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Little Women (age 8-11)
by Jane Gerver
historical ... growing up ... family
This retelling of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young ladies in nineteenth-century New England.
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The Night Crossing (age 8-11)
by Karen Ackerman
survival ... historical
It's hard to leave your home and friends, but the Nazis have invaded Clara's native Austria, and her Jewish family is no longer safe. Clara and her family take only what they can carry and travel by night to the Swiss border, where they hope to escape to freedom. Soldiers are everywhere, and it is Clara's heroism that carries the family across the border, their lives and few precious possessions intact.
Samantha: an American Girl Series (age 8-11)
growing up ... family ... historical
Stories of Samantha, an orphan living with her grandmother in 1904.
title: Meet Samantha: an American Girl by Susan S. Adler F ADL
title: Samantha Learns a Lesson: a School Story by Susan S. Adler F ADL
title: Changes for Samantha: a Winter Story by Valerie Tripp F TRI
title: Happy Birthday, Samantha!: a Springtime Story by Valerie Tripp F TRI
title: Samantha Saves the Day: a Summer Story by Valerie Tripp F TRI
title: Samantha's Surprise: a Christmas Story by Maxine Rose Schur F SCH
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Molly: an American Girl Series (age 8-11)
by Valerie Tripp
growing up ... family ... historical
Stories of Molly and her family during World War II.
title: Meet Molly: an American Girl
title: Changes for Molly: a Winter Story
title: Happy Birthday, Molly!: a Springtime Story
title: Molly Learns a Lesson: a School Story
title: Molly Saves the Day: a Summer Story
title: Molly's Surprise: a Christmas Story
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Kirsten: an American Girl Series (age 8-11)
by Janet Shaw
growing up ... family ... historical
Stories about Kirsten and her family, settling the frontier in Minnesota.
title: Meet Kirsten: an American Girl
title: Changes for Kirsten: a Winter Story
title: Happy Birthday, Kirsten!: a Springtime Story
title: Kirsten Learns a Lesson: a School Story
title: Kirsten Saves the Day
title: Kirsten's Surprise: a Christmas Story
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TRI
Felicity: an American Girl Series (age 8-11)
by Valerie Tripp
growing up ... family ... historical
Stories about Felicity and her family, living in Williamsburg during the revolutionary war.
title: Meet Felicity: an American Girl
title: Changes for Felicity: a Winter Story
title: Felicity Learns a Lesson: a School Story
title: Felicity Saves the Day: a Summer Story
title: Felicity's Surprise: a Christmas Story
title: Happy Birthday, Felicity!: a Springtime Story
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Addy: an American Girl Series (age 8-11)
by Connie Porter
growing up ... family ... historical
Stories about Addy and her mother, freed slaves living in Philadelphia during the Civil War.
title: Meet Addy: an American Girl
title: Addy Learns a Lesson: a School Story
title: Addy Saves the Day: a Summer Story
title: Addy's Surprise: a Christmas Story
title: Changes for Addy: a Winter Story
title: Happy Birthday, Addy!: a Springtime Story
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TRI
Josefina: an American Girl Series (age 8-11)
by Valerie Tripp
growing up ... family ... historical
Stories about Josefina and her sisters, in New Mexico before the Mexicn-American War.
title: Meet Josefina: an American Girl
title: Changes for Josefina: a Winter Story
title: Happy Birthday, Josefina!: a Springtime Story
title: Josefina Learns a Lesson: a School Story
title: Josefina Saves the Day: a Summer Story
title: Josefina's Surprise: a Christmas Story
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COS
Fire Mate (age 8-11)
by Olga Cossi
friendship ... identity ... historical ... animals
An Indian girl develops a special relationship with the St. Bernard puppy she finds abandoned by dognappers in the forest. The two are inseparable until the dog's owners show up to claim him.
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Worth (age 8-11)
by A. LaFaye
family ... historical
After breaking his leg, eleven-year-old Nate feels useless because he cannot work on the family farm in nineteenth-century Nebraska, so when his father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores, Nate feels even worse.
