F ALC	Louisa May Alcott's Little Women Books (age 10+) by Louisa May Alcott historical ... growing up ... family Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young ladies in nineteenth-century New England. title: Little Women title: Jo's Boys
F TRE	I, Juan de Pareja (age 10+) by Elizabeth Borton Trevino the arts ... historical When the great Velazquez was painting his masterpieces at the Spanish court in the seventeenth century, his colors were expertly mixed and his canvases carefully prepared by his slave, Juan de Pareja. In a vibrant novel which depicts both the beauty and the cruelty of the time and place, Elizabeth Borton de Trevino tells the story of Juan, who was born a slave and died an accomplished and respected artist. Through Juan’s eyes the reader sees Velazquez’s delightful family, his working habits and the character of the man, his relations with the shy yet devoted King Philip IV and with his fellow painters, Rubens and Murillo, the climate and customs of Spanish court life. When Velazquez discovers that he and Juan share a love for the art which is his very life, the painter proves his friendship in the most incredible fashion, for in those days it was forbidden by law for slaves to learn or practice the arts. Through the hardships of voyages to Italy, through the illnesses of Velazquez, Juan de Pareja loyally serves until the death of the painter in 1660.
F MCK	A Friendship for Today (age 10+) by Pat McKissack bigotry ... friendship ... historical In 1954 Missouri, 12-year-old Rosemary Patterson is about to make history as one of the first African-American students to enter the all-white school in her town. When the girl who has shown her the most cruelty becomes an unlikely confidante, Rosemary learns important truths about the power of friendship to overcome prejudice.
F AVI	The Seer of Shadows (age 10+) by Avi historical ... spooky The time is 1872. The place is New York City. Horace Carpetine has been raised to believe in science and rationality. So as apprentice to Enoch Middleditch, a society photographer, he thinks of his trade as a scientific art. But when wealthy society matron Mrs. Frederick Von Macht orders a photographic portrait, strange things begin to happen. Horace's first real photographs reveal a frightful likeness: it's the image of the Von Machts' dead daughter, Eleanora. Pegg, the Von Machts' black servant girl, then leads him to the truth about who Eleanora really was and how she actually died. Joined in friendship, Pegg and Horace soon realize that his photographs are evoking both Eleanora's image and her ghost. Eleanora returns, a vengeful wraith intent on punishing those who abused her.
F DOY	Uncle Ronald (age 10+) by Brian Doyle illness/loss ... family ... historical Humor and tragedy merge in this story of a family, and a culture, in crisis. At 112, Mickey McGuire is Canada's oldest citizen, but he remembers with perfect clarity the events beginning in Ottawa in 1895. That year, without investigating the cause of his daily fainting spells, school authorities decide that 12-year-old Mickey should stay home. But home is a problematic place, the site of frequent beatings of Mickey and his mother by his violent alcoholic father. Determined to spare her son further trauma, Mickey's mother sends him to stay on her family's farm run by her brother and twin sisters. Strong and tender, Uncle Ronald is wise in the ways of horses, geese, and men.
F DOH	Street Child (age 10+) by Berlie Doherty survival ... historical ... school A novel based on the life of Jim Jarvis, a young orphan who escapes the workhouse in London in the 1860s and survives brutal treatment and desparate circumstances until he is taken by Dr. Barnardo, founder of a school for the city's ragged children.
F DEF	Lostman's River (age 10+) by Cynthia C. DeFelice adventure ... historical ... nature Lostman's River is home to Tyler MacCauley and his family, just as it is to thousands of birds and other wildlife that share Nature's piece of the Earth. But greed and profit have brought great danger into the swampland. And when Tyler and his family dare to trust a stranger, they find out, to their horror, that they have jeopardized not only the land and all who live there, but their own future as well.
F DUB	Abenaki Captive (age 10+) by Muriel Dubois adventure ... historical In 1752, nineteen-year-old Abenaki warrior Ogistin is present when a band of his people capture an English trapper, John Stark, and as Stark is carried into captivity in Canada a bond of hate and competition develops between him and Ogistin.
