24 books like March

In my writing I love to relate the stories of important historical actors that are unknown. Especially young actors.

Phillip Hoose apparently shares those loves. He gives us the story of Claudette Colvin who, at fifteen, refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a White person. This was nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous stand. Through Hoose’s beautifully-rendered narrative, we are on the bus with Colvin that day and we are later in the courtroom when she bravely tells her story. 

As I said previously, I love to use the actual words historical actors spoke in my books. Hoose seems to share that passion as well. The author carried out fourteen interviews with Ms. Colvin. Through her own voice, we come to know this amazing young woman.

At a time when it is easy to assume that things can only get worse, my late friend John Lewis’s memoir is a reminder that earlier generations—particularly Black Americans—have continued to struggle for a more just and humane society. 

When I first met John Lewis at a civil rights conference at Highlander Folk School in 1961, he seemed overshadowed by more charismatic figures present like Julian Bond, Diane Nash, and James Bevel. But, in a memoir that is modest and remarkably candid, we can see the extraordinary strength and staying power of his deep philosophical commitment to non-violence and to what he would call “good trouble,” even if that good trouble resulted in several beatings at the hands of mobs and white authorities. 

Much has been written about the civil rights movement, but in his book, John gave us an intimate view of the struggles. Beneath the mythology surrounding the… show more.

When I taught, I hoped to engage students by making historical figures as human as possible. At the time I wish I had known the writing of Jean Fritz who brings the people of history to life. Magnificently.  

Peppering her books with oddball information about her subjects, she allows them to become more human. And in Jean Fritz books, people talk and act. These features are present in Fritz’s wonderful biography of the women’s rights activist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

The reader comes to know Ms. Stanton intimately, her warm friendships with fellow activists, her tensions with her father, her overall independent spirit. And we get a wonderful history of the early American women’s movement. 

Jean Fritz delivers for younger readers and makes history engaging, human, and, yes, exciting.

Young people need to know that they are a part of history. I believe this with all my heart and so does Ellen Levine.

In Freedom’s Children the words fly as young African Americans describe their ugly experiences growing up in the segregated South and then their exhilarating involvement in major civil rights events including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Birmingham Movement, and the Selma voting rights campaign.

Ellen Levine travelled south and interviewed many, capturing these riveting stories. And I include the voices of some of these amazing young people in a book I wrote about the Birmingham marches. Readers of both books will see the vital role young people played in the civil rights movement. 

I believe that historical nonfiction is best told as a rich narrative with compelling characters and a page-turning plot structure. No one accomplishes that ideal better than Steve Sheinkin. 

Sheinkin’s power is on full display in this book about the Port Chicago 50, a group of Black sailors during World War II. Living in a world of rampant racism, the men are relegated to the dangerous task of loading ammunition onto ships. When the danger and racism become untenable, many refuse to work. Fifty of the men are charged with mutiny, convicted, and sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor. 

I love to include the actual words of historical actors in my writing and so does Sheinkin. His book draws from oral histories of the sailors. What power their voices bring to the story!!!!

I loved this story of the extraordinary friendship between a young, gay, HIV-positive Cuban American activist and a young, struggling Jewish cartoonist who became roommates on an MTV reality show called The Real World. For good reason, UCLA chose Pedro & Me as its 2013-2014 "Common Book" with the goal of providing incoming freshmen with a "platform to discuss relationships, sexual orientation, health education, loss, love, and other topics." Winick’s story is timeless in its themes of friendship, loss, and hope.

This graphic novel is gorgeous. It covers the story of a girl whose family has to escape Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon and make a new life in the United States.

The illustrations are beautiful, but the story is also beautifully told, showing the ways in which migration can affect family dynamics. It is about memory, sacrifice, trauma, and hope. It’s also a coming-of-age story. While there are a lot of great graphic novels about migration, this one is my favorite.

An inspiring and lively biography that captures the courage of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a cultural icon who made good trouble by changing gender equality laws and breaking down the patriarchy one case at a time during her long, honorable, legendary life. Through the book’s illustrated timelines, archival photos and documents, annotated dissents, and text, the reader comes to know RBG’s drive, ethics, and personal story. I picked this book because it is a wonderful introduction to legal history, gender equality, and civil rights for young people.

I greatly admire Michelle Obama and thought I knew her story. I didn’t. In this version of her memoir Becoming, adapted for young readers and full of engaging photos, she shares how her father’s multiple sclerosis marked her life: she was a young child when he first needed a cane, a freshman in college when he needed two, and a young professional in love with a man named Barack Obama when her father died. Though he never wanted his multiple sclerosis to limit his children’s lives—and it didn’t—her father’s illness may also explain Michelle Obama’s remarkable strength in the face of adversity and her genuine compassion and concern for others. 

A gripping collage of moving stories of the poor, the wrongly convicted, and the marginalized, and Bryan Stevenson’s efforts to fight for their freedom. In this compelling Young Adult edition, Stevenson engages readers with his riveting storytelling. The author, who won relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, makes complicated legal issues understandable for young people. I picked this book because I believe every student should read it to understand the American judicial system. Many will find Bryan Stevenson so inspiring that they want to follow in Stevenson’s footsteps.