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DEY
A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt (age 8-11)
by C. Coco DeYoung
family ... historical
Eleven-year-old Margo Bandini has never been afraid of anything. Her life in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with Mama and Papa and her little brother, Charlie, has always felt secure. But it's 1933, and the Great Depression is changing things for families all across America. One day the impossible happens: Papa cannot make the payments for their house, and the Sheriff Sale sign goes up on their door. They have two weeks to pay the bank, or leave their home forever. Now Margo is afraid--but she's also determined to find a way to help Papa save their home.
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Thimble Summer (age 8-11)
by Elizabeth Enright
historical ... adventure ... magic ... animals
When Garnet finds a silver thimble in the sand by the river, she is sure it's magical. But is it magical enough to help her pig, Timmy, win a blue ribbon on Fair Day?
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Hitty: Her First Hundred Years (age 8-11)
by Rachel Field
historical ... fantasy ... adventure
When Phoebe Preble brings her special doll, Hitty, with her everywhere she goes, Hitty experiences wonderful adventures and makes a lot of new friends.
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JOY
Buddy (age 8-11)
by William Joyce
adventure ... historical ... animals
If you happened to be walking down the street in New York City in the 1930s you might have seen a most amazing sight; a beautiful woman with a very well-dressed, four-hundred-pound gorilla sporting a red carnation in the lapel of his jacket. The lady' s name? Gertie Lintz. And the gorilla' s name was Buddy.
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KIR
Redcoats and Petticoats (age 8-11)
by Katherine Kirkpatrick
family ... historical ... war
Members of a family in the village of Setauket on Long Island are displaced by the Redcoats and serve as spies for the Revolutionary Army of George Washington.
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The Iron Dragon Never Sleeps (age 8-11)
by Stephen Krensky
historical
In 1867, while staying with her father in a small California mining town, ten-year-old Winnie meets a Chinese boy close to her age and discovers the role of his people in completing the transcontinental railroad.
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Fire in the Wind (age 8-11)
by Betty Levin
historical ... family ... adventure ... action
One dry October, with wildfires blazing all across the state of Maine, Meg Yeadon keeps having to put out fires of her own-the fights she gets into defending her "backward" cousin Orin and her shy brother Paul. Separated from the grown-ups, Meg and Paul must rely on Orin to help them survive the inferno bearing down on their farm. But what are they to make of the sight of Orin setting fire to the fields himself?
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LOV
The Puppeteer's Apprentice (age 8-11)
by D. Anne Love
adventure ... the arts ... historical
Mouse, a timid orphan growing up in medieval England, has little happiness in the world. But then, when she comes across a puppeteer so talented that he can make the puppets talk and dance as if they were little humans, Mouse realizes that true happiness is within reach ... and the key is learning how to make the puppets dance! What she doesn't realize, however, is just how much she and her prospective mentor have in common and how much, one day, they will share.
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The Secret Room (age 8-11)
by Hazel Townson
war ... adventure ... historical
When Adam enters a secret cupboard at his school, he is transported through time to 1942, into the middle of a World War II air raid.
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FRI
Homesick, My Own Story (age 8-11)
by Jean Fritz
identity ... historical
This fictionalized autobiography tells the heartwarming story of a little girl growing up in an unfamiliar place. While other girls her age were enjoying their childhood in America, Jean Fritz was in China in the midst of political unrest. Jean Fritz tells her captivating story of the difficulties of living in a unfamiliar country at such a difficult time.
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FRI
The Cabin Faced West (age 8-11)
by Jean Fritz
historical
For Ann Hamilton, life out west was anything but adventurous. In fact, she had never been lonelier. She longed for the ease and comfort of the days with friends back in Gettysburg-until a stranger rode into Hamilton Hill and changed her life forever.
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The Matchlock Gun (age 8-11)
by Walter D. Edmonds
war ... adventure ... historical
In 1756, during the French and Indian War in upper New York state, ten-year-old Edward is determined to protect his home and family with the ancient, and much too heavy, Spanish gun that his father had given him before leaving home to fight the enemy.
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YAM
The Call of the Wild (age 8-11)
by Mitsu Yamamoto
historical ... adventure ... nature ... animals
A specially adapted version of Jack London's story of the story of Buck, a young dog snatched away from an easy life in California and transported to the Far North. Buck becomes the strongest and fiercest sled dog in all of Alaska. But deep inside, he feels the urge to be free of man's rule and to heed the call of the wild.
