As part of its We the People initiative, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  collaborated with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office to present the We the People Bookshelf, a program to encourage young people to read and understand great literature while exploring themes in American history.

Public and school (K-12) libraries were invited to apply to receive the third We the People Bookshelf, which focuses on Becoming American and includes the following titles:

Kindergarten through 3rd Grade

The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland, Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson, and Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

4th Grade through 6th Grade

Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman, The People Could Fly: African Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton, Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving. and In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Betty Bao Lord

7th Grade through 8th Grade

Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith, The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, and Dragonwings by Laurence Yep

9th Grade through 12th Grade

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin edited by Louis P. Masur, Barrio Boy by Ernesto Galarza, and Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie by Ole Edvart Rølvaag

Books that are in the Collection are linked to the Catalog so that you may easily place holds or check out these books by clicking on the title.

We the People Bookshelf - Previous Collections