NATIVE
AMERICAN
Alexie, Sherman: RESERVATION BLUES-In
1931, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil, receiving legendary
blues skills in return. He recorded only 29 songs before he was
murdered in 1938. In 1992, Johnson appears on the Spokane Indian
Reservation and meets Thomas Builds-the-Fire, the storyteller
of the Tribe. So begins the mythic tale of Coyote Springs, an
all-Indian Catholic rock'n'roll band who find themselves on a
magical tour from reservation bars to Seattle and NYC-and deep
within their own souls. (F ALE)
Alexie,
Sherman: THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO FISTFIGHT IN HEAVEN-22
interlinked short stories of life in and around the Spokane Indian
Reservation. Weaving memory, fantasy and stark realism. (F ALE)
Beal,
Merril D: I WILL FIGHT NO MORE FOREVER-the
story of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War. (970.3 BEA)
Brown,
Dee: BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE
- eloquent, fully documented account of the systematic destruction
of the American Indian during the second half of the 19th century.
When it was first published in 1971, both reviewers and the reading
public responded first with shock, then it went on to sell over
a million copies in hardcover and four million copies in paperback,
and was translated into 15 languages around the world. (970.5
BRO)
Butterworth,
F. Edward: WHITE SHADOWS AMONG THE MIGHTY SIOUX
- account of the life of Frank Grouard who runs away from
a foster home at the age of 14 to earn his living as a mule skinner
and mail rider. At 18 he is captured by the Hunkpapa tribe of
the Sioux. After being held prisoner for more than a year, Grouard
gradually learns to love and respect his captor and becomes enraged
at the wanton destruction of the buffalo by white men which eventually
drives them to starvation and warfare. He lives for 7 years as
Standing Bear, adopted brother of Sitting Bull. (Biography CRO)
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.
(F CAN)
Connell,
Evan: SON OF THE MORNING STAR
- a discussion of the Battle of Little Big Horn, the federal and
Native American antagonists and of the Battle's context in Plains
Indian Wars. (973.8 CON)
Craven,
Margaret: I HEARD THE OWL CALL MY NAME
- A Pacific Northwest Kwakiutl village finds its old culture of
totems and potlatch being replaced by a new culture of prefab
housing and alcoholism. The younger generation is disenchanted
and alienated from its heritage. A young minister is sent to the
village, on a journey of discovery that can teach him-and the
reader-about life, death and the transforming power of love. (F
CRA)
Creech,
Sharon: WALK TWO MOONS-Thirteen-year-old
Native-American girl, Salamanca sets out on a cross-country journey
with her grandparents to see her mother who has not returned from
a visit to Idaho. (F CRE)
Crow
Dog, Mary: LAKOTA WOMAN--Relates
the experiences of Mary Crow Dog, a native American woman, who
grew up on a reservation and joined in the revolution for native
American rights during the 1960s and 1970s. Winner of the American
Book Award. (B MAR)
Dorris,
Michael: YELLOW RAFT IN BLUE WATER
- a saga of three generations of Native American women, beset
by hardship and torn by angry secrets, yet joined together by
the bonds of kinship. (F DOR)
Dorris,
Michael: THE BROKEN CORD
- story of a family confronted with a problem with no known solution,
describing the tragedy and lifelong blight of fetal alcohol syndrome.
(362.29 DOR)
Erdrich,
Louise: TRACKS
- The time is the early twentieth century. Epidemics, harsh
winters, and the greed of white men are rapidly destroying the
land and its Native American people. Tracks is the story of the
Chippewa Indians and in particular one woman, Fleur, told through
two voices of two opposing Native American viewpoints.
(F ERD)
Erdrich,
Louise: BEET QUEEN
- remarkable story of two orphans who travel to North Dakota where
they meet unforgettable relatives. (F ERD)
Fall,
Thomas: THE ORDEAL OF RUNNING STANDING
- The story of a Kiowa boy, Running Standing living in 1898, which
was the time of missionaries and learning the white man's way.
The development of Native-American/white confrontation in Oklahoma.
