Tallahassee: A Community That Reads - Book List
January - Martin Luther King
Elementary
- I've Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Walter Dean Myers
- What is Martin Luther King Day? By Margaret Friskey
- A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. by David Adler
- If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks by Faith Ringgold
- Let Freedom Ring, a ballad of Martin Luther King by Myra Cohn Livingston
- The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Secondary
- The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Coretta Scott King
- Separate Fountains by Patti Wilson Byers
- Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Movement by Lillie Patters
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
February - National Black History Month; American Government; President's Day
Elementary
- Dear Benjamin Banneker by Andrea Davis Pinkney
- Minty: A Story of Harriet Tubman by Alan Schroeder
- I am Rosa Parks by Rosa Parks and Jim Haskins
- The Gold Cadillac by Mildred D. Taylor
- So You Want to be President by David Small
- The Kid Who Ran for President by Dan Gutman
Secondary
- Trouble Don't Last by Shelley Pearsall
- The Red Rose Box by Brenda Woods
- Francie by Karen English
- Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson
March - National Women's History Month, Read Across America
Elementary
- Eleanor Everywhere: The Life of Eleanor Roosevelt by Monica Kulling
- Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole
- Ruth Thrills a Nation by Don Brown
- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
- Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Secondary
- Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee
- The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
- Tomboy of the Air: Daredevil Pilot Blanche Stuart Scott by Julie Cummins
- Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
April - Tallahassee History Month to compliment Springtime Tallahassee
Elementary
- Crossing Jordan by Adrian Fogelin
- Anna Casey's Place in the World by Adrian Fogelin
- Buster by Denise Fleming
- James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
- The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
Secondary
- Tales of Historic Tallahassee by Henry Cabbage
- Tallahassee, FL: Images of America by Erik Robinson
- African American Education in Leon County 1865-1968 by Althemese Barnes
- The Anybodies by N.E. Bode
May - Asian Pacific American Heritage Month; Older Americans Month
Elementary
- My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits
- Jeremiah Learns to Read by Jo Ellen Bogart
- Dumpling Soup by Jim Rattigan
- Grandaddy's Place by Helen V. Griffith
- Dear Annie by Judith Caseley
- The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
Secondary
- A Step From Heaven by An Na
- F is for Fabuloso by Marie G. Lee
- The Pigman by Paul Zindel
June - Summer Vacation, Travel, Cities
Elementary
- Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
- Around the World: Who's Been Here by Lindsay Barrett George
- Christopher Mouse: The Tale of a Small Traveler by Williams Wise
- The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
- Tour America: A Journey through Poems and Art by Diane Siebert
Secondary
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Magnificent Voyage: An American Adventurer on Captain James Cook's Final Expedition by Laurie Lawlor
- The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins by Bea Uusma Schyffert
- Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft by Thor Heyerdahl
July - American History Month
Elementary
- And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? By Jean Fritz
- Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner
- A Picnic in October by Eve Bunting
- Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Saving the Liberty Bell by Megan McDonald
- The Story of the Statue of Liberty by Betsy Maestro
Secondary
- Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman's Life by Candace Fleming
- Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl by Kate Waters
- Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis by Peter Nelson
- Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
August - Florida History Month
Elementary
- Turtle Summer: A Journal for My Daughter by Mary Alice Munroe
- Dolphins in the Deep by Ben Baglio
- Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
- Cracker Cow: A Narrative of Florida History by Barbara Cairns
Secondary
- Florida Then and Now by Bruce Hunt
- Southern Comforts: Rooted in a Florida Place by Sudye Cauthen
- The Yearling by Majorie K. Rawlings
- Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
September - National Hispanic-Latino History Month, Grandparent's Day
Elementary
- Abuela by Arthur Dorros
- New Shoes for Silvia by Johanna Hurwitz
- Extraordinary Hispanic Americans by Susan Sinnott
- Family Pictures by Carmen Lomas Garza
Secondary
- Flight to Freedom by Ana Veciana-Suarez
- César Chávez: A Voice for Farmworkers by Barbara C. Cruz
- Baseball in April and Other Stories by Gary Soto
- Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
October - National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Fall, Halloween
Elementary
- All About My Brother by Sarah Peralta
- Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber
- It's Fall (Celebrate the Seasons) by Linda Glaser
- Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry
Secondary
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
- The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
November - National American Indian Heritage Month, Children's Book Week, Thanksgiving
Elementary
- The Buffalo Jump by Peter Roop
- Dancing with the Indians by Angela Madearis
- The Courage of Sarah Noble by Joan Holub
- The First Thanksgiving by Linda Hayward
- The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble
Secondary
- Sweetgrass by Jan Hudson
- The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter
- Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski
- Streams to the River, River to the Sea by Scott O'Dell
- The Indian Heritage of America (The American Heritage Library) by Alvin M. Joesphy
December - Holiday/Seasonal Books, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah
Elementary
- Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
- The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
- Four Sides, Eight Nights: A New Spin on Hanukkah by Rebecca Tova Ben-Zvi
- My First Kwanzaa by Karen Katz
- The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
- A Doll for Navidades by Esmeralda Santiago
Secondary
- The Gift of the Magi (A Short Story) by O. Henry
- Happy Holidays by Donna Jo Napoli
- Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
- Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
- The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White