Web of Respect

Books for Kids : Anti-bias literature kits created at Franklin Elementary School.*

 

Positive Images (K)

Bringing People Together (1)

Toward Freedom (2)

Perspectives (3)

Empowerment (4)

Making a Difference (5)
Contents
Lesson Plans
Anti-Bias Books
Resources
Weblinks
Evaluation
Student Work
Click on the Unit title (below) to see the lesson plans and activities for each unit. 

*To help you locate books in the Library, the library call number has been provided.

E

Picture Book

FIC

Fiction

B

Biography

Dewey #

Non-Fiction
Click on the Unit title to see the lesson plans and activities for each unit. 

 

Happy to Be Me
 

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman. Although a classmate says that she cannot play Peter Pan in the school play because she is black, Grace discovers that she can do anything she sets her mind to do. Dial, 1991. (E)

 

Amazing Grace Paper Dolls based on the characters created by Mary Hoffman. Dial, 1998. (Kit)

 

I Want to Be by Thylias Moss. After some thought a young girl describes in poetic terms the kind of person she wants to be. Dial, 1993. (E)

 

Stonecutter by Demi. A stonecutter wants to be everything that he is not and has to learn the hard way that what he really wants to be is exactly who he is. Crown, 1995. (398.2)

 
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What Makes People Different Colors?
 
All the Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka.
Reveals in verse that despite outward differences children everywhere are essentially the same and all are lovable.
Morrow Junior Books, 1994. (E)
 
All the Colors of the Race by Arnold Adolf.
A collection of poems written from the point of view of a child with a black mother and a white father.
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1982. (811)
 
Black is Brown is Tan by Arnold Adolf.
Describes in verse the life of a brown-skinned momma, white-skinned daddy, their children, and assorted relatives.
Harper & Row, 1973. (811)
 
Bright Eyes, Brown Skin by Cheryl Willis Hudson.
This simple rhyming text celebrates positive images.
Just Us Books, 1990. (E)
 
We are all Alike, We are all Different by Cheltenham Elementary School Kindergartners.
Kindergarten children describe the likenesses and differences between themselves.
Scholastic., 1991 (370.19)
 
Why People are Different Colors? by Julian May.
This books examines the biological causes of differences in skin color.
Holiday House, 1971. (572 MAY)
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Celebrating Hair
 
Cornrows by Camille Yarbrough.
Explains how the hair style of cornrows, a symbol in Africa since ancient times, can today in this country symbolize the courage of outstanding Afro-Americans.
Coward, McCann & Geoghegan 1979. (E)
 
I Love my Hair by Natasha Tarpley.
A young African American girl describes the different, wonderful ways she can wear her hair.
Little Brown, 1998 (E)
 
Hats off to Hair by Virginia Kroll.
With poetic prose, Virginia Kroll shows us some of the many choices we have as we decide how to wear our hair-- long, short, curly, shaggy, snaggy, knotted, twisted, beaded, braided, bangles , or tangled.
Charlesbridge, 1995. (E)
 
Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron.
Various people at a backyard picnic offer their comments on a young girl's tightly curled, "nappy" hair.
Knopf, 1997.(E)
 
Palm Trees by Nancy Cote.
When Millie has to fix her hair by herself for the first time, her friend Renee and a sense of humor help her to discover something about friendship and independence.
Macmillan, 1993. (E)
 
Uncle Jed's Barber Shop by Margaree King Mitchell.
Surviving the Great Depression as a barber, Uncle Jed finally opens his own barbershop.
Scholastic, 1993. (E)
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 Music Moves Us

 

Bein' with You this Way by W. Nikola-Lisa.
The irresistible beat of a playground rap invites readers to join in this celebration of diversity.
Lee & Low Books, 1994. (E)
 
Ella Jenkins : This is Rhythm by Ella Jenkins.
A poem by Ntozake Shange with llustrations by the artist Romare Beardon.
Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1994. (811.54)
 
