Books like 'Rebound'
Readers who enjoyed Rebound by Kwame Alexander also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical sports realistic family historical-fiction grief friendship coming-of-age poc-mc children
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The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsClover's mom says it isn't safe to cross the fence that segregates their African-American side of town from the white side where Anna lives. But the two girls strike up a friendship, and get around the grown-ups' rules by sitting on top of the fence together. With the addition of a brand-new author's note, this special edition celebrates the tenth anniversary of this classic book...Categorized as:
black-mc children family friendship historical-fiction poc-mc realistic season-summer -
The Essay by Robin Yocum
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“Yocum writes like the reporter he used to be. He’s observant and still has his eye for detail and nuance.”—Richmond Times-DispatchJimmy Lee Hickam grew up along Red Dog Road, a dead-end strip of gravel and mud buried deep in the bowels of Appalachian Ohio. It is the poorest road, in the poorest county, in the poorest region of the state... -
Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsI couldn't play on the same playground as the white kids.I couldn't go to their schools.I couldn't drink from their water fountains.There were so many things I couldn't do. In 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, thousands of African American children volunteered to march for their civil rights after hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak...Categorized as:
historical-fiction children poc-mc family realistic friendship black-mc children-books -
Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn #ownvoices novel in verse about an Indian American girl whose life is turned upside down when her mother is diagnosed with leukemia.Reha feels torn between two worlds: school, where she’s the only Indian American student, and home, with her family’s traditions and holidays... -
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Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTwo-time Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall invites readers to peek through windows that shine like real glass on this lavish book’s cover, and explore the dollhouse-like world of a beloved farmhouse where twelve children were born and raised.Over a hill, at the end of a road, by a glittering stream that twists and turns stands a farmhouse...Categorized as:
family historical-fiction realistic children children-books fiction historical multigenerational -
Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTwo boys—one black, one white—are best friends in the segregated 1960s South in this picture book about friends sticking together through thick and thin.John Henry swims better than anyone I know. He crawls like a catfish, blows bubbles like a swamp monster, but he doesn’t swim in the town pool with me. He’s not allowed. Joe and John Henry are a lot alike...Categorized as:
black-mc children coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction poc-mc realistic -
Chicken Sunday by Patricia Polacco
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAfter being initiated into a neighbor's family by a solemn backyard ceremony, a young Russian American girl and her African American brothers' determine to buy their gramma Eula a beautiful Easter hat. But their good intentions are misunderstood, until they discover just the right way to pay for the hat that Eula's had her eye on. A loving family story woven from the author's childhood... -
The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThis 25th anniversary edition of a beloved and bestselling classic about family and tradition includes fifteen pages of bonus material.“We will make a quilt to help us always remember home,” Anna’s mother said. “It will be like having the family in backhome Russia dance around us at night.” And so it was... -
Born a Colored Girl by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the author of Pappy Moses' Peanut Plantation and A Slave's Song - Two slaves, a mother and daughter, separated during the Civil War never to see each other again. From her mother's diary, Etta Jean will learn to love the mother she never knew. And from the same diary, a mother will finally give of herself... -
Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA lavish new picture book from Caldecott-winner Sophie Blackall that will transport readers to the seaside in timeless, nautical splendor!Watch the days and seasons pass as the wind blows, the fog rolls in, and icebergs drift by. Outside, there is water all around...Categorized as:
children family friendship historical-fiction realistic season-summer action-adventure book -
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsAn international bestseller: Grace learns that she can be anything she wants...Categorized as:
children family friendship historical-fiction poc-mc realistic action-adventure book -
New Shoes by Susan Lynn Meyer
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsElla Mae is used to wearing her cousin's hand-me-down shoes—but when her latest pair is already too tight, she's thrilled at the chance to get new shoes.But at the shoe store, Ella Mae and her mother have to wait until there are no white customers to serve first... -
A Daughter’s Return by Josephine Cox
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFlorence Stanville is a woman with a past. When she moves to Guisethorpe on the east coast of England, the townsfolk are intrigued by the glamorous and mysterious stranger. Florence doesn’t care about the gossips – she’s drawn to the peaceful seaside town by the pull of her childhood, when she lived for a brief but happy time with her beloved late mother... -
Orphan Train Girl by Christina Baker Kline
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis young readers’ edition of Christina Baker Kline’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel Orphan Train follows a twelve-year-old foster girl who forms an unlikely bond with a ninety-one-year-old woman. Adapted and condensed for a young audience, Orphan Train Girl includes an author’s note and archival photos from the orphan train era... -
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The Wall by Eve Bunting
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA young boy and his father visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial... -
Homecoming by Beverly Jenkins
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA historical holiday story of homecoming and second-chance romance by NAACP Image Award Nominee, Beverly Jenkins. In 1883, Lydia Cooper is happily traveling back home to celebrate the simple joys of the holidays when an unexpected complication appears in the all-too-distracting form of Gray Dane, the man she loved as a girl; the man she left behind... -
Tame the Savage Heart by Michael Edwin Q.
