WELCOME TO AUSTRALIAN USED HOMESCHOOL BOOKS!
HISTORICAL FICTION AMERICA LAST CENTURY - CHINESE IMMIGRANTS, DEPRESSION YEARS & WAR
Bloomers! (Rhoda Blumberg, author Commodore Perry In The land Of The Shogun, SL 5 title) $6 HB EC (Ex lib) A wonderful picture book with gorgeous paintings. Libby Miller's 1851 invention of bloomers, a loose-fitting alternative to constricting corsets and petticoats (referred to as "the female's cage" and as "a clothes prison"), shocked the public. But women responded enthusiastically. Liberated from long skirts and confining corsets, women could move and breathe freely and soon found they could also speak out and, led by Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Bloomer herself, began demanding equal rights, including the right to vote. 5-9 YO
Earthquake At Dawn (Kristiana Gregory) $5 PB VGC About to embark on a trip around the world, Edith and her maid are instead swept up in the disorder and turmoil generated by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The two young women find themselves stranded in the city, initially in search of Edith's father but ultimately trying to survive and help other displaced residents. Their harrowing adventures are captured on film by Edith, a character based on the real photographer Edith Irvine.
Jimmy Crack Corn (Candice F. Ransom) $6 HBDJ EC It is 1932, and nine-year-old Jimmy is learning to cope with his family's loss of income. Pa has had to retire the car for a while, and meat is no longer served. Beans, biscuits, and flour gravy are the norm. Still, the family is lucky to have their home and garden, and they share their meager supplies with passing men who are looking for work. It is from one such visitor that Jimmy and his father learn of the World War I veterans' march on Washington to demand their bonus money. Father and son make the trip on foot from their Virginia home. During the long weeks of camping in front of the White House, sharing scraps of food with other vets and their families, waiting for a governmental decision, and the riot that ensues, Jimmy experiences mixed emotions and matures into a caring and generous person. Highly recommended picture book 8+
If You’re Not From The Prairie… (David Bouchard) $6 HBDJ EC (Inscription inturn) Blazing skies in bright blues bounce from the full-page paintings that face every page of poetic text in this piece about modern-day life on the prairie. In the artwork, a young boy and his dog play through every season on farmlands, prairie fields, and country roads. 6-11 YO
A Prairie Boy’s Summer (William Kurelek) $5 HB VGC (Minor age spots on end pages) This gem charms by its honest simplicity, as it celebrates a by-gone era of farming on the Canadian prairie. The famous Canadian author/illustrator has captured the flavor of carefree, rural childhood in the 1930's and preserved it for future generations to discover and enjoy. Each topic is treated with quiet dignity: chores, games, weather, special occasions, and adult life as viewed by children. Both text and illustrations are rich in detail. 6-10 YO
Golden Mountain Chronicles “Mountain Light” (Laurence Yep) $5 HBDJ EC Their families fought one another for generations, maintaining an age-old blood feud. But that changed when they found themselves on the same side of a new struggle against the tyrannical Manchu dynasty. By devoting himself fully to the revolution, Squeaky Lau wins Cassia's trust -- and her heart. But winning Cassia's love is not enough. Now Squeaky must prove his worth as a man -- to Cassia, to his villa village, and most importantly, to himself. And the only way he can do that is by giving up everything he has worked for and traveling to the Land of the Golden Mountain, the place foreign demons call America. 10+
Golden Mountain Chronicles “Dragonwings” (Laurence Yep) $4 PB EC Offers insights into the lives of Chinese-Americans in early 20th century California. The story begins as eight-year-old Moon Shadow Lee journeys across the Pacific to join his proud and clever father at the family-owned laundry in San Francisco. The boy recounts their problems with prejudice, as well as the kindness of uncles and cousins. 10+ NEWBERY HONOR WINNER
Golden Mountain Chronicles “Child Of The Owl” (Laurence Yep) $4 PB VGC Growing up in San Francisco in the '60s, young Casey hears of her Chinese heritage and the mother she never knew from her grandmother, Paw Paw. 11+