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Rachel's Journal: the Story of a Pioneer Girl (age 8-11)
by Marissa Moss
historical ... letters/journal
young Rachel and her family travel by covered wagon following the Oregon Trail from Illinois all the way to California. The terrain is rough and the seven-month trip is filled with adventure--a surprise encounter with Indians, a thunderous buffalo stampede, even the perilous crossing of a flooded river. Rachel's own handwritten journal chronicles every detail and features cherished "pasted-in" mementos--wildflowers, buttons, quilt patches--gathered along the way.
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Pedros Journal: a Voyage with Christopher Columbus, August 3 1492--February 14 1493 (age 8-11)
by Pam Conrad
adventure ... historical ... voyages/journeys ... letters/journal
Pedro can read and write better than any boy in his small Spanish town. That's why Christopher Columbus signs him on as part of his crew of the Santa Maria. The young Pedro records his adventures in a journal, with sketches of what he has seen. A thrilling and believable re-creation of one boy's account of this epic voyage.
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Weaver's Daughter (age 8-11)
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
illness/loss ... historical
In 1791 after her family's journey from Pennsylvania, ten-year-old Lizzie suffers from the disease of asthma in her new home in the Southwest Territory (present-day Tennessee).
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One-of-a-kind Mallie (age 8-11)
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
war ... identity ... historical
Living in Indiana during World War I, ten-year-old Mallie longs to be seen as different from her identical twin and finds an example of individuality in the gypsies who moved into her community.
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BRI
Caddie Woodlawn (age 8-11)
by Carol Ryrie Brink
family ... identity ... adventure ... historical
Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer. She'd rather hunt than sew and plow than bake, and tries to beat her brothers' dares every chance she gets. Caddie is friends with Indians, who scare most of the neighbors...neighbors who, like her mother and sisters, don't understand her at all.
sequel: Magical Melons
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Thunder on the Sierra (age 8-11)
by Kathy Balmes
voyages/journeys ... adventure ... historical
In 1852, recently orphaned, thirteen-year-old Mateo becomes an "arreiro," or mule driver, bringing supplies to California gold miners and searching for the notorious bandit who stole his horse, but when he learns that Yankee squatters are threatening to take the ranch he grew up on, Mateo heads for home.
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Silver Dollar Girl (age 8-11)
by Katherine Ayres
voyages/journeys ... historical ... adventure
Valentine Harper's father has been in Colorado for more than a year seeking his fortune in the Silver Rush. But she's tired of waiting for his overdue return. Aunt Margaret is nice, but Uncle Franklin seems unhappy to have an extra person in the house and Cousin Harold's pranks have been getting meaner. Unfortunately, a girl can't get far on her own in America in 1885. But with a haircut, the right clothes, and a big dose of courage, Vallie Harper just might make it on a journey across the country to look for her father, and pull off an adventure that will change her life.
My Name Is America Series (age 8-11)
war ... identity ... letters/journal ... historical
Each volume in the My Name is America series recounts an exciting slice of life from America's history, told in the voice of a boy living in that time and place.
title: The Journal of Biddy Owens: the Negro Leagues, Birmingham, Alabama, 1948 by Walter Dean Myers F MYE
title: The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp, California, 1942 by Barry Denenberg F DEN
title: The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce: a Pilgrim Boy, Plymouth 1620 by Ann Rinaldi F RIN
title: The Journal of Jesse Smoke: a Cherokee Boy, Trail of Tears, 1838 by Joseph Bruchac F BRU
title: The Journal of Joshua Loper: a Black Cowboy, The Chisholm Trail, 1871 by Walter Dean Myers F MYE
title: The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty: United States Marine Corps, Khe Sanh, Vietnam, 1968 by Ellen Emerson White F WHI
title: The Journal of William Thomas Emerson: a Revolutionary War Patriot, Boston, Massachusetts, 1774 by Barry Denenberg F DEN
title: The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: a Chinese Miner, California, 1852 by Laurence Yep F YEP
Dear Canada Series (age 8-11)
identity ... letters/journal ... historical
Each volume in the Dear Canada series recounts an exciting slice of life from Canada's history, told in the voice of a girl living in that time and place.
