Hot Reads

2009 National Book Award Winner-Young People's Literature

In March 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks triggered the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., by refusing to surrender her seat to a white passenger, a 15-year-old Montgomery girl, Claudette Colvin, let herself be arrested and dragged off the bus for the same reason. Investigating Colvin's actions, asking why Rosa Parks's role has overshadowed Colvin's, Hoose introduces readers to a resolute and courageous teenager and explores the politics of the NAACP and bus-boycott leadership. …More

With superbly researched information and detailed illustrations, Anderson and Faulkner combine historical facts and humor together in this engaging--and long overdue--homage to the women and the role they played in the founding of America. Full color. …More

Two Pulitzer Prize winners issue a call to arms against our era's most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women in the developing world. …More

With razor-sharp depictions of her animated relatives, Molnar's memoir of her childhood captures with touching precocity the very adult realities of living behind the Iron Curtain. Photos. …More

Picking up where her previous successful book, "America's Women," left off, Collins recounts the sea change women have experienced since 1960. A comprehensive mix of oral history and keen research, this is the definitive book about five crucial decades of progress. …More

In this biography of aviatrix Amelia Earhart, Taylor and Towle focus on Amelia's triumphant crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 1928, offering readers a glimpse at her relentless ambition and her tireless will to promote women's rights. Illustrations. …More

In a country torn apart by war, a teenage girl blogs her story of family, friendship, and life under American occupation. …More

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Michelle Obama grew up on Chicago's South Side, and while the world outside her door was chaotic and ever-changing, her family provided a stable environment in which she could grow and flourish. This look at Michelle Obama's life and the turning points that shaped her shows how a girl from a working class background could rise to become one of the most influential women of her day. But this is more than a straight chronological retelling. This book looks at Michelle Obama's life story within the context of the larger movements in African American history: slavery, freedom, the Reconstruction era, the Civil Rights movement, and finally, her own era. History is what has shaped Michelle and challenged her. And ultimately, not only has she overcome any obstacles put before her, she has carved out her own place in history as well. Includes 16 pages of color photos. …More

On a summer in 1942, Anne Frank and her family went into hiding from the Nazis. Until the day they arrested her, more than two years later, she kept a diary. ANNE FRANK is the indispensable visual guide to her tragic, but inspiring story. Produced in association with The Anne Frank House and filled with never-before-published snapshots, school pictures, and photos of the diary and the Secret Annex, this elegantly designed album is both a stand-alone introduction to Anne's life and a photographic companion to a classic of Holocaust literature. …More