Independent Reading Suggested Books for Children of the Civil Rights Movement
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
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (990L)
- Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood
- Radiant by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
- The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine (630L) *
- We Were the Fire by Shelia P. Moses
Informational Texts to Build Content Knowledge
- Child of the Civil Rights Movement by Paula Young Shelton (AD840L) *
- If You Were a Kid During the Civil Rights Movement by Gwendolyn Hooks and Kelly Kennedy (700L)
- Little Rock Nine (Turning Points) by Marshall Poe
- Nonviolent Resistance in the Civil Rights Movement by Gail Terp (780L)
- The Little Rock Nine: A Primary Source Exploration of the Battle for School Integration (We Shall Overcome) by Brian Krumm (880L)
- We Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History by Phillip Hoose (950L)
- We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by Cynthia Levinson (1020L)
Non-Fiction Texts with Aligned Themes and Topics
- All the Way to the Top by Annette Bay Pimentel (AD680L)
- Kid Activists: True Tales of Childhood from Champions of Change by Robin Stevenson and Allison Steinfeld
- Malala's Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai
- The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson
- Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford
* lower Lexile or qualitative measures than core text.
** higher Lexile or qualitative measures than core text.
Note: Some of the links below are Bookshop affiliate links. This means that if you click and make a purchase, we receive a small portion of the proceeds, which supports our non-profit mission.
We Handle Materials So You Can Focus on Students
We've got you covered with rigorous, relevant, and adaptable ELA lesson plans for free