F DUM	The Count of Monte Cristo (age 10+) by Alexandre Dumas historical ... adventure Edmund Dantes, unjustly convicted of aiding the exiled Napoleon, escapes after fourteen years imprisonment and seeks his revenge in Paris.
F FOX	One-Eyed Cat: a Novel (age 10+) by Paula Fox growing up ... animals ... historical Ned fired the forbidden rifle just once, at a flickering shadow in the autumn moonlight. But someone ... a face, fleetingly seen staring at him from an attic window ... was watching. And when a one-eyed cat turns up at an elderly neighbor's woodshed, Ned is caught in a web of guilt, fear, and shame that he cannot escape ... until another moonlit night, come spring, brings redemption and surprising revelations.
F FOR	Sound the Jubilee (age 10+) by Sandra Forrester bigotry ... historical A slave and her family find refuge on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, during the Civil War.
F FRI	Early Thunder (age 10+) by Jean Fritz growing up ... historical Traces a youth's growth to maturity as he resolves his political conflicts in pre-revolutionary Salem, a center of high feeling between the British and colonists.
F HOL	Penny From Heaven (age 10+) by Jennifer Holm growing up ... family ... historical As she turns twelve during the summer of 1953, Penny gains new insights into herself and her family while also learning a secret about her father's death. It's 1953 and 11-year-old Penny dreams of a summer of butter pecan ice cream, swimming, and baseball. But nothing's that easy in Penny's family. For starters, she can't go swimming because her mother's afraid she'll catch polio at the pool. To make matters worse, her favorite uncle is living in a car. Her Nonny cries every time her father's name is mentioned. And the two sides of her family aren't speaking to each other!
F KAR	Oh Those Harper Girls! or, Young and Dangerous (age 10+) by Kathleen Karr enterprise ... humor ... historical In West Texas in 1869, Lily and her five older sisters participate in a series of misguided schemes to save their father's ranch.
F LAW	Lord of the Nutcracker Men (age 10+) by Iain Lawrence family ... historical ... war Ten-year-old Johnny eagerly plays at war with the army of nutcracker soldiers his toymaker father whittles for him. He demolishes imaginary foes. But in 1914 Germany looms as the real enemy of Europe, and all too soon Johnny's father is swept up in the war to end all wars. He proudly enlists with his British countrymen to fight at the front in France. The war, though, is nothing like what any soldier or person at home expected. The letters that arrive from Johnny's dad reveal the ugly realities of combat ... and the soldiers he carves and encloses begin to bear its scars. Still, Johnny adds these soldiers to his armies of Huns, Tommies, and Frenchmen, engaging them in furious fights. But when these games seem to foretell his dad's real battles, Johnny thinks he possesses godlike powers over his wooden men. He fears he controls his father's fate, the lives of all the soldiers in no-man's land, and the outcome of the war itself.
F DUM	The Three Musketeers (age 10+) by Alexandre Dumas adventure ... historical In seventeenth-century France, young D'Artagnan initially quarrels with, then befriends, three musketeers and joins them in trying to outwit the enemies of the king and queen.
F LYO	Letters From a Slave Girl the Story of Harriet Jacobs (age 10+) by Mary E. Lyons letters/journal ... historical ... survival Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery; it's the only life she has ever known. Now, with the death of her mistress, there is a chance she will be given her freedom, and for the first time Harriet feels hopeful. But hoping can be dangerous, because disappointment is devastating. Harriet has one last hope, though: escape to the North. And as she faces numerous ordeals, this hope gives her the strength she needs to survive.
