IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
by James Baldwin
Tish is determined to see her boyfriend Fonny, wrongly accused, released from jail in time to be a father to their baby.

THE MOVES MAKE THE MAN
by Bruce Brooks
A black high school student befriends an emotionally troubled white classmate in North Carolina, where they play endless games of one-on-one.

BUCKING THE SARGE
by Christopher Paul Curtis
Deeply involved in his cold and manipulative mother's shady business dealings in Flint, Michigan, fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy Neighbor Group Home For Men, all the while dreaming of going to college and becoming a philosopher.

THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM – 1963
by Christopher Paul Curtis
The endearing Watson family embarks on a memorable summer-vacation car trip from Flint Michigan, to visit their grandmother in Alabama.

FORGED BY FIRE
by Sharon M. Draper
Aunt Queen raised Gerald while his mother was in prison; but circumstances force him to move in with his mother and abusive stepfather, where he does his best to protect his half sister Angel.

YOLANDA’S GENIUS
by Carol Fenner
Yolanda is determined to prove her younger brother is not a slow learner, but really a true musical genius.

THE SKIN I’M IN
by Sharon Flake
Maleeka’s new teacher has a huge disfiguring birthmark on her face; and she helps Maleeka learn to wear her own distinctive skin with pride.

THE STARPLACE
by Vicki Grove
In 1961, Frannie learns hard lessons about prejudice when she becomes friends with a new black girl in her small Oklahoma town.

M.C. HIGGINS, THE GREAT
by Virginia Hamilton
15-year-old M.C. worries about a slag heap, the result of strip mining, that threatens to crush his beloved family home in the Ohio hills.

HEAVEN
by Angela Johnson
Marley is deeply shaken when the mother and father she lives with reveal they are not her real parents.

THE FIRST PART LAST
by Angela Johnson
Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.

TWISTS AND TURNS
by Janet McDonald
With the help of a couple of successful friends, eighteen- and nineteen-year-old Teesha and Keeba try to capitalize on their talents by opening a hair salon in the run-down Brooklyn housing project where they live.

THE DREAM BEARER
by Walter Dean Myers
During a summer in Harlem, David relies on his mother and a close friend and on an old man he meets in the park to help him come to terms with his father's outbursts and unstable behavior.

MONSTER
by Walter Dean Myers
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

NIGHTJOHN
by Gary Paulsen
A slave named Sarny risks severe punishment by secretly learning to read, which is illegal for slaves.

THE ROAD TO MEMPHIS
by Mildred D. Taylor
In 1941, Cassie helps a friend flee Mississippi after he severely injures a white man while defending himself with a tire iron.

LIKE SISTERS ON THE HOMEFRONT
by Rita Williams-Garcia
After 14-year-old Gayle gets pregnant for the second time, her mother sends her to live with her Uncle Luther, a preacher, and his devout family in Georgia.

EMAKO BLUE
by Brenda Woods
The gritty story of a girl from South Central L.A. who is destined to be a star until everything changes in one horrific instant.

HUSH
by Jacqueline Woodson
Twelve-year-old Toswiah finds her life changed when her family enters the witness protection program.