Black History (1982-Present) Guide
This guide is for learning more about black history in the United States from 1982-present through fiction and nonfiction material. If you click on the title, you will be brought to our catalog. We have placed the call number next to each title and author for convenience.
Fiction
A mischievous youth encounters a runaway slave and together they travel down the Mississippi in search of adventure.
Accelerated Reader AR MG+ 6.6
A collection of eleven short stories focusing on the everyday adventures of Hispanic young people growing up in Fresno, California.
Accelerated Reader AR MG 5.1
"The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver FIC KINGSOLVER
When Taylor Greer hits the road she has no real destination, only to get as far from Kentucky as possible. By the time she ends up in Arizona, she has inherited a three-year-old Cherokee girl from an Indian woman she met in a bar.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 5.6
The classic adventure story of a dog's savage struggle for survival in the Alaskan wilderness.
Accelerated Reader AR MG 8.0
Wilbur, the pig, is desolate when he discovers that he is destined to be the farmer's Christmas dinner until his spider friend, Charlotte, decides to help him.
Accelerated Reader AR MG 4.4
The story of a young girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago. Capturing her thoughts and emotions in poems and stories, she is able to rise above hopelessness and create a quiet space for herself in the midst of her oppressive surroundings.
Accelerated Reader 4.5
Twelve stories about animals, insects, and other subjects, including "How the Alphabet Was Made," "How the Camel Got His Hump," and "The Elephant's Child."
Accelerated Reader AR MG 6.4
"The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton J YA HINTON
Ponyboy and his 2 brothers struggle to find their place in a difficult world after the deaths of their parents.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 4.7
"The Pearl" by John Steinbeck LT FIC STEINBECK
For the diver Kino, finding a magnificent pearl means the promise of a better life for his impoverished family. His dreams blind him to the greed that the pearl arouses in him and his neighbors.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 7.1
"Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie J BARRIE
The adventures of the three Darling children in Neverland with Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up.
Accelerated Reader AR MG 7.2
"Shane" by Jack Schaefer FIC SCHAEFER
Shane, a stranger the Starretts take into their home in Wyoming in 1889, becomes involved in a feud between the cattle ranger and the local homesteaders.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 5.5
Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.
Accelerated Reader AR MG 4.7
Fiction Series (first book of each series listed)
"Divergent" by Veronica Roth J YA ROTH
In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 4.8
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Accelerated Reader AR MG 5.5
"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins J Collins/YA Collins
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.
Accelerated Reader AR MG+ 5.3
"The Lightning Thief" (Percy Jackson & the Olympians) by Rick Riordan
PB J RIORDAN
After learning that he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.
Accelerated Reader 4.7
"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (Chronicles of Narnia, released first in series) by C.S. Lewis PB J LEWIS
Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist its ruler, the golden lion Aslan, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.
Accelerated Reader AR MG 5.7
"The Maze Runner" by James Dashner J YA DASHNER
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 5.3
Nonfiction
"Becoming" by Michelle Obama 921 OBAMA/ LT 921 OBAMA
Described by the author as a deeply personal experience, the book talks about her roots and how she found her voice, as well as her time in the White House, her public health campaign, and her role as a mother.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 8
The author writes a letter to his fifteen-year-old son, Samori. He weaves his personal, historical, and intellectual development into his ruminations on how to live in a black body in America.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 7.6
921 NOAH
Comedian Trevor Noah recounts his childhood in South Africa under the apartheid government and the first few years of democratic rule by the nation's black majority.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 5.4
Presents the story of the four-year old son of a Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven.
Accelerated Reader AR MG+ 6.3
The incredible true story of Michael Bornstein--who at age 4 was one of the youngest children to be liberated from Auschwitz--and of his family.
Accelerated Reader AR MG+ 6.3
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared--Lt. Louis Zamperini. Captured by the Japanese and driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 7.7