F DEF	Robinson Crusoe (age 10+) by Daniel Defoe historical ... adventure ... survival This classic story of a shipwrecked mariner on a deserted island is perhaps the greatest adventure in all of English literature. Fleeing from pirates, Robinson Crusoe is swept ashore in a storm possessing only a knife, a box of tobacco, a pipe-and the will to survive. His is the saga of a man alone: a man who overcomes self-pity and despair to reconstruct his life; who painstakingly teaches himself how to fashion a pot, bake bread, build a canoe; and who, after twenty-four agonizing years of solitude, discovers a human footprint in the sand... Consistently popular since its first publication in 1719, Daniel Defoe's story of human endurance in an exotic, faraway land exerts a timeless appeal.
F FOX	The Slave Dancer (age 10+) by Paula Fox historical Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo.
F LEN	Strawberry Girl (age 10+) by Lois Lenski historical Birdie Boyer and her hard working family raise strawberries in Florida, but have to face the dislike of their neighbors.
F CON	Prairie Songs (age 10+) by Pam Conrad historical ... identity Luisa loves the Nebraska prairie, the only home she's ever known. It's a lonely place, but it's the wonderful kind of loneliness that comes of stillness and open sky and oneness with the land. A different kind of beauty enters Louisa's world when the new doctor and his wife, Emmeline, move to the prairie from New York City. Emmeline is the most beautiful person Louisa has ever seen, and she teaches Louisa to love poetry. But she is also frail and unsuited to pioneer life. Louisa wonders whether Emmeline will ever come to love the prairie as she herself does.
F COL	War Comes to Willy Freeman (age 10+) by James Lincoln Collier war ... adventure ... historical Catalog: A free thirteen-year-old black girl in Connecticut is caught up in the horror of the Revolutionary War and the danger of being returned to slavery when her patriot father is killed by the British and her mother disappears.
F COL	My Brother Sam is Dead (age 10+) by James Lincoln Collier war ... family ... historical Publisher comments: All his life, Tim Meeker has looked up to his brother Sam. Sam's smart and brave, and is now a part of the American Revolution. Not everyone in town wants to be a part of the rebellion. Most are supporters of the British, including Tim and Sam's father. With the war soon raging, Tim know he'll have to make a choice ... between the Revolutionaries and the Redcoats ... and between his brother and his father.
F COL	Jump Ship to Freedom (age 10+) by James Lincoln Collier adventure ... historical Catalog: In 1787 a fourteen-year-old slave, anxious to buy freedom for himself and his mother, escapes from his dishonest master and tries to find help in cashing the solidier's notes received by his father for fighting in the Revolution.
F CLE	Where the Lilies Bloom (age 10+) by Vera Cleaver historical ... family ... illness/loss Publisher comments: Mary Call has promised her dying father to keep her brother and sisters together forever on the mountain, and never to take any help from strangers. She is determined to keep her word No matter what. At first she is sure she can manage. Romey, Ima Dean, and Devola help gather herbs to sell in town; the riches of the mountains will surely keep the family clothed and fed. But then winter comes, fast and furious, and Mary Call has to learn that the land where the lilies bloom is also a cruel and unforgiving place, and it may take more than a promise to keep her family together.
F CLA	Secret of the Andes (age 10+) by Ann Nolan Clark historical ... identity Catalog: An Indian boy who tends llamas in a hidden valley in Peru learns the traditions and secrets of his Inca ancestors.
F CUT	My Wartime Summers (age 10+) by Jane Cutler war ... growing up ... historical Over four memorable summmers, Ellen and her friends follow the war taking place far away but that still touches their lives.
F CUS	Catherine, Called Birdy (age 10+) by Karen Cushman growing up ... letters/journal ... historical Catherine feels trapped. Her father is determined to marry her off to a rich man--any rich man, no matter how awful. But by wit, trickery, and luck, Catherine manages to send several would-be husbands packing. Then a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes to call--by far the oldest, ugliest, most revolting suitor of them all. Unfortunately, he is also the richest. Can a sharp-tongued, high-spirited, clever young maiden with a mind of her own actually lose the battle against an ill-mannered, piglike lord and an unimaginative, greedy toad of a father? Deus! Not if Catherine has anything to say about it!
