Independent Reading Suggested Books for Heart and Soul
See our Independent Reading for Elementary Students Teacher Tool for guidance on how to use the suggested texts below.
Fiction Texts with Connecting Topics and Themes
- Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz (810L)
- Crow by Barbara Wright (800L)
- Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (980L)
- Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriette Gillem Robinet (610L)
- Loretta Little Looks Back by Andrea Davis Pickney
- The Seeds of America Trilogy by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Will's Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Informational Texts to Build Content Knowledge
- 28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World by Charles R. Smith Jr.
- We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson (900L)
- What Color is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (880L)
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