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Top Five: Great Chapter Books for Black Boys (#3 of 5)

Posted by | October 12, 2013 | Uncategorized | One Comment

#3 The Julian (and Huey, and Gloria) books by Ann Cameron

Julian 1Julian 2Julian 3Julian 4Julian 5

Huey 1Huey 2Huey 3

Gloria 1Gloria 2

I have a slight fascination with Ann Cameron. My fascination is mostly prompted by the fact that she’s a white female author who has written a series of books with a black boy as the main character, and which have the lives of black middle class families as the central storyline. Her biography is fascinating in and of itself (read it here), as she has done so many varied things — including, notably, being a Freedom Rider while in college at Harvard during the Civil Rights Movement. Cameron is most well known for her Julian series of children’s books, but she has other books for kids too (check out The Most Beautiful Place in the World, and The Kidnapped Prince, which we can vouch for as being very good; she has a couple of other books for older kids too).

I posted about the Julian books when we first read them, during the summer of 2011, when Kyle and Owen were 7 years old (click here). The books have three main characters — Julian, his little brother Huey, and their neighborhood friend Gloria. I clump all of the books together in one lump sum here. This series includes:

  • The Stories Julian Tells
  • More Stories Julian Tells
  • Julian’s Glorious Summer
  • Julian, Secret Agent
  • Julian Dream Doctor
  • The Stories Huey Tells
  • More Stories Huey Tells
  • Spunky Tells All
  • Gloria’s Way
  • Gloria Rising

We’ve read every one of them, and they are just plain wonderful!

One Comment

  • Ani says:

    I got a couple Of The Julian books for my second grader, they were highly recommended by the school librarian and his teacher. We’ll move them up as our next reading selection!

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