F BUR	Wrango (age 10+) by Brian Burks bigotry ... historical ... adventure The War Between the States is over, and George McJunkin and his family are among the slaves who've won their freedom. Trouble is, the McJunkins still live in a tiny shack, and the money George's father brings in barely keeps food on the table. George's parents say the times are changing. They say someday in Rogers Prairie, Texas, there will be a school for black children. They say someday the family will own the blacksmith shop where George's father still toils for the man who used to own them. But George isn't so sure about someday. Between 1867 and 1895, more than five thousand black cowboys helped drive ten million cattle up the Chisholm Trail from Texas. One such cowboy was George McJunkin, who set out from Rogers Prairie for the adventure that would change his life.
F BRA	The Halloween Tree (age 10+) by Ray Bradbury traditions ... historical ... adventure ... folklore ... spooky Meet the mysterious Mr. Moonshroud, who leads eight boys on a journey back through the centuries to discover the real meaning of Halloween. Prose of exquisite beauty will send shivers of delight ... and terror ... through readers, who will want to take this trip over and over again, long after the last jack-o'-lantern has gone dark.
F CAM	The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods (age 10+) by Ann Cameron growing up ... identity ... historical ... family Amanda Woods is discovering that there are some things in life that you just can't change, like who your parents are or how your older sister treats you, but she is determined to change what she can. To begin with, she's not going to be just plain Amanda Woods (the girl her mother seems to think is just average). She's going to be Amanda K. Woods - someone who is proud and strong and sure of herself, someone who can have a French pen pal and a best friend of her own choosing, someone who finds four-leaf clovers and can get perfect scores on her math homework. There is more to Amanda than anyone else can see, things about her that Amanda herself doesn't even know yet, but she's finding out.
F AYR	North by Night: a Story of the Underground Railroad (age 10+) by Katherine Ayres letters/journal ... adventure ... historical Sixteen-year-old Lucy Spencer believes in the work she and her family are doing to help fugitive slaves escape to Canada. Yet, what will Lucy do when asked to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave all she loves behind.
F YOU	Moving Mama to Town (age 10+) by Ronder Thomas Young growing up ... historical ... family In 1947, his head filled with the advice and wisdom of his runaway father, thirteen-year-old Freddy moves his mother from their Georgia farm into town and takes on the challenge of holding his family together.
F YEP	The Star Fisher (age 10+) by Laurence Yep bigotry ... historical Fifteen-year-old Joan Lee and her family find the adjustment hard when they move from Ohio to West Virginia in the 1920s.
F YEP	Dragonwings (age 10+) by Laurence Yep historical ... family ... enterprise In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine.
F WIS	Mustang Flats (age 10+) by G. Clifton Wisler war ... animals ... historical ... adventure ... family When his father returns from the war in 1865, fourteen-year-old Alby finds his beloved Pa a changed man and can only hope that they will be friends again.
F UCH	Journey to Topaz: a Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation (age 10+) by Yoshiko Uchida identity ... survival ... bigotry ... historical After the Pearl Harbor attack, an eleven-year-old Japanese-American girl and her family are forced to go to an aliens camp in Utah.
F TOM	The Forestwife (age 10+) by Theresa Tomlinson adventure ... folklore ... historical In England during the reign of King Richard I, fifteen-year-old Marian escapes from an arranged marriage to live with a community of forest folk that includes a daring young outlaw named Robert.
F STE	Kidnapped: the Adventures of David Balfour (age 10+) by Robert Louis Stevenson historical ... adventure A sixteen-year-old orphan is kidnapped by his villainous uncle, but later escapes and becomes involved in the struggle of the Scottish highlanders against English rule.
F SPE	The Witch of Blackbird Pond (age 10+) by Elizabeth George Speare magic ... bigotry ... historical Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft!
