Bigger, a young black man in Chicago, kills his first victim in a moment of panic. He then goes on to kill again. The book describes the feelings of freedom and identity Bigger gains from these acts.

An autobirography of Richard Wright's journey from innocence to experience in the Him Crow South.

"Since their mother's death, Tip and Teddy Doyle have been raised by their loving, possessive, and ambitious father. As the former mayor of Boston, Bernard Doyle wants to see his sons in politics, a dream the boys have never shared. But when an argument in a blinding New England snowstorm inadvertently causes an accident that involves a stranger and her child, all Bernard Doyle cares about is his ability to keep his children - all his children - safe."...

After reluctantly taking on the leadership of the Harlem gang, the Scorpions, Jamal finds that his enemies treat him with respect when he acquires a gun--until a tragedy occurs.

Set in the rough wilderness of early frontier Texas, Old Yeller is the tale of a boy left in chage of his family's farm, and the big yellow dog who helps him with his many responsibilities.

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

A compilation, selected from various sources and arranged chronologically, of the reminiscences of slaves and ex-slaves about their experiences from the leaving of Africa through the Civil War and into the early twentieth century.

Already a leader in New York's underground world of homeless children, Buddy Clark takes on the responsibility of protecting the overweight, emotionally disturbed friend with whom he has been playing hooky from eighth grade all semester.

A black youth growing up in the Jim Crow South is brutally taught his place in life by his family.

Octavian Nothing is raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers. He and his mother are the only people in their household assigned names. Young Octavian begins to question the purpose behind his guardians' fanatical studies, only after he dares to open a forbidden door does he learn the hideous nature of their experiments.