Books like 'The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read'
Readers who enjoyed The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical slavery children family poc-mc social-commentary historical-fiction black-mc
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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 social-commentary children poc-mc family black-mc children-books historical -
![Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall]()
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 children children-books fiction historical realistic multigenerational -
![In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper]()
In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe folk flavor of her storytelling has earned her constant comparison to Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, but through four collections of short stories and two novels, J. California Cooper has proven that hers is a wholly original talent --one that embraces readers in an ever-widening circle from one book to the next... -
![Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles]()
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... -
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![The Attic Child by Lola Jaye]()
The Attic Child by Lola Jaye
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA hauntingly powerful and emotionally charged novel about family secrets, love and loss, identity and belonging.Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret. Early 1900s Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea...Categorized as:
historical-fiction poc-mc family social-commentary slavery black-mc fiction historical -
![Born a Colored Girl by Michael Edwin Q.]()
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... -
![The Colours of Love by Rita Bradshaw]()
The Colours of Love by Rita Bradshaw
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCan love survive when all is lost? England is at war, but nothing can dim land girl Esther Wynford's happiness at marrying the love of her life - fighter pilot Monty Grant. Their short honeymoon results in a baby, but on the birth of her daughter, Joy, Esther's world falls apart... -
![Hand Of Fate by Duane Boehm]()
Hand Of Fate by Duane Boehm
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBestselling Western author Duane Boehm has written another western novel with enough humor, heartbreak, love, and outlaws to keep you turning the page.While the ranchers around Trinidad are circling like buzzards in wait for Flannery Vogel to fail, the downtrodden widow with a young daughter refuses to surrender as she struggles to run the ranch that cost her husband his life... -
![New Shoes by Susan Lynn Meyer]()
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...Categorized as:
historical-fiction social-commentary poc-mc children family black-mc historical children-books -
![Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan by Ashley Bryan]()
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan by Ashley Bryan
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNewbery Honor Book Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, Ashley Bryan offers a moving and powerful picture book that contrasts the monetary value of a person with the priceless value of life experiences and dreams that a slave owner could never take away... -
![The Vanishing Woman by Doug Peterson]()
The Vanishing Woman by Doug Peterson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn 1848, Ellen Craft became invisible. Ellen, a slave from Macon, Georgia, took trains and steamboats north, but the people all around couldn t see her. They saw only a white man. Ellen Craft s mother was a slave, but her father was her master, and she had skin as white as his. So she posed as a white man, while her husband William posed as her slave... -
![Things Past Telling: A Novel by Sheila Williams]()
Things Past Telling: A Novel by Sheila Williams
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratings“This is a truly character-driven novel that explores how people define themselves, the creation of family and home, and the importance of memory and language. . . . Fans of historical epics won’t be able to put this book down.”—Historical Novel Society“Emotionally satisfying. . . . A remarkable character portrait... -
![Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter]()
Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIllus. in full color. "Winter's story begins with a peg-leg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the Underground Railroad. While working for plantation owners, Peg Leg Joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper). A couple, their son, and two others make their escape by following the song's directions...Categorized as:
black-mc children family historical-fiction poc-mc slavery social-commentary action-adventure -
![The Upper Room by Mary Monroe]()
The Upper Room by Mary Monroe
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMama Ruby's known for taking things that aren't rightfully hers, like her best friend's stillborn infant, who she brought back to life and christened Maureen. She's also rumored to have done away with her husband. Some fear her, others try their best to avoid her. But Mama Ruby doesn't pay them any mind. Not when she's got the one gift God gave her--her precious baby girl... -
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![Homecoming by Beverly Jenkins]()
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.]()
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... -
![Princess Ces'alena by Mercedes Keyes]()
Princess Ces'alena by Mercedes Keyes
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBook one revolves around the world of Manny and Lena, as they struggle to live and love in a world where such passion, loyalty and devotion between a master and his slave is forbidden and taboo. Together with every breath they take, they go against convention to keep true what they deeply feel between them. A desire, an obsession so strong, they will pay the price of hell to stay together... -
![The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper]()
The Wake of the Wind by J. California Cooper
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dramatic and thought-provoking novel of one family's triumph in the face of the hardships and challenges of the post-Civil War South.The Wake of the Wind , J. California Cooper's third novel, is her most penetrating look yet at the challenges that generations of African Americans have had to overcome in order to carve out a home for themselves and their families... -