F SCH	Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (age 10+) by Gary D. Schmidt bigotry ... friendship ... historical It only takes a few hours for Turner Buckminster to start hating Phippsburg, Maine. No one in town will let him forget that he's a minister's son, even if he doesn't act like one. But then he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a smart and sassy girl from a poor nearby island community founded by former slaves. Despite his father's-and the town's-disapproval of their friendship, Turner spends time with Lizzie, and it opens up a whole new world to him, filled with the mystery and wonder of Maine's rocky coast.
F ROB	Mississippi Chariot (age 10+) by Harriette Robinet family ... bigotry ... historical In Mississippi in 1936, twelve-year-old Shortning Bread Jackson tries to help his falsely convicted father while dealing with the troubled racial climate in his town.
F RAW	Summer of the Monkeys (age 10+) by Wilson Rawls historical ... animals In rural Oklahoma at the turn of the century, fourteen-year-old Jay Berry Lee discovers a tree full of monkeys, a discovery that leads to a summer that teaches him about life.
F PAT	Jip: His Story (age 10+) by Katherine Paterson identity ... historical After tumbling off back of a wagon, Jip was brought to live at the town poor farm. He has been content to do chores and tend animals; until the day the lunatic arrives. He seems terrifying and less than human, but as the weeks pass. Jip sees the man he truly is. So, when a menacing stranger comes to town, claiming to have been sent by Jip's grieving father, Jip turns to his new friend to make sense of his past.
F PAT	Lyddie (age 10+) by Katherine Paterson enterprise ... historical Impoverished Vermont farm girl Lyddie Worthen is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1840s.
F NEU	Gaps in Stone Walls (age 10+) by John Neufeld mystery ... historical Twelve-year-old Merry Skiffe, who lives on Martha's Vineyard in the 1880s, runs away from home because she is suspected of having committed a murder.
F MYE	The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner (age 10+) by Walter Dean Myers enterprise ... historical ... mystery ... adventure Artemis Bonner wants to set the record straight. He's just arrived in Tombstone, Arizona, to avenge the murder of his uncle Ugly Ned Bonner. And if he happens to stumble across the gold mine his uncle described on his deathbed, then would be just fine, too. The murderous scalawag Catfish Grimes and his equally odious campaignion Lucy Featherdip are on the loose. They're desperate to find the gold mine and claim it for themselves as Artemis and his sidekick, Frolic, chase the pair from Mexico to the Alaskan Territory and back again. Artemis and Catfish are headed for a showdown in front of the Bird Cage Saloon...the exact spot where Uncle Ugly met his Untimely Demise. Here's the whole story; and the Truth as well.
F MOR	Waiting for Anya (age 10+) by Michael Morpurgo war ... survival ... adventure ... historical Jo and Benjamin devise an elaborate escape plan to save a band of Jewish children in Vichy, France during World War II.
F HEN	Wish Me Luck (age 10+) by James Heneghan war ... voyages/journeys ... historical ... adventure ... survival While on an ocean voyage to Canada during World War II, to escape the air raids in his Liverpool home, twelve-year-old Jaimie Monaghan faces another kind of life-threatening situation.
F HAN	The Seer and the Sword (age 10+) by Victoria Hanley princesses ... fantasy ... historical Princess Torina, who has the ability to see the future, and her friend Landen, who seeks a sword that belongs to his conquered kingdom, are separated when a treacherous murderer gains power, but from exile each works to restore peace and the rightful rulers.
F FAV	Through the Wormhole (age 10+) by Robert J. Favole science fiction ... historical ... adventure Action and suspense propel the reader through this time travel adventure. Michael and Kate are modern teens who travel to 1778 to save the 20-year old General Lafayette, and John Banks, Michael's great, great, etc, grandfather, an African American patriot. In the end, the success of their mission, and their very survival, depend on facing off their personal demons.
F FLE	Bull Run (age 10+) by Paul Fleischman war ... historical Northerners, Southerners, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters describe the glory, the horror, the thrill, and the disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.
