Joyce Carol Thomas Books In Order

Novels

  1. Marked By Fire (1982)
  2. Bright Shadow (1983)
  3. Water Girl (1986)
  4. The Golden Pasture (1986)
  5. Golden Pastures (1987)
  6. Journey (1988)
  7. When the Nightingale Sings (1992)
  8. House of Light (2001)
  9. Healer (2007)

Omnibus

  1. Collected Novels for Teens (2008)

Collections

  1. Hush Songs (2000)
  2. The Bowlegged Rooster (2000)
  3. What’s the Hurry, Fox? (2004)
  4. The Skull Talks Back (2004)
  5. Lies and Other Tall Tales (2005)

Picture Books

  1. Shouting! (1927)
  2. Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea (1993)
  3. I Have Heard of a Land (1998)
  4. Cherish Me (1998)
  5. You Are My Perfect Baby (1999)
  6. The Angel’s Lullaby (2001)
  7. Joy! (2001)
  8. The Gospel Cinderella (2004)
  9. The Six Fools (2005)
  10. The Three Witches (2006)
  11. The Blacker the Berry (2008)
  12. In the Land of Milk and Honey (2012)

Anthologies edited

  1. A Gathering of Flowers (1990)
  2. I Believe in Water (2000)

Non fiction

  1. Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone (2003)

Novels Book Covers

Omnibus Book Covers

Collections Book Covers

Picture Books Book Covers

Anthologies edited Book Covers

Non fiction Book Covers

Joyce Carol Thomas Books Overview

Marked By Fire

Fire is WarmAbyssinia Jackson grew up under a vast Oklahoma sky shaded with pecan trees and dotted by endless rows of cotton pickers cotton. She had the gift of song, a storyteller’s talent, the love of her parents, and the affection and pride of her community. Fire Can BurnThen a tornado hits and drives Abby’s family apart. A deranged neighbor targets her for a campaign of vengeful terror. And a vicious physical assault all but breaks her will. Marked By FireIn a triumphant story of faith and fortitude, Abby emerges clearly as a young woman who faces pain and joy with the dignity of her heritage and the determination of spirit. Joyce Carol Thomas’s beautifully written first novel, a 1983 National Book Award winner, remains as poignant and moving today as it was 25 years ago when it was first published.

House of Light

Now in paperback the wonderful first novel praised by Billie Letts: ‘Joyce Carol Thomas’s writing glows with the illumination of ‘glory light.’ ‘ In this joyful, moving novel, Joyce Carol Thomas tells the story of Dr. Abyssinia Jackson, a regal, nurturing woman possessed of remarkable healing powers who sings soul soothing gospel to help cure her patients. From her office, she tends to the women of Ponca City chanting, ‘If you can be healed, I will be here morning, noon, and night. A beacon in the healing House of Light.’ There’s Pearline, who is beaten regularly by her husband; Vennie Walker, a ‘day girl’ whose mistreatment by her employer has destroyed her feet and her spirit; and Zenobia, a talented musician who finds love and solace in the arms of a white man. Filled with memorable characters, peppered with humor, and marked by graceful, lyrical prose, House of Light is a story of a community bound by caring and love, about the pleasures of helping others and ourselves, and about the power to heal that lies deep within us all.

Collected Novels for Teens

In these four acclaimed novels, National Book Award winning author Joyce Carol Thomas evocatively captures the triumph and struggles of teens as they come of age, and break and bond with their families. BRIGHT SHADOW 1983 This Coretta Scott King Honor Book and Thomas’ sophomore effort continues the moving saga she began in her debut novel Marked By Fire. Abyssinia Jackson is back home from college where she’s studying to be a doctor. But she must learn to cope with tragedy when peace is shattered in her Oklahoma countryside and her boyfriend Carl Lee disappears. ‘Just when a critic thinks he has an author tightly held, a sequel wriggles free of preconceptions and hops away…
. Sophisticated.’ The Purdue Exponent ‘Amazing.’ Panache Post WATER GIRL 1986 In the third book of a compelling saga that began with Marked By Fire, 15 year old Amber makes a startling family discovery that shakes her to her core. ‘Fans of Marked By Fire will want to read this story of an adolescent search for identity.’ School Library Journal ‘A panorama of human emotions…
entertaining reading. VOYA ‘Teens who liked the first two books won’t be disappointed.’ Booklist THE GOLDEN PASTURE 1987 In this ALA Pick of the List, 13 year old Carl’s relationship with a wild rodeo horse teaches more about connecting with his dad than about riding. ‘A spirited, lyrical tale with a memorable cast of characters…
. Thomas is a weaver of words, combining just the right ones to create a loving picture of three generations.’ Publishers Weekly ‘Thomas’ love for Oklahoma and empathy for her well delineated characters emerge…
a delight.’ School Library Journal JOURNEY 1990 16 year old Meggie is scared. One by one, her town’s teenagers are mysteriously disappearing. What Meggie doesn’t know is that her childhood holds the only key to save them. ‘Spellbinding.’ VOYA ‘Appealing hero*ine, fast pace, and SF overtones will absorb readers.’ Kirkus Reviews

