Laurence Yep

The Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep

This book was a 1994 Newbery Honor winner. It is a sequel to "Mountain Light". It begins with Otter the main character who accidentally kills a Manchu and is forced to join his Dad in California who is one of the many Chinese laborers working on the transcontenal railroad. This is a wonderful book to introduce history along with a wonderfully written literary piece, it really brings the time period of the building of the transcontenal railroad alive. Some other books the Yep has written are:

Hiroshima; The Earth Dragon Awakes : The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906; Dragon of the Lost Sea (Dragons of the Sea Series); Child of the Owl (Golden Mountain Chronicles : 1965)

Jerry Pinkney

Jerry Pinkney is a writer and illustrator. He is most noted for his highly detailed illustrations. He is the only illustrator who has won three Coretta Scott King medals and he has also won three Caldecott awards.

Julius Lester

John Henry by Julius Lester


This book is a retelling of the American tall tale of John Henry. John Henry was made famous with his legendary race with with a steam drill. John Henry with a sledge hammer in each hand entered a race with a steam drill tunneling through the Allegheny Mountains. John Henry wins but then dies of exhaustion. Lester begins the story with a brief history of John Henry and a history of the search for his existence. It also states that he based his book on two sources: B.A. Botkin's, A Treasury of American Folktale, 1944 and Alan Lomax's Folk Songs of North America, 1960. He ends the story with a moral, "Dieing isn't important, it's how you live that is important". He worked very closely with Jerry Pinkney who illustrated the book. Pinkney masterfully depicted the heroism and strength of the character through his highly detailed watercolor paintings.

Other Books that he has written: To Be a Slave; The Tales of Uncle Remus : The Adventures of Brer Rabbit; Pharaoh's Daughter : A Novel of Ancient Egypt; Cupid : A Tale of Love and Desire; From Slave Ship to Freedom Road

Correta Scott King Award Winner

Thunder Rose by Jerdine Nolen

This is a 2004 Corretta Scott King award winner. It is a tall tale with the main character Rose who was born with extraordinary strength. The story takes place outwest, where she lives on a farm and faces many challenges. The author uses colorful vocabulary to describe objects and events in the story. Very similar to Pecoes Bill.

So You Want To Be President by Judith St. George

This is a wonderful book for sparking interest in presidents and elections. It gives wonderful and little known facts about presidents from Washington to Clinton. It also gives helpful hints about how to increase your chances on becoming a president based on statistics.

Flotsam by David Wiesner

This 2007 Caldecott winner, is a wonderful true picture book about a little boy who goes to look for flotsam along the beach and finds an underwater camera. He takes it to get the pictures developed and to his surprise he finds extraordinary sea creature and a new world of living things under the sea. Later to discover that he isn't the first person to find the camera. The illustrations are colorful, well drawn depictions of truly original. Wonderful book for all ages.

The Man Who Walked Between The Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

This book is a 2004 Caldecott award winner. It is based a true story of a young French aerialist named Phillippe Petit who walked a tightrope between the twin towers. The feet was illegal and required him to prepare in darkness. He successfully walked, danced and performed tricks before later getting arrested for his actions but resulting in a sentence of performing for the children of city. The book has many colorful illustrations and would be a great introduction for a history lesson for 3rd or 4th grade.