I Live in Music : poem by Ntozake Shange.
A poem by Ntozake Shange with llustrations by the artist Romare Beardon.
Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1994. (811.54)
 
I See the Rhythm by Toyomi Igus.
Chronicles and captures poetically the history, mood, and movement of African American music.
Children's Book Press, 1998. (780.9)
 
If I Had a Horn: Young Louis Armstrong by Roxane Orgill
Relates how the famous jazz trumpeter began his musical career, as a poor boy in New Orleans, by singing on street corners and playing a battered coronet in a marching band.
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. (B)
 
Lift Every Voice and Sing by James W. Johnson.
An illustrated version of the song that has come to be considered the African American national anthem.
Walker, 1993. (782)
 
Little Louis and the Jazz Band by Angela S. Medearis.
The story of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.
Lodestar Books, 1994. (B)
 
Ragtime Tumpie by Alan Schroeder.
Tumpie, a young black girl who will later become famous as the dancer Josephine Baker. She longs to find the opportunity to dance amid the poverty and vivacious street life of St. Louis in the early 1900s.
Joy Street Books, 1989. (E)
 
Satchmo Blues by Alan Schroeder.
A fictional recreation of the youth of trumpeter Louis Armstrong in New Orleans
Doubleday, 1996. (E)
 
The Piano Man by Debbie Chocolate.
A young Afro-American girl recalls the life story of her grandfather who performed in Vaudeville and played piano for the silent movies.
Walker & Co., 1998. (E)
 
Ty's One Man Band by Mildred Pitts.
On a hot, humdrum day, Ty meets a man who fills the night with music, using a washboard, comb, spoons, and a pail.
Scholastic, 1980. (E)
 
What a Wonderful World by George D.Weiss.
Children put on a puppet show, using the words to the song, "What a Wonderful World."
Atheneum Books, 1995. (1994)
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Nature Binds Us

 

Desert Giant: the World of the Saguaro Cactus by Barbara Bash.
Provides a unique way to look at the interconnectedness of life in the desert of the United States.
Sierra Club , 1994. (583.47)
 
In the Heart of the Village: the World of the Indian Banyan Tree by Barbara Bash.
The Banyan tree sustains life in a rural village in Indian.
Sierra Club Books/ Little Brown, 1996 (583.96)
 
Tree of Life: The World of the African Baobab by Barbara Bash.
Documents the life cycle of this amazing tree of the African savannah, and portrays the animals and people it helps to support.
Sierra Club Books/ Little Brown, 1989 (583.19)
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Stories Enlighten Us
 
All of You Was Singing by Richard Lewis
A lyrical Aztex myth about the earth's creation and the advent of music.
Aladdin Books, l991
 
Anansi Does The Impossible retold by Verna AArdema
An Ashanti tale of how stories came to the earth.
Atheneum, l997
 
Children of Long Ago by Lessie Jones Little
A collection of seventeen poems that detail the daily pleasures of the African American childhood during the early l900s.
Lee and Low, l988
 
Dia's Story Cloth: The Hmong People's Journey of Freedom by Dia Cha
The story cloth made for the author by her aunt and uncle chronicles the life of the Hmong people in their native Laos and their eventual emigration to the United States.
Lee and Low, l996
 
Dragonfly's Tale by Kristina Rodanas
A Native American tale that reflects the Zuni's concern with kindness to others and respect for nature's gifts.
Clarion Books, l992
 
Knots On The Counting Rope Bill Martin
A grandfather tells a boy the story of his birth, his first horse and an exciting horse race.
Bantam Doubleday, l987
 
Legend of the Milky Way retold by Jeanne M. Lee
A Chinese legend about the milky way
Henry Holt, l987
 
Painted Words/Spoken Memories by Aliki
This is two separate stories in one book. The first tells in painted words the story of Mari's starting school in a new land. The second, describes village life in her native country before she and her family left in search of a better life.
Greenwillow Books, l998 (E)
 
The Gold Coin by Alma Flor Ada
With a Central American background, this is a story of love and faith in the human spirit.
Atheneum, l991
 