title: A Trail of Broken Dreams: the Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer by Barbara Haworth-Attard F HAW
Dear America Series (age 8-11)
war ... identity ... letters/journal ... historical
Each volume in the Dear America series recounts an exciting slice of life from America's history, told in the voice of a girl living in that time and place.
title: A Line in the Sand: the Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence, Gonzales, Texas, 1835 by Sherry Garland F GAR
title: A Coal Miner's Bride: the Diary of Annetka Kaminski, Lattimer, Pennsylvania, 1896 by Susan Campbell Bartoletti F BAR
title: A Light in the Storm: the Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin, Fenwick Island, Delaware, 1861 by Karen Hesse F HES
title: A Picture of Freedom: the Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl, Belmont Plantation, Virginia, 1859 by Patricia C. McKissack F MCK
title: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: the Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, Booneville, Missoura, 1847 by Kristiana Gregory F GRE
title: Color Me Dark: the Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North, Chicago, Illinois, 1919 by Patricia C. McKissack F MCK
title: My Heart is on the Ground: the Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl, Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, 1880 by Ann Rinaldi F RIN
title: Christmas After All: the Diary of Minnie Swift by Kathryn Lasky F LAS
title: Dreams in the Golden Country: the Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 by Kathryn Lasky F LAS
title: I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: the Diary of Patsy,a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina, 1865 by Joyce Hansen F HAN
title: I Walk in Dread: the Diary of Deliverance Trembley, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1691 by Lisa Rowe Fraustino F FRA
title: A Journey to the New World: the Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, Plimoth Colony, 1620 by Kathryn Lasky F LAS
title: My Face to the Wind: the Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher, Broken Bow, Nebraska, 1881 by Jim Murphy F MUR
title: My Secret War: the World War II Diary of Madeline Beck, Long Island, New York, 1941 by Mary Pope Osborne F OSB
title: One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping: the Diary of Julie Weiss, Vienna, Austria to New York, 1938 by Barry Denenberg F DEN
title: So Far from Home: the Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847 by Barry Denenberg F DEN
title: Standing in the Light: the Captive Diary of Catherine Carey Logan, Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, 1763 by Mary Pope Osborne F OSB
title: The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: the Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl, New Mexico, 1864 by Ann Turner F TUR
title: The Great Railroad Race: the Diary of Libby West, Utah Territory, 1868 by Kristiana Gregory F GRE
title: Voyage on the Great Titanic: the Diary of Margaret Ann Brady, R.M.S. Titanic, 1912 by Ellen Emerson White F WHI
title: When Christmas Comes Again: the World War I Diary of Simone Spencer, New York City to the Western Front, 1917 by Beth Seidel Levine F LEV
title: When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: the Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson, Gordonsville, Virginia, 1864 by Barry Denenberg F DEN
title: The Winter of Red Snow: the Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania 1777-1778 by Kristiana Gregory F GRE
title: West to a Land of Plenty: the Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi, New York to Idaho Territory, 1883 by Jim Murphy F MUR
Girlhood Journeys Collection (age 8-11)
adventure ... historical ... family
These stories transport you to different periods of history, looking at life through the eyes of a girl living in that time and place.
title: Kai: a Big Decision, Africa, 1440 by Sharon Shavers Gayle F GAY
title: Kai: the Lost Statue, Africa, 1440 by Sharon Shavers Gayle F GAY
title: Juliet: a Dream Takes Flight, England, 1339 by Anna Kirwan F KIR
title: Juliet: Midsummer at Greenchapel, England, 1340 by Anna Kirwan F KIR
title: Juliet: Rescue at Marlehead Manor, England 1340 by Anna Kirwan F KIR
title: Shannon: Lost and Found, San Francisco, 1880 by Kathleen V. Kudlinski F KUD
title: Shannon: the Schoolmarm Mysteries, San Francisco, 1880 by Kathleen V. Kudlinski F KUD
title: Marie: Summer in the Country, France, 1775 by Jacqueline Dembar Greene F GRE
title: Marie: Mystery at the Paris Ballet, Paris, 1775 by Jacqueline Dembar Greene F GRE
title: Marie: an Invitation to Dance, France, 1775 by Kathleen V. Kudlinski F KUD
title: Isabella: a Wish for Miguel, Peru, 1820 by Shirlee Newman F NEW
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VOS
Hide and Seek (age 8-11)
by Ida Vos
war ... bigotry ... survival ... historical
A young Jewish girl living in Holland tells of her experiences during the Nazi occupation, her years in hiding, and the after shock when the war finally ends.