F HOR	The Happy Yellow Car (age 10+) by Polly Horvath historical ... humor ... family Gunther Grunt buys a new car with the money his wife has been saving to send their twelve-year-old daughter, Betty, to college. To make matters worse, Betty has been elected Pork-Fry Queen by her classmates and now she doesn't have the money needed to buy flowers for the teacher. What follows is a comedic chain of events that teaches the Grunts about the value of family. Set in the Great Depression.
F HES	Witness (age 10+) by Karen Hesse mystery ... bigotry ... historical Leanora Sutter. Esther Hirsh. Merlin Van Tornhout. Johnny Reeves. These characters are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish. In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newbery Award winner Karen Hesse takes readers into the hearts and minds of those who bear witness.
F HES	Stowaway (age 10+) by Karen Hesse adventure ... voyages/journeys ... historical ... letters/journal It is known that in the summer of 1768, Captain James Cook sailed from England on H.M.S Endeavour, beginning a three-year voyage around the world on a secret mission to discover an unknown continent at the bottom of the globe. What is less known is that a boy by the name of Nicholas Young was a stowaway on that ship. Newbery winner Karen Hesse re-creates Cook's momentous voyage through the eyes of this remarkable boy, creating a fictional journal filled with fierce hurricanes, warring natives, and disease, as Nick discovers new lands, incredible creatures, and lifelong friends.
F CON	Our House: the Stories of Levittown (age 10+) by Pam Conrad historical ... short stories Six stories, one from each decade from the 1940s to the 1990s, about children growing up in Levittown, New York.
F CHO	Al Capone Does My Shirts (age 10+) by Gennifer Choldenko growing up ... historical ... family Publisher comments: Moose Flannagan moves with his family to Alcatraz so his dad can work as a prison guard and his sister, Natalie, can attend a special school. But Natalie has autism, and when she's denied admittance to the school, the stark setting of Alcatraz begins to unravel the tenuous coping mechanisms Moose's family has used for dealing with her disorder. When Moose meets Piper, the cute daughter of the Warden, he knows right off she's trouble. But she's also strangely irresistible. All Moose wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents? expectations, and stay out of trouble. But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far away.
F AVI	Encounter at Easton (age 10+) by Avi adventure ... historical The doomed flight of two young indentured servants from their unkind master brings together an unlikely assortment of people in a mid-eighteenth-century Pennsylvania town.
F FAR	The Sea of Trolls (age 10+) by Nancy Farmer action ... folklore ... fantasy ... adventure ... historical Jack was eleven when the berserkers loomed out of the fog and nabbed him. ``It seems that things are stirring across the water,'' the Bard had warned. ``Ships are being built, swords are being forged.'' ``Is that bad?'' Jack had asked, for his Saxon village had never before seen berserkers. ``Of course. People don't make ships and swords unless they intend to use them.'' The year is A.D. 793. In the next months, Jack and his little sister, Lucy, are enslaved by Olaf One-Brow and his fierce young shipmate, Thorgil. Nancy Farmer has never told a richer, funnier tale, nor offered more timeless encouragement to young seekers than ``Just say no to pillaging.''
F WOO	Dear Levi (age 10+) by Elvira Woodruff adventure ... historical ... letters/journal Twelve-year-old Austin Ives writes letters to his younger brother describing his three-thousand-mile journey from their home in Pennsylvania to Oregon in 1851.
F WIS	Mr. Lincoln's Drummer (age 10+) by G. Clifton Wisler war ... adventure ... historical Recounts the courageous exploits of Willie Johnston, an eleven-year-old Civil War drummer, who became the youngest recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
F WAT	So Far From the Bamboo Grove (age 10+) by Yoko Kawashima Watkins war ... historical ... adventure ... survival Though Japanese, eleven-year-old Yoko has lived with her family in northern Korea near the border with China all her life. But when the Second World War comes to an end, Japanese on the Korean peninsula are suddenly in terrible danger; the Korean people want control of their homeland and they want to punish the Japanese, who have occupied their nation for many years. Yoko, her mother and sister are forced to flee from their beautiful house with its peaceful bamboo grove. Their journey is terrifying, and remarkable. It's a true story of courage and survival. sequel: My Brother, My Sister, and I
F TAY	Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (age 10+) by Mildred D. Taylor family ... bigotry ... historical The story of one African American family fighting to stay together and strong in the face of brutal racist attacks, illness, poverty, and betrayal in the Deep South of the 1930s.