(F FAL)
Garland,
Sherry: INDIO
- Ipa is a Pueblo who struggles to survive a brutal time of
change as the Spanish begin the conquest of native people along
the Texas border. (F GAR)
Hampton,
Bruce: CHILDREN OF GRACE : THE NEZ PERCE WAR OF 1877
- narrative history of the war taken from letters, diaries, manuscripts
and previously overlooked oral histories. (973.8 HAM)
Harris,
Mailyn: HATTER FOX
- story of a 17-year old Navajo girl and the white doctor who
tries to save her
poignant, sad and triumphant. (F HAR)
Harrison,
Sue: MOTHER EARTH, FATHER SKY
- Young Chagak survives the massacre of her tribe and sets out
across the icy waters of prehistoric America's northwest coast
on an astonishing odyssey. (F HAR)
Hillerman,
Tony: DANCE HALL OF THE DEAD
- No one was seriously alarmed by the disappearance of two
teenage boys until Lt. Joe Leaphorn found the splattered trail
of blood which leads to a ritually slaughtered victim. (F HIL)
Hogan,
Linda: POWER-In
this coming-of-age story, a 16-year-old Native American girl named
Omishito (a Tiaga name meaning One Who Watches) inadvertently
witnesses the hunting and killing of her clan's sacred animal,
the Florida panther. (F HOG)
Houston,
James: GHOST FOX
- Kidnapped by raiding Abnaki Indians during the French and Indian
War, seventeen-year old Sarah must make a choice between life
in slavery and death by torture. (F HOU)
Marrin,
Albert: WAR CLOUDS IN THE WEST:INDIANS AND CALVARYMEN, 1860-1890
- narrates the late 20th century struggles of Native Americans
to survive against the increasing flow of white settlers moving
west and taking over the land. (973.8 MAR)
McAuliffe,
Dennis: THE DEATHS OF SYBIL BOLTON
- A reporter discovers his family's role in a shocking and suppressed
chapter in American history: the brutal "reign of terror"
against the Osage Indians in the 1920s. McAuliffe always thought
his Osage grandmother, Sybil Bolton, had died in 1925 from kidney
disease--until investigation uncovered a nightmare of greed and
murder over oil rights. (library does not own and out of print)
Momaday,
N. Scott: HOUSE MADE OF DAWN
- Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a young American Indian named
Abel, who lived in two worlds. One was that of his father, wedding
him to the rhythm of the seasons, the land, and peyote. The other
world of the twentieth century is tearing him apart. (F MOM)
Momaday,
N. Scott: THE WAY TO RAINY MOUNTAIN
- The author retells the Kiowa myths that he learned from his
grandmother, speculates on the actual history they may symbolize,
and describes, with infectious nostalgia, the Indian life he knew
as a child. (970.3 MOM)
O'Dell,
Scott: SING DOWN THE MOON
- A Navajo girl recounts the events of 1864 when her tribe was
forced to march to Fort Sumner as prisoners of white soldiers.
(F ODE)
O'Dell,
Scott: ZIA
- is a young native-american girl, caught between the traditional
world of her mother and the present world of the Mission, is helped
by her Aunt Karana whose story was told in The Island of the Blue
Dolphins. (F ODE)
Sandoz,
Mari: CRAZY HORSE, THE STRANGE MAN OF THE OGLALAS
- biography of the great Native-American leader. (970.1 SAN)
Sandoz,
Mari: CHEYENNE AUTUMN
- story of chiefs, warriors, women and children and a story of
tragic misunderstandings, murders, fights, flights, and survival.
Based on solid research and a childhood spent in the company of
Cheyenne who survived the wars. (970.1 SAN; 970.3 SAN; 973 SAN)
Sandoz,
Mari: THE HORSECATCHER
- Unable to kill, a young Cheyenne is scorned by his tribe when
he chooses to become a horse catcher rather than a warrior. (F
SAN)
Silko,
Leslie Marmon: CEREMONY
- This is the story of a young Native American returning to his
reservation after surviving the horrors of captivity as a prisoner
of the Japanese during World War II. Drawn to his Indian past
and its traditions, his search for comfort and resolution becomes
a ritual--a curative ceremony that defeats his despair. (F SIL)
Starita,
Joe: THE DULL KNIFES OF PINE RIDGE: A LAKOTA ODYSSEY--Told
through the voices of a single family, here is the unforgettable
story of a century of Lakota Sioux life--an epic journey of cultural
identity found, lost, and found again. Compiled from family interviews
and historical documents, this account offers a unique perspective
on Native American culture and American history. (920 STA)
Welch,
James: WINTER IN THE BLOOD - novel about a young
Native American coming to terms with his heritage--and his dreams.
(F WEL)
Welch,
James: FOOLS CROW
- The year is 1870, and Fool's Crow, so called after he killed
the chief of the Crows during a raid, has a vision at the annual
Sun Dance ceremony. The young warrior sees the end of the Indian
way of life and the choice that must be made: resistance or humiliating
accommodation. (F WEL)
top
AFRICAN
AMERICAN
I, TOO SING AMERICA: THREE CENTURIES
OF AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY-A collection of poems, including
Lucy Terry, Gwendolyn Bennett, and Alice Walker.
