Most Popular Books by Sharon Bell Mathis

Council on Interracial Books for Children award winner From the award-winning author of The Hundred Penny Box comes a sweet story about how one girl can make a difference. Lilly Etta didn''t know the men, but she knew those yellow chairs. They were Tanya''s, and they were being taken out of her building. Tanya was being put out - Tanya, her mother, her six brothers and sisters. Their things would be piled on the sidewalk and left there to be had for the taking. It didn''t matter if nobody else in the city cared; Lilly Etta did. She knew what friendship was, and she wasn''t going to let her friend be thrown out without a fight. “An affecting, sensitive story.”—Booklist

Michael loves his great-great-aunt Dew, even if she can''t always remember his name. He especially loves to spend time with her and her beloved hundred penny box, listening to stories about each of the hundred years of her life. Michael''s mother wants to throw out the battered old box that holds the pennies, but Michael understands that the box itself is as important to Aunt Dew as the memories it contains. Winner of a Newbery Honor, this beautiful story will be available in a collector''s edition featuring heavy interior stock embossing and silver ink on the cover, and a thread-sewn binding for added durability. A timeless story of the relationship between a boy and his elderly relative, this new edition is one that families young and old will treasure for years to come.

Tells the rags-to-riches story of Ray Charles whose mix of jazz, blues and gospel music won him international recognition.

Joe''s decision to leave home is prompted by despair over his Mother''s blindness to his younger brother''s talents and his older brother''s drug addiction.

A sixteen-year-old girl''s first celebration of Kwanza gives her a sense of the past and strength to deal with her troubled mother and her own blindness.

Poems about injury, playing against cousins, winning and celebrating.

In her diary Ebonee Rose records her passion for running, her desire to be like the great African American women athletes who have come before her, and her preparations for the All-City Meet.

Traces the life of the blind musician emphasizing his strength and determination to overcome the many obstacles on his road to success.

Zettie hates the tiny basement apartment she and her mom have in Brooklyn. Then her mom asks Fawn and her mother to move in! There''s a gymnastics contest at the Rec. Center and first prize is $50, enough to get back home to South Carolina, but can she win the prize?

The daughter is hopeful, the son skeptical, when their mother returns home after years of absence.