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the best selling author of BUT HAVE NOT LOVE and BORN A COLORED GIRL comes a love story like no other. She was a young slave girl. He was an African warrior purchased at a slave auction with the intent he would father a new breed of stronger slave. Despite all odds, a language barrier and the disapproval of her family and friends, the two fight for a life together... -
Nell Plants a Tree by Anne Wynter
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis gorgeous picture book shows how one little girl’s careful tending of a pecan tree creates the living center of a loving, intergenerational Black family. For Earth Day and every day! Perfect for fans of Matt de la Peña and Oge Mora...Categorized as:
family children poc-mc historical-fiction realistic black-mc outdoors children-books -
Overground Railroad by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA window into a child's experience of the Great Migration from the award-winning creators of Before She Was Harriet and Finding Langston . Climbing aboard the New York bound Silver Meteor train, Ruth Ellen embarks upon a journey toward a new life up North-- one she can't begin to imagine...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family children poc-mc realistic black-mc children-books historical -
A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTwo young girls not only witness but help to change history in this inspiring and urgent Civil Rights-era picture book by three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Angela Johnson.There's a sweet, sweet smell in the air as two young girls sneak out of their house, down the street, and across town to where men and women are gathered, ready to march for freedom and justice...Categorized as:
historical-fiction realistic poc-mc children family black-mc children-books historical -
Satch & Me by Dan Gutman
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratings"You wanna know who threw the fastest pitch ever?"Many baseball players claim that Satchel Paige was the fastest pitcher in the history of the game. Stosh and his coach, Flip Valentini, are on a mission to find out. With radar gun in tow, they travel back to 1942 and watch Satch pitch to power hitter Josh Gibson in the Negro League World Series... -
The Ragged Urchin by Lynette Rees
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWill this little orphan boy find a safe haven? Orphaned at the age of ten-years-old, Archie Ledbetter, is forced to live with his uncle in his very grand house. Uncle Walter seems emotionless, exhibiting little feeling towards the young lad. If it wasn't for some of the staff at Huntington Hall, Archie's life would be a complete misery... -
The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Mary Ellen gets bored with her reading, Grandpa knows a hunt for a bee tree is just what she needs. Half the town joins the exciting chase, but it's not until everyone returns home that Mary Ellen makes a discovery of her own: Sometimes, even the sweetest of things must be worked for...Categorized as:
children family friendship historical-fiction realistic season-summer action-adventure animals -
Fifth Born by Zelda Lockhart
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Odessa Blackburn is three years old her beloved grandmother dies, and so begins her story, set in St. Louis, Missouri, and rural Mississippi. As the fifth born of eight children, Odessa loses her innocence at first when her drunken father sexually abuses her, and then again when she alone witnesses her father taking the life of his own brother... -
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Blood Sisters by Barbara Keating, Stephanie Keating
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsKenya 1957. During their childhood years in the Kenya Highlands three girls from vastly different backgrounds become blood sisters, promising that nothing will ever destroy the bond between them. But the legacy of the Mau Mau rebellion, and the tensions and upheavals of newly independent Kenya, tear their childhood dreams apart... -
That Book Woman by Heather Henson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCal is not the readin' type. Living way high up in the Appalachian Mountains, he'd rather help Pap plow or go out after wandering sheep than try some book learning. Nope. Cal does not want to sit stoney-still reading some chicken scratch. But that Book Woman keeps coming just the same. She comes in the rain. She comes in the snow...Categorized as:
children coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction realistic action-adventure book -
Jackie & Me by Dan Gutman
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLike every other kid in his class, Joe Stoscack has to write a report on an African American who's made an important contribution to society. Unlike every other kid in his class, Joe has a special talent: with the help of old baseball cards, he can travel through time...Categorized as:
black-mc children historical-fiction male-mc poc-mc realistic sports action-adventure -
Flowers in the Snow by Danielle Stewart
