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...Multicultural Stories

Elijah of Buxton

Christopher Paul Curtis

Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He’s best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah’s friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled—a life from which he’ll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home.
Rush Home Road

Lori Lansens

When 5-year old Sharla Cody is dumped on the doorstep of Addy Shadd, a 70-year old woman living in a trailer park, Addy does not know how completely her life is about to change. She's hardly used to company and the troubled Sharla is not the sweet, beautiful angel she had envisioned. Over time, Addy and Sharla form a bond that neither of them expected-and Sharla begins to undergo a transformation under Addy's patient and loving care. But much to Addy's surprise and dismay, Sharla's presence brings back memories of her own tumultuous childhood. As she reminisces about her days growing up in Rusholme, a town settled by fugitive slaves in the mid 1800s, she remembers her family and her first love and confronts the painful experience that drove her away from home, never to return.
Brilliantly structured and achingly lyrical, this beautiful first novel by the award-winning author of The Girls tells the story of two unlikely people thrown together who transform each other's lives forever.
Wait and See (Classic Munsch)

Robert N. Munsch

It is Olivia's birthday, and when she blows out the candles on her cake and makes a wish she gets exactly what she wanted!
Calico Captive: Library Edition

Elizabeth George Speare

Based on an actual narrative diary, this is the story of a young girl captured by Indians in 1754, sold to the French for ransom, and eventually returned home.
Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables Novels)

L. M. Montgomery

This is the third book about red-haired Anne Shirley. As her childhood friends get married and move away, Anne too leaves Prince Edward Island for Redmond College in Kingsport. Though Priscilla Grant and Gilbert Blythe are fellow-students, she at first feels lonely and provincial. But Anne soon makes new friends, one of whom is rich, handsome Roy Gardner, whose attentions to Anne make Gilbert very jealous.
Akimbo and the Snakes

Alexander Mccall Smith

From Alexander McCall Smith comes a brand-new adventure story for young readers – his first original children’s book in more than a decade. This is the fourth installment in a series about Akimbo, a young boy who lives with his parents on a game reserve in the heart of Africa.

Ten-year-old Akimbo has already bravely faced lions, crocodiles and elephants. This time it’s snakes!

Akimbo has always wanted to visit his uncle Peter’s snake park. So when his father agrees to let him spend a school holiday there, Akimbo can hardly believe his luck. Uncle Peter lets Akimbo handle some of the less dangerous snakes, and once he even gets to hold the jar when Uncle Peter milks venom from a cobra! Of all the snakes Akimbo learns about, the green mamba is the rarest – and the deadliest. So when a local village calls to report a mamba sighting, Akimbo and his uncle hope to catch the snake and take it back to the park. What Akimbo doesn’t bargain for is finding himself face to face with the most dangerous of reptiles . . .
The African Safari Papers

Robert Sedlack

The African Safari Papers is an intense and outrageous portrait of a family so troubled that their family trip is, in a word, torture. Richard Clark, the narrator of this sharp and madcap novel, is nineteen years old, a drug-addicted, foul-mouthed, sex-crazed young man who is off to Africa on a safari with his parents. Obviously, this is a mistake of magnitude. As Richard smolders with resentment, his voice by turns self-loathing and self-righteous, he documents his trip in a series of journal entries that are funny, sad, and piercingly insightful. Juxtaposed with the hostile environment, the already tense situation becomes explosive: Mom is going insane, Dad drinks compulsively as he ticks off wildlife sightings on his checklist, and Richard is busy getting high on the drugs he has smuggled in his mother's suitcase. Anything can happen, and it does, in this Catcher in the Rye for the twenty-first century.
The Drinking Gourd (I Can Read Books)

F. N. Monjo
I Can Read Books are the premier line of beginning readers encouraging children to learn--and love--to read. Featuring award-winning authors and illustrators, I Can Read Books offer a full spectrum of entertaining stories for every stage of a child's reading development.
Now the beloved characters and adventures from this popular line of books come to life with I Can Read Book & Cassettes. Each package includes a best-selling beginning reader storybook and a lively audio recording featuring:
- Word-for-word narration
- Music and sound effects
- Turn-the-page signals on Side 1
- Uninterrupted reading on Side 2
A quick-witted young boy helps an escaping slave family follow the ‘drinking gourd’ (Big Dipper) along the Underground Railroad to freedom. ‘An exciting and moving adventure story for beginning readers.’ —BL.
Notable Children's Books of 1940–1970 (ALA)
Children's Books of 1970 (Library of Congress)
Espera y veras

Robert Munsch

It is Olivia's birthday, and when she blows out the candles on her cake and makes a wish she gets exactly what she wanted!
Harriet's Daughter (Caribbean Writers Series (Unnumbered).)

Marlene NourbeSe Philip
A beautifully written and paced story, sure to capture the imagination of both teenagers and adult readers.