The Story of Lightning and Thunder by Ashley Bryan
In this retelling of a West African tale, Ma Sheep Thunder and her impetuous son, Ram Lightning, are forced to leave their home on Earth because of the trouble Ram causes.
Aladdin, l999
 
Zora Hurston and The Chinaberry Tree by Richard Miller
Young Zora's mother teaches her to dream big and never give up. She also teaches Zora about traditional stories that kept her people alive.
Lee and Low, l994 (B)
 
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Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad (under construction)
 
 
Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad by Marlene T. Brill.
Recounts how Allen Jay, a young Quaker boy living in Ohio during the 1840s, helped a fleeing slave escape his master and make it to freedom through the underground railroad.
Carolrhoda Books, 1993. (FIC)\\
 
Barefoot : Escape on the Underground Railroad by Pamela D. Edwards.
In the forest, a group of animals help a runaway slave escape his pursuers.
HarperCollins, 1997. (E)
 
Dear Austin: Letters from the Underground Railroad by Elvira Woodruff.
In 1853, in letters to his older brother, eleven-year-old Levi describes his adventures in the Pennsylvania countryside with his black friend Jupiter and his experiences with the Underground Railroad.
Knopf, 1998. (FIC)
 
The Drinking Gourd by F.N. Monjo.
Sent home alone for misbehaving in church, Tommy discovers that his house is a station on the underground railroad.
Harper & Row, 1970. (R)
 
Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter.
By following the directions in a song, "The Drinking Gourd," taught them by an old sailor named Peg Leg Joe, runaway slaves journey north along the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada.
Knopf, 1988. (E)
 
If you Travelled on the Underground Railraod by Ellen Levine.
Describes the underground railroad which helped slaves escape to freedom.
Scholastic, 1998. (E)
 
Minty: a story of young Harriet Tubman by Alan Schroeder.
Young Harriet Tubman, whose childhood name was Minty, dreams of escaping from slavery while working on the Brodas plantation in the late 1820s.
Dial Books for Young Readers, 1996. (B)
 
A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman by David Adler.
Biography of the black woman who escaped from slavery to become famous as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Holiday House, 1992 (B)
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Seasons of Thanks

 

The Children of the Morning Light : Wampanoag tales as told by Manitonquat (Medicine Story)
Fourteen poems with themes of thanksgiving and appreciation of nature, based in part on traditional Native American songs and prayers..
New York : Macmillan, 1994. (398.2)
 
Circle of Thanks by Joseph Bruchac.
Fourteen poems with themes of thanksgiving and appreciation of nature, based in part on traditional Native American songs and prayers..
Bridgewater Books, 1996. (811.54)
 
Corn is Maize: the Gift of the Indians by Aliki.
A simple description of how corn was discovered and used by the Indians and how it came to be an important food throughout the world.
New York : Crowell, c1982. (633)
 
Cranberry : Fruit of the Bog by Diane L. Burns
Photographs of the process of growing and harvesting cranberries.
Minneapolis : Carolrhoda Books, c1994. (634.76)
 
Giving Thanks : a Native American Message by Chief Jake Swamp.
This story is based on the "Thanksgiving address," a Native American message of peace and thankfulness for all the blessings of the earth.
Lee & Low, 1997.
 
Ininatig's Gift of Sugar : Traditional Native Sugarmaking by Laura Waterman Wittistick.
Describes how Indians have relied on the sugar maple tree for food and tells how an Anishinabe Indian in Minnesota continues his people's traditions by teaching students to tap the trees and make maple sugar.
Minneapolis : Lerner Publications, 1993. (338.1)
 
Nickommoh: a Thanksgiving Celebration by Marcia Sewall.
Describes a typical Narragansett Nickommoh, or harvest celebration, as it has been performed since before the arrival of the first Pilgrims in New England.
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1999. (394 ?)
 
