Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

A very well-done story of a young girl taken from her home in Africa by treachery, the terrible things that were done to her, and her escape to a life of freedom in Fort Mose outside of St. Augustine, Florida. A bit too graphic for upper elementary.

We done fell out the trouble tree and hit every branch on the way down!

Amari glanced toward the west and watched the sun set. It glowed a bright metallic copper--the same sun that set each evening upon her homeland. She knew that she had found a home once more. [ending]

Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori

She sat down after her silent speech feeling as though she was filled with the bright ble and green brushstrokes on Monet's canvas.

The bonfire was a ritual of cleansing, of putting things behind and moving on into the new year.

Its design, showing a cluster of irises, was made up of various shades of blue -- some of them closer to green, others closer to purple.

pictures of hollis woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

A lace curtain of snow blew across the porch.

I liked the feeling of hacking and slashing and getting things done.

It was wonderful, the first place the sun hit every day, so that squares of light turned the room to lemon gold.

I'd drawn pages of animal tracks for him, raccoon and deer, rabbit and possum . . . and birds, even a loon that had come out of the water to sun itself on a rock.

After I ate I looked at the tree figure Josie was doing of me: a long piece of wood, spaces drilled in the sides where the arms would be, a face beginning to take shape, a mouth begun, a small, pointed nose, and a tiny cut on the forehead.

Dancing at the Odinochka by Kirkpatrick Hill

Mama insisted they must carve the spear points from caribou bone because it was hutlaanee to use any metal at all when you were fishing.

The willow leaves had a silvery side and a green side, so that the leaves flashed in the breeze, now silver, now green.

Yuri had everyone line up in the dirt in front of the store, and then he patiently taught them what to do when he called out the instructions: Promenade, and allemande left, allemand right, and do-si-do and swing your partner.

"Curiosity makes a good scientist," he said, and Erinia was pleased because no one before had ever thought curiosity was a good thing.