Set in Toronto, two girls, Margaret -- a second generation West Indian immigrant -- and Sulma -- fresh up from a joyous life with her grandmother in Tobago to a tense and unhappy relationship with her mother and stepfather -- become friends and comrades in various adventures.
Lightning & Blackberries

Joanne K. Jefferson

Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Evans is the privileged and naïve only child of prominent New Englanders, part of a group of Planters who settled in Nova Scotia following the deportation of the Acadian people. As a teenager, she is leading a carefree life in the Annapolis Valley, tending to her cows on the family farm, daydreaming by the brook, and resisting her mother’s attempts to refine her manners and marry her off. She thinks nothing will ever change. But a stranger’s arrival at Evans Hall, and a chance meeting with a mysterious Acadian girl in the woods nearby turn Elizabeth’s carefree life upside down. And when she learns the truth about the history of the farm she loves so well, she knows nothing will ever be the same.
Zack

William Bell
Ann and Seamus

Kevin Major

In 1828, off the Newfoundland fishing village of Isle aux Morts, Ann Harvey, her father, and her younger brother came upon the wreck of the Despatch, an Irish immigrant ship originally destined for Quebec City. In thick fog and fierce wind it had run aground and broken apart. Ann's courage and strength at the oars of the rescue boat were largely responsible for the saving of more than 160 dirt-poor passengers stranded amid the raging storm, left "like seabirds clinging to the rocks." Also at the story's center is Seamus, a young Irishman who had set sail with hopes of a new life in North America.

This historical fiction's rich yet accessible narrative verse draws the reader into the drama of sea rescue, without losing the tender and impetuous voices of youth at the core of the story. David Blackwood's illustrations present stark, intense impressions of life at the edge of the North Atlantic.
Teenage Refugees from Rwanda Speak Out (In Their Own Voices)

Teenagers from Rwanda, both Hutu and Tutsi, describe the conditions in their war-torn country that led them to seek safety and new lives in the United States and Canada.
Mikayla's Victory (Sports Stories Series)

Cynthia Bates

Mikayla is excited and flattered when she's asked to represent her Ottawa school in the pentathlon at an upcoming track meet. As a good, all-round athlete she could do well in the event's five different sports--all but one, that is.

Mikayla's high jump is weak, and she's competing against Amelie, last year's high jump gold medalist. Mikayla is convinced that Amelie is the better athlete, and her spirits sink. But as she soon learns, success depends on more than the outcome of a single event.

Mikayla's Victory is a lively story that explores the connections between self-confidence and success.
North Star to Freedom

Gena K. Gorrell

For thousands of slaves--whose exact number will never be known--the North Star marked the way to freedom on the Underground Railroad. The stories of the brave "passengers" on the escape route whose extraordinary fortitude broke their own chains, and of the "conductors" who risked their lives to help others, are a testament to the human spirit.

In this fascinating and thorough account, Gena K. Gorrell movingly describes the history of the Underground Railroad, from the origins of slavery through the Civil War and beyond. She depicts the passage from Africa on desperately crowded slave ships, the station-by-station development of the powerful Railroad routes to the northern United States and Canada, and the immense challenges runaways faced once they reached freedom. Throughout the narrative, Gorrell highlights the pivotal roles played by various people of the era, those who became famous and those who remain too little known.

The immediacy of the writing is complemented by period posters, photographs, and paintings, making North Star to Freedom a living history so gripping that it will be impossible to forget.
Teenage Refugees from Somalia Speak Out (In Their Own Voices)

Teenagers from Somalia describe the conditions in their war-torn and famine-stricken country and their experiences since coming to live in the United States and Canada.
The No-Boys Club

Ho Che Anderson
Christopher Changes His Name

Itah Sad

"...a collection of bold illustrations and a story that will make you smile."
(Oakland Press)
"[This book] is written and illustrated with humor and spirit."
(Quill & Quire )
What's in a name? Plenty, according to young Christopher Mulamba. He is tired of his ordinary name - millions of people are called Christopher, three in his class alone! Christopher wants to be special, so he decides to change his name!
In fact, he changes his name several times. He's inspired first by a strong hero named Tiger - who has the stealth of a cat; then a wise one called The Real McCoy - who was an important inventor; and then a famous one - basketball-star Michael Jordan's team number. Christopher enjoys his unique names until he receives a check from his grandmother for his birthday and tries to deposit it. Only his real name will do, but now everyone is calling him something different!
The lovable Christopher returns in this lighthearted story with a simple message about being different. It's the perfect gift for a child who's ever wanted a new name.
Alexandria of Africa

Eric Walters

For Alexandria Hyatt having a fabulous life is easy: she knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. Being glamorous and rich is simply what she was born to be. When Alexandria is arrested for shoplifting, having to drag herself into court to face a judge just seems like a major inconvenience. But Alexandria has been in trouble before–and this time she can’t find a way to scheme out of the consequences. Before she knows it, she’s on a plane headed to Kenya where she has been ordered to work for an international charity.

Over 7,000 miles away from home with no hot water, no cell phone reception, no friends or family, Alexandria is confronted with a land as unfamiliar as it is unsettling. Over the course of her month in Africa, Alexandria will face a reality she could never have imagined, and will have to look inside herself to see if she has what it takes to confront it.