sequel: Anna Is Still Here
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The Key Is Lost (age 8-11)
by Ida Vos
bigotry ... survival ... historical
When the Germans occupy Holland in 1940 and begin to persecute the Jews there, twelve-year-old Eva and her family assume false names and move from one hiding place to another.
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Bound for Oregon (age 8-11)
by Jean Van Leeuwen
voyages/journeys ... historical
A fictionalized account of the journey made by nine-year-old Mary Ellen Todd and her family from their home in Arkansas westward over the Oregon Trail in 1852.
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TAY
The Well: David's Story (age 8-11)
by Mildred D. Taylor
historical ... bigotry
In Mississippi in the early 1900s, ten-year-old David Logan's family generously shares their well water with both white and African-American neighbors in an atmosphere of potential racial violence.
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TAY
The Friendship (age 8-11)
by Mildred D. Taylor
historical ... bigotry
Cassie Logan and her brothers have been warned never to go to the Wallace store, so they know to expect trouble there. What they don't expect is to hear Mr. Tom Bee, an elderly black man, daring to call the white storekeeper by his first name. The year is 1933, the place is Mississippi, and any child knows that some things just aren't done...
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Song of the Trees (age 8-11)
by Mildred D. Taylor
historical ... nature
With the depression bearing down on her family and food in short supply, Cassie Logan isn't sure where her next meal will come from. But there is one thing that she knows will always be there-the whispering trees outside her window. Cassie's trees are a steady source of comfort to her, but they also happen to be worth a lot of money. When Mr. Andersen tries to force Big Ma to sell their valuable trees, Cassie can't just sit by and let it happen. She knows that her family needs the money, but something tells her that they need the trees just as much.
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First Apple (age 8-11)
by Ching Yeung Russell
family ... historical
A young girl living in a Chinese village in the 1940s tries to find a way to buy an apple, the fruit of rich people, to share with her grandmother.
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ROS
The Rose Horse (age 8-11)
by Deborah Lee Rose
the arts ... historical
When Lily goes to Coney Island in 1909 to visit her newborn sister, she learns about the art and traditions of the Jewish woodcarvers who make the carousel animals there.
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Clara and the Hoodoo Man (age 8-11)
by Elizabeth Partridge
spooky ... illness/loss ... family ... historical
When Clara meets the hoodoo man on Red Owl Mountain, she knows she should just take little Bessie by the hand and leave. Momma has always warned Clara that the hoodoo man can put a fix on you. The next day, Bessie becomes dangerously sick. Is it Clara's fault? Is it hoodoo? Based on a true story, this is a vivid picture of rural life in turn-of-the-century Tennessee.
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Beethoven Lives Upstairs (age 8-11)
by Barbara Nichol
historical ... friendship ... letters/journal ... the arts
The letters that ten-year-old Christoph and his uncle exchange show how Christoph's feelings for Mr. Beethoven, the eccentric boarder that shares his house, change from anger and embarrassment to compassion and admiration.
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Coast to Coast With Alice (age 8-11)
by Patricia Rusch Hyatt
letters/journal ... historical ... adventure ... voyages/journeys
Sixteen-year-old Hermine Jahns relates her experiences traveling on the first cross-country automobile trip with a woman driver in 1909.
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Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West (age 8-11)
by Marguerite Henry
historical ... animals ... nature
A fictional retelling, from the point of view of Annie Bronn Johnston, of how she fought to protect the American wild horse, the mustang, from extinction because of professional killers who chased the horses for personal gain.
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GAU
This Time, Tempe Wick? (age 8-11)
by Patricia Lee Gauch
historical
Everyone knows Tempe Wick is a most surprising girl, but she exceeds even her own reputation when two mutinous Revolutionary soldiers try to steal her beloved horse.