Angelou, Maya: I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD
SINGS - The author tells of her painful childhood and
adolescence and how she grew out of a childhood fantasy that she
was an enchanted white girl to self-acceptance today. (B ANG)
Ansa,
Tina McElroy: BABY OF THE FAMILY
- Lena, once a charmed little girl with psychic powers, becomes
more haunted as she grows older. She has her family's love, but
knows she has to maker her own uncertain way. (F ANS)
Armstrong,
William: SOUR LAND
- For Anson Stone and his three motherless children, the quiet
black man who enters their lives as teacher and friend fills a
lonely void, but also brings home a tragic reality. (F ARM)
Baldwin,
James: GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
- Based on the author's experiences as a teenaged preacher in
a small revivalist church, the novel describes two days and a
long night in the life of the Grimes family, particularly the
14-year-old John and his stepfather Gabriel. (F BAL)
Brown,
Claude: MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND
- The autobiographical hero, Sonny, narrates the story of
his escape from the addiction and violence that defined his childhood.
Sent to the Wiltwyck School for Boys at age nine, Sonny is encouraged
to pursue an education. Back home, however, he steals and sells
drugs. After more time in reform school, Sonny escapes the neighborhood
and immerses himself in African and African-American culture.
(B BRO)
Chestnut,
J.L: BLACK IN SELMA: THE UNCOMMON LIFE OF J.L. CHESTNUTT
- This autobiography is the story of Selma Alabama's first African-American
lawyer and his experiences there with the Civil Rights movement.
(B CHE)
D'Aguiar,
Fred: THE LONGEST MEMORY
- tells the story of a rebellious young slave, who in 1810, attempts
to flee a Virginia plantation and is inadvertently betrayed by
his father. (F DAG)
Danticat,
Edwidge: BREATH, EYES, MEMORY--An
unforgettable novel that shimmers with the wonder and terror of
its author's native Haiti. Set in the island's impoverished villages
and in New York's Haitian community, this is the story of Sophie
Caco, who was conceived in an act of violence, abandoned by her
mother and then summoned to America. In New York, Sophie discovers
that Haiti imposes harsh rules on its own.
(F DAN)
Delany, Sarah: HAVING OUR SAY : THE FIRST
100 YEARS - A collection of humorous and inspirational
quotes by a feisty pair of century-old sisters offers advice
on living a long life while reflecting on the monumental changes
in African-American history throughout their lifetimes. (920 DEL)
Douglas,
Frederick: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLAS
- autobiography of Frederick Douglas, from slave to statesman.
(B DOU)
Ellison,
Ralph: THE INVISIBLE MAN
- An African-American man's search for success and the American
dream leads him out of college to Harlem and a growing sense of
personal rejection and social invisibility. (F ELL)
Fairbairn,
Ann: FIVE SMOOTH STONES
- story of friendships, relationships, and the civil rights movement.
(library does not own)
Gaines,
Ernest J: A LESSON BEFORE DYING
- A young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to teach visits
a black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Together
they come to understand the heroism of resisting. (F GAI)
Gates,
Henry Louis: COLORED PEOPLE
- recollection that ushers readers into a now-vanished "colored"
world and extends and deepens our sense of African-American history.
(B GAT)
Gibson,
Althea: I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE SOMEBODY
- autobiography of African-American tennis champion Althea Gibson.
(B GIB - out of print)
Gregory,
Susan: HEY, WHITE GIRL
- autobiographical account of the author's senior year spent in
an all-black high school on the West side of Chicago in the 1960's.
(B GRE)
Griffin,
John Howard: BLACK LIKE ME
- a white man darkens the color of his skin and crosses the line
into a country of hate, fear, and hopelessness--the country of
the American Black man. (301.45 GRI)
Guy,
Rosa: THE DISAPPEARANCE
- After he is acquitted of murdering a grocery store owner, Imamu
Jones is released into the custody of the Aimsley family. Imamu
believes that things are finally looking up--until the Aimsleys'
daughter disappears and he becomes the prime suspect. (F GUY)
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. (F GUY)
Guy,
Rosa: EDITH JACKSON
- At seventeen, Edith's only wish is to get a job and make a home
for her three younger sisters, and when social services finally
separates them, she must make a decision that will change the
course of her life. (F GUY)
Guy,
Rosa: RUBY
- When Ruby moves from the West Indies to the mean streets of
Harlem, she finds a love that leads her through the painful transition
from girl to woman.
(F GUY)
Harris,
Eddy L: STILL LIFE IN HARLEM--This
is a powerful memoir of Harlem life and those who live there.
(974.7 HAR)
Hooks,
Bell: BONE BLACK: MEMORIES OF GIRLHOOD--Stitching
together girlhood memories with the finest threads of innocence,
feminist intellectual bell hooks presents a powerfully intimate
account of growing up in the South. (B HOO)
Hughes,
Langston: THE BIG SEA
- Hughes, known primarily for his poetry and short stories, discusses
his life. (B HUG)
Hughes,
Langston: NOT WITHOUT LAUGHTER
- coming-of-age novel filled with lyricism and humor and set
in a small Kansas town during the early twentieth century.
