Chess Rumble
10 best books like Chess Rumble (G. Neri): Black Cat, Dancing in the Wings, Jazz Baby, The Death of Jayson Porter, Kids On Strike!, The Cheetah Girls: Livin' Large, Books #1-4, Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry, Keeping the Night Watch, Bird, Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat
| Author | Christopher Myers |
| ISBN | 0590033751 |
"Black Cat" by Christopher Myers narrates the whereabouts of a stray cat in a big city repeatedly asking, "black cat, black cat...where's your home?" Finally, after a montage of poetic lines the cat responds "anywhere I roam." The narration is poetic and utilizes metaphors that can only be understood...
| Author | Debbie Allen |
| ISBN | 0803725019 |
Sassy worries that her too-large feet, too-long legs, and even her big mouth will keep her from her dream of becoming a star ballerina. So for now she's just dancing in the wings, watching from behind the curtain, and hoping that one day it will be her turn to shimmer in the spotlight. When the director of...
| Author | Lisa Wheeler |
| ISBN | 0152025227 |
With a simple clap of hands, an itty-bitty beboppin' baby gets his whole family singing and dancing. Sister's hands snap. Granny sings scat. Uncle soft-shoes--and Baby keeps the groove. Things start to wind down when Mama and Daddy sing blues so sweet. Now a perfectly drowsy baby sleeps deep, deep,...
| Author | Jaime Adoff |
| ISBN | 1423106911 |
Sixteen-year-old Jayson Porter wants to believe things will get better. But the harsh realities of his life never seem to change. Living in the inland-Florida projects with his abusive mother, he tries unsuccessfully to fit in at his predominately white school, while struggling to maintain even...
| Author | Susan Campbell Bartoletti |
| ISBN | 0618369236 |
By the early 1900s, nearly two million children were working in the United States. From the coal mines of Pennsylvania to the cotton mills of New England, children worked long hours every day under stunningly inhumane conditions. After years and years of oppression, children began to organize and...
The Cheetah Girls: Livin' Large, Books #1-4
| Author | Deborah Gregory |
| ISBN | 0786817895 |
The Cheetah Girls are starring in a movie of their own on the Disney Channel in 2003. They're spicier than hot sauce and as cool as iced cappuccino. They outshine any diamond with their supa-dupa inner sparkle!
Now see how it all began in the first books of the series starring Galleria, Chanel, Dorinda,...
| Author | Joyce Sidman |
| ISBN | 0618448942 |
I hesitated to assign a star rating to this book as I didn't even read all of it. Much as I wanted to love this book, I just found it frustrating. The concrete poetry, while interesting, is presented in such a way that I found it very hard and annoying to read--in the grass, in the clouds, in the trees, all over...
| Author | Hope Anita Smith |
| ISBN | 0805072020 |
So many unanswered questions weigh down thirteen-year-old C.J. as he struggles to understand why his father walked out. His father is back now, though C.J. is not as quick to forgive as the other members of his family. He still feels the weight of responsibility that fell on his shoulders when Daddy was...
Young Mekhai, better known as Bird, loves to draw. With drawings, he can erase the things that don't turn out right. In real life, problems aren't so easily fixed.
As Bird struggles to understand the death of his beloved grandfather and his older brother's drug addiction, he escapes into his...
| Author | Nikki Giovanni |
| ISBN | 1402210485 |
Hip Hop Speaks to Children is a celebration of poetry with a beat. Poetry can have both a rhyme and a rhythm. Sometimes it is obvious; sometimes it is hidden. But either way, make no mistake, poetry is as vibrant and exciting as it gets. And when you find yourself clapping your hands or tapping your feet,...
| Author | Patricia C. McKissack |
| ISBN | 0689853955 |
If telling the truth is the right thing to do, why is the whole world mad at Libby?
“Tell the truth and shame the devil,” Libby’s mama has told her. So whatever is Libby doing wrong? Ever since she started telling only the truth, the whole world seems to be mad at her. First it’s her best friend,...
Based on a true story, All of the Above is the delightful and suspenseful story of four inner city students and their quest to build the world's largest tetrahedron. Weaving together the different personal stories of the kids, their teacher, and the community that surrounds them, award-winning author...