![The People Could Fly: The Picture Book by Virginia Hamilton]()
The People Could Fly: The Picture Book by Virginia Hamilton
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“THE PEOPLE COULD FLY,” the title story in Virginia Hamilton’s prize-winning American Black folktale collection, is a fantasy tale of the slaves who possessed the ancient magic words that enabled them to literally fly away to freedom... -
![Nell Plants a Tree by Anne Wynter]()
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... -
![Overground Railroad by Lesa Cline-Ransome]()
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 black-mc children-books historical fiction -
![A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson]()
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 social-commentary poc-mc children family black-mc children-books historical -
![People of the Nightland by W. Michael Gear, Kathleen O'Neal Gear]()
People of the Nightland by W. Michael Gear, Kathleen O'Neal Gear
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt has been a thousand years since Wolf Dreamer lead his people up through the dark hole in the ice to a rich, untouched continent bursting with game. But the world has changed. Most of the magnificent animals are gone, and the last of the great glaciers is melting, forming a huge freshwater lake in the middle of the world. Over the centuries the People of the Wolf have split into two clans... -
![Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges, Sophie Blackall]()
Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges, Sophie Blackall
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsRuby is unlike most little girls in old China. Instead of aspiring to get married, Ruby is determined to attend university when she grows up, just like the boys in her family...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family poc-mc children social-commentary children-books fiction realistic -
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![This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson, James E. Ransome]()
This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson, James E. Ransome
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJacqueline Woodson--New York TimesBestselling, National Book Award andNewbery Honor winning author--writes arich story of a family adapting to change as they hold on to the past and embrace the future. WithCoretta Scott King Award winning illustrator James Ransome.During the time of the Great Migration, millions of African American families relocated from the South, seeking better opportunities...Categorized as:
black-mc children family historical-fiction poc-mc social-commentary action-adventure audiobook -
![Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson]()
Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA middle-grade novel about two enslaved children’s escape from a plantation and the many ways they find freedom.Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there’s no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail...Categorized as:
historical-fiction slavery children family poc-mc social-commentary black-mc middle-grade -
![The Cursed Ground by T.R. Simon]()
The Cursed Ground by T.R. Simon
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA powerful fictionalized account of Zora Neale Hurston’s childhood adventures explores the idea of collective memory and the lingering effects of slavery.“History ain’t in a book, especially when it comes to folks like us. History is in the lives we lived and the stories we tell each other about those lives... -
![Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson]()
Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAward-winning duo Deborah Hopkinson and James E. Ransome combine their talents once more for this sequel to the best-selling "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt." Traveling late one night, a runaway slave girl spies a quilt hanging outside a house. The quilt's center is a striking deep blue -- a sign that the people inside are willing to help her escape... -
![Rhythms by Donna Hill]()
Rhythms by Donna Hill
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt all began in 1927, in the small town of Rudell, Mississippi, after the sudden and tragic death of Cora Harvey's parents. She has nothing left except her burning desire to become a singer. But her dream will never come true in Rudell, especially if she marries the man she adores, Dr. David Mackey... -
![Saddle The Wind by Jess Foley]()
Saddle The Wind by Jess Foley
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLet much loved author Jess Foley sweep you away with this beautifully breathtaking saga of one woman's search for love and fulfilment. Fans of Catherine Cookson, Dilly Court and Katie Flynn will absolutely love this... -
![Forgotten by Jeanne Hardt]()
Forgotten by Jeanne Hardt
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRumor has it, the war is about to end. But that doesn’t stop Billy Denton from running away to enlist. He’s lived a privileged life on the Wellesley estate, where slavery is seen as a necessary means to operate their textile production. Believing no human should be enslaved by another, he’s willing to fight—and even die—to change the future of the woman who holds his heart... -
![Meet Claudie: An American Girl; 1922 by Brit Bennett]()
Meet Claudie: An American Girl; 1922 by Brit Bennett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsClaudie Wells wants more than anything to be a person whose imagination can fly, instead of a person whose feet are stuck on the ground. She believes everyone has a talent except for her. She's growing up in the neighborhood of Harlem in New York City during the 1920s, surrounded by writers and poets, painters and sculptors, actors and dancers, singers and musicians... -
![Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens]()
Build a House by Rhiannon Giddens
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsGrammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens celebrates Black history and culture in her unflinching, uplifting, and gorgeously illustrated picture book debut. I learned your words and wrote my song. I put my story down...Categorized as:
family slavery children historical-fiction poc-mc social-commentary black-mc children-books -
![Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson]()
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...Categorized as:
black-mc children family historical-fiction poc-mc slavery social-commentary action-adventure -
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![The Fancy by Mercedes Keyes]()