(F HUG)
Hurmence,
Belinda: SLAVERY TIME: WHEN I WAS CHILLUN--Belinda
Hurmence has compiled selected slave narratives from those collected
through the Federal Writers' Project during the 1930s. Her focus
is on what the former slaves recalled about their childhoods,
thereby presenting young readers with a vivid picture of what
life was like in bondage.
(920 SLA)
Hurston,
Zora Neale: GO GATOR AND MUDDY THE WATER: WRITINGS-Presents
a selection of writings done by Zora Neale Hurston, one of the
leading writers of the Harlem Renaissance, and includes a biographical
essay. (398.2 HUR)
Hurston,
Zora Neale: THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
- Married to a man she did not love, Janie was not yet 40 when
her husband dies. Then, she finds true happiness. (F HUR)
Hurston,
Zora Neale: DUST TRACKS ON A ROAD
- An exuberant account of Zora Neale Hurston's rise from poverty
in the rural south to a prominent place among the leading artists
and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance. (Biography HUR)
Johnson,
Angela: TONING THE SWEEP
- Emily is fourteen when she learns that her beloved grandmother
Ola is dying of cancer. As three generations come together to
close up Ola's house -- she is moving to be with Emmie's family
-- past events blend with present moments in a compelling collage
of memories, and old wounds are revealed and healed. (F JOH)
Johnson,
Angela: HEAVEN-Marley's
seemingly perfect life in the small town of Heaven is disrupted
when she discovers that her father and mother are not her real
parents. (F JOH)
Johnson,
Charles: MIDDLE PASSAGE
- The year is 1830, and Rutherford Calhoun, a roguish, newly freed
slave, ships out of New Orleans as a stowaway to escape an undesirable
marriage. To his shock and horror, he discovers that this vessel
is a slave clipper bound for Africa. (F JOH; VC F JOH)
King,
Martin Luther, Jr: STRIDE TOWARD FREEDOM
- King's full account of the Montgomery bus strike--the classic
story of nonviolent resistance in America. (323.4 KIN - out of
print)
King,
Martin Luther Jr: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
- examines the black struggle for equality and reaffirms King's
belief in non-violence. (301.45 KIN)
Kotlowitz,
Alex: THERE ARE NO CHILDREN HERE
- This is the moving and powerful account of two remarkable boys
struggling to survive in Chicago's Henry Horner Homes, a public
housing complex disfigured by crime and neglect. (305.2 KOT)
Kozol,
Jonathan: DEATH AT AN EARLY AGE
- examines the destruction of the hearts and minds of African-American
children in the Boston Public Schools. (370.19 KOZ)
Lester, Julius: THIS STRANGE NEW FEELING
- The horror of slavery, particularly for women, the excitement
and terror of escape, and the problems of the newly free are dramatized
in three stories based upon actual historical incidents. (SC LES)
Lowry,
Lois: AUTUMN STREET
- During World War II, Elizabeth goes with her mother and
sister to her grandfather's house where she forms a special friendship
with Tatie's young grandson Charles. That friendship is tested
during a sledding accident in a nearby woods. (F LOW)
Lyons,
Mary: LETTERS FROM A SLAVE GIRL
- A collection of fictional letters vividly recreate the life
and times of Harriet Ann Jacobs, a young slave girl who escaped
to freedom in the 1840s and who became a published author and
abolitionist. (F LYO)
McKissack,
Patricia: SOJOURNER TRUTH : AIN'T I A WOMAN
- biography of the former slave who became well-known as an
abolitionist and advocate of women's rights. (B TRU)
Mebane,
Mary: MARY: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
- autobiography of a young girl growing up in North Carolina
during a time when the Southern system of segregation seems to
offer little hope for a future. (B MEB)
Meyer,
Carolyn: WHITE LILACS
- Based on a true story set in 1921, this thought-provoking novel
chronicles the response of a Texas town's black community when
they learn that local whites plan to raze their section of town
in order to build a park. (F MEY)
Moody,
Anne: THE COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI
- In this now classic autobiography, she details the sights, smells,
and suffering of growing up in a racist society and candidly reveals
the soul of a black girl who had the courage to challenge it.
