Booklists

Read.gov presents a sampling of suggested books that will spark the imagination and transport readers to new and exciting places. Look for these books in your local library. The books supplement the online resources in the American Memory website. Following each list is a link to the corresponding online resources. 

Other booklists from the Library of Congress Include:

Kids

U.S. Presidents

George Washington

  • Collins, Mary. “Mount Vernon.” Children's Press, 1997.
  • Old, Wendie C. “George Washington.” Enslow Publishers, 1997.
  • Peacock, Louise. “Crossing the Delaware: A History in Many Voices.”Athenaeum Books for Young Readers, 1998.

See also: George Washington Papers

Thomas Jefferson

  • Blumberg, Rhoda. “What's the Deal? Jefferson, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase.” National Geographic Society, 1998.
  • Ferris, Jeri. “Thomas Jefferson: Father of Liberty.” Carolrhoda Books, 1998.
  • Young, Robert. “A Personal Tour of Monticello.” Minneapolis: Lerner, 1999.

See also: Thomas Jefferson Papers

Abraham Lincoln

  • Freedman, Russell. “Lincoln: A Photobiography.” Clarion Books, 1987.
  • Kent, Deborah. “The Lincoln Memorial.” Children's Press, 1996.
  • Morris, Jeffrey Brandon. “The Lincoln Way.” Lerner Publications, 1996.
  • McGovern, Ann. “If You Grew Up with Abraham Lincoln.” Scholastic, 1992.
  • Robertson, James I. Jr. “Civil War! America Becomes a Nation.” An Illustrated History for Young People. Knopf, 1996.

See also: Abraham Lincoln Papers

American Inventors

Thomas Edison

  • Adler, David. “Thomas Alva Edison: Great Inventor.” Holiday House, 1990.
  • Levinson, Nancy Smiler. “Thomas Alva Edison: Great Inventor.” Scholastic, 1996.
  • Sandler, Martin W. “Inventors: A Library of Congress Book.” HarperCollins, 1996.

See also: Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies

Alexander Graham Bell

  • Davidson, Margaret. “The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor of the Telephone.”  Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1997.
  • Parker, Steve. “Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone.” Chelsea House, 1995.
  • Pasachoff, Naomi E. “Alexander Graham Bell: Making Connections.” Oxford University Press, 1996.
  • Sandler, Martin. “Inventors: A Library of Congress Book.” Harper Collins Publishers, 1996.

See also: Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers

Samuel F.B. Morse

  • Hays, Wilma Pitchford. “Samuel Morse and the Electronic Age.” Watts, 1966.
  • ---. “Samuel Morse and the Telegraph.” Illustrated by Richard Mayhew. Watts, 1960.
  • Latham, Jean Lee. “Samuel F.B. Morse, Artist-Inventor.” Illustrated by Jo Polseno.  Chelsea Juniors, 1991.
  • Quackenbush, Robert M. “Quick, Annie, Give Me a Catchy Line!: A Story of Samuel F.B. Morse.” Prentice-Hall, 1983.
  • Tiner, John Hudson. “Samuel F.B. Morse: Artist with a Message.” Illustrated by Shirley Young. Mott Media, 1987.

See also: Samuel F.B. Morse Papers

Sports

Jackie Robinson, the First African-American in Major League Baseball

  • Robinson, Sharon. “Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson.”  Scholastic Inc., 2009
  • Alvarez, Mark. “The Office Baseball Hall of Fame Story of Jackie Robinson.” Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1990.
  • Ritter, Lawrence S. “Leagues Apart: The Men and Times of the Negro Baseball Leagues.” Morrow Junior Books, 1995.

See also: Baseball and Jackie Robinson

Baseball Cards

  • Gutman, Dan. “Honus and Me: A Baseball Card Adventure.”Avon Books, 1997.
  • Ritter, Laurence S. “The Story of Baseball.” Beech Tree, 1990.

See also: Early Baseball Cards

Maps

General

  • Bacon, Josephine. “The Doubleday Atlas of the United States of America.”  Doubleday, 1990.
  • Clouse, Nancy L. “Puzzle Maps USA.” Henry Hold and Co., 1990.
  • Glickman, Jane. “Cool Geography.” Price Stern Sloan, 1998.
  • Knowlton, Jack. “Maps & Globes.” HarperCollins, 1985.

