Books in Sunburst Book series

"Leon's Story is a powerful, wonderful thing!" -- Nikki Giovanni"I remember that as a young boy I used to look in the mirror and I would curse my color, my blackness. But in those days they didn't call you "black." They didnt say "minority." They called us "colored" or "nigger." "Leon Tillage grew up the son of a sharecropper in a small town in North Carolina. Told in vignettes, this is his story about walking four miles to the school for black children, and watching a school bus full of white children go past. It's about his being forced to sit in the balcony at the movie theater, hiding all night when the Klansmen came riding, and worse. Much worse.But it is also the story of a strong family and the love that bound them together. And, finally, it's about working to change an oppressive existence by joining the civil rights movement. Edited from recorded interviews conducted by Susan L. Roth, Leon's story will stay with readers long after they have finished his powerful account."Leon's Story" is the winner of the 1998 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Nonfiction.

Hard-hitting historical fictionEver since his father ran off two years before, fifteen-year-old Johnny Woods has struggled to help support his ma and five siblings, sacrificing his own schooling in the process. Still, there's been hardly enough money each month to make the rent, and Johnny's dream of a house in Brooklyn, away from the tenement slums, is out of reach. Then Johnny discovers boxing. He is a natural-born fighter, with street smarts, determination, and an explosive uppercut. Although boxing is illegal in 1885 New York, Johnny powers his way through every obstacle, believing he has found the means to raise himself and his family out of poverty. But as he moves closer to his biggest fight yet, Johnny must reconcile his need to help his loved ones with a sharpening desire to achieve something outside the ring, starting with his education. In bringing to life Johnny's struggle and ultimate success, Kathleen Karr offers readers a compelling portrait of an appealing young champion.

"Details place the affecting story in a real, not idealized, America." --Kirkus Reviews"It’s the last day of the newspaper drive and Nim, a Chinese-American girl in San Francisco during World War II, is determined to win. Her nearest rival has cheated. Undaunted, she leaves Chinatown and walks up Nob Hill after school, determined to find more scrap newspaper. Nim’s sweet seriousness and ingenuity are captured in the text and in the luminous, grave illustrations." --The New York Times Book Review"Based on the author’s childhood memories, Nim’s story celebrates the patriotism of Asian family members in embracing their new home and country and their efforts to maintain their cultural traditions. A fine addition." -- School Library Journal

A comic mystery that will keep readers guessingWhen Georgina, Hubert, and Gogol -- three sheep -- have their fleecy coats stolen from the beach while they are swimming, they suspect that some wily wolves have pulle dthe wool over their eyes. To catch the thieves, the sheep enlist the help of Elliott Baa, private detective. But will Elliott's street smarts, combined with the help of a gang of rugby-loving cats, be enough to crack this baa-ffling case? Satoshi Kitamura's colorful, antic illustrations bring this comic mystery to life.

By the author-and-illustrator team of the bestselling The LibraryLydia Grace Finch brings a suitcase full of seeds to the big gray city, where she goes to stay with her Uncle Jim, a cantankerous baker. There she initiates a gradual transformation, bit by bit brightening the shop and bringing smiles to customers' faces with the flowers she grows. But it is in a secret place that Lydia Grace works on her masterpiece -- an ambitious rooftop garden -- which she hopes will make even Uncle Jim smile. Sarah Stewart introduces readers to an engaging and determined young heroine, whose story is told through letters written home, while David Small's illustrations beautifully evoke the Depression-era setting.