(B MOO)
Morrison,
Toni: SONG OF SOLOMON
- novel that delves into a magical and richly peopled world encompassing
four generations of African American life. Morrison's book creates
a universe where ghosts exist, where a dead man's bones are kept
in the living room, where a young woman dies of heartbreak and
a grown man wills himself to fly
(F MOR)
Morrison,
Toni: Jazz
- In a simple love story set in 1926 Harlem, fifty-ish door-to-door
salesman Joe Trace murders his teenage lover, whom his hairdresser
wife, Violet, then tries to disfigure at the funeral. (F MOR)
Morrison,
Toni: The Bluest Eye
- story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an
America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate
all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will
be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world
will be different. (F MOR)
Morrison,
Toni: TAR BABY-the
story of a love affair between a beautiful African-American model,
molded by white culture, and an African-American man who represents
everything she both fears and desires. (F MOR)
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. (F MEY)
Myers,
Walter Dean: MALCOLM X : BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY
- biography of the controversial black leader offers young readers
a frank, revelatory portrayal of Malcolm X. (B X)
Parks,
Gordon: A CHOICE OF WEAPONS
- This is the compelling autobiography of the award-winning photographer
and artist who was only sixteen when he moved from Kansas to Minnesota
in 1928. (Kansas Collection B PAR)
Parks,
Gordon: VOICES IN THE MIRROR - AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
- autobiography of the 20th century photographer for Life magazine,
writer, composer, artist, and filmmaker. (K B PAR)
Rowen,
Carl: BREAKING BARRIERS : A MEMOIR
- Washington reporter's insider accounts of events that have affected
race relations. (B ROW)
Sanders,
Dori: CLOVER
- Clover is a 10-year old black girl from a small town in
South Carolina, whose life changes forever when her father dies
and she is forced to forge a new relationship with the white stepmother
she hardly knows. (F SAN)
Senna,
Danzy: CAUCASIA-Two
sisters, one light-skinned like their mother, the other dark like
their fathr, are separated after their parents divorce and go
on to lead very different lives while hoping for a reunion with
each other. (F SEN)
Sinclair,
April: COFFEE WILL MAKE YOU BLACK--the
story of Jean "Stevie" Stevenson, a spunky, sensitive
high school student, torn between the traditional values of her
parents and her burning desire to experience the world. (F SIN)
Stowe,
Harriet Beecher: UNCLE TOM'S CABIN
- This 1852 novel provides a powerful, historical look at the
treatment of slaves in the pre-Civil War South. (F STO)
Taylor,
Mildred: 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.
(F TAY)
Taylor,
Mildred: THE ROAD TO MEMPHIS
An African-American youth severely injures a white boy who was
tormenting him-an action unheard of in Mississippi. Friends help
the African-American youth escape danger by accompanying him on
his trip to Memphis-and to safety from lynching. As America hovers
on the brink of WWII, Cassie Logan fights a battle closer to home-the
battle of black against white. (F Tay)
Thomas,
Joyce Carol: MARKED BY FIRE
- Abby, born in an Oklahoma cotton field in the wake of a tornado,
learns the secrets of folk medicine from the healer Mother Barker
as she grows up.
(F THO)
Thomas,
Joyce Carol: BRIGHT SHADOW
- Abyssinia Jackson must learn to cope with tragedy when peace
is shattered in her Oklahoma countryside and her boyfriend Carl
Lee disappears. (F THO)
Thomas,
Joyce Carol: WATER GIRL
- chronicles a teenager's search for the roots of her heritage
and the way of her heart. (F THO)
Thornton,
Yvonne: DITCHDIGGER'S DAUGHTERS
- A ditchdigger and his cleaning lady wife had five daughters.
He worked two jobs just to keep them fed and clothed, inspiring
the girls to succeed.(920 THO)
Walker,
Alice: MERIDIAN
- depicts the struggle of not only black people during the civil
rights movement, but the gender struggle of women. This book touches
on issues such as spirituality, forgiveness, and truth. (F WAL)
West,
Cornel: RACE MATTERS - In essays that challenge the nature
of racial discourse in America, the director of Princeton's Afro-American
Studies program, professor of religion, and self-described ``intellectual
freedom- fighter'' calls for moral regeneration and profound social
change. (305.8 WES)
West,
Dorothy: THE WEDDING-This
Harlem Renaissance author writes about a Martha's Vineyard community
known as the Oval. Dr. Clark Coles and his wife, Corinne, highly
respected Ovalites, are preparing for the wedding of their youngest
daughter, Shelby, who, much to their consternation, is marrying
a white jazz musician. Lute McNeil, a compulsive womanizer is
determined to stop Shelby's wedding. (F WES)
Williams-Garcia,
Rita: BLUE TIGHTS
- Growing up in a city neighborhood, fifteen-year-old Joyce, unsure
of herself and not quite comfortable with her maturing body, tries
to find a place to belong and a way to express herself through
dance. (F WIL)
Williams-Garcia,
Rita: FAST TALK ON A SLOW TRACK
- Smooth-talking, middle-class Denzel Watson spends the summer
before college selling candy door-to-door and learning about the
unwritten code of the streets. (F WIL)
Woodson,
Jacqueline: THE HOUSE YOU PASS ON THE WAY--Staggerlee
is happy in her interracial family, but she is a loner at school
and in her African American community, and she longs for a friend.
