A COUNTRY GROWS UP

 

COLONIAL TIMES 1600-1775

J/RI      Rinaldi, Ann.  A Break with Charity: A Story of the Salem Witch Trials.  1992. 257p.  While waiting for a                church meeting in 1706, Susanna English, daughter of a wealthy Salem merchant, recalls the malice, fear, and                accusations that tore her village apart in 1692.

 J/RI      Rinaldi, Ann.  The Fifth of March: the Story of the Boston Massacre.  Harcourt Brace, 1993.  330p.  Fourteen-year-old Rachel Marsh, an indentured servant in the Boston household of John and Abigail Adams, is caught up in the colonists’ unrest that eventually escalates into the massacre of March 5, 1770.

 J/OS    Osborne, Mary Pope.  Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catherine Carey Logan.  Scholastic, 1998. 184p.  A Quaker girl’s diary reflects her experiences growing up in the Delaware River Valley of Pennsylvania and her capture of Lenape Indians in 1763.

 J/TR     Tripp, Valerie.  Felicity Learns a Lesson: A School Story.  Middleton, WI: Pleasant Co. 1991. 69p.  Shortly before the Revolutionary War, nine-year-old Felicity, who lives in Williamsburg, is torn between supporting the tariff-induced tea boycott and saving her friendship with Elizabeth, a young loyalist from England.

 J/TR     Tripp, Valerie.  Felicity Saves the Day.  Middleton, WI: Pleasant Co. 1992.  During a visit to her grandmother’s plantation in Virginia during the summer of 1775, Felicity’s loyalty is torn between her father and Ben, her father’s apprentice who needs her help.

 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR 1775-1783

 J/DE     Denenberg, Barry.  The Journal of William Thomas Emmerson, a Revolutionary War Patriot. Scholastic, 1998.  156p.  William, a twelve-year-old orphan, writes of his experiences in pre-revolutionary war Boston, where he joins the cause of the patriots who are opposed to the British rule.

 J/GA    Gauch, Patricia.  This Time, Tempe Wick?  Putnam. 1992. 43p.  Everyone knows Tempe Wick is a most surprising girl, but she exceeds even her own reputation when two mutinous Revolutionary War soldiers try to steal her beloved horse. 

J/GO    Goodman, Joan E.  Hope’s Crossing  Houghton Mifflin. 1998. 212p.  When kidnapped by English Loyalists during the Revolutionary War, thirteen-year-old Hope draws on every ounce of courage within her to respond to the ordeal.

 J/GR    Gregory, Kristiana.  The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewert.  Eleven-year-old Abigail presents a diary account of life in Valley Forge from December 1777 to July 1778 as General Washington prepares his troops to fight the British.

 J/KI     Kirkpatrick, Katherine.  Redcoats and Petticoats.  Holiday House. 1999. 32p.  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.

 J/MY   Myers, Anna.  The Keeping Room.  Walker. 1997. 135p. Left in charge of the family by his father who joins the Revolutionary War effort, thirteen-year-old Joey undergoes such great changes that he fears he may be betraying his beloved parent.

 J/PA     Paulsen, Gary.  The Rifle.  Harcourt Brace. 1995. 105p.  A priceless, handcrafted rifle, fired throughout the American Revolution, is passed down through the years until it fires on a fateful Christmas Eve in 1994.

 J/PR     Pryor, Bonnie.  Thomas In Danger.  Morrow Jr. Books.  1999. 170p.  Having lost their home when the Revolutionary War reached their part of rural Pennsylvania, Thomas and his family start a new life running an inn in Philadelphia, where Thomas finds new danger that takes him into captivity among the Iroquois.

 J/RI      Rinaldi, Ann.  Cast Two Shadows: The American Revolution in the South.  Harcourt Brace. 1998. 281p.  In South Carolina in 1780, fourteen-year-old Caroline sees the Revolutionary War take a terrible toll among her family and friends and comes to understand the true nature of war.

 WAR OF 1812

 J/MI     Minaham, John A.  Abigail’s Drum.  Pippin Press, 1995. 60p.  During the War of 1812, when British Soldiers threaten the town of Scituate, Massachusetts, young Rebecca Bates and her sister Abigail, daughters of the local lighthouse keeper, find a way to save both him and the town.