See also: Maps and Related Items

National Parks

  • Duncan, Dayton and Ken Burns. “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Knopf Doubleday, 2009.
  • Kent, Deborah. “Yellowstone National Park.” Children’s Press, 1994.
  • Knowlton, Jack. “Maps and Globes.” Children's Press, 1997.
  • Tesar, Jenny E. “American's Top 10 National Parks.” Blackbirch Press, 1998.
  • Weber, Michael. “Our National Parks.” Millbrook Press, 1994.
  • Whitman, Sylvia. “This Land Is Your Land.” Lerner Publications, 1994.

See also: Mapping the National Parks

Civil War

  • Chambers, Catherine. “All About Maps.” Franklin Watts, 1998.
  • Moore, Kay. “If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War.” New York: Scholastic, 1994.
  • Murphy, Jim. “The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War.” Clarion Books, 1990.
  • Ransom, Candice F. “Children of the Civil War.” Carolrhoda Books, 1998.

See also: Civil War Maps

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Teens

The Great Depression

American Life Histories, 1936-1940

  • Greenberg, Judith E. and Helen Carey McKeever. “A Pioneer Woman's Memoir.” Watts, 1995.
  • Murphy, Jim. “The Great Fire.” Scholastic, 1995.
  • Sandler, Martin W. “Pioneers: A Library of Congress Book.” HarperCollins, 1994.
  • Shelby, Anne. “Homeplace.” Orchard, 1995.

See also: Federal Writers' Project

New Deal Stage: Federal Theatre Project

  • Hakim, Joy. “War, Peace and All That Jazz.” Oxford University Press, 1994.
  • Stein, R. Conrad. “The Great Depression.” Children's Press, 1993.

See also: Federal Theatre Project

Posters from the Work Projects Administration (WPA)

  • Barnicoat, John. “Posters: A Concise History.” Thames and Hudson, 1985.
  • Henry, Sandi. “Kids' Arts Works! Creating With Color, Design, Texture & More.” Williamson, 1999.
  • Janson, H.W. “History of Art for Young People.” Harry N. Abrams, 1997.

See also: Posters from the WPA

The Dust Bowl

  • Andryszewski, Tricia. “The Dust Bowl: Disaster on the Plains.” The Millbrook Press, 1993.
  • Stanley, Jerry. “Children of the Dust Bowl.” Crown Publishers, 1992.
  • Stein, R. Conrad. “The Great Depression.” Children's Press, 1993.

See also: Voices from the Dust Bowl

The Great Depression in Photographs

  • Evans, Walker. “Something Permanent.” Poetry by Cynthia Rylant. Harcourt Brace & Co., 1994.
  • Farris, John. “The Dust Bowl.” Lucent Books, 1989.
  • Hesse, Karen. “Out of the Dust.” Scholastic Press, 1997.
  • Rylant, Cynthia. “Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds.” Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1991.
  • Turner, Robyn Montanna. “Dorothea Lange.” Little, Brown and Company, 1994.

See also: Photographs from the Great Depression

African-American History

The African-American Experience

  • Hamilton, Virginia. “Many Thousands Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom.”  Knopf, 1993.
  • Hudson, Wade and Cheryl, eds. “How Sweet the Sound: African-American Songs for children.” Scholastic, 1995.
  • Medeavis, Angela Shelf. “This Far to Freedom: A History of African Americans.”  Atheneum, 1993.
  • Potter, Joan and Constance Claytor. “African Americans Who Were First.” Cobblehill Books, 1997.

See also: The African American Odyssey

Slavery

  • Diouf, Sylviane A. “Growing Up in Slavery.” Millbrook Press, 2001.
  • McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino. “Sisters Against Slavery: A Story About Sarah and Angelina Grimke.” Carolrhoda Books, 1999.
  • Meltzer, Milton. “The Black Americans: A History in Their Own Words, 1619-1983.” Harper & Row, 1984.