The Star Fisher (Laurence Yep) $4 PB VGC Based on the author's own experiences, this Christopher Award winner movingly describes a Chinese American family's adjustment to their new home in West Virginia in 1927 and the prejudice they encounter there. 10+
Ticket To Curlew (Celia Barker Lottridge) $4 HB EC (Inscription) 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. 10+
Fair Weather (Richard Peck) $4 HB EC (Ex lib) The arrival of a letter from distant Chicago--and not just a letter, an invitation from Mama's elusive, wealthy sister Aunt Euterpe for 13-year-old Rosie and younger Buster to visit her. Aunt decides that it's high time for the children to see the world beyond "the four walls of a one-room country schoolhouse." And what better opportunity than the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, to honor the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America? Spanish nobility, President Cleveland, and Ferris wheels, oh my! 10+
Roller Skates (Ruth Sawyer) $3 PB EC A year on roller skates! That was Lucinda’s year in New York City in the 1890s when her parents left her in the care of Miss Peters who understood that a ten year old girl wanted to roller skate to school and be a tomboy now and again! She could explore the special places in old New York and make friends with the junkman, old Rags-an’-Bottles, the Patrolman M’Gonegal and the hansom cab driver, Mr. Gilligan. 10+ NEWBERY AWARD
The American Quilt Series “The Promise” (Jane Peart) $3 PB VGC A Christian romance where Josie's daughter grows up in California and falls in love with a missionary who marries her and takes her to Hawaii, where adventures await them. Jana's life seemed much like a quilt: delicately yet passionately fashioned by a Creator who knew how to assemble the pieces into a mysterious, glorious pattern- a life's tale yet untold. Has a section in the back on how to make a Hawaiian quilt. 13+
A Place To Belong (Emily Crofford) $4 HB EC (Ex lib) Set in the rural South during the Depression, this fine historical novel integrates a strong sense of place and period with a universal story of family love and anger in hard times. The story is told from the perspective of sixth-grader Talmadge, and begins when he and his family lose their Tennessee farm. They eventually find a place in Arkansas, chopping and picking cotton. Talmadge has a clubfoot, and as a newcomer, he struggles for acceptance at school. 10+
No Promises In The Wind (Irene Hunt) $4 PB EC America in 1932 was an America whose dreams were simple. A job, food to fill you, a place to sleep, and shoes without holes. But for millions of people these simple needs were nothing more than dreams. At 15 years of age, Josh struggles to find a life for himself in a country of angry and frightened people. 11+
Esperanza Rising (Pam Munoz Ryan) $2 PB EC Esperanza's wonderful life on her family's Mexican ranch is shattered when sudden tragedy forces her mother and herself to flee to California. She isn't ready for the hard labour, financial struggles brought on by the Great Depression, and the lack of acceptance she now faces. She must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances. 10+
An American Adventure “High Country Ambush” (Lee Roddy) $4 PB EC Hildy Corrigan's world seems about to collapse around her when her unemployed father announces, just before Christmas, 1934, that the family must move away from their Lone River home. The desperate economic times of five straight years of the Great Depression have delivered another harsh blow. Having already moved from state to state, from cabin to tent to barn to tarpaper shack, this move means leaving Ruby and Spud behind as well as her school and new friends. It's just too horrible to face! If only they can find a job for her father in Lone River! 10+
A Long Way From Chicago (Richard Peck – A prequel to A Year Down Yonder) $3 PB AS NEW, $3 PB AS NEW. Joey, and his younger sister, Mary Alice, visit their grandmother "a long way from Chicago," during their annual down-state visits. A woman as "old as the hills," "tough as an old boot," and larger than life, Grandma continually astounds her citified grandchildren by her outlandish adventures. 11+…….NEWBERY MEDAL
Travellers Through Time “Back To The Titanic” (Beatrice Gormley) $3 PB GC (Tanning) Based on the event that happened on the night of April 14, 1912, when the Titanic sank. The story is about three children Emily, Matt and Jonathan who time-travel back to the Titanic and try to save it. This story tells about the disappointment, anger, sadness, doubt and happiness that they encounter on their mission. 9+