Hello Great Brain and thank you all for your wonderful responses.
I asked for juvenile fiction with African American Male Characters and here they
are: (the cavalry rides again!)
Sharon Robinson has two sports themed book with a ten-year-old boy named Elijah,
Safe at Home and Slam Dunk
Anne Cameron's Julian series
Bud Not Buddy
What about any of the titles written by Christopher Paul Curtis. Some 4th and most
5th graders could handle those! My 4th grade sons are loving Bud, Not Buddy.
Books by Christopher Paul Curtis like "Bud Not Buddy" and "The Watsons Go to
Birmingham" are great
I really like the Ann Cameron books, The Stories Julian Tells, etc.
The "Julian"/"Huey" books by Ann Cameron
Books by Mildred Taylor
The Jacket by Andrew Clements
Bud, Not Buddy and The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Story of Jonas by Maurine Dahlberg
Jip: His Story by Katherine Paterson
Trouble Don't Last by Shelley Pearsall
The Real Slam Dunk by Charisse Richardson
The David Mortimore Baxter series by Karen Tayleur
The David books are available from Stone Arch Books - Capstone Press. I work in a
PreK-5 school and the boys really like the books. I would say 8 and up age wise.
It was great to find a book series that featured an African-American boy as the
main character.
a YA adult is Door of No Return by Sarah Mussi
Patricia Cummings author/illustrator has a few
There are two I thought of, both 5th grade level. The characters are not the main
character, but are important to the story.
Stanley, Diane. The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy (sequel to The
Mysterious Matter of I.M. Fine)
Woods, Brenda. My Name Is Sally Little Song (historical)
Similar to Taylor: Forty Acres and a Mule is one title. Blacks in the
south after Reconstruction and before WWII. There's also The Red Rose Box
by an author whose name I can't remember.
Try the David Mortimore Baxter series bty Karen Tayleur. Also, Mildred Taylor
books may be an option.
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry and The Land by Mildred Taylor
For more advanced readers: (MS/HS reading levels)
Walter Dean Myers has a number of titles that could fit the bill.
The Tears of a Tiger Trilogy and Romeo and Julietta (sp?) by Draper
Christopher Paul Curtis has several, including Bud, Not Buddy, The Watsons Go to
Birmingham--1963, and Elijah of Buxton, all of which are wonderful.
Mildred Taylor also has several very good ones, including Roll of Thunder, Hear My
Cry; The Friendship, The Land, and The Well: David's Story.
Jacqueline Woodson's Locomotion is also a terrific little novel.
Trenton Lee Stewart's Mysterious Benedict Society trilogy features a quartet of
child prodigies, one of which is African American.
Laurie Halse Anderson's wonderful book Chains is about a slave girl but she has a
good friend who is male.
The Stories Julian Tells and More Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron center
around a young African American boy.
James Lincoln Collier's Jump Ship to Freedom and With Every Drop of Blood are about
young boys who are slaves, as is Maurine Dahlberg's The Story of Jonas and Kim
Siegelson's Escape South.
Also:
Sounder by William Howard Armstrong
M.C. Higgins the Great and The Planet of Junior Brown by Virginia Hamilton
The Jacket by Andrew Clements
Junebug by Alice Mead
The Kwanzaa Contest by Miriam Moore and Penny Taylor
The Mouse Rap by Walter Dean Myers
The Legend of Bass Reeves: Being the True Account of the Most Valiant Marshall in
the West by Gary Paulsen
Finding Buck McHenry by Alfred Slote
Go Fish by Mary Stolz
Justin and the Best Biscuits in the world by Mildred Pitts Walter
The Listeners by Gloria Whelan
Dear Austin: Letters from the Underground Railroad by Elvira Woodruff
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
Ann Cameron/ Julian Stories; Bill Cosby series
Robinett, Curtis, Myers are each African American authors with African
American male main characters.
How about the Stories Huey Tells and Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron (there
are also other titles in the "Julian" series)? These are older copyrights but still
in print and pretty timeless.
The Stories Julian Tells series
http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Julian-Tells-Ann-Cameron/dp/0394828925
The Just For You series
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/classroombooks/justforyou.htm
The My Name is America series http://www.scholastic.com/dearamerica/books/series.htm
Kid Caramel, Private Investigator http://www.kidcaramel.com/
Christopher Paul Curtis' books
Who's Jim Hines? http://www.amazon.com/Whos-Hines-Great-Lakes-Books/dp/0814334024
The Rock and the River is high end, but could appeal to 5th grade.
Some very fine poetic novels I've shared with my 5th graders with AA
male characters:
Locomotion and its sequel by Woodson
Fearless Fernie and Me by Gary Soto
The Way A Door Closes and its sequel by Hope Anita Smith
Bird by Zetta Elliott
Brendan Buckley's universe and everything in it, by Sundee T. Frazier. Brendan is
bi-racial. See this review from The Brown Bookshelf
http://thebrownbookshelf.com/2008/07/04/middle-grade-book-review-brendan-buckleys-universe-and-everything-in-it/
to see if it suits your needs. I loved this book! Also, what about Ann Cameron's
Julian books? (i.e. The stories Julian tells).
Try this website:
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Involved/Action/AARI/Young_Children_2010.pdf
Thanks so much to all.
Have a great weekend,
Barb
Barb Langridge
Children's Services
Howard County Central Library
10375 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, MD 21045
410 313-7880
barb.langridge@hclibrary.org
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