Each year NEH identifies a theme important to the nation's heritage and selects books that embody that theme. This collection of theme-related books is the Bookshelf. In addition to introducing young readers to good literature, the Bookshelf promotes understanding of abstract or general ideas through the power of particular stories.

The American nation, observed Abraham Lincoln, was “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

The “Created Equal” Bookshelf provides opportunities for young people to explore what the Revolutionary generation meant when it declared that “all men are created equal.” What challenges has America faced, and where has it shown progress, in its efforts to live up to the ideal of universal human equality? How did Abraham Lincoln, whose bicentennial we celebrate in 2009, contribute to the idea and the reality of human equality in America?

Three thousand libraries received the “Created Equal” Bookshelf—a collection of seventeen classic hardcover books for young readers, all related to the “Created Equal” theme. In addition, libraries received four of these books in Spanish translation, a bonus “History in a Box” resource kit created by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and supplementary materials for programming, including bookplates, boomarks, and posters.

Books included in the “Created Equal” Bookshelf are as follows:

Kindergarten to Grade 3