 

                             FRONTIER AND PIONEER LIFE                                                

 J/AP     Applegate, Stanley.  The Devil’s Highway.  Peachtree GA. 1998. 148p.  In 1811, on the Natchez Road, fourteen-year-old Zeb finds ten-year-old Hannah, who has been kidnapped from her Choctaw people, and together they face natural and human threats with their combined skills and courage.

 J/AR    Armstrong, Jennifer.  Black-Eyed Susan.  Crown Pub. 1995. 120p.  Ten-year-old Susie and her father love living on the South Dakota prairie with it’s vast, uninterrupted views of land and sky, but Susie’s mother greatly misses their old life back in Ohio.

 J/AU    Auch, Mary Jane.  Journey to Nowhere.  H. Holt. 1997. 202p.  In 1815, while traveling by covered wagon to settle in the wilderness of western New York, eleven-year-old Mem experiences a flood and separation from her family.

 J/AU    Auch, Mary Jane.  Frozen Summer (Sequel to Journey to Nowhere)  H. Holt. 1998. 202p.  In 1816, twelve-year-old Mem’s new home in the wilderness of western New York is disrupted when the birth of another baby sends her mother into “spells” that disconnect her from reality.

 J/CU    Cushmann, Karen.  Ballad of Lucy Whipple.  Clarion Books. 1996. 195p.  In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.  Also available on Audio-Tape.

 J/GR    Gregory, Kristiana. Jimmy Spoon and the Pony Express.   Scholastic. 1994. 128p. Having returned from living with his friends the Shoshone, seventeen-year-old Jimmy Spoon grows restless again and seeks adventure by taking a job with the Pony Express.

 J/HE     Hermes, Patricia. Calling Me Home. Avon Books. 1998. 140p.  Twelve-year-old Abbie struggles to accept her father’s desire to make a new home for his family on the Nebraska prairies of the late 1850’s.

 J/KR    Krensky, Stephen. The Iron Dragon Never Sleeps. Delacorte Press. 1994. 90p.  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.

 J/KU    Kuttz, Jane.  I’m Sorry, Almira Ann.  Holt. 1999.120p.  Eight-year-old Sarah’s high spirits help make her family’s long journey from Missouri to Oregon more bearable, though they do cause both her and her best friend Almira Ann some problems.

 J/LE     Leland, Dorothy Kuppcha.  Sallie Fox: The Story of a Pioneer Girl.  Tomato Enterprises. 1995. 114p.  A fictionalized account of the true story of twelve-year-old Sallie Fox and her family’s wagon train journey from Iowa to Vacaville, California.

 J/LE     Levitin, Sonia. Taking Charge. Orchard Books. 1999. 32p.  When her mother has to leave home suddenly, Amanda learns how demanding it is to run a household and care for a baby.

 J/MA   MacLachlan, Patricia. Skylark.  Harper Collins. 1997. 86p.  When a drought tests the commitment of a mail-order bride from Maine to her new home on the prairie, her stepchildren hope they will be able to remain a family.

 J/PA     Paulsen, Gary. Call Me Francis Tucket.  Delacorte. 1995. 97p.  Having separated from a one-armed trapper who taught him how to survive in the wilderness of the Old West, fifteen-year-old Francis gets lost and continues to have adventures involving dangerous men and a friendly mule.

 J/RI      Rinaldi, Ann. A Stitch in Time.  Scholastic. 1994. 305p.  Shortly after the War of Independence, Hannah sees her family being torn apart by secrets and new developments,  as her sister resolves to marry a sea captain and other siblings prepare to help start a new town in the Northwestern Territory.

 J/TH     Thomas, Joyce Carol. I Have Heard of a Land.  Joanna Cotler Books.  1998. 31p.  Describes the joys and hardships experienced by an African-American pioneer woman who staked a claim for free land in the Oklahoma Territory.

 J/WI     Wisler, G. Clifton.  Jericho’s Journey.  LodestarBooks. 1993.  As his family makes the long and difficult journey from Tennessee to their new home in Texas in 1852, twelve-year-old Jericho Wetherby, teased by his sister and brothers about his size, learns there are many ways to grow.

 J/WO   Woodruff, Elvira.  Dear Levi: Letters From the Overland Trail.  Knopf. 1994. 119p.  Twelve-year-old Austin Aves writes letters to his younger brother describing his three-thousand-mile journey from their home in Pennsylvania to Oregon in 1851.