The books listed below may be available through publishers, distributors such as bookstores or online retailers, or library systems.
Independent Reading
EASY- Black Texans: They Overcame
- by Marian Barnes. Eakin Press, 1996
- Sketches of famous African Americans from Texas from frontier days to the present.
- Did You Ever Meet a Texas Hero? Vol. II, 1900 to 1950
- by Marj Gurasich. Eakin Press, 1996
- Concise, easy-to-read biographies of famous twentieth-century Texans.
- The Hooligans
- by Tom Townsend. Eakin Press, 1990
- During World War II, several boys run away from an orphanage and join a patrol that is scouting for Nazi submarines.
- Mike's Oil Patch
- by Dorys Ward. Eakin Press, 1994
- A young boy discovers the fascinating world of oil drilling as he spends a summer with his grandfather, a retired “boomer.”
- Our Tejano Heroes: Outstanding Mexican-Americans in Texas
- by Sammye Munson. Panda Books, 1989
- Introductions to twenty historic Mexican Americans of Texas, from Jose Navarro to Henry Gonzalez.
- Twenty-two Texas Women: Strong, Tough and Independent
- by Michele and Barbara Bennett. Eakin Press, 1996
- Biographical sketches of Texas women from settlement days to the present.
- Babe Didrikson Zaharias
- by William R. Sanford and Carl R. Green. Crestwood House, 1993
- Stirring biography of the Texas woman named by the Associated Press in 1949 as the “Greatest Woman Athlete of the Half Century.”
- Blind Bess, Buddy, and Me
- by Ruby C. Tolliver. Hendrick-Long, 1990
- Two boys spend the summer on their grandfather's East Texas ranch in the early Depression.
- Brave Bessie: Flying Free
- by Lillian M. Fisher. Hendrick-Long, 1995
- Biography of Texan Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman aviator, who performed as a “barnstormer” in the 1920s.
- Miss Ima and the Hogg Family
- by Gwen Cone Neeley. Hendrick-Long, 1992
- Biography of the unforgettable woman who made her mark on Texas as a governor's daughter.
- The Texas Orphans: A Story of the Orphan Train Children
- by Rita Kerr. Sunbelt Media, 1994
- True story of two young orphan boys from New York who build a new life on a Texas farm in the early 1900s.
- When I Was Just Your Age: Remarkable Reflections of Growing Up in Another Era
- by Robert Flynn and Susan Russell. University of North Texas Press, 1992
- Thirteen reminiscences of life in Texas and the Southwest in the early 1900s.
- Boomer's Kids
- by Ruby C. Tolliver. Hendrick-Long, 1992
- Adventures of two children whose father is an oil field worker in Spindletop during the 1901 oil boom.
- Cedar Fever
- by Marian L. Martinello. Corona, 1992
- A young German American girl in Texas deals with neighbors' fear and prejudice during World War I.
- My Fellow Texans: Governors of Texas in the 20th Century
- by Dede W. Casad. Eakin Press, 1995
- Sketches with fascinating anecdotes of the 22 governors of Texas in this century.
- Texas Granite: The Story of First Lieutenant Jack Lummus, World War II Hero
- by Mary Hartman. Hendrick-Long, 1995
- Biography of Jack Lummus, a sports hero before the war and a war hero on Iwo Jima in the Pacific.
- Whistle Punk
- by Chapin Alice and Kent Ross. Chaparral Books/Texas Christian University Press, 1994
- A twelve-year-old Texas boy meets and works with German POWs during World War II.
- White Lilacs
- by Carolyn Meyer. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993
- A twelve-year-old African American girl sees her community torn down and relocated in the early 1920s.
Read Aloud and Reference Books
READ ALOUD BOOKS- Family Pictures/Cuadros de familia
- by Carmen Lomas Garza. Children's Book Press, 1990
- Childhood memories in Kingsville, Texas, from a Mexican American artist.
- Ganzy Remembers
- by Mary Grace Ketner. Atheneum, 1991
- A woman tells her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter stories of her childhood on a Texas farm.
- Picking Peas for a Penny
- by Angela Shelf Medearis. State House Press, 1990
- Illustrated counting rhymes based on the author's farm experiences during the Depression.
- My Remembers: A Black Sharecropper's Recollections of the Depression
- by Eddie Stimpson, Jr. University of North Texas Press, 1995
- First-person memoirs of “Sarge” Stimpson, born and raised near Plano, Texas, about his close-knit family and community life in the 1930s.
- Texans: Oral Histories from the Lone Star State
- by Ron Strickland. Paragon House, 1991
- Fifty-four famous Texans, including “Shoelace Jim” Espy, Filiberto Nunez, and Callie Ross Bevill, tell their unique stories.
- Women in Texas: Their Lives, Experiences, Their Accomplishments
- by Ann Fears Crawford and Crystal Sasse Ragsdale. Rev. ed. State House Press, 1992
- Profiles of Texas women.