The "Becoming American" Bookshelf

In addition to the fifteen books in English selected for the Bookshelf, NEH added three of the works in Spanish translation. The books included in the "Becoming American" Bookshelf were:

Kindergarten to Grade 3

• The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
• Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson*
• Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

Grades 4 to 6

• Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman
• The People Could Fly: The Picture Book by Virginia Hamilton
• Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving*
• In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord

Grades 7 to 8

• Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith
• The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• Dragonwings by Laurence Yep

Grades 9 to 12

• Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather*
• Barrio Boy by Ernesto Galarza
• Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Louis P. Masur
• Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie by Ole Edvart Rølvaag

* Included in English and in Spanish translation

Selected libraries

See a list of libraries selected to receive the "Becoming American" Bookshelf.

On September 6, 2005, the National Endowment for the Humanities launched the We the People Bookshelf, a set of classic books for young readers (K-12) on the theme of "Becoming American."

Applications

Applications were accepted between September 6, 2005, and March 1, 2006.

Applications are no longer being accepted. We the People “Becoming American” programs will continue to take place at libraries through May 2007.

Find out more about the We the People Bookshelf.