All books can be found by the author's last name in the Juvenile Fiction area unless noted on the booklist.
Beard, Darleen Bailey (J)
The Flimflam Man
In the summer of 1950, a con man comes to Wetumka, Oklahoma, telling about his fabulous circus, and although he swindles the townspeople, two young girls grow from the experience.
Belton, Sandra (J)
Ernestine & Amanda, Mysteries On Monroe Street
Ernestine and Amanda, two African-American twelve-year-olds growing up under segregation in the 1950s, are brought together when the all black dance studio where they take lessons is attacked by vandals.
Bowdish, Lynea (J)
Brooklyn, Bugsy, And Me
In 1953 nine-year-old Sam moves with his mother from West Virginia to Brooklyn and finds that his grandfather, a well-liked neighborhood character nicknamed Bugsy, does not seem to want him in his life.
Coleman, Evelyn (J American Girl)
Circle Of Fire
In 1958, Mendy puts herself in danger when she discovers that the Ku Klux Klan is planning to bomb the Highlander Folk School in order to disrupt a visit from Mendy's hero, Eleanor Roosevelt. Series: American Girl History Mysteries
Collier, Kristi (J)
Jericho Walls
In 1957, when her preacher father accepts a post in Jericho, Alabama, Jo wants to fit in but her growing friendship with a black boy forces her to confront the racism of the South and to reconsider her own values.
Hausman, Gerald (J)
Doctor Moledinky's Castle : A Hometown Tale
Twelve-year-old Andy and his best friend Pauly spend one remarkable summer in the 1950s exploring their town Berkeley Bend and delving into the secrets of its unusual inhabitants.
Hearne, Betsy Gould (J)
Listening For Leroy
Growing up in rural Alabama in the 1950s, ten-year-old Alice has no one to talk to but Leroy, the black farm hand, but when Alice's doctor father moves the family to Tennessee, she has trouble fitting in and she sorely misses Leroy.
Recorvits, Helen (J)
Where Heroes Hide
During the summer of 1956 ten-year-old Junior Webster, his friends, and especially his father, a decorated World War II veteran, discover what heroism is all about.
Oughton, Jerrie (J)
Music From A Place Called Half Moon
In 1956 in Half Moon, North Carolina, thirteen-year-old Edie Jo comes to terms with her own prejudice and the death of a friend.
Robinet, Harriette (J)
Walking To The Bus-Rider Blues
Twelve-year-old Alfa Merryfield, his older sister, and their grandmother struggle for rent money, food, and their dignity as they participate in the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott in the summer of 1956.
Woods, Brenda A. (J)
The Red Rose Box
In 1953, Leah Hopper dreams of leaving the poverty and segregation of her home in Sulphur, Louisiana, and when Aunt Olivia sends train tickets to Los Angeles as part of her tenth birthday present, Leah gets a first taste of freedom.
Baker, Julie (YA) Up Molasses Mountain In 1953, when union members arrive to organize their West Virginia coal-mining town, fourteen-year-old Clarence Henderson, shunned for his cleft lip, and his neighbor Elizabeth Braxton narrate the changes in their own lives and in the lives of everyone in their community.
Larson, Rodger (YA)
What I Know Now
In 1957 in California, having fallen in love with a young man who has come to his house to build a garden, a fourteen-year-old gay boy finds his life and his worldview changing.
Pinkwater, Daniel Manus (YA)
The Education Of Robert Nifkin
Set in the 1950s in Chicago, Robert Nifkin tells his highly unorthodox high school experiences in the form of a college application essay.
White, Ruth (YA and also sound recording)
Memories Of Summer
In 1955, thirteen-year-old Lyric finds her whole life changing when her family moves from the hills of Virginia to a town in Michigan and her older sister Summer begins descending into mental illness.