Hush Songs

From National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas comes a glorious collection of 10 African American lullabies. Here are the Hush Songs that have gentled babies & comforted children for generations, from Brown Baby & Scarlet Ribbons to Raisins & Almonds. Also included are 3 original Hush Songs by Thomas: A Song for You, with music by famous gospel composer Steven Roberts; Petal Child ; & The Angels Lullaby. Compiled with Dr. Olly Wilson, gifted professor of music, the collection reflects ancient memories & tomorrow’s promises. Beautifully illustrated by Brenda Joysmith, this one of a kind collection includes easy to read music, historical headnotes, & an introduction by Joyce Carol Thomas. A collection to share & to treasure!

What’s the Hurry, Fox?

Acclaimed anthropologist, folklorist, and novelist Zora Neale Hurston traveled the back roads of the rural South, collecting stories from men, women, and children in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana so that the spirit and richness of the oral storytelling tradition could be shared and preserved. What’s the Hurry, Fox?? is a sampling of stories from Every Tongue Got To Confess, Ms. Hurston’s third volume of folktales collected from the Gulf statesin the 1930s. They have been carefully adapted and shaped by National Book and Coretta Scott King Award 150;winning author Joyce Carol Thomas to appeal to the sensibilities of young readers. Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winning artist Bryan Collier adds his unique vision with collages that capture the rich heritage and rural community setting of the stories that are Ms. Hurston’s legacy to us.

The Skull Talks Back

Do you dare to cross paths with…

An enchantress who can slip in and out of her skin, A man more evil than the devil, A skull who talks back, A pair of creepy feet that can walk on their own?

Spooky, chilling, and fantastical, this collection of six scary tales will send shivers up your spine!

The stories in The Skull Talks Back have been selected from Every Tongue Got To Confess, Zora Neale Hurston’s third volume of folklore. Through Joyce Carol Thomas’s carefully adapted text and Leonard Jenkins’s arresting illustrations, the soulful, fanciful imaginations of ordinary folk will reach readers of all ages.

Lies and Other Tall Tales

What’s the shortest man you ever seen? I seen a man so short, he had to get up on a box to look over a grain of sand. And the fastest? I seen a man run so hard that he lost his feets. Back in the day, there were liars who could lie so good, you didn’t even want to know the truth. And we have Zora Neale Hurston to thank for collecting their stories. In lies, Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor artist Christopher Myers has created expressive collages that are as bold and wild as the whoppers Hurston encountered on her travels in the Gulf States. Here’s a visual treat that will tickle your funny bone.

Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea

A cycle of a dozen lyrical poems exploring issues of African American identity through delicately interwoven images…
. Laden with meaning, the poetry is significant and lovely. Cooper’s paintings, with vibrant, unsentimentalized characters in earth tone illumined with gold, are warm, contemplative’a beautiful complement to Thomas’s eloquence. A must.’ ‘K. Poems rooted in home, family, and the African American experience . Highly readable and attractive.’ ‘BL.

1994 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book for Nonfiction
1994 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book for Illustration
1994 Teachers’ Choices IRA
Notable 1994 Childrens’ Trade Books in Social Studies NCSS/CBC
1994 Notable Trade Books in the Language Arts NCTE
100 Books for Reading and Sharing NY Public Library

1993 ‘Pick of the Lists’ ABA

I Have Heard of a Land

I Have Heard of a LandWhere the imagination has no fencesWhere what is dreamed one nightIs accomplished the next dayIn the late 1880s, signs went up all around America land was free in the Oklahoma territory. And it was free to everyone: Whites, Blacks, men and women alike. All one needed to stake a claim was hope and courage, strength and perseverance. Thousands of pioneers, many of them African Americans newly freed from slavery, headed west to carve out a new life in the Oklahoma soil. Drawing upon her own family history, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas has crafted an unforgettable anthem to these brave and determined people from America’s past. Richly illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award honoree Floyd Cooper, I Have Heard of a Land is a glorious tribute to the Afrian American pioneer spirit. National Book Award winning author Joyce Carol Thomas draws on family history for this lyrical account of America’s little known past. In the late 1880s, thousands of pioneers, many African Americans newly freed from slavery, raced to the Oklahoma Territory. Here all one needed to stake a claim was hope and courage and the determination to journey west. Richly illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award Honor recipient Floyd Cooper and complete with an author’s endnote, I Have Heard of a Land commemorates the strength of the African American pioneers. It is a hymn to liberty and unity, an ode to a land where what can be dreamed can be accomplished. 00 01 Sequoyah Children’s Book Award Masterlist

You Are My Perfect Baby


with perfect arms and perfect lipsand tiny fingersand perfect hips. In tender verse, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas celebrates all that’s precious about a new baby. Nneka Bennett’s gentle illustrations interpret each line of verse with love and care. You Are My Perfect Baby is the perfect warm welcome for newborns.

