Freedom Ship
Illustrated by Curtis James;
Hyperion Books, 2005.

On May 13, 1862   Robert Smalls and the nine member slave crew of the Planter, a Confederate steamer anchored in Charleston’s harbor, hijacked the ship  and delivered it, its cannons and ammunitions to the Union Army.

Nobody Gonna Turn Me ‘Round!  Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement  
Illustrated by Shane W. Evans;
Candlewick Press, 2005.

This final book in Rappaport and Evans’s trilogy about the African-American experience traces the modern Civil Rights struggle from the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

United No More! Stories of the Civil War
Co-authored with Joan Verniero;
illustrated by Rick Reeves; HarperCollins, 2006.

Be present for the great dramas of the Civil War -- The Battle of Mobile Bay, the charge on Fort Wagner, Lincoln’s second inaugural adress, and Generals Lee and Grant's signing of the surrender.  Learn what inspired Julia Ward Howe to write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," how the women of Richmond, Virginia protested, and suffer Southerner Eugenia Phillips's humiliating imprisonment on a desolate island. 

excerpts & reviews

The School Is Not White! A True Story of the Civil Rights Movement
Illustrated by Curtis James, Hyperion Books, Fall 2005.

This is a true story of eight courageous black children who battled through ignorance and prejudice when they integrated the schools in Drew, Mississippi in 1965.

The Secret Seder
Illustrated by Emily McCully; Hyperion Books, 2005.

This suspenseful book tells the story of one family’s resistance to the horrors of the Holocaust through their determination to attend a secret Seder in the mountains of France.

In the Promised Land: Lives of Jewish Americans
Illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu; HarperCollins, 2005.

From Asser Levy’s first fight against anti-Semitism in the New World, through director Steven Spielberg’s work to establish the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, this book for young readers presents the exciting and rich contributions Jewish Americans have made to American history.

excerpts & reviews

Free at Last! Stories and Songs of Emancipation
Illustrated by Shane W. Evans; Candlewick Press, 2004.

This second book in a trilogy dramatically documents the experience of black Americans from Emancipation to the l954 Supreme Court Decision outlawing school segregation.

Meet American men, women and children who fought for freedom. Stay in the trenches with Peter Brown at Bunker Hill. Cross the Delaware with Washington’s troops. Ride with Sybil Ludington to muster the militia. Spy on the British with James Armistead, an enslaved African.

We Are the Many: A Picture Book of American Indians
illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu; HarperCollins, 2002.

Beginning with Tisquantum teaching the Pilgrims how to survive, and ending 370 years later with Sherman Alexie writing a poem, this book provides young readers with a fresh, exciting first look at the great history and culture of American Indians.

NO MORE! Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance
illustrated by Shane Evans; Candlewick Press, 2002.

Ever since the first boatload of human cargo sailed to the New World, African-Americans waged a courageous struggle for dignity and freedom. These true accounts put readers in the shoes of eleven extraordinary individuals and document many forms of slave resistance.

excerpts & reviews

Escape from Slavery
illustrated by Charles Lilly; Harper Trophy, 1998.

Here are five true accounts of African-Americans who escaped from slavery against overwhelming odds.

The Boston Coffee Party
illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully; HarperCollins, 1988.

This spunky beginning reader presents an actual event during the Revolutionary War when women and girls taught a greedy merchant a lesson.

Be the Judge/Be the Jury series.
HarperCollins, 1992-1993.

Using actual trial testimony, this "You Are There" format, recreates four controversial trials and challenges children to re-evaluate the evidence and determine the verdicts for themselves. The four books in this series are The Lizzie Borden Trial, The Sacco and Vanzetti Trial, The Alger Hiss Trial and Tinker vs. Des Moines.