Education Matrix (last updated July 2012)
Author
Type*
Difficulty**
Setting (time, place)
Picture Book of
Frederick Douglass, A.
Ruby’s Wish
Girls
Bio
Medium
19 c., US
Bio
NF
Easy
Medium
19 c., China, US
18 c. to present, US
X
Major
Minor
Cooper. M.
Dawson, G.
& Glubman,
R.
Fisher, A.
Finkelstein,
N.
Forrester, S.
Indian School
Life is So Good
NF
Bio
Medium
Medium
19-20 c., US
20 c., US
X
Major
Minor
Finding Fish
Way Things Never
Were, The
Sound the Jubilee
Bio
NF/
Ref
HF
Difficult
Medium
20 c., US
1950s and 60s, US
Minor
One chapter
Antwone Fisher
Medium
19 c., US
Minor
Hansen, J.
I Thought My Soul
Would Rise and Fly
House of Wisdom, The
HF
Medium
19 c., US
Minor
Yankee-protected community
(Roanoke Island) for freed
African Americans
Education of ex-slaves
True
story
Fiction
True
story
Difficult
9 c., Iraq
Medium
Medium
present
19-20 c., US
Minor
Major
Fic
Medium
20 c., western US
Minor
Educating African
American women
Major
Adler, D.
Bridges, S.
Colman, P.
Heide, F., &
Gilliland, J.
Hesse, K.
Howard, E.
Title
Jiminez, F.
Music of Dolphins, The
Virgie Goes to School
with Us Boys
Circuit, The
Jurmain,
Suzanne
Lyles,
Charlise
Forbidden
Schoolhouse, The
Do I Dare Disturb the
Universe
NF, Bio
Difficult
Mid 1800’s
NF
Difficult
Cleveland, OH in the
1960’s and 1970’s
Mazur, A.
America Street
Short
stories
Medium
20 c., US
McGugan, J.
Josepha
Fic
Medium
?
ESOL
Role of Education
Notes
Minor
X
X
university
Use index to find education
passages
Schools as “civilizing” agents
GED earner
Major
Minor; use “Wrong
Lunch Line,” “Sixth
Grade,” and “White
Umbrella”
Setting: major; plot:
minor
Feral child
Little girl wants to attend school
with brothers
Migrant family; leaving school
to work
New England rejection of
integrated education
Journey from projects to prep
school, takes place in
Cleveland
Anthology of multicultural
stories
Immigrant; leaving school to
work
Miller, B.
Mohr, N.
Mora, P.
Growing Up in
Revolution & the New
Nation
In Nueva York
NF
Medium
18 c., US
Minor
Use index; will need to excerpt
Short
Stories
True
Story
Fiction
True
story
Medium
20 c., New York
X
Interlocking stories
X
Minor; use “English
Lesson”
Major [set in library]
Easy
20 c., US
Medium
Easy
?, Korea
X
X
Minor
Major
Immigrants from Korea
Korea
Medium
Medium.
19 c., New England
19 c., southern US
Minor
Minor
Na, An
Park, F.
Tomas and the Library
Lady
Step Toward Heaven, A
Royal Bee, The
Paterson, K.
Paulsen, G.
Jip: His Story
Sarny
Fic
Polacco, P.
Thank You, Mr. Falker
Medium
1950s
Major
Polakow,
Amy
Scieszka J.
Daisy Bates, Civil
Rights Crusader
Math Curse
True
story
NF
Difficult
Minor
Fic,
Easy
1950’s in American
South
N/A
Major
Desegration of Little Rock
schools
math
poetry
NF
Medium
1930s, western US
Minor
“Okies” during Depression
N/A
Major
NF
Medium/
Difficult
Medium
Brown v. Board; essays vary in
difficulty
Japanese Internment Camps
Fic
Medium
American South in 20th
C
Stanley, J.
Thomas, J.
Tunnell, M.,
& Chilcoat,
G.
Weatherford,
Carole
Children of the Dust
Bowl
Linda Brown, You Are
Not Alone
Children of Topaz, The
Dear Mr. Rosenwald
HF
NF
20 c., western US
X
*: Bio=biography; NF=nonfiction; Ref=reference work; HF=historical fiction; Fic=fiction
**: Easy=NRS levels 1 and 2; Med.= NRS levels 3-5; Diff.=NRS levels 5-6
Major
Community
collaboration in
establishing schools
Sequel to Nightjohn, also about
education [but informal]
Child with disabilities
Philantropy of Sears, Roebuck
owner to develop model
schools for poor African
American students