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GAU
Thunder at Gettysburg (age 8-11)
by Patricia Lee Gauch
historical
Fourteen-year-old Tillie is sent to accompany a neighbor to Weikert's farm when the fighting at Gettysburg gets too close to home, and instead finds herself trapped in the battle that raged for three days, from July 1-3, 1863.
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LAW
Ben and Me (age 8-11)
by Robert Lawson
humor ... historical
The true story of Ben Franklin, as told by his closest friend and advisor, Amos the mouse. According to Amos, it was really he who was responsible for Ben Franklin's inventions and discoveries.
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AVI
The Barn (age 8-11)
by Avi
family ... historical
In an effort to fulfill their dying father's last request, nine-year-old Ben and his brother and sister construct a barn on their land in the Oregon Territory.
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DOR
Sees Behind Trees (age 8-11)
by Michael Dorris
growing up ... historical
By turns lyrical, wise, and funny, this compelling novel, set in 16th-century America, tells the story of how one Native American boy turns handicap into an advantage as he crosses the often blurred boundaries between being a child and becoming a man.
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A Jar of Dreams (age 8-11)
by Yoshiko Uchida
bigotry ... identity ... historical ... family
Eleven-year-old Rinko grows up in a closely-knit Japanese American family in Northern California during the Depression, a time of great prejudice.
sequel: The Best Bad Thing
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RYA
Riding Freedom (age 8-11)
by Pam Munoz Ryan
adventure ... historical
A fictionalized account of Charley (Charlotte) Parkhurst who ran away to California in the mid-1800s disguised as a man, and who eventually became the first woman to vote in the United States.
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Steal Away Home (age 8-11)
by Lois Ruby
mystery ... historical
When twelve-year-old Dana Shannon starts to strip away wallpaper in her family's old house, she's unprepared for the surprise that awaits her. A hidden room, containing a human skeleton! How did such a thing get there? And why was the tiny room sealed up? With the help of a diary found in the room, Dana learns her house was once a station on the Underground Railroad. The young woman whose remains Dana discovered was Lizbet Charles, a conductor and former slave. As the scene shifts between Dana's world and 1856, the story of the families that lived in the house unfolds.
sequel: Soon Be Free
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Strudel Stories (age 8-11)
by Joanne Rocklin
traditions ... folklore ... short stories ... historical ... family
Imagine a cozy kitchen in another time and place. A family is baking apple strudel together. And while they work, they tell each other stories of the past. There are the boy who danced with ghosts, the apple that turned to gold, the greatest baseball moment ever, and the almost-a-disaster day. This warm and touching novel follows a Jewish family through seven generations as they brave war, immigration, and enjoy the simple pleasures of friendship, sports, and a life together.
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LOT
Wings to Fly (age 8-11)
by Celia Barker Lottridge
identity ... adventure ... historical ... growing up
The Ferrier family moved from the United States to Curlew, Alberta, and built a homestead in the middle of the vast prairie. Now 11-year-old Josie has settled into her new home and she dreams about the future. Will Josie be a teacher like Miss Barnett? Will she be like her new friend Margaret's sad mother, who can't bear to unpack her fine English china in the crude sod house that is her prairie home? Or could she learn to fly airplanes like her heroine, Katherine Stinson? As Josie searches for answers, she learns, all too frighteningly, how brutal a prairie winter can be. See also the prequel, Ticket to Canada.
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Ticket to Canada (age 8-11)
by Celia Barker Lottridge
identity ... adventure ... historical ... growing up
It is 1915. Endless stretches of grassland against a boundless sky are all Sam Ferrier sees when he and his father arrive in Curlew, Alberta, to build a new house for their family. He wonders why his restless father would move them to this lonely, barren place, so different from Iowa. But after the house gets built and the family joins them, Sam gradually discovers that there is much more to the prairie than he realized. The tall grasses hide a mysterious collection of gleaming white skulls. Torrential thunderstorms appear with startling swiftness out of a clear-blue sky. And when one day he finds that his little brother has suddenly disappeared, Sam discovers that this new land can be both awesome and terrifying. Also published as Ticket to Curlew. See also the sequel, Wings to Fly.