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIf you step across the threshold of Betty Grafton’s house, you can be sure of two things: she’ll feed you until you’re ready to bust and she’ll love you before you even realize you’re worthy of it. She’s spent her life building a family that finally feels complete. But as sad news forces her to relive the darkest moments of her life, she decides to share the story with those she loves... -
Grenade by Alan Gratz
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsHere it is! The hugely anticipated follow-up to Gratz's NYT bestselling, critically acclaimed phenomenon REFUGEE. This is another searing and heart-pounding look at kids making their way through war.A New York Times bestseller!It's 1945, and the world is in the grip of war.Hideki lives on the island of Okinawa, near Japan...Categorized as:
children coming-of-age family friendship grief high-school historical-fiction male-mc -
Outbound Train by Renea Winchester
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn 1976, memories from a night near the railroad tracks sixteen years earlier haunt Barbara Parker. She wrestles with past demons every night, then wakes to the train’s five-thirty whistle. Exhausted and dreading the day, she keeps her hands busy working in Bryson City’s textile plant, known as the “blue jean plant,” all the while worrying about her teenage daughter, Carole Anne... -
House Without Walls by Ching Yeung Russell
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFor most people, home is a place with four walls. It's a place to eat, sleep, rest, and live. For a refugee, the concept of home is ever-changing, ever-moving, ever-wavering. And often, it doesn't have any walls at all.Eleven-year-old Lam escapes from Vietnam with Dee Dee during the Vietnamese Boat People Exodus in 1979, when people from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fled their homelands for safety... -
The Cheerleader by Ruth Doan MacDougall
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFirst published in 1973 and 1974 by Putnam and Bantam, The Cheerleader was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, optioned by Twentieth Century-Fox, made into an NBC sitcom pilot, and became a best-seller beloved by generations of readers. p/pThe reprint of this classic coming-of-age novel features a foreword by English professor Ann V...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction realistic teens book children-books fiction historical -
Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLindy and her doll Sally are best friends - wherever Lindy goes, Sally stays right by her side. They eat together, sleep together, and even pick cotton together. So, on the night Lindy and her mama run away in search of freedom, Sally goes too. This young girl's rag doll vividly narrates her enslaved family's courageous escape through the Underground Railroad... -
In the Beautiful Country by Jane Kuo
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA novel in verse about a young Taiwanese immigrant to America who is confronted by the stark difference between dreams and reality.Anna can’t wait to move to the beautiful country—the Chinese name for America. Although she’s only ever known life in Taiwan, she can’t help but brag about the move to her family and friends.But the beautiful country isn’t anything like Anna pictured...Categorized as:
historical-fiction realistic coming-of-age children family poc-mc season-summer middle-grade -
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Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt's 1935, and tuberculosis is ravaging the nation. Everyone is afraid of this deadly respiratory illness. But what happens when you actually have it?When Halle and her mother both come down with TB, they are shunned—and then they are sent to the J.N. Adam Tuberculosis far from home, far from family, far from the world...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family friendship coming-of-age grief children middle-grade fiction -
Like Vanessa by Tami Charles
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this semi-autobiographical debut novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin's real-life reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey is a far cry from the glamorous Miss America stage. She struggles with an incarcerated mother she barely remembers, a grandfather dealing with addiction and her own battle with self-confidence...Categorized as:
black-mc children coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction poc-mc realistic -
Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIllus. in full color. Cassie, who flew above New York in Tar Beach, soars into the sky once more. This time, she and her brother Be Be meet a train full of people, and Be Be joins them. But the train departs before Cassie can climb aboard... -
Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea by Meena Harris
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOne day, Kamala and Maya had an idea. A big idea: they would turn their empty apartment courtyard into a playground!This is the uplifting tale of how the author’s aunt and mother first learned to persevere in the face of disappointment and turned a dream into reality. This is a story of children’s ability to make a difference and of a community coming together to transform their neighborhood... -
When Stars Rain Down by Angela Jackson-Brown
