Artemis journeys from New York City to Tombstone, Arizona, in 1882, to avenge the murder of his uncle.R.L. 5.6

Myers, Walter Dean. Scorpions. After reluctantly taking on the leadership of the Harlem gang the Scorpions, Jamal finds that his enemies treat him with respect when he acquires a gun until a tragedy occurs.

Myers, Walter Dean. Slam! Seventeen-year-old "Slam" Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his coach sees things differently.

Myers, Walter Dean. Somewhere in the Darkness. A teenage boy accompanies his father, who has recently escaped from prison, on a trip that turns out to be a time of often painful discovery for them both. R.L. 5.5

Myers, Walter Dean. Won't Know Till I Get There. Fourteen-year-old Stephen, his new foster brother, and his friends are sentenced to help out at an old age home for the summer after Stephen is caught writing graffiti on a train.
R.L. 5.0

Myers, Walter Dean. The Young Landlords. Five devoted friends become landlords and try to make their Harlem neighborhood a better place to live.

Naidoo, Beverley. Chain of Fire. When the villagers of Bophelong are forced to leave their houses and resettle in a barren "homeland," thirteen-year-old Naledi and her younger brother join in a school demonstration and learn that the South African government treats even children who dissent with brutality.

Naidoo, Beverley. Journey to Jo'burg. When their baby sister becomes ill, thirteen-year-old Naledi and her younger brother make a journey from their village to Johannesburg, where their mother works as a maid for a white family.R.L. 5.5

Naidoo, Beverley. No Turning Back.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.

Namioka, Lensey. Island of Ogres. An unemployed samurai reluctantly helps solve a mystery and prevent the overthrow of a young ruler on an island in medieval Japan.

Namioka, Lensey. Yang the Second and Her Secret Admirers. While her younger siblings have adopted many American so
customs since moving from China to Seattle, Yinglan Yang clings to her Chinese heritage, so her brother and sister hatch a plot to convert her to American culture.

Namioka, Lensey. Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear. Recently arrived in Seattle from China, musically untalented Yingtao is faced with giving a violin performance to attract new students for his father. R.L. 5.5

Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux. Mayfield Crossing. When the school in Mayfield Crossing is closed, the students are sent to larger schools, where the black children encounter racial prejudice for the first time. R.L. 5.1

Nye, Maomi Shihab. Habibi. When fourteen-year-old Liyana Abboud and her family move from St.Louis to a new home between Jerusalem and the Palestinian village where her father was born, they face many changes.

O'Dell, Scott. Black Star, Bright Dawn. Bright Dawn must face the challenge of the Iditarod dog sled race alone when her father is injured.

O'Dell, Scott. Carlota. A young girl relates her feelings and experiences as a participant in the battle of San Pasqual during the last days of the war between the Californians and Americans.

O'Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins. The adventures of a young Indian girl, living alone off the coast of California on the Island of San Nicholas in the early 1800's. R.L. 5.5

O'Dell, Scott. Streams to the River, River to the Sea. A young Indian woman, accompanied by her infant and cruel husband, experiences joy and heartbreak when she joins the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

O'Dell, Scott. Thunder Rolling in the Mountains. In the late nineteenth century, a young Nez Perce girl relates how her people were driven off their land by the U.S. Army and forced to retreat north until their eventual surrender.

Orgel, Doris. The Devil in Vienna. A Jewish girl and the daughter of a Nazi have been best friends since they started school, but in 1938 the thirteen-year-olds find their close relationship difficult to maintain.

Orlev, Uri. The Man from the Other Side. Living on the outskirts of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, fourteen-year-old Marek and his grandparents shelter a Jewish man in the days before the Jewish uprising.

Paterson, Katherine. The Master Puppeteer. A thirteen-year-old boy describes the poverty and discontent of eighteenth century Osaka and the world of puppeteers in which he lives.

Paterson, Katherine. The Sign of the Chrysanthemum. A teen-ager comes to know himself through contacts with social ills and political unrest while searching for his father in Japan's capital, centuries ago.

Paterson, Katherine. Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom. Abducted from his home by bandits, fifteen-year-old Wang Lee is rescued from slavery by a mysterious girl who introduces him to the Taiping Tienkuo, a secret society partly based on Christian principles and dedicated to the overthrow of the Manchu government.

Paulsen, Gary. Dogsong. A fourteen year-old Eskimo boy who feels assailed by the modernity of his life takes a 1400-mile journey by dog sled across ice, tundra, and mountains seeking his own "song" of himself. R.L. 5.8

Paulsen, Gary. Nightjohn. 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.

Paul, Paula G. Dance With Me Gods. Pakatu, a thirteen-year-old Pueblo boy, experiences conflicting emotions as his usually peaceful people wage war against the Spaniards who have banned the Pueblo religion.

Perkins Mitali. The Sunita Experiment. When her grandparents come for a visit from India to California, thirteen-year-old Sunita finds herself resenting her Indian heritage and embarrassed by the differences she feels between herself and her friends.