See also: Voices from the Days of Slavery and Born in Slavery

Frederick Douglass

  • Bennett, Evelyn. “Frederick Douglass and the War Against Slavery.” The Millbrook Press, 1993.
  • Keenan, Sheila. “Frederick Douglass: Portrait of a Freedom Fighter.” Scholastic Inc., 1995.
  • McCurdy, Michael, ed. “Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass in His Own Words.” Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.
  • McKissack, Patricia, and Fredrick McKissack. “Frederick Douglass: The Black Lion.”  Children’s Press, 1987.

See also: Frederick Douglass Papers

Hispanic-American History

  • Cumpain, Carlos. “Latino Rainbow: Poems About Latino Americans.” Chicago: Children’s Press, 1994.
  • Fradin, Judith Bloom. “New Mexico.” Children’s Press, 1994.
  • Morey, Janet. “Famous Hispanic Americans.” Cobblehill Books, 1996.
  • Winchester, Faith. “Hispanic Holidays.” Bridgestone Books, 1996.
  • Collins, Mary. “The Spanish-American War.” Children's Press, 1998.
  • Davis, Lucile. “Puerto Rico.”  Children's Press, 2000.
  • George, Linda. “Luis Munoz Marin: Father of Modern Puerto Rico.”  Children's Press, 1999.

See also: Hispanic Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande and Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age

Asian-American History

  • Yang, Gene Luen. “American Born Chinese. Square Fish, 2007”

See also: The Chinese in California, 1850-1925  and Asian Pacific-American Heritage Month Web Portal

Native Americans

  • Anderson, Madelyn Klein. “North American Indian Games.” Franklin Watts, 2000.
  • Hakim, Joy. “The First Americans.” Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 1999.
  • Philip, Neil. ed. “A Braid of Lives: Native American Childhood.” Clarion Books, 2000.
  • Alexie, Sherman. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Native American Indian.” Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2007.

See also: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest

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Adults

Mysteries & Thrillers

  • Baldacci, David. “First Family”
  • Child, Lee. “Gone Tomorrow”
  • Clark, Mary Jane. “Dying for Mercy”
  • Coel, Margaret. “The Silent Spirit”
  • Connelly, Michael. “The Scarecrow”
  • Johnson, Craig. “The Dark Horse”
  • Mosley, Walter. “The Long Fall: The First Leonid McGill Mystery”
  • Patterson, James. “Swimsuit”
  • Pelecanos, George. “The Way Home”
  • Rozan, S.J. “The Shanghai Moon”
  • Scottoline, Lisa. “Look Again”
  • Silva, Daniel. “The Defector”

Fiction & Fantasy

  • Al Khemir, Sabiha. “The Blue Manuscript”
  • Alvarez, Julia. “Return to Sender”
  • Díaz, Junot. “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”
  • Grisham. John. “The Associate”
  • Irving, John. “Last Night in Twisted River”
  • Neville, Katherine. “The Fire”
  • Picoult, Jodi. “Handle with Care.”
  • Sparks, Nicholas. “The Last Song.”
  • Walls, Jeannette. “Half Broke Horses: A True Life Novel”
  • Wroblewski, David. “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.”

History & Biography

  • Balz, Dan, and Haynes Johnson. “The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election.”
  • Downey, Kirstin. “The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience.”
  • Duncan, Dayton, and Ken Burns. “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”
  • Gordon-Reed, Annette. “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.”
  • Ifill, Gwen. “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama”
  • Kidd, Sue Monk, and Ann Kidd Taylor. “Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story”
  • Kurlansky, Mark. “Food of a Younger Land”
  • Meacham, Jon. “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House”
  • Minor, Rickey. “There’s No Traffic on the Extra Mile”
  • Schama, Simon. “The American Future: A History”
  • Sullivan, Patricia. “Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement”
  • Taylor, David A. “The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America”

Poetry & Prose

  • Eubanks, W. Ralph. “The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South”
  • Glass, Julia. “I See You Everywhere”
  • Hirsch, Edward. “How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry”
  • Hirshfield, Jane. “After”
  • Martínez, Valerie. “Absence, Luminescent”
  • Menendez, Ana. “The Last War”
  • Nafisi, Azar. “Things I Have Been Silent About”
  • O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried”
  • Robinson, Marilynne. “Home”
  • Ryan, Kay. “The Jam Jar Lifeboat”
  • Smith, Patricia. “Teahouse of the Almighty”

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