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis summer has the potential to change everything.The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt can sense a nameless storm coming. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming eighteenth birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks...Categorized as:
historical-fiction season-summer family poc-mc realistic coming-of-age black-mc friendship -
One-Handed Catch by Mary Jane Auch
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsNot even losing his hand can keep Norm from trying out for the baseball teamWhat would life be like with only one hand? That's exactly what eleven-year-old Norm finds out when he loses his left hand in an accident at his family's store. It's July 4, 1946. World War II has ended, and life is getting back to normal... -
I Survived #05 by Lauren Tarshis
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOriginally released by Scholastic Press...Categorized as:
children family friendship historical-fiction male-mc realistic action-adventure audiobook -
Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBeverly put her foot down on the gas. They went faster still.This was what Beverly wanted — what she always wanted. To get away. To get away as fast as she could. To stay away.Beverly Tapinski has run away from home plenty of times, but that was when she was just a kid. By now, she figures, it’s not running away. It’s leaving...Categorized as:
children coming-of-age family friendship grief historical-fiction realistic season-summer -
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsRinggold recounts the dream adventure of eight-year-old Cassie Louise Lightfoot, who flies above her apartment-building rooftop, the 'tar beach' of the title, looking down on 1939 Harlem. Part autobiographical, part fictional, this allegorical tale sparkles with symbolic and historical references central to African-American culture. The spectacular artwork resonates with color and texture...Categorized as:
black-mc children family friendship historical-fiction poc-mc realistic season-summer -
Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe untold story of Thomas Jefferson's slave childrenBeverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston are Thomas Jefferson's children by one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, and while they do get special treatment - better work, better shoes, even violin lessons - they are still slaves, and are never to mention who their father is...Categorized as:
black-mc children coming-of-age family friendship high-school historical-fiction poc-mc -
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The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIn this Newbery Honor-winning novel, Gary D. Schmidt offers an unforgettable antihero. The Wednesday Wars is a wonderfully witty and compelling story about a teenage boy’s mishaps and adventures over the course of the 1967–68 school year in Long Island, New York. Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs...Categorized as:
children coming-of-age family friendship high-school historical-fiction male-mc poc-mc -
That Is My Dream! by Langston Hughes
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"Dream Variation," one of Langston Hughes's poems about the dream of a world free of discrimination and racial prejudice is now a picture book.To fling my arms wideIn some place of the sun, To whirl and to danceTill the white day is done.... Follow one African-American boy through the course of his day as the harsh reality of segregation and racial prejudice comes into vivid focus...Categorized as:
historical-fiction children poc-mc family friendship black-mc children-books social-commentary -
Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNational Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson brings readers a powerful story that delves deeply into life’s burning questions about time and memory and what we take with us into the future.It seems like Sage’s whole world is on fire the summer before she starts seventh grade. As house after house burns down, her Bushwick neighborhood gets referred to as “The Matchbox” in the local newspaper... -
Laura's Luck by Marilyn Sachs
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLaura knows she won't be happy at camp...but could she be wrong? In the second of three books about a poor family living in the Bronx in the 1940s, Laura, the older sister, has to cope with the pleasures and pains of going off to camp...Categorized as:
children coming-of-age family friendship historical-fiction realistic season-summer book -
Betsy's Busy Summer by Carolyn Haywood
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA long-time favorite series is brought back with the first book of the Betsy Series. Betsy's Busy Summer finds Betsy and her friends in the summerhouse for fun and games all summer long...Categorized as:
children friendship realistic season-summer children-books classics fiction historical -
Freedom Swimmer by Wai Chim
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA powerful story of friendship, bravery, and a desperate bid for freedom, inspired by true events.Ming survived the famine that killed his parents during China's "Great Leap Forward", and lives a hard but adequate life, working in the fields...
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