Powwow by Jacqueline Dembar Greene
A day in the life of a young boy at a Native American powwow.
Franklin Watts, 1999. (394)
 
Strawberry Thanksgiving by Paulla Jennings.
Encourages awareness and appreciation of Native American cultures.
Modern Curriculum Press, 1992. (394)
 
Thirteen Moons on Turtles Back by Joseph Bruchac
Celebrates the seasons of the year through poems from the legends of such Native Tribes.
Philomel, 1992. (811.54)
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Making a Difference in Sports (Under Construction)
 
First in the Field: baseball hero Jackie Robinson by Derek T. Dingle.
A biography which discusses the discrimination faced by Jackie Robinson, the baseball legend who became the first African American to play Major League baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Hyperion, 1998. (B)
 
Teammates by Peter Goldenbock.
Describes the racial prejudice experience by Jackie Robinson when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first black player in Major League baseball and depicts the acceptance and support he received from his white teammate Pee Wee Reese.
Harcourt Brace, 1990. (BC)
 
Shadowball: a History of the Negro Leagues by Geoffrey Ward.
Knopf, 1994. (796.35)
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The Power of Community to Stop Hate Crimes 
 
The Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate by Janice Cohn.
Describes how people in Billings, Montana joined together to fight a series of hate crimes against a Jewish family.
Albert Whitman, 1995. (FIC)
 
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
Houghton Mifflin, 1989. (FIC)
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The Power of Friendship
 
 
Elijah's Angel by Michael Rosen.
At Christmas-Hanukkah time, a Christian woodcarver gives a carved angel to a young Jewish friend, who struggles with accepting the Christmas gift until he realizes that friendship means the same thing in any religion.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992. (FIC)
 
 
 
The Power of Art (Under Construction)
 
Deep Blues: Bill Traylor, Self-Taught Artist by Mary E. Lyons.
The life and accomplishments of a twentieth-century African-American folk artist.
Scribner & Sons, 1994. (B)
 
From Slave Ship to Freedom Road by Julius Lester; paintings by Rod Brown.
The story of slavery is portrayed through painting and writing.
Dial Books, 1998. (759.13)
 
The Great Migration: an American Story by Walter Dean Myers; paintings by Jacob Lawrence.
A series of paintings chronicles the journey of African Americans who, like the artist's family, left the rural South in the early twentieth century to find a better life in the industrial North.
HarperCollins, 1993 (759.13)
 
Harriet in the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence.
A brief biography in verse about Harriet Tubman and her dedicated efforts to lead her fellow slaves to freedom.
Simon & Schuster, 1993. (811.54)
 
Li'l Sis & Uncle Willie: a Story of William H. Johnson by Gwen Everett.
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Hyperion, 1994. (759.13)
 
Middle Passage: White Ships / Black Cargo by Tom Feelings.
Dial Books, 1995. (759.13)
 
Jacob Lawrence by Richard J. Powell.
Rizooli art series, enlarged colorplates of paintings by Lawrence, with biographical notes.
Rizolli, 1992 (759.13)
 
Jacob Lawrence = American Scenes, American Struggles by Nancy S. Howard.
With activities and art, this book takes you into the stories and struggles of African Americans, and of the United States as a whole, from the early days of slavery to the present.
Davis Publications, 1996. (811.54)
 
John Brown: One Man Against Slavery by Gwen Everett; paintings by Jacob Lawrence.
A series of gouache paintings portray the life of John Brown the legendary abolistionist.
Rizzoli, 1993 (973.7)
 
Jonkonnu--Winslow Homer by Amy Littlesugar.
A young southern girl tells of the time Winslow Homer came to town to paint pictures and defied the town fathers by portraying the lives of the poor Black people who lived down the red clay road.
Philomel, 1997. (E)
 
Story Painter: the Life of Jacob Lawrence by John Duggleby.
A biography of the African American artist who grew up in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance and became one of the most renowned painters of the life of his people.
Chronicle Books, 1998. (759.13)
 
