Gerald is only three years old when his mama leaves him alone in the house while she visits her drug dealer. He finds the hot thing she uses to light her cigarettes and in no time, the house is ablaze. Mama is sent to prison, and Gerald goes to live with his Aunt Queen. When he turns nine, Gerald unhappily learns that his mama is being released from jail and wants her son back. Suddenly, he must switch from a loving home to a household dominated by his abusive stepfather. When Gerald learns a terrible secret about his stepfather and the half-sister he has grown to love, he'll have to find the courage to do what's right. Author Sharon M. Draper, a National Teacher of the Year Award winner, tackles tough issues like physical and sexual child abuse. Thomas Penny's empathetic narration makes Forged by Fire and unforgettable listening experience.
For Sugar, life is anything but sweet.Ten-year-old Sugar lives on River Road Plantation along the banks of the Mississippi River. Slavery is over, but working in the sugarcane fields all day doesn’t make her feel very free. Thankfully, Sugar k...
A Newbery Medal WinnerWhen Amos Fortune was only fifteen years old, he was captured by slave traders and brought to Massachusetts, where he was sold at auction. Although his freedom had been taken, Amos never lost his dinity and courage. For 45 year...
Winner of the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth/TeensA 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor BookCowritten by Malcolm X’s daughter, this riveting and revealing novel follows the formative years of the man whose word...
In the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award–winning Bud, Not Buddy, Bud met a girl named Deza Malone in a Hooverville. This is her story. “We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful" is the motto of Deza Malone'...
The summer of 1898 is filled with ups and downs for 11-year-old Moses. He's growing apart from his best friend, his superstitious Boo-Nanny butts heads constantly with his pragmatic, educated father, and his mother is reeling from the discovery of a...
In this middle grade novel-in-verse by the Newbery Medal-winning and Coretta Scott King Honor Award-winning author of "The Crossover," soccer, family, love, and friendship take center stage as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words as he wre...
Coretta Scott King award-winner and National Teacher of the Year, Sharon M. Draper uses a brilliant variety of styles and voices to tell this compelling first story of her Hazelwood High trilogy. The night that changes everything in Andy's life begi...
Eight-year-old EllRay is down to one-and-a-half best friends, which leads his little sister to point out the obvious: he needs new friends. A spare, at least. For emergencies. So EllRay decides to audition other boys for the role of Spare Best Frien...
The Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree about the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan—from Christopher Paul Curtis, author of Bud, Not Buddy, a Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott Award Winner.Enter the hilarious world of ten-year-old Kenny a...