Somehow she knows not to talk about the kiss she shared with a
girl in her class. Staggerlee doesn't know who she is becoming
and where her journey will take her. (F WOO)
Woodson,
Jacqueline: From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun-Melanin
Sun's mother tells him that she is in love with a white woman.
Unable to sort out his feelings and confusions about sexuality,
racial identity, and love, he punishes his mom by shutting her
out of his life. (F WOO)
Woodson,
Jacqueline: IF YOU COME SOFTLY-After
meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old
Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie,
who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in
love an then try to cope with people's reactions. (F WOO)
Wright,
Richard: BLACK BOY
- Wright's autobiography of growing up in the Jim Crow South.
(B WRI)
Wright,
Richard: NATIVE SON
- account of Bigger Thomas, a black youth whose tragic life
is drawn from Wright's own memories of the Chicago ghetto. (F
WRI)
top
LATINO/LATINA
Alvarez,
Julia: HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS
- Eagerly embracing their new American culture in Miami, the four
Garcia women iron their hair, smoke cigarettes, date American
men, forget their Spanish, and lose their accents all in their
journey toward adulthood. (F ALV)
Alvarez,
Julia: IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES-
A fictional account of the young lives of Mirabel sisters Patria,
Minerva and Maria Teresa, otherwise known in the Domincan Republic
as Las Mariposas, describes their suffering and martyrdom in the
last days of the Trujillo dictatorship.
Anaya,
Rudolfo: A. BLESS ME ULTIMA
- Ultima, a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic, comes
to Antonio Marez's New Mexico family when he is six years old,
and she helps him discover himself in the magical secrets of the
pagan past. (F ANA)
Anaya,
Rudolfo A: HEART OF AZTLAN
- The Albuquerque barrio portrayed in this novel of postwar
New Mexico is a place where urban and rural, political and religious
coexist, collide, and combine.
(FANA)
Arias,
Ron: THE ROAD TO TAMAZUNCHALE
-This Chicano novel tells the story of Don Fausto, a very
old man on the verge of death and who lives in the barrio of Los
Angeles. (F ARI)
Barrio,
Raymond: THE PLUM PLUM PICKERS
- recreates the agricultural milieu where laborers are oppressed
by landowners and their politicians, company executives, and groveling
foremen.
(F BAR)
Bell,
Christine: THE PEREZ FAMILY -
After twenty years in Castro's prisons, Juan Perez comes to America
with the Mariel boatlift and encounters culture shock, unpredictable
characters, and confusion as he and his companion in exile, Dottie,
search for the Perez family in Miami. (F BEL)
Candelaria,
Nash: INHERITANCE OF STRANGERS
- This novel is set in the aftermath of the US-Mexican War of
1846 and takes us through the late-nineteenth century to the point
when New Mexico is on the brink of statehood. (F CAN)
Chavez,
Cesar: MIGHTY HARD ROAD: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LA CAUSA-Cesar
Chavez devoted his life to improving the working conditions of
farm workers in the U.S. Through marches, strikes, boycotts, and
even fasts, he led the farm laborers to victory. He proved that
one person can change many lives (Biography CHA)
Cockcroft,
James D: LATINOS IN BEISBOL-Details
the history and contributions of Latin American players in major-league
baseball. (920 Coc)
Cofer,
Judity Ortiz: AN ISLAND LIKE YOU
- This collection of stories captures the lives of different teenagers
growing up in the barrio - including Rita, who goes to live with
her grandparents in Puerto Rico; Luis, who spends his days working
at his father's junkyard; and Sandra, who tries to rediscover
her natural Latino beauty. (SC ORT; F ORT)
Hernandez,
Irene Beltran: ACROSS THE GREAT RIVER
- This book is an exciting tale of a young girl maturing and taking
on the leadership role in her family when her parents become separated
while illegally crossing the Mexican border into Texas. (F HER)
Jimenez,
Francisco: THE CIRCUIT: STORIES FROM THE LIFE OF A MIGRANT
CHILD-Explores
a migrant family's expreiences moving through labor camps, facing
poverty and impermanence, only to endure through faith, hope,
and back-breaking work. (F JIM)
Lopez,
Steve: THIRD AND INDIANA
- Gabriel's mother is searching for her runaway son in Philadelphia's
badlands, where drug gangs rule the streets--where the pavement
beneath her feet is painted with chalk outlines of bodies. (F
LOP)
Rodriguez,
Joe: ODDSPLAYER
- examines the Vietnam War, a war in which the soldiers must contend
not only with the declared enemy, but also with the enemy within.
