Best Selling Books by Julius Lester

1969 Newbery Honor Book
1968 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year In an intensely personal new introduction written for this thirtieth anniversary edition, Julius Lester states that at age ten, when his father told him his family's history went back to a bill of sale and no further, the words were one of the defining moments of my life. Approximately fifteen years later he began compiling the words of ex-slaves--a good portion of which had never been previously published--and establishing the structure for To Be a Slave. The ease and speed with which this structure came made him realize that this book was one of the things [he] had been put on earth to do. In an equally eloquent, new introductory note Tom Feelings expresses a similar sentiment regarding the personal impact of his work for To Be a Slave and his belief in doing work that mov[es] us so emotionally, it makes all of us feel its truth way down deep inside. For thirty years American readers of all ages and walks of life have been affected by the truth of To Be a Slave, which remains one of the few works to present what it felt like to be slave in America in the words of black men and women who lived it rather than filtered through the eyes of others. Paired with Mr. Lester's historical commentary and powerful and soulful paintings by Mr. Feelings, To Be a Slave makes the clear and moving distinction between the generalizations made about slaves and what the emotional reality was for human beings [whose] condition was slavery. I am grateful to the parents, teachers, librarians, and booksellers who have found [To Be a Slave] to be of value. Most of all I am grateful to all those who have read it, to all those who read it. History is not just facts and events. History is also a pain in the heart, and we repeat history until we are able to make another's pain in the heart our own. -- Julius Lester The truth can stretch children's minds, stimulate their imaginations in a creative way, and strengthen their spirits. -- Tom Feelings

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Emma, a slave for the Butler household, is the focal point for this story of two families torn apart by the inhumanity of slavery. Through flashbacks and flash-forwards, and shifting first-person points of view, readers travel through time and place witnessing a family's heartbreak.

Retells the life of the legendary African American hero who raced against a steam drill to cut through a mountain.

A retelling of the Afro-American tales about the adventures and misadventures of Brer Rabbit and his friends and enemies.

There are times when a tree can no longer withstand the pain inflicted on it, and the wind will take pity on that tree and topple it over in a mighty storm. All the other trees who witnessed the evil look down upon the fallen tree with envy. They pray for the day when a wind will end their suffering.I pray for the day when God will end mine. In a time and place without moral conscience, fourteen-year-old Ansel knows what is right and what is true.But it is dangerous to choose honesty, and so he chooses silence.Now an innocent man is dead, and Ansel feels the burden of his decision. He must also bear the pain of losing a friend, his family, and the love of a lifetime.Coretta Scott King Award winner and Newbery Honoree Julius Lester delivers a haunting and poignant novel about what happens when one group of people takes away the humanity of another.

Ras and Sally fell in love before they could stop themselves. Maria thought Forrest was too good for her, until he bought her freedom. William and Ellen knew the only way to be free was through a dangerous masquerade that could separate them forever. ]