Books like Freedom Over Me by Ashley Bryan

The Hate U Give tracks 16‑year‑old Starr Carter, a Black teenager from a poor Bronx neighborhood who attends an elite private school, as she confronts police violence, social media battles, and community turmoil after witnessing her friend’s shooting.

In 1936 Flint, Michigan, ten‑year‑old Bud Maclean, an orphan on the run, sets out to find his missing father by following clues from a jazz band flyer.

Two girls—one white, one black—learn to trust each other while lingering on the fence that splits their town, discovering friendship across racial lines.

A thirteen‑year‑old African‑American girl confronts internalized racism, a volatile family, and homelessness while trying to build confidence in a new school and choir, aiming to rewrite a life full of self‑critique.

A Dominican girl’s coming‑of‑age story set against the 1960 Trujillo dictatorship, as she faces family exile, secret police terror, and the fear‑some disappearance of her uncle.

Show Way explores how quilts served as coded maps for escaping slaves, a secret tradition passed from mother to daughter in the author’s family.

Virginia Hamilton retells 24 authentic African‑American folk tales—from animal stories to supernatural adventures and slave‑era memories—in vivid prose, illustrated by 40 expressive paintings.

A supernatural Southern Gothic tale for middle‑grade readers set in Alabama, blending history, family life, and magic in a vivid, country setting.

A courageous boy named Elijah embarks on a perilous journey to help a former slave buy his family free, facing violence, betrayal, and the harsh realities of the past.

A young slave boy named 47 in the World War II‑era plantation of Georgia is haunted by oppression, but a mysterious runaway slave named Tall John sparks a fight for liberty—a compelling blend of history and speculative magic.

Slave narratives are extremely rare, with only 55 post-Civil War narratives surviving. A mere handful are first-person accounts by slaves who ran away and freed themselves. Now two newly uncovered narratives join that exclusive group. Handed down through family and friends, they tell gripping stories of escape: Through a combination of intelligence, daring, and sheer luck, the men reached the protection of occupying Union troops. Historian Blight prefaces the narratives with each man's life history. Using genealogical information, Blight has reconstructed their childhoods as sons of white slaveholders, their service as cooks and camp hands during the Civil War, and their climb to black working-class stability in the North, where they reunited their families. In the stories of Wallace Turnage and John Washington, we find portals that offer a rich new answer to the question of how four million people moved from slavery to freedom.

In 1849, Chinese American girl Samantha seeks to escape tragedy, disguising herself with runaway slave Annamae as male adventurers on the Oregon Trail toward California’s gold rush.

Ten‑year‑old Melody Ellison takes on a neighborhood makeover in 1964 Detroit, turning a neglected playground into a flourishing garden—and discovers the challenges of leading her peers.