Read Across America Recommended Books

NEA’s READ ACROSS AMERICA: CELEBRATING A NATION OF DIVERSE READERS NEA’s READ ACROSS AMERICA: CELEBRATING A NATION OF DIVERSE READERS

Elementary

A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story

by Sharon Langley and Amy Nathan; illustrated by Floyd Cooper (Abrams Books for Young Readers, a imprint of ABRAMS)

Young Sharon hears the story of how she, after a series of protests to integrate the park, is the first African American to ride on the carousel at Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in 1963.

THEMES:

African American, Biography, Civil Rights Movement, History, Picture Book, Segregation

Middle Grade

When Stars Are Scattered

by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (Penguin Young Readers Group)

Ever since Omar was 4 years old and soldiers forced him and his brother Hassan to flee from their farm in Somalia, Omar has promised to always take care of his nonverbal brother—but he is also eager for an education and an opportunity for a life outside of their Kenyan refugee camp.

THEMES:

Brothers, Community, Courage, Graphic Novel, Memoir, Middle Grade, Perseverance, Refugees, War

Teen

Stamped:Racism, Antiracism, and You

by Jason Reynolds; adapted from Stamped from the Beginning by and with an introduction from Ibram X. Kendi (Little, Brown and Company)

Using humor and a conversational style, author Jason Reynolds deftly reworks Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning, exposing young adult readers to the history of America's racist past that textbooks leave out.

THEMES:

African American, History, Nonfiction, Racism, Young Adult