In the era of legal segregation, a "little colored" girl lives in three worlds: the restrictive Jim Crow world, her loving family and community world and the wide world of books she discovers, thanks to the integrated library her town built in the early nineteen sixties and the leadership of librarian Mrs. Margaret Reid Isbill. In 1961 an amendment to the American Library Association Bill of Rights essentially opened public library doors to everyone regardless of race, creed or national origin. "Colored girl" takes the reader to her worlds through historical references, poetry and colorful illustrations.