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The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (age 8-11)
by Penelope Lively
historical ... fantasy ... magic ... spooky
A 17th-century sorcerer materalizes and tries to make a modern boy his apprentice, and this troublesome spirit has to be exorcised from James' ancient cottage.
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Lily's Crossing (age 8-11)
by Patricia Reilly Giff
war ... illness/loss ... friendship ... historical
Every summer Lily and her father go to her family's house in Rockaway, near the Atlantic Ocean. But the summer of 1944 is different. World War II has called Lily's father overseas, Lily's best friend Margaret had to move with her family to a wartime factory town, and Lily is forced to live with her grandmother. But then a boy named Albert, a refugee from Hungary, comes to live in Rockaway. He has lost most of his family to the war. Soon he and Lily form a special friendship, and they have secrets to share. But they have both told lies, and Lily's lie may cost Albert his life.
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Little House in Brookfield (age 8-11)
by Maria D. Wilkes
family ... historical
Young Caroline Quiner, who would grow up to become Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother, and her family survive their first year without Father in the frontier town of Brookfield, Wisconsin.
sequel: Little Town at the Crossroads
sequel: Little Clearing in the Woods
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Little House on the Prairie Series (age 8-11)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
family ... historical
A family travels from the big woods of Wisconsin to a new home on the prairie, where they build a new life, hewn from the rough prairie and supported by their hopes, dreams, and heart.
title: Little House on the Prairie
title: Little House in the Big Woods
title: By the Shores of Silver Lake
title: Farmer Boy
title: On the Banks of Plum Creek
title: The First Four Years
title: The Long Winter
title: Little Town on the Prairie
title: These Happy Golden Years
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Call Me Ruth (age 8-11)
by Marilyn Sachs
identity ... family ... historical
The daughter of a Russian immigrant family, newly arrived in Manhattan in 1908, has conflicting feelings about her mother's increasingly radical union involvement.
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Portraits of Little Women Series (age 8-11)
by Susan Beth Pfeffer
family ... friendship ... historical
Based on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, this charming series shares stories of friendship and sisterhood.
title: Portraits of Little Women. Amy Makes a Friend
title: A Gift for Amy
title: A Gift for Meg
title: Portraits of Little Women. A Gift for Beth
title: Portraits of Little Women. Amy's Story
title: Portraits of Little Women. Beth's Story
title: Portraits of Little Women. Jo's Story
title: Portraits of Little Women. Meg's Story
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The Wreck of the Zanzibar (age 8-11)
by Michael Morpurgo
historical ... voyages/journeys
In 1907, fourteen-year-old Laura living with her family on one of the stormy Isles of Scilly records in her diary how her dream of participating in a shipwreck rescue is finally realized.
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EAG
Full Moon Stories: Thirteen Native American Legends (age 8-11)
by EagleWalkingTurtle
identity ... family ... historical ... short stories
Grandpa Iron tells thirteen stories, one for each full moon of the year, that convey some of the traditions and beliefs of Native Americans, particularly his Arapaho people.
F
DUE
American Diaries Series (age 8-11)
by Kathleen Duey
letters/journal ... historical
Girls growing up during exciting moments in America's history tell their stories.
title: Sarah Anne Hartford
title: Emma Eileen Grove
title: Anisett Lundberg
title: Mary Alice Peale
title: Evie Peach
title: Summer MacCleary
title: Agnes May Gleason
title: Willow Chase Kansas
title: Alexia Ellery Finsdale
title: Celou Sudden Shout
title: Ellen Elizabeth Hawkins
F
ALE
Time Cat (age 8-11)
by Lloyd Alexander
short stories ... historical ... adventure
Publisher comments: ``Anywhere, any time, any country, any century,'' Gareth tells Jason. And in the wink of a very special cat's eye, they're off. From ancient Egypt to Japan, the land of young Leonardo da Vinci to the town of a woman accused of witchcraft, Jason and Gareth are whisked from place to place and friend to foe. Full of fun, excitement, and a good dose of history, here's a fantastic tale that grabs the imagination and takes it far and wide, on the adventure of not one but nine amazing lifetimes.

Barron Park Elementary School, Sat Aug 25 11:55:26 2012
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