Toussant L'Ouverture: the Fight for Haiti's Freedom by Walter Dean Myers.
A collection of paintings by Jacob Lawrence chronicling the liberation of Haiti in 1804 under the leadership of General Toussaint L'Ouverture.
Simon & Schuster, 1996. (972.94)
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Enslavement / Survival and Resistance (Kit under construction)
 
Amistad Rising: the Story of Freedom by Veronica Chambers
A fictional account of the 1839 revolt of Africans aboard the slave ship Amistad and the subsequent legal case argued before the Supreme Court in 1841 by former president John Quincy Adams
Harcourt, Brace, 1998. (E)
 
Now Let Me Fly by Dolores Johnston.
A fictionalized account of the life of Minna, kidnapped as a girl in Africa, as she endures the harsh life of a slave on a Southern plantation in the 1800s and tries to help her family survive.
Holiday House, 1994. (E)
 
Frederick Douglas: Last Day of Slavery by William Miller.
Tells of an incident in which, as a slave, Frederick Douglass fought back against a white breaker.
Lee & Low Books, 1995. (B)
 
Journey to Freedom by Courtni C. Wright.
Joshua and his family, runaway slaves from a tobacco plantation in Kentucky, follow the Underground Railraod to freedom.
Holiday House, 1994. (E)
 
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Nancy Cote.
A young slave stitches a quilt with a map pattern which guides her to freedom in the North.
Macmillan, 1993. (E)
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Richard Wright and the Power of Books (Under Construction) 
 
 
 
Frederick Douglass in His Own Words by Frederick Douglass.
The most renowned and influential black leader of the nineteenth century, his writings chronicle the effects of slavery and the struggle to overthrow it, as well as the conditions of free blacks both before and after Emancipation
Harcourt Brace, 1995. (305.8)
 
Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller.
Based on a scene from Wright's autobiography, Black boy, in which the seventeen-year-old African-American borrows a white man's library card and devours every book as a ticket to freedom.
Lee & Low Books, 1997. (FIC)
 
Sweet Words So Brave by Barbara Curry.
A survey of the history of African American literature, from slave narratives to the present, told in the voice of a grandfather speaking to his granddaughter.
Zeno Press, 1996. (810.9)
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Rosa Parks: Her Story (Under Construction)
  
Dear Mrs. Parks: a Dialogue with Today's Youth by Rosa Parks.
Presents correspondence between Rosa Parks and various children in which the "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement" answers questions and encourages young people to reach their highest potential.
Lee & Low, 1996. (B)
 

Leon's Story by Leon Tillage.

The son of a North Carolina sharecropper recalls the hard times faced by his family and other African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century and the changes that the civil rights movement helped bring about.
Farrar Straus Girous, 1997. (B)
 
Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks.
Rosa Parks tells her story in simple, yet eloquent words.
Dial Books, 1990. (B)
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Racial Experiences: Stories & Poetry (Under Construction)
 

America Street : a Multicultural Anthology of Stories by Anne Mazer.

A unique anthology of fourteen superb short stories about young people growing up in our diverse society.
Perea Books, 1993. (SC)

 

Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea by Joyce C. Thomas.

A collection of poems exploring the theme of African-American identity.
HarperCollins, 1993. (811.54)

Celebrate America in Poetry and Art edited by Nora Panzer.

Multicultural collection of poetry and art.
Hyperion Books, 1994. (811)
 
It's Our World Too: Young People Making a Difference by Phillip Hoose.
Social Action Stories.
Joy Street Books, 1993. (302.14)
 
City Kids Speak on Prejudice by Phillip Hoose.
Social Action Stories.
Random House, 1994. (303.3)
 
Same Difference: Young Writers on Race edited by San Francisco Writerscorp
Children, ages 8 -18, write about race and personal racial experiences.
WritersCorps Books, 1998. (305.8)
 
Under Our Skin: Kids talk about Racism by Debbie H. Birdseye.
Six young people discuss their feelings about their own ethnic backgrounds and about their experiences with people of different races.
Holiday House, 1997. (305.8)
 
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