Eliza's Freedom Road, An Underground Railroad Diary, by Jerdine Nolen

Abstract: A twelve-year-old slave girl begins writing in a journal where she documents her journey via the Underground Railroad from Alexandria, Virginia, to freedom in St. Catharines, Canada.

Publisher:   Simon and Schuster, 139 p

Giant Steps to Change the World, by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, illustrated by Sean Qualls

Abstract: Pursuing one's own path in life takes courage, strength, and perseverance, as demonstrated by such inspirational leaders as Barack Obama, Albert Einstein, and Muhammad Ali.

 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, unpaged

Good Fortune by Noni Carter

Abstract: Brutally kidnapped from her African village and shipped to America, a young girl struggles to come to terms with her new life as a slave, gradually rising from working in the fields to the master's house, secretly learning to read and write, until, risking everything, she escapes to seek freedom in the North.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 489 p.

Sweet, Hereafter by Angela Johnson

Abstract: Sweet leaves her family and goes to live in a cabin in the woods with the quiet but understanding Curtis, to whom she feels intensely connected, just as he is called back to serve again in Iraq.









Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 118 p.