F ROC	To Spoil the Sun (age 10+) by Joyce Rockwood historical ... illness/loss Smallpox - to the people of the Seven Clans it is a mysterious plague that spreads like an invisible fire and threatens to destroy everything. It is the sixteenth century and Rain Dove, a young Cherokee girl, lives in Mulberry Town. She looks forward to choosing a husband and raising a family. But after strangers arrive on the shore and the deadly illness takes hold, life for the people of the Seven Clans will never be the same.
F RIN	Amelia's War (age 10+) by Ann Rinaldi war ... family ... historical As the Civil War rages, Amelia's Maryland town is beset by divisions. Even she and her best friend Josh disagree. Amelia vows not to take sides, until the Confederate troops march into town...led by Josh's uncle.
F RIC	The Light in the Forest (age 10+) by Conrad Richter identity ... historical ... family Though reared as a Lenni Lenape Indian, fifteen-year-old True Son, once called John Camera Butler, was ordered back to the white man. It was impossible for True Son to believe that his people were white and not Indian. He had learned to hate the white man. And now he learned to hate his new father, his new house, his new family. He hated the name John Butler. Where did he belong now--and where could he go?
F PAU	Tucket Adventures Series (age 10+) by Gary Paulsen historical ... adventure ... survival In the first book, Mr. Tucket, Fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is heading west on the Oregon Trail with his family by wagon train. When he receives a rifle for his birthday, he is thrilled that he is being treated like an adult. But Francis lags behind to practice shooting and is captured by Pawnees. It will take wild horses, hostile tribes, and a mysterious one-armed mountain man named Mr. Grimes to help Francis become the man who will be called Mr. Tucket. title: Mr. Tucket title: Call Me Francis Tucket title: Tucket's Gold title: Tucket's Home
F PAT	The Master Puppeteer (age 10+) by Katherine Patterson the arts ... historical ... enterprise Who is the man called Sabura, the mysterious bandit who robs the rich and helps the poor? And what is his connection with Yosida, the harsh and ill-tempered master of feudal Japan's most famous puppet theater? Young Jiro, an apprentice to Yosida, is determined to find out, even at risk to his own life.
F PAR	A Single Shard (age 10+) by Linda Sue Park the arts ... voyages/journeys ... historical ... enterprise Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a 12th-century Korean potters' village. For a long time he is content living with Crane-man under a bridge barely surviving on scraps of food. All that changes when he sees master potter Min making his beautiful pottery. Tree-ear sneaks back to Min's workplace and dreams of creating his own pots someday. When he accidentally breaks a pot, he must work for the master to pay for the damage. Though the work is long and hard, Tree-ear is eager to learn. Then he is sent to the King's Court to show the master's pottery. Little does Tree-ear know that this difficult and dangerous journey will change his life forever.
F O'D	Sarah Bishop (age 10+) by Scott O'Dell war ... survival ... family ... historical Left alone after the deaths of her father and brother who take opposite sides in the War for Independence, and fleeing from the British who seek to arrest her, Sarah Bishop struggles to shape a new life for herself in the wilderness.
F MCC	Stop the Train! (age 10+) by Geraldine McCaughrean enterprise ... historical Cissy Sissney and her family are staking their claim. Along with a handful of other entrepreneurs, they've stepped off the train into the brand-new town of Florence, Oklahoma, and started building a future. But the president of the railroad says no more trains will stop in Florence, ever. Without the railroad, the town can't survive. So it's up to Cissy, her family, friends, and neighbors to stop the train any way they can.