Toni Morrison has collected a treasure chest of archival photographs that depict the historical events surrounding school desegregation. These unforgettable images serve as the inspiration for Ms. Morrison’s text—a fictional account of the dialogue and emotions of the children who lived...
| Author | Lenore Look |
| ISBN | 0689864604 |
When Ruby's cousin Flying Duck emigrates from China to live with her, Ruby decides the best thing about Flying Duck is that she is a great new friend. BUT the worst thing about Flying Duck is that now, no one speaks English at home. Plus, there's strange food on the table every night and only chopsticks to...
| Author | Christine King Farris |
| ISBN | 0545035376 |
Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister, Christine, recounts the day of the March and his 'I Have A Dream Speech' in Washington D.C. I listened to this on audiobook and I was able to finish it in under twenty minutes, which was nice, and I'm glad I did because there were pieces from that day inserted into the audiobook...
| Author | N. Joy |
| ISBN | 1933491086 |
The premise is, Olivia tells her friend a secret, and the friend accidentally spills it, and it keeps getting spread -- and getting distorted as it spreads -- until the friend confesses to Olivia that she screwed up. The nameless friend narrates the book. It's a Coretta Scott King honor book for the illustrations.
So...
| Author | Nic Bishop |
| ISBN | 0439877571 |
Award-winning author and photographer Nic Bishop brings his vast knowledge of biology to this eye-catching exploration of butterflies and moths. With breathtaking full-page images, Nic introduces young readers to the beauty and diversity of these amazing insects, from the shockingly bright...
The Neighborhood Mother Goose
| Author | Nina Crews |
| ISBN | 0060515732 |
Every day, children the world over sing, shout, and celebrate Mother Goose rhymes. And now there's a new reason to cheer: Nina Crews has added her own remarkable, jazzy style of illustration to a collection of forty-one favorite verses. Whether it's Jack jumping over a candlestick (atop a cupcake),...
| Author | Karen Lynn Williams |
| ISBN | 0802853072 |
Sangoel is a refugee. Leaving behind his homeland of Sudan, where his father died in the war, he has little to call his own other than his name, a Dinka name handed down proudly from his father and grandfather before him / When Sangoel and his mother and sister arrive in the United States, everything seems...
| Author | John Steptoe |
| ISBN | 0064434427 |
One day my momma told me, "You know you're gonna have a little friend come stay with you." And I said, "Who is it?" and "For how long?" That's when Stevie moved in with his crybaby self. He played with my toys and broke them, and he left dirty footprints all over my bed. But then Stevie left again, and I missed...
Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later)
| Author | Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard |
| ISBN | 0618120386 |
When Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) was first published in 1991, it met with an overwhelming response from readers and reviewers alike. Here was “a wonderful family story,” as The Horn Book Magazine said, “set matter-of-factly in an African-American environment.” Since then,...
| Author | Dawn FitzGerald |
| ISBN | 1596431377 |
If the levy doesn't pass, there will be no buses for away-games, no uniforms, no teams. Tess plans to follow her own rules for soccer chicks. Soccer Chick Rule Number 3--Always support your teammates! But when real life doesn't offer a slam-dunk ending, Tess realizes there may be something to learn from...
Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters
| Author | Andrea Davis Pinkney |
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus and sparked a boycott that changed America. Harriet Tubman helped more than three hundred slaves escape the South on the Underground Railroad. Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The lives...
Brand New School, Brave New Ruby
| Author | Derrick Barnes |
| ISBN | 0545017602 |
Brought to you by Newbery Honor author Derrick Barnes, eight-year-old Ruby Booker is the baby sis of Marcellus (11), Roosevelt (10), and Tyner (9), the most popular boys on Chill Brook Ave. When Ruby isn't hanging with her friend, Theresa Petticoat, she's finding out what kind of mischief her brothers...
| Author | Sharon M. Draper |
| ISBN | 0689879105 |
DEM BONES GONNA RISE AGAIN With their neighborhood basketball court destroyed by vandalism, Ziggy, Rashawn, Jerome, and Rico don't know how they're going to spend summer vacation. Then Ziggy has a brilliant idea (Ziggy is always getting brilliant ideas) they can start a club, with secret meetings...
