Content Finder

Audience
Content Type
Grade Level
Topic
Timothy Egan

The Worst Hard Time

Age Level:
YA
Award winning New York Times reporter Egan tackles the great dust bowl phenomenon of the 1930’s and 40’s in this multi-tiered account. He shares incredible eye-witness accounts as well as the overwhelming convergences of failed agricultural practices, ill-fated government policies, and the costs of “get rich quick” schemes.
The Year I Flew Away

The Year I Flew Away

Genre:
Fantasy
Age Level:
Middle Grade

It’s 1985 and ten-year-old Gabrielle is excited to be moving from Haiti to America. Unfortunately, her parents won’t be able to join her yet and she’ll be living in a place called Brooklyn, New York, with relatives she has never met. She promises her parents that she will behave, but life proves to be difficult in the United States, from learning the language to always feeling like she doesn’t fit in to being bullied. So when a witch offers her a chance to speak English perfectly and be “American,” she makes the deal. But soon she realizes how much she has given up by trying to fit in and, along with her two new friends (one of them a talking rat), takes on the witch in an epic battle to try to reverse the spell. 

 

A.J. Jacobs

The Year of Living Biblically

Age Level:
YA
A non-judgmental and humorous look at the twelve months Jacobs lived as closely as he could to literal compliance with biblical rules.
Rodman Philbrick

The Young Man and the Sea

Small boy, small boat, big dreams, big fish. If twelve-year-old Skiff Beaman can hook a valuable bluefin tuna, he’ll have the money to repair his father’s fishing boat and get his family back on their feet-and not just financially. Depression over the death of Skiff’s mother has left Skiff’s father a couch-bound alcoholic. Skiff is determined to help his dad and honor the promise he made to his mother.
Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Genre:
Classics
Age Level:
YA
Janie has had a few bad boyfriends., but finally finds solace in a young man named Teacake. Their relationship teaches her about the importance of freedom and allows her to blossom into an independent woman. Looking for a companion text? Read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. This text plays out the tragic consequences of what happens when Pecola Breedlove internalizes all of the negative feelings other people have about her.
Six pictures of various immigrants
John Coy

Their Great Gift

Genre:
Nonfiction

With lyrical text and thought-provoking photography, Their Great Gift explores the experiences of immigrants in the twenty-first century, focusing on the lives of children. Images of families who came to the United States from many different parts of the world celebrate the diversity of our country and contain a vision of hope for the future.

Colorful illustration of bird's eye view of adolescent girl reading with cat

Themed Booklists

Our themed booklists will help you find books that appeal to all kinds of readers, including kids who are reluctant to read for fun. 

Teddy Roosevelt standing next to a rocking chair
Betsy Harvey Kraft

Theodore Roosevelt: Champion of the American Spirit

Genre:
Biography, Nonfiction
Age Level:
Middle Grade

From asthmatic childhood to robust adulthood, the determined life — both personal and professional — of Theodore Roosevelt is presented in an authoritative, attractive, and appealing biography.