Most Popular Books by Julius Lester

A boy sent by an African god to tend the spirits of the dead struggles to fulfill his duty from within the bonds of slavery in Time's Memory, by National Book Award finalist Julius Lester. Amma is the creator god, the master of life and death, and he is worried. His people have always known how to take care of the spirits of the dead – the nyama – so that they don't become destructive forces among the living. But amid the chaos of the African slave trade and the brutality of American slavery, too many of his people are dying and their souls are being ignored in this new land. Amma sends a young man, Ekundayo, to a plantation in Virginia where he becomes a slave on the eve of the Civil War. Amma hopes that Ekundayo will be able to find a way to bring peace to the nyama before it is too late. But Ekundayo can see only sorrow in this land – sorrow in the ownership of people, in the slaves who have been separated from their children and spouses, in the restless spirits of the dead, and in his own forbidden relationship with his master's daughter. How Ekundayo finds a way to bring peace to both the dead and the living makes this an unforgettable journey into the slave experience and Newbury Honor author Julius Lester's most powerful work to date. Time's Memory is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

With his boisterous friends and rowdy enemies, Brer Rabbit is on the road to adventure. He gets a job and figures out how to get paid--twice a day! Times may change, but Brer Rabbit is forever! 32 illustrations, 8 in full color.

The Old African tells the story of his original capture into slavery, and then leads a group of slaves back to the homeland.

Whether he is besting Brer Fox or sneaking into Mr. Man's garden, Brer Rabbit is always teaching a valuable lesson. These classic tales are full of wit, humor, and creativity, and Julius Lester brings an added contemporary sense to these forty-eight timeless stories.

The author retells the classic Afro-American tales.

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

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

From Introduction: "Huddie Ledbetter, nicknamed Leadbelly, died in December, 1949 at the age of 64. He had come out of the deep South, settled down in a little apartment on New York's lower East Side, determined to build a successful career as a musician. Unfortunately, there was not much interest in folk music then. He got occasional jobs singing for schools and colleges, or at little parties where they were raising money for some cause like helping Loyalist Spain. Until the last three years of his life, he had barely recorded more than a few dozen songs. Today, through his recordings, he is world famous as one of the greatest singers of folksongs of this century. Songs he composed, or helped put together out of the fragments of older tunes, or adapted into the form in which we all know them now, have sold in the tens of millions: Good Night Irene, Bring Me A Little Water, Silvy, Midnight Special, Rock Island Line, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine (the tune), Old Cotton Fields At Home, and many others. The driving rhythms he developed on his unusual guitar, with its double strings, are unforgettable to anyone who ever heard them. Today, many young people wishing to learn his songs as he sang them, are trying to learn his style of guitar playing. This book is designed to help them, but it cannot be considered a substitute for listening to the recordings of Leadbelly....It must be remembered that more is involved than playing the correct notes and rhythm. When you listen to Leadbelly on record, you are listening to a man with many years of experience play an instrument. To achieve what he achieved is something which cannot be communicated in a book." - Julius Lester

I saved my brother from the soldiers, but the princess says he is hers now. Abba and Ima will never trust me again. In ancient Egypt, there lives a girl named Almah who will do anything to ensure the safety of her baby brother, Mosis. She will leave her enslaved family and assume the role of Egyptian princess. She will change her identity if it means winning health and freedom for her brother. Mosis, however, does not feel completely free. His identity has been changed against his will, and he longs to find himself. And when he does, he will do anything in his power to see that justice is served.

Mars 1859. Une plantation de coton, en Georgie, Etats-Unis. La jeune Emma vit là entourée des siens et de la famille du maître lorsqu'elle est séparée de ses parents et de ceux qu'elle aime. Elle vient d'être revendue, comme des centaines d'autres esclaves à un nouveau maître. Sarah, la fille du maître, très attachée à Emma, ne pardonnera jamais cette barbarie à son père...

A husband does not believe it when his wife tells him that their crying baby is comforted by a huge eagle who flies down with its sharp talons and alights on the baby.

There are ghosts in the cemetery near Malcolm David?s house, and they?re filling the air with their spooky OOOOOs and EEEEEs and ARRRRs. When Malcolm David dares to go looking for them late one night, he is surprised to discover that the eerie howling is actually coming from the ghosts? empty stomachs. They?re not trying to scare anybody? they?re just hungry, and they don?t know what it is that ghosts are supposed to eat! A satisfying read-aloud for Halloween or anytime, this book mixes playfulness and lyricism as only Newbery Honor?winning author Julius Lester could do it. His dynamic text is well matched by Geraldo Valério?s glowing, happy artwork.

Chaos results when a dream tells all the children and animals of the world that they should do whatever they want without fear of adult reprisal.

A collection of six original fables with morals both silly and serious.

An illustrated collection of twelve folk tales, ten African and two Jewish.

Discovering that making a world takes a lot of work, God calls on his secretary Bruce and the angel Shaniqua to help him create bushes, grass, flowers, and butterflies. By the award-winning author of How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have!

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

One of the most complex periods in American history is illuminated by the love stories of three couples and their fights for freedom from slavery.

A collection of essays introduce various facets of the struggle for radical change in American society, ranging from Women's Liberation to the Yippies

A collection of thirty-five essays of Julius Lester.

Paintings by Rod Brown and text by Julius Lester vividly tell the story of slavery in America.

Iago has become fiercely jealous of Othello's success as a respected general in the King's army, and lies to make him doubt his wife's faithfulness. Will Othello discover the truth, or lose everything because of a lie?

Retells six tales from American black folk literature: "Why the waves have whitecaps," "Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear," "Why dogs hate cats," "The farmer and the snake," "What is trouble?" and "The knee-high man."