Distinguished books that best promote awareness of California and its people.
2020
My Papi has a Motorcycle
Call Number: xz
Grades 1 - 3: A heartfelt and beautiful picture book. Zeke Peña’s vibrant watercolors capture a special relationship between a father and daughter who bond over their love of motorcycles and their Mexican-American community in Corona, CA. An author’s note by Quintero explains more about the history of her hometown.
2017
It Ain't So Awful, Falafel
Call Number: x
Zomorod Yousefzadeh is determined to make a fresh start at her junior high in Newport Beach. Her first move? Picking out a “normal” American name (Cindy) and setting her sights on new friends. But fitting in becomes near impossible when the Iranian Revolution and the American hostage crisis start making headlines. Set in the late 1970s, readers can take a lot from this perspective on the immigrant experience.
2015
Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting With the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands
Call Number: x 597.3 R888
The coast of California is home to many sharks, like the Great Whites of the Farallon Islands. Katherine Roy’s illustrations are so beautiful you won’t notice that there aren’t any actual photographs, and this fact-filled book shows why scientists and readers alike find these creatures so frightening and fascinating!
2014
The Tree Lady
Call Number: x 92 S493Ho
A charming picture book biography about the life and times of Katherine Olivia Sessions, the first woman to graduate from the University of California with a degree in science and who became known as the "Mother of Balboa Park" for her dedication to gardening and planting trees in San Diego. Colorful and encouraging. Grades K-3.
2013
The Camping Trip That Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks
Call Number: x 92 R781Ro
(Grades 1-4) Rosenstock’s accessible text and Gerstein’s vibrant illustrations pair well to tell the story of a little-known historical camping trip that spurred the creation of national parks and protected public wilderness. Gerstein’s illustrations admirably capture Roosevelt’s exuberance, Muir’s passion, and Yosemite’s awe-inspiring beauty.
2012
One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street
Call Number: x
The last remaining orange tree on a Southern California street brings together neighbors of all ages as they face their problems and anxieties, including the possibility that a mysterious stranger is a threat to their tree.
2005
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Call Number: x
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
2001
Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California
Call Number: x 979 S788
Recounts the history of African Americans in California during the Gold Rush while focusing on the life and work of Mifflin Gibbs.
1999
Bandit's moon
Call Number: x
Twelve-year-old Annyrose relates her adventures with Joaquín Murieta and his band of outlaws in the California gold-mining region during the mid-1800s.
1997
The ballad of Lucy Whipple
Call Number: x
In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.
1993
Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp
Call Number: x 370 S788 1993
1990
The great American gold rush
Call Number: x 979 B658
People came from all over the world to pursue the dream of discovering gold in California in the mid 19 th -century, and this book tells the story using primary sources such as letters, diaries, newspapers, posters, cartoons and advertisements.