F LEV	Journey to America (age 10+) by Sonia Levitin survival ... historical ... family A Jewish family fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 endures innumerable separations before they are once again united. sequel: Silver Days sequel: Annie's Promise
F HAM	The House of Dies Drear (age 10+) by Virginia Hamilton spooky ... historical ... mystery The house held secrets, Thomas knew, even before he first saw it looming gray and massive on its ledge of rock. It had a century-old legend - two fugitive slaves had been killed by bounty hunters after leaving its passageways, and Dies Drear himself, the abolitionist who has made the house into a station on the Underground Railroad, had been murdered there. The ghosts of the three were said to walk its rooms... sequel: The Mystery of Drear House
F CUS	Rodzina (age 10+) by Karen Cushman identity ... survival ... historical ... family One of a group of orphans, 12-year-old Rodzina boards a train on a cold day in March 1881. She's reluctant to leave Chicago, the only home she can remember, and she knows there's no substitute for the family she has lost. As the train rattles westward, Rodzina unwittingly begins to develop attachments to her fellow travelers, and to accept the idea that there might be good homes for orphans--maybe even for a big, combative Polish girl. But no placement seems right for the formidable Rodzina, and she cleverly finds a way out of one bad situation after another, until at last she finds the family that is right for her.
F TUR	Maroo of the Winter Caves (age 10+) by Ann Turnbull family ... historical ... survival ... nature Maroo, a girl of the late Ice Age, must take charge after her father is killed, and lead her little brother, mother, and aged grandmother to the safety of the winter camp before the first blizzards strike.
F TAY	The Cay (age 10+) by Theodore Taylor voyages/journeys ... friendship ... bigotry ... adventure ... historical When the freighter on which they are traveling is torpedoed by a German submarine during World War II, an adolescent white boy, blinded by a blow on the head, and an old black man are stranded on a tiny Caribbean island where the boy acquires a new kind of vision, courage, and love from his old companion. sequel: Timothy of the Cay
F RYA	Esperanza Rising (age 10+) by Pam Munoz Ryan identity ... historical ... family Esperanza Ortega has fancy dresses, a beautiful home filled with servants, and the promise of one day rising to her mother's position presiding over all of Rancho de las Rosas. But tragedy shatters that dream, forcing Esperanza and Mama to flee from Mexico to California and settle in a farm labor camp. There, Esperanza must confront the challenges that come with her difficult circumstances.
F PEA	The Sky Is Falling (age 10+) by Kit Pearson war ... identity ... adventure ... historical The experiences of a young girl and her small brother who are evacuated to Canada at the beginning of World War II. They struggle with being strangers in a strange land, even as they come to terms with the evil they left back home.
F PEC	A Year Down Yonder (age 10+) by Richard Peck short stories ... historical ... family During the recession of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to live with her feisty, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois and comes to a better understanding of this fearsome woman.
F LOW	Number the Stars (age 10+) by Lois Lowry survival ... bigotry ... friendship ... historical In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
F HES	Out of the Dust (age 10+) by Karen Hesse letters/journal ... historical ... poetry In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.
F GIF	Nory Ryan's Song (age 10+) by Patricia Reilly Giff survival ... historical ... adventure As the potato blight that leads to the Irish Famine takes its toll on her family, 12-year-old Nory Ryan must summon the courage and ingenuity to find food, to find hope, and to find a way to help her family survive. sequel: Maggie's Door
F AVI	The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (age 10+) by Avi adventure ... historical ... voyages/journeys Thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle, the only passenger aboard a seedy ship on a transatlantic voyage from England to America in 1832, becomes caught up in a feud between the murderous captain and his mutinous crew.
F AVI	Crispin: The Cross of Lead (age 10+) by Avi adventure ... historical Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret. sequel: Crispin: at the Edge of the World

Barron Park Elementary School, Sat Aug 25 11:55:26 2012 Other themes and genres