(F ROD)
Rodriguez,
Richard: THE HUNGER OF MEMORY
- story of a Mexican-American Richard Rodriguez, who begins his
schooling in Sacramento, California, knowing just 50 words of
English and concludes his university studies in the stately quiet
of the reading room of the British Museum. (B ROD)
Santiago,
Danny: FAMOUS ALL OVER TOWN
- A Mexican-American boy has a rough time on the Los Angeles streets,
but is determined to make a better life for himself. (F SAN)
Santiago,
Esmeralda: ALMOST A WOMAN-one
of the country's leading Latina voices recalls her extraordinary
journey in to womanhood. (BIOGRAPHY SAN)
Soto,
Gary: LIVING UP THE STREET
- It is a boy's coming of age in the barrio, parochial school,
attending church, public summer school, and trying to fall out
of love so he can join in a Little League baseball team. (B SOT)
Soto,
Gary: BASEBALL IN APRIL
- collection of eleven short stories focusing on the everyday
adventures of Hispanic young people growing up in Fresno, California.
(Short Story Collection SOT; F SOT)
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ASIAN
AMERICAN
Carlson,
Lori M: AMERICAN EYES : NEW ASIAN AMERICAN STORIES
- Ten young Asian-American writers re-create the conflicts that
all young people feel living in two distinct worlds--one of memories
and traditions and one of today. (F AME)
Crew,
Linda: CHILDREN OF THE RIVER
- Sundara flees Cambodia for the safety of Oregon, where she struggles
to be a "good Cambodian girl." Although she is forbidden
to speak to any white boys, Sundara falls in love with Jonathan.
(F CRE)
Fritz,
Jean: CHINA HOMECOMING -
The author returns to China to relive her memories of her youth
and to witness the many historical and social changes that have
taken place since she left the country in 1928. (951 FRI)
Hall,
Bruce Edward: TEA THAT BURNS: A FAMILY MEMOIR OF CHINATOWN-The
author uses stories about his Chinese ancestors to trace the history
of Chinatown in New York City. (974.7 HAL)
Hosokawa,
Bill: NISEI: THE QUIET AMERICANS
- details the role of the nisei, the "second generation"
Japanese born with the citizenship denied their parents, and the
organization they created, the Japanese American Citizens League,
to help them win their full rights. (325.73 HOS)
Houston,
Jeanne: FAREWELL TO MANZANAR
- Jeanne Wakatsuki was seven years old in 1942 when her family
was uprooted from their home and sent to live at Manzanar internment
camp. This is the true story of one spirited Japanese American
family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention
. . . and of a native-born American child who discovered what
it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the U.S. (940.54
HOU)
Jen,
Gish: TYPICAL AMERICAN
- A trio of young Chinese immigrants slowly transform into everything
they once despised in the "typical American" as they
set out after their dreams and create their own suburban paradise.
(F JEN)
Kadohta,
Cynthia: THE FLOATING WORLD
- story about families coming of age, guilt, and memory - additionally,
it is a story about being Japenese-American in the U.S. of the
1950s. (F KAD)
Kingston,
Maxine Hong: WOMAN WARRIOR : MEMOIRS OF A GIRLHOOD AMONG GHOSTS
- A Chinese American woman tells of the Chinese myths, family
stories and events of her California childhood that have shaped
her identity. (B KIN)
Lee,
Gus: CHINA BOY
- Growing up Chinese-American, a young man copes with a distant
father, a missing mother, and a tyrannical stepmother as he struggles
to contend with America in the 1950s. (F LEE)
Mori,
Kyoko: ONE BIRD
- Mourning her parent's divorce and resenting having to stay
with a cranky grandmother, fifteen-year-old Megumi takes a part-time
job with a wise veterinarian and finds peace while helping to
care for sick birds. (F MOR)
See,
Lisa: ON GOLD MOUNTAIN--Her
heart is Chinese, despite the red hair she inherited from her
Caucasian grandmother. This Lisa See declares in an absorbing,
multi-generational saga of her Chinese-American family. (920 SEE)
Sone,
Monica: NISEI DAUGHTER -
describes the loss of property and the personal insults, the barbed
wire and armed guards, the dust storms, horrible food, unfinished
barracks, and barren land - and the efforts of the Japanese-Americans
to maintain their ethics, family life, and belief in the United
States. (Biography SON)
Tan,
Amy: THE KITCHEN'S GOD'S WIFE
-A Chinese immigrant convinced she is dying threatens to celebrate
the Chinese New Year by unburdening herself of everybody's secrets,
thus prompting a series of misunderstandings. (F TAN)
Uchida,
Yoshiko: THE BEST BAD THING
- At first dismayed at having to spend the last month of her summer
vacation helping out in the household of recently widowed Mrs.
Hata, Rinko discovers there are pleasant surprises for her, but
then bad things start to happen. Sequel to "A Jar of Dreams."