The Angel’s Lullaby

It’s time to say good night The moon is on the rise And seven angels fly down With starlight in their eyes. And so begins this warm and lyrical bedtime lullaby. When the full moon smiles through a little girl’s bedroom window, it’s time to cuddle up with Mom, Dad, and a bedtime story before falling asleep in the wings of heavenly guardian angels.

Joy!

Throughout the year, a grandmother expresses her unconditional love for her grandson. The lyrical text is paired with reassuring and warm illustrations to make this a must have on every child’s bookshelf.

The Gospel Cinderella

Once upon a time…

There was a singing Cinderella?

Yes, with a voice as flavorful as licorice.

There was also a Crooked Foster Mother and two evil sisters. A Queen Mother Rhythm and a Prince of Music.

And while there’s no glass slipper to leave behind at the Great Gospel Convention, there is an enchanted melody for the Prince to search for…
and to find.

Award winning author and poet Joyce Carol Thomas and Caldecott Medal winning artist David Diaz have infused the classic Cinderella tale with a soulful twist.

The Six Fools

Who’s the biggest fool?
The silly girl?
The silly man?
The silly woman?
The silly farmer?

In this outrageously funny tale, our hero finds foolish folks aplenty and true love.

During her travels in the Gulf States in the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston recorded stories told by the people she met, to preserve their rich oral legacy. The Six Fools is one of the stories collected in every tongue got to confess, her third volume of folklore. It has been masterfully adapted for children by National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas. Renowned artist Ann Tanksley puts The Six Fools in a retro 1930s setting in her brilliantly colored oil monoprints.

The Three Witches

The three bad witches are HUNGRY! ‘Let’s eat these children,’ they say. They may have teeth that are longer than their lips and they may wear high heels, but they are NO match for two smart children, their brave grandma, three hound dogs, and a fast running snake. The Three Witches was first published in every tongue got to confess, the third volume of folklore collected by Zora Neale Hurston while traveling in the Gulf States in the 1930s. It has been adapted for young people by National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas. The vibrant paintings have been masterfully executed by internationally celebrated artist Faith Ringgold.

The Blacker the Berry

We are color struck The way an artist strikes His canvas with his brush of many hues Look closely at these mirrors these palettes of skin Each color is rich in its own right Black is dazzling and distinctive, like toasted wheat berry bread; snowberries in the fall; rich, red cranberries; and the bronzed last leaves of summer. In this lyrical and luminous collection, Coretta Scott King honorees Joyce Carol Thomas and Floyd Cooper celebrate these many shades of black beautifully.

A Gathering of Flowers

A young Chicano family places all its dreams for the future on a golden cockroach. Children on a Chippewa reservation carve a tribal trickster from a block of ice in the middle of July.A young black woman with a gift for preaching decides she’ll fly on Sunday at the Perfect Peace Baptist Church. Written by such distinguished authors as Maxine Hong Kingston, Lois Lowry, Gary Soto, and Joyce Carol Thomas, the short stories in this collection are a celebration of diversity a tribute to the races and cultures that make up America. Here are exquisitely crafted fables and fantasies, surprising turns of plots, intricate patterns, and powerful rhythms that take the reader from rural Oklahoma to a Chicago Latino barrio, from an East Coast neighborhood to urban San Francisco, and beyond. Here are stories that illuminate the glory, the splendor, the achings and failings of young people growing up across the country and that address what it is truly like to be ethnic and American.’Readers are treated to the cultural richness of eleven stories depicting the frustrations and celebrations of young people in the United States: Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, White Americans, and Japanese Americans.’ EJ. ‘The collection is rich and colorful, containing strong individual voices. A subtle and sophisticated assortment, dominated by an appealing honesty and authenticity.’ C. 1991 Books for the Teen Age NY Public Library

I Believe in Water

Sometimes funny, sometimes startling and featuring a variety of settings, cultures, and beliefs these twelve original stories evoke dilemmas of faith and identity that are familiar to us all. The anthology brings together a powerful mix of award winning contributors: Jennifer Armstrong, Margaret Peterson Haddix, M. E. Kerr, Gregory Maquire, Kyoko Mori, Jess Mowry, Naomi Shihab Nye, Marilyn Singer, Nancy Springer, Joyce Carol Thomas, Virginia Euwer Wolff, and Jacqueline Woodson. Books for the Teen Age 2001 NYPL

Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone

When the Supreme Court decision to desegregate public schools was handed down in 1954, the course of American history was forever changed. Here are personal reflections, stories, and poems from ten of today’s most accomplished writers for children, all young people themselves at the time of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Included are Michael Cart, Jean Craighead George, Eloise Greenfield, Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson, Ishmael Reed, Jerry Spinelli, Quincy Troupe, Joyce Carol Thomas, and Leona Nicholas Welch. With a compelling introduction by editor Joyce Carol Thomas and stunning pastel artwork by Curtis E. James, this collection celebrates the hard earned promise of equality in education.

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