The Fancy by Mercedes Keyes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe slave trader, "fancy" dealer was saving the best for last, for a special auction. However, at hearing how close he'd come to losing his mother - his priorities, his plan shifted. Dr. Quinton Thaddeus Caine had saved his mother's life - for this deed, the young surgeon deserved the best that he could give in compensation. A gift - the best - a Fancy... -
![Evermore: A Saga of Slavery and Deliverance by Gretchen Craig]()
Evermore: A Saga of Slavery and Deliverance by Gretchen Craig
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNicolette Chamard, a woman of color in the most color-conscious city in the world, rejoices when the Union Army marches into New Orleans. At last her people will be free, and even knowing her collaboration with the Union will put her in danger, she means to help make it happen. Marcel Chamard, Nicolette’s privileged white half-brother, surveys the same parade and sees conquerors, not liberators... -
![Blues Dancing by Diane McKinney-Whetstone]()
Blues Dancing by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsVerdi and Rowe have been living a comfortable existence for the past twenty years... -
![Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold]()
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...Categorized as:
black-mc children family historical-fiction poc-mc slavery social-commentary action-adventure -
![Encounter by Jane Yolen]()
Encounter by Jane Yolen
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Christopher Columbus landed on the island of San Salvador in 1492, what he discovered were the Taino Indians. Told from a young Taino boy’s point of view, this is a story of how the boy tried to warn his people against welcoming the strangers, who seemed more interested in golden ornaments than friendship...Categorized as:
historical-fiction social-commentary poc-mc children family children-books historical fiction -
![Diamond by Jacqueline Wilson, Nick Sharratt]()
Diamond by Jacqueline Wilson, Nick Sharratt
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe fantastic new novel from bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson, starring Diamond, the little circus acrobat who first appeared in the hugely popular Hetty Feather books: Hetty Feather, Sapphire Battersea and Emerald Star.Diamond wasn’t always a star. Born to penniless parents who longed for a strong, healthy son, she was a dainty, delicate daughter - and a bitter disappointment...Categorized as:
children family historical-fiction action-adventure book children-books fiction historical -
![Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley]()
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 family historical-fiction poc-mc slavery social-commentary audiobook -
![A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake]()
A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTold in alternating tales at once haunting and redemptive, A Tangled Mercy is a quintessentially American epic rooted in heartbreaking true events examining the harrowing depths of human brutality and betrayal, and our enduring hope for freedom and forgiveness... -
![That Is My Dream! by Langston Hughes]()
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:
social-commentary historical-fiction children poc-mc family black-mc children-books fiction -
![Big Papa and the Time Machine by Daniel Bernstrom]()
Big Papa and the Time Machine by Daniel Bernstrom
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDiscover the true meaning of being brave in this tender and whimsical picture book from Daniel Bernstrom (One Day in the Eucalytus, Eucalyptus Tree) and Shane Evans (Chocolate Me!) that follows a grandfather and grandson who travel through time in a beloved 1952 Ford.A little boy who lives with his grandpa isn’t reprimanded for being afraid to go to school one day...Categorized as:
black-mc children family historical-fiction poc-mc social-commentary action-adventure book -
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![The Edge of Nowhere by C.H. Armstrong]()
The Edge of Nowhere by C.H. Armstrong
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe year is 1992 and Victoria Hastings Harrison Greene—reviled matriarch of a sprawling family—is dying. After surviving the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, Victoria refuses to leave this earth before revealing the secrets she’s carried for decades.Once the child of a loving family during peaceful times, a shocking death shattered her life... -
![As Ever, Booky by Bernice Thurman Hunter]()
As Ever, Booky by Bernice Thurman Hunter
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBook by Hunter, Bernice...Categorized as:
historical-fiction children family children-books young-adult fiction historical middle-grade -
![Maggie's Market by Dee Williams]()
Maggie's Market by Dee Williams
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt's 1935 and Maggie Ross loves her life amongst the stallholders in Kelvin Market where her husband Tony has a bric-a-brac stall and where she lives, with her young family, above Mr Goldman's bespoke tailors. But when one fine Spring day her husband disappears into thin air her world collapses... -
![White Water by Michael S. Bandy, Eric Stein]()
White Water by Michael S. Bandy, Eric Stein
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFor a young boy growing up in the segregated south, a town drinking fountain becomes the source of an epiphany.It’s a scorching hot day, and going into town with Grandma is one of Michael’s favorite things. When the bus pulls up, they climb in and pay their fare, get out, walk to the back door, and climb in again...Categorized as:
historical-fiction social-commentary poc-mc children black-mc children-books historical fiction -
![The Camerons by Robert Crichton]()
The Camerons by Robert Crichton
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA Scottish girl living in the coal-mining town of Pitmungo, sets out on her sixteenth birthday to find a husband who will help her achieve social... -
![Blackberries, Blackberries by Crystal Wilkinson, Nikky Finney]()
Blackberries, Blackberries by Crystal Wilkinson, Nikky Finney
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs the title implies, this beautifully written collection bursts with stories reminiscent of blackberries-–-small, succulent morsels that are inviting and sweet, yet sometimes bitter...Categorized as:
poc-mc social-commentary family black-mc fiction literary-fiction poc-author realistic
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