(F UCH)
Uchida,
Yoshiko: THE INVISIBLE THREAD-The
powerful memoir of a girl sent to a concentration camp-by the
U.S. government. (Biography UCH)
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.
(F UCH)
Uchida,
Yoshiko: A JAR OF DREAMS
- A young girl grows up in a closely-knit Japanese American family
in California during the 1930's, a time of great prejudice. (F
UCH)
Uchida,
Yoshiko: THE DANCING KETTLE
- contains fourteen authentic folk stories, retold with humor
and charm. (398.2 UCH)
Uchida,
Yoshiko: PICTURE BRIDE-Carrying
a photograph of the man she is to marry but has yet to meet, young
Hana Omiya arrives in San Francisco, California, in 1917, one
of several hundred Japanese "picture brides" whose arranged
marriages brought them to America in the early 1900s. (F UCH)
Watkins,
Yoko Kawashima: DESERT EXILE : THE UPROOTING OF A JAPANESE-AMERICAN
FAMILY
- autobiographical account of the internment of the Japanese American
author's family in 1942. (library does not own)
Yep,
Laurance: 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.
(F YEP)
Yep,
Laurance: CHILD OF THE OWL
- This spellbinding tale of the contradictions and special heritage
of growing up Chinese-American is set in early 1960s Chinatown
in San Francisco.
(F YEP)
Yep,
Laurance: THE STAR FISHER
- Fifteen-year-old Joan Lee and her family find the adjustment
hard when they move from Ohio to West Virginia in the 1920's.
(F YEP)
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JEWISH AMERICAN
Appelman-Jurman,
Alicia: ALICIA : MY STORY
- After losing her entire family to the Nazis at age 13, Alicia
Appleman-Jurman went on to save the lives of thousands of Jews,
offering them her own courage and hope in a time of upheaval and
tragedy. (B APP)
Arrick,
Fran: CHERNOWITZ!
- A boy who suffers anti-Semitic abuse at the hands of a classmate
during his ninth and tenth grade years plots revenge against his
tormentor. (F ARR)
Asimov,
Isaac: IN MEMORY YET GREEN
- first volume of the autobiography of the prominent scientist
and prolific author, covering the first 34 years of his life.
(B ASI)
Boas,
Jacob: WE ARE WITNESSES
- World War II Jewish teens David, Yitzhak, Moshe, Eva, and Anne
tell their tragic stories as victims at Hitler's death camps through
journal entries that describe the horrors of the Holocaust. (920
WE)
Hautzig,
Esther: THE ENDLESS STEPPE
- During World War II, when she was eleven years old, the
author and her family were arrested in Poland by the Russians
as political enemies and exiled to Siberia. She recounts here
the trials of the following five years spent on the harsh Asian
steppe. (B HAU)
Ish-Kishor,
Sulamith: OUR EDDIE
- novel about a Jewish family that emigrates from London to New
York in the early years of this century features changing perspectives
-- the introduction and closing are told by Hal, a young London
neighbor, while the bulk of the story about the conflict-ridden
family headed by a cold, insensitive father is told by one of
the sisters.
(F ISH)
Levoy,
Myron: ALAN AND NAOMI
- In New York of the 1940's a boy tries to befriend a girl traumatized
by Nazi brutality in France. (F LEV)
Metzker,
Isaac: A BINTEL BRIEF
- Isaac Metzker's selection of letters and responses from the
JEWISH DAILY FORWARD'S advice column which have become a record
not only of Jewish immigrant life in America, but also of the
catastrophic events of the first half of our century. (974.7 BIN)
Meyer,
Carolyn: DRUMMERS OF JERICHO
- As a Jew, Pazit Trujillo objects when she and the rest of the
Jericho High School band are instructed to play hymns and march
in a cross, turning the whole town against her, except for one
brave friend. (F MEY)
Potok,
Chaim: THE PROMISE
- story of a young man's quest for meaning and fulfillment in
a perilously changing world. (F POT)
Potok,
Chaim: MY NAME IS ASHER LEV
- original, deeply moving story of Asher Lev, the religious boy
with an overwhelming need to draw, to paint, to render the world
he knows and the pain he feels, on canvas for everyone to see.
(F POT)
Potok,
Chaim: THE BOOK OF LIGHTS
- Gershon Loran, a quiet rabbinical student, is troubled by
the dark reality around him. (F POT)
Reiss,
Johanna: THE UPSTAIRS ROOM
- A Dutch Jewish girl describes the two-and-one-half years she
spent in hiding in the upstairs bedroom of a farmer's house during
World War II.
(B REI)
Wiesel,
Elie: NIGHT
- true story of Wiesel's experiences in Nazi concentration camps
during World War II. (940.548 WIE)
Wiesel,
Elie: DAWN
- portrays the plight of traditional Jewish morality confronted
with the modern world of power politics and of murder. (F WIE)
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