Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald by Roxane Orgill, illustrated by Sean Qualls

Abstract: A swinging biography of young Ella Fitzgerald who pushed through the toughest of times to become one of America's most beloved jazz singers










Publisher: Candlewick Press, 48 pages

Oprah: The Little Speaker by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by London Ladd

Abstract: The first six years in the life of the world's most popular talk show host.











Publisher: Marshall Cavendish, 1 v. (unpaged)

Little Diva by LaChanze, illustrated by Brian Pinkney

Abstract: Nena wants to be a Diva, with a capital D, just like her mommy, who's a star on Broadway. So she learns all she can about singing and dancing when she is at the theater and trains day and night to make her dreams come true.









Publisher: Feiwel and Friends, 1 v. (unpaged)

My Brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Peete with Denene Millner, illustrated by Shane W. Evans

Abstract: A girl tells what it is like living with her twin brother who has autism and sometimes finds it hard to communicate with words, but who, in most ways, is just like any other boy. Includes authors' note about autism.










Publisher: Scholastic, 1 v. (unpaged)

Around Our Way on Neighbors' Day by Tameka Brown, illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb

Abstract: A young girl makes her way through an urban neighborhood filled with children playing, men debating, women cooking, and jazz music playing as her community gathers to celebrate "Neighbors' Day."

9780810989719






Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 1 v. (unpaged)

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers

Abstract: Teenage Reese, serving time at a juvenile detention facility, gets a lesson in making it through hard times from an unlikely friend with a harrowing past.









Publisher: Amistad/Harper Teen, 247 p.

The Beatitudes: From Slavery to Civil Rights by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Tim Ladwig

Abstract: The Beatitudes form the backdrop for Weatherford's free-verse poem that traces the African American journey from slavery to civil rights.









Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 1 v. (unpaged)

The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee Tucker Frazier

Abstract: Twin daughters of interracial parents, eleven-year-olds Keira and Minna have very different skin tones and personalities, but it is not until their African American grandmother enters them in the Miss Black Pearl Pre-Teen competition in North Carolina that red-haired and pale-skinned Minna realizes what life in their small town in the Pacific Northwest has been like for her more outgoing, darker-skinned sister.





Publisher: Delacorte, 296 p.

Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson by Charles R. Smith Jr., illustrated by Shane W. Evans

Abstract: Art and poetry combine to tell the story of boxer Jack Johnson, who became the first African-American world heavyweight boxing champion in the early part of the twentieth century.









Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, 1 v. (unpaged)

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Abstract: In New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, twelve-year-old Lanesha, who can see spirits, and her adopted grandmother have no choice but to stay and weather the storm as Hurricane Katrina bears down upon them.







Publisher: Little, Brown and Co., 160 p.

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Abstract: Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.








Publisher: Atheneum, 295 p.