Pevsner, Stella. Sing for Your Father, Su Phan. Recalls the events in a North Vietnamese village that forever changed the lives of the youngest daughter of a prosperous trader and her family.

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Hold Fast to Dreams. Deirdre, whose passion for photography has earned her the nickname "Camera Dee," feels uncomfortable being the only black student at her new school.

Rinaldi, Ann. The Second Bend in the River. In 1798 Rebecca, a young settler in the Ohio territory, meets the Shawnee called Tecumseh and later develops a deep friendship with him.

Robinson, Margaret A. A Woman of Her Tribe. Fifteen-year-old Annette, whose dead father was a Nootka Indian, travels with her English mother from their country home on Vancouver Island to the city of Victoria and seeks to find her own way in deciding which cultural heritage she should pursue.

Ryan, Pam Munoz.  Esperanza Rising.  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.

Salisbury, Graham. Under the Blood-red Sun. Tomikazu Nakaji's biggest concerns are baseball, homework, and a local bully, until life with his Japanese family in Hawaii changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. R.L. 5.8

Sanders, Dori.  Clover.  After her father dies within hours of being married to a white woman, a ten-year-old black girl learns with her new mother to overcome grief and to adjust to a new place in their rural black South Carolina community.

Say, Allen. The Ink-Keeper's Apprentice. A fourteen-year-old boy lives on his own in Tokyo and becomes apprenticed to a famous Japanese cartoonist.

Schur, Maxine Rose. Sacred Shadows. When her German hometown becomes part of Poland after World War I, Lena, a young German Jew, struggles to come to terms with the anti-Semitism and anti-German hatred that seems to be growing around her.

Sebestyen, Ouida. Words by Heart. A young black girl struggles to fulfill her papa's dream of a better future for their family in the southwestern town where,in 1910, they are the only blacks. R.L. 5.3

Seredy, Kate. The Good Master. Two cousins spend an adventurous summer on a ranch on the Hungarian plains.

Service, Pamela F. Vision Quest. Kate finds life dreary in her small Nevada desert town until contact with an Indian artifact sends her visions of a restless shaman from the past, visions which eventually drag her and her friend Jimmy Fong into that far distant Nevada.

Soto, Gary. Crazy Weekend. After their photograph of a robbery is published in the newspaper, Hector and Mando find themselves pursued by two goofy thieves. R.L. 5.2

Soto, Gary. Taking Sides. Fourteen-year-old Lincoln Mendoza, an aspiring basketball player, must come to terms with his divided loyalties when he moves from the Hispanic inner city to a white suburban neighborhood.R.L. 5.7

Speare, Elizabeth George. The Sign of the Beaver. Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in 18th century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills. R.L. 5.7

Spinka, Penina Keen. White Hare's Horses. In sixteenth-century California, a young Chumash Indian must find the courage to save her people from Aztec invaders with their frightening horses.

Staples, Suzanne Fisher. Shabanu; Daughter of the Wind. 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.

Stolz, Mary. Cezanne Pinto. In his old age Cezanne Pinto recalls his youth as a slave on a Virginia plantation and his escape to a new life in the North.

Talbert, Marc. A Sunburned Prayer. As he makes a seventeen-mile pilgrimage to the Santuario de Chimayo that he hopes will save his beloved grandmother from cancer, Eloy is joined by a friendly dog that helps him keep going.

Tamar, Erika. Alphabet City Ballet. Living in a poor Puerto Rican family complicates life for ten-year-old Marisol when she realizes that pursuing her love for ballet may expose her brother to danger.

Tate, Eleanora E. Thank You, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.! The children of Gumbo Grove Elementary School discover the contributions of many famous Afro-Americans during Black History Month.

Tate, Eleanora E. The Secret of Gumbo Grove. While helping restore the cemetery of the old Baptist church, eleven-year-old Raisin solves the mystery surrounding the founding of her home town and gains pride in her family's past.
R.L. 5.0

Taylor, Mildred D. Let the Circle Be Unbroken. Four black children growing up in rural Mississippi during the Depression experience racial antagonisms and hard times, but learn from their parents the pride and self-respect they need to survive.

Taylor, Mildred D. Mississippi Bridge. During a rainstorm in 1930s Mississippi, a young white boy sees a bus driver order all the black passengers off a bus to make room for late-arriving white passengers. R.L. 5.9

Taylor, Mildred D. The Road to Memphis. Sadistically teased by two white boys in 1940's rural Mississippi, a black youth severely injures one of the boys with a tire iron and enlists Cassie's help in trying to flee the state.

Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. A black family living in the South during the 1930's are faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don't understand.

Taylor, Mildred D. Song of the Trees. During the Depression, a rural black family deeply attached to the forest on their land tries to save it from being cut down by an unscrupulous white man. R.L. 4.3

Taylor, Mildred D. The Well: David's Story. In Mississippi in the early 1900's ten-year-old David Logan's family generously shares their well water with both white and black neighbors in an atmosphere of potential racial violence. R.L. 4.9

Taylor, Theodore. The Cay. When the freighter on which they are traveling is torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II, an adolescent white boy, blinded by a blow on the head, and an old black man are stranded on a tiny Caribbean island where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage, and love from his old companion.

