The Books

From Pre-K to YA, check out Stories Matter's Recommendations!

Take this list with you to you local library (Scenic Regional branches, Washington Public Library, Gerald Area Library, East Central College Library) or bookstore (Neighborhood Reads), and get reading!

For book synopses and age recommendations, click here for a downloadable PDF.

Preschool/Early Elementary

Brick by Brick
Charles R. Smith, Jr.
Let's Talk About Race
Julius Lester
My Nose, Your Nose
Melanie Walsh
My People
Langston Hughes
Rosa
Nikki Giovanni
Separate is Never Equal
Duncan Tonatium
Shades of People
Shelley Rotner
Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes
Mem Fox
The Case for Loving
Selina Alko
The Skin You Live In
Michael Tyler
Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass
Dean Robbins
We March
Shane W. Evans
We're Different, We're the Same
Bobbi Jane Kates
Whoever You Are
Mem Fox
Yo! Yes?
Chris Raschka
More More More, Said the Baby
Vera B. Williams
Skin Again
bell hooks
I Could Do That! Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote
Linda Arms White
I am Jazz
Jessica Herthel
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress
Christine Baldacchino
Annie's Plaid Shirt
Stacy B. Davids
The Paper Bag Princess
Robert Munsch
Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909
Michelle Markel
The Barefoot Book of Children
Tessa Strickland
The Great Big Book of Families
Mary Hoffman
Mommy, Mama and Me
Lesléa Newman
Daddy, Papa and Me
Lesléa Newman
Tough Boris
Mem Fox
Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace
Jen Johnson
The Name Jar
Yangsook Choi
Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match/Marisol McDonald No Combina
Monica Brown
Salam Alaikum
Harris J
From Far Away
Robert Munsch and Saoussan Askar, art by Rebecca Green

Middle Grades

Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson
Piecing Me Together
Renée Watson
The Crossover
Kwame Alexander
Booked
Kwame Alexander
One Crazy Summer
Rita Williams-Garcia
The Land of Forgotten Girls
Erin Entrada Kelly
Save Me a Seat
Gita Varadarajan
Caminar
Skila Brown
Tortilla Sun
Jennifer Cervantes
Amina's Voice
Hena Khan
The Stars Beneath Our Feet
David Barclay Moore
Counting by 7s
Holly Goldberg Sloan
Silent Days, Silent Dreams
Allen Say
The First Rule of Punk
Celia C. Perez
Esperanza Rising
Pam Munoz Ryan
I Lived on Butterfly Hill
Marjorie Agosín
Home of the Brave
Katherine Applegate
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie
If I Ever Get Out of Here
Eric Gansworth
The Warriors
Joseph Bruchac
The Heart of a Chief
Joseph Bruchac
A Long Walk to Water
Linda Sue Park
The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher
Dana Alison Levy
This Would Make a Good Story Someday
Dana Alison Levy
Bud, Not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
George
Alex Gino
One True Way
Shannon Hitchcock
Inside Out and Back Again
Thanhha Lai
Refugee
Alan Gatz
I Am Malala
Malala Yousafzai
Hidden Figures Young Readers' Edition
Margot Lee Shetterly
Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961
Larry Dane Brimner
Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the United States
Lori Marie Carlson
The Shadow Hero
Gene Luen Yang
Yes! We Are Latinos
Alma Flor Ada and Isabel Campoy
Rad American Women A-Z
Kate Schatz
March Trilogy
John Lewis
Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers
Edited by Arigon Starr
The Complete Maus
Art Spiegelman
Black Panther: World of Wakanda
Roxane Gay and Ta-Nahisi Coates
Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1
Ta-Nahisi Coates
Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: No Normal,
G. Willow Wilson

Young Adult

The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas
Dear Martin
Nic Stone
The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros
American Street
Ibi Zoboi
Children of Blood and Bone
Tomi Adeyemi
Girls Like Us
Gail Giles
All American Boys
Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Becky Albertalli
The Summer I Wasn't Me
Jessica Verdi
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi