Staff Picks
Read All About It: Patricia McKissack
- Children's Room
- Friday, July 17, 2020
Collection
In her lifetime, Patricia McKissack authored and co-authored more than 100 books for children and teens. When asked, “Why do you write?” Ms. McKissack said, “I write because there is a need to have books for, by, and about the African American experience and how we helped to develop this country." Ms. McKissack crafted her stories with grace and truth and she leaves behind a legacy of award-winning books.
The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury
Celebrated Picture Books and Stories to Read Aloud
Published in 1998
A collection of picture book stories by such authors as Ludwig Bemelmans, Ezra Jack Keats, and Maurice Sendak.
Abby Takes a Stand
Published in 2005
Gee recalls for her grandchildren what happened in 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee, when she, aged ten, passed out flyers while her cousin and other adults held sit-ins at restaurants and lunch counters to protest segregation.
Black Diamond
The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues
Published in 1994
Traces the history of baseball in the Negro Leagues and its great heroes, including Monte Irwin, Buck Leonard, and Cool Papa Bell.
Bugs!
Published in 2000
Simple text and illustrations of a variety of insects introduce the numbers one through five.
Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters
Published in 1994
Describes the customs, recipes, poems, and songs used to celebrate Christmas in the big plantation houses and in the slave quarters just before the Civil War.
The Clone Codes
Published in 2010
On the run from a bounty hunter who arrested her mother for being part of a secret society devoted to freeing clones, thirteen-year-old Leanna learns amazing truths about herself and her family as she is forced to consider the value of freedom and what it really means to be human in 2170 America.
Color Me Dark
The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North
Published in 2000
Eleven-year-old Nellie Lee Love records in her diary the events of 1919, when her family moves from Tennessee to Chicago, hoping to leave the racism and hatred of the South behind.
Cyborg
The Second Book of the Clone Codes
Published in 2011
Seventeen-year-old Houston, a cyborg since the age of seven, and a fugitive living on the Moon, joins with other cyborgs all over the world in non-violent protest marches to challenge the Cyborg Act 2130 and hopefully secure increased civil liberties.
Days of Jubilee
The End of Slavery in the United States
Published in 2003
Uses slave narratives, letters, diaries, military orders, and other documents to chronicle the various stages leading to the emancipation of slaves in the United States.
Flossie and the Fox
Published in 1982
Plucky Flossie Finley asks a clever fox to prove that he is a fox before she will be frightened of him on her way to deliver a basket of eggs.
A Friendship for Today
Published in 2007
In 1954, when desegregation comes to Kirkland, Missouri, ten-year-old Rosemary faces many changes and challenges at school and at home as her parents separate.
Goin' Someplace Special
Published in 2001
In segregated 1950s Nashville, a young African American girl braves a series of indignities and obstacles to get to one of the few integrated places in town: the public library.
The Honest-to-goodness Truth
Published in 2000
After promising never to lie, Libby learns that it's not always necessary to blurt out the whole truth either.
Let My People Go
Bible Stories Told by a Freeman of Color to His Daughter Charlotte, in Charleston, South Carolina, 1806-16
Published in 1998
The daughter of a free Black man who worked as a blacksmith in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1800s recalls the stories from the Bible that her father shared with her, relating them to the experiences of African Americans.
A Long Hard Journey
The Story of the Pullman Porter
A chronicle of the first black-controlled union, made up of Pullman porters, who after years of unfair labor practices staged a battle against a corporate giant resulting in a "David and Goliath" ending.
Ma Dear's Aprons
Published in 1997
Young David Earl always knows what day of the week it is, because his mother, Ma Dear, has a different apron for every day except Sunday.
Mirandy and Brother Wind
Published in 1988
To win first prize in the Junior Cakewalk, Mirandy tries to capture the wind for her partner.
Mirandy and Brother Wind
Published in 1988
To win first prize in the Junior Cakewalk, Mirandy tries to capture the wind for her partner.
Never Forgotten
Published in 2011
In eighteenth-century West Africa, a boy raised by his blacksmith father and the Mother Elements--Wind, Fire, Water, and Earth--is captured and taken to America as a slave.
Nzingha, Warrior Queen of Matamba
Published in 2000
Presents the diary of thirteen-year-old Nzingha, a sixteenth-century West African princess who loves to hunt and hopes to lead her kingdom one day against the invasion of the Portuguese slave traders.
Ol' Clip-Clop
A Ghost Story
Published in 2013
One October night in 1745, John Leep, a mean and stingy lawyer, sets out to evict a widow from one of his rental houses and is followed by a ghostly rider.
A Picture of Freedom
The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl
Published in 2011
In 1859, twelve-year-old Clotee, a house slave who must conceal the fact that she can read and write, records in her diary her experiences and her struggle to decide whether to escape to freedom.
Precious and the Boo Hag
Published in 2005
Home alone with a stomachache while the family works in the fields, a young girl faces up to the horrifying Boo Hag that her brother warned her about.
Ralph J. Bunche
Peacemaker
Published in 1991
Biography of the African-American statesman and diplomat who was one of the founders of the United Nations and who received the Nobel Prize for his peacemaking efforts.
Run Away Home
Published in 1997
In 1886 in Alabama, an eleven-year-old African American girl and her family befriend and give refuge to a runaway Apache boy.
A Song for Harlem
Published in 2007
In the summer of 1928, Lilly Belle Turner of Smyrna, Tennessee, participates in a young author's writing program, taught by Zora Neale Hurston and hosted by A'Lelia Walker in her Harlem teahouse at the height of the Harlem Renaissance.
Stitchin' and Pullin'
A Gee's Bend Quilt
Published in 2008
As a young African American girl pieces her first quilt together, the history of her family, community, and the struggle for justice and freedom in Gee's Bend, Alabama unfolds.
The Visitors
Published in 2012
An urgent decree by the World Federation of Nations to track down fugitive cyborg Houston Ye and clone Leanna Deberry leads to revelations about the secret operations within the Topas Corporation.
Where Crocodiles Have Wings
Published in 2005
A rhyming tale describing a magical place where surprises grow on trees and crocodiles have wings.
Let's Clap, Jump, Sing, & Shout; Dance, Spin, and Turn It Out!
Games, Songs, & Stories from an African American Childhood
Published in 2017
What is Given from the Heart
Published in 2019
Despite their own poverty since Daddy died, Mama tells nine-year-old James Otis they need to help Sarah, whose family lost everything in a fire.
What Is Given from the Heart
Published in 2019
This final, magnificent picture book from three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner and Newbery Honor author Patricia McKissack is a poignant and uplifting celebration of the joy of giving. "Misery loves company," Mama says to James Otis. It's been a rough couple of months for them, but Mama says as long as they have their health and strength, they're blessed. One Sunday before Valentine's Day, Reverend Dennis makes an announcement during the service-- the Temples have lost everything in a fire, and the church is collecting anything that might be useful to them. James thinks hard about what he can add to the Temple's "love box," but what does he have worth giving? With her extraordinary gift for storytelling, McKissack--with stunning illustrations by Harrison--delivers a touching, powerful tale of compassion and reminds us all that what is given from the heart, reaches the heart.