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2003 United We Read Read Alikes Did you enjoy "The Year The Colored Sisters Came To Town," by Jacqueline Guidry? If so, here are a list of books that you might want to read that are similar. The Year the Colored Sisters Came to Town by Jacqueline Guidry (2001) This is a poignant story filled with humorous touches told from the point of view of a precocious ten year old, Vivien Leigh Dubois, who is a resident of a small Louisiana town in the 1950s. Amid a year full of surprises: the intense heat, a hurricane, and the reports of racial integration in Little Rock, the biggest surprise is that her new fifth-grade teacher will be an African American nun. If you like The Year the Colored Sisters Came to Town, you might also try these: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884) This book, which according to Ernest Hemingway, is the one from which all "modern American literature comes," serves as a timeless introduction to the topic. The Bottoms by Joe R. Landsale (2000) In this Edgar-winning novel, thirteen-year-old Harry Crane is initiated into the mores of his East Texas home, including its violence, racism and injustice. The lessons are ones that he's still trying to deal with years afterwards. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons (1987) As eleven-year-old Ellen relates the story of her growing up amid unbelievably hardscrabble conditions, it's clear that she's been forced to be wise beyond her years. This was a popular selection of Oprah's Book Club. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (1969) This is poet Maya Angelou's account of her growing up in Arkansas and California in the 1930s and 40s; it is also an account of her quest for the words to tell her story and the story of African American women of that period. Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner (1948) Through exposure to Lucas Beauchamp, young Charles Mallison is forced to confront what it means to be an African American man and finally just a man in a mixture of detective story, adventure story, and courtroom drama. The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks (1963) The racial boundaries of the border state of Kansas in the 1920s are plumbed in this coming-of-age chronicle of growing up black in segregationist Kansas as recorded by Kansas native Gordon Parks. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (2001) This is the story of a 14-year-old white girl Lily Owen who is taken into the care of elderly African American Rosaleen after the death of her mother. To escape racial tensions, Rosaleen and Lily seek shelter with three black bee-keeping sisters who initiate Lily into a world of female friendship and love. This novel has resonated especially with female readers of all ages. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960) This remains the classic twentieth-century benchmark for any novel dealing with coming-of-age stories involving an element of racial understanding. Wolf Whistle by Lewis Nordan (1993) A young African American male from Chicago visiting Mississippi in the 1950s is killed after he crosses a racial divide; this fanciful re-telling of the Emmett Till murder case showcases Nordan's storytelling capability at its best. --Prepared by Bob Lunn, Kansas City Public Library (7/03)   For further information contact: Kansas City Metropolitan Library & Information Network 15624 E. 24 Highway Independence, MO 64050 Phone: (816) 521-7257 Fax: (816) 461-0966 Email: sburton@kcmlin.org Last updated 7/21/03