Taylor, Theodore. Timothy of the Cay. Having survived being blinded and shipwrecked on a tiny Caribbean island with the old black man Timothy, twelve-year-old white Phillip is rescued and hopes to regain his sight with an operation. Alternate chapters follow the life of Timothy from his days as a young cabin boy.

Temple, Frances. Grab Hands and Run. After his father disappears, twleve-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. R.L. 5.1

Temple, Frances. Tonight, by Sea. 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.

Thiam, Djibi. My Sister, the Panther. In accordance with tribal teachings, Bamou stalks the sacred panther who has, for some unknown reason, broken the ancient covenant.

Turner, Ann. A Hunter Comes Home. Having spent a year away at boarding school learning white man's ways, an Eskimo boy comes home to spend the summer learning old ways from his grandfather.

Uchida, Yoshiko. The Happiest Ending. When twelve-year-old Rinko learns that a neighbor's daughter is coming from Japan to marry a stranger twice her age, she sets out to change this arrangement and gains new insights into love and adult problems.

Uchida, Yoshiko. A Jar of Dreams. A young girl grows up in a closely-knit Japanese-American family in California during a time of great prejudice. R.L. 5.6

Uchida, Yoshiko. Journey Home. After their release from an American concentration camp, a Japanese-American girl and her family try to reconstruct their lives amidst strong anti-Japanese feelings which breed fear, distrust, and violence.

Vanasse, Deb. A Distant Enemy. Fourteen-year-old Joseph, part Yup'ik Eskimo and part white, struggles to maintain his people's ancient culture as the western world encroaches on his Alaska village.

Voigt, Cynthia. Come A Stranger. Mina's deep love for a grown-up minister drives her to seek a way to give him an unforgettable remembrance, restoration of his faith.

Walter, Mildred Pitts. The Girl on the Outside. A fictional recreation of the 1957 integration of Little Rock's Central High School, focusing on the experiences of two girl students, one white, the other black.

Watkins, Yoko Kawashima.  So Far From the Bamboo Grove.   A fictionalized autobiography in which eleven-year-old Yoko escapes from Korea to Japan with her mother and sister at the end of World War II.

Whelan, Gloria. Goodbye, 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.

Whelan, Gloria.  Homeless Bird. 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.

Wilkinson, Brenda. Ludell. A young black girl experiences the pleasures and the pains of growing up during the 1950's in a small Georgia town. R.L. 5.8

Wilkinson, Brenda. Ludell and Willie. As Ludell and Willie prepare to graduate from their high school in a small southern town, they experience events that alter their plans for the future.

Wilkinson, Brenda. Not Separate, Not Equal. Malene, one of a group of six blacks to integrate a Georgia public high school in the mid-sixties, experiences hatred and racism, as well as the beginnings of the civil rights movement.

Williams, Michael. Crocodile Burning. South African teenager Seraki joins the cast of a musical written to express rage at conditions in his township and travels to perform it in New York.

Wisler, G. Clifton. Buffalo Moon. To avoid being sent to school in New Orleans, a fourteen-year-old leaves his Texas ranch and stays with Comanche Indians for six months.

Wojciechowska, Maia. Shadow of a Bull. Manolo Olivar has to make a decision: to follow in his famous father's shadow and become a bullfighter, or to follow his heart and become a doctor.

Wolff, Virginia Euwer. Make Lemonade. In order to earn money for college, fourteen-year-old LaVaughn babysits for a teenage mother.

Woodson, Jacqueline. I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This. Marie, a black girl, discovers that her white classmate Lena is having terrible problems with her father at home in private. R.L. 5.9

Woodson, Jacqueline. Last Summer with Maizon. Eleven-year-old Margaret tries to accept the inevitable changes that come one summer when her father dies and her best friend Maizon goes away to a private boarding school.

Yep, Laurence.  The Amah. Twelve-year-old Amy finds her family responsibilities growing and interfering with her ballet practice when her mother takes a job outside the home.

Yep, Laurence. Child of the Owl. A twelve-year-old girl who knows little about her Chinese heritage is sent to live with her grandmother in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Yep, Laurence. The Cook's Family. As her parents' arguments become more frequent, Robin looks forward to the visits that she and her grandmothers make to Chinatown, where they pretend to be an elderly cook's family,giving Robin new insights into her Chinese heritage.

Yep, Laurence. Dragonwings. In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine.

Yep, Laurence. Sea Glass. A Chinese-American boy whose father wants him to be good in sports finally asserts his right to be himself.

Yep, Laurence. The Star Fisher. Fifteen-year-old Joan Lee and her family find the adjustment hard when they move from Ohio to West Virginia in the1920s.

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