WELCOME TO AUSTRALIAN USED HOMESCHOOL BOOKS!
HISTORICAL FICTION - TOWARD A MODERN AMERICA & CANADA
TOWARDS A MODERN AMERICA
PICTURE BOOKS
Lucy’s Summer (Donald Hall) $4 HBDJ EC (Ex lib) Seven-year-old Lucy spends the summer of 1910 with her family on its New Hampshire farm. Canning vegetables, making fruit preserves, and attending the Danbury Fourth of July celebration become vivid memories for Lucy, but the highlight of her summer is an early September trip by train to Boston with her mother. The two purchase millinery supplies, enjoy lunch at a sidewalk cafe‚ and shop for penny souvenirs at Woolworth's. McCurdy's distinctively colored scratchboard illustrations are suited to the nostalgic flavor of the text and feature many period details. 5-9 YO http://www.amazon.com/Lucys-Summer-Donald-Hall/dp/0152017232
The Blueberry Train (C.L.G. Martin) $3 HBDJ GC (Ex lib) Used to being treated like a little boy, Louis is surprised when his mother allows him to take the train to the mountains to pick blueberries by himself. He wants to earn enough money to buy long pants in order to look grown-up. After a sleepless night, he is joined on the train by a lady and boy with covered faces. Once at his destination, he wanders off by himself and meets a baby bear and its ferocious mother. He is helped by the mysterious lady and boy, who turn out to be his own mother and brother. Thomas' illustrations capture the nostalgic feeling of turn-of-the-century Minnesota with soft colours, period dress, and detailed settings. A pleasant story about bygone days showing the universality of a boy longing to be grown up and a mother who will always love her child even when he wears long pants. 6- 9 YO http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0689803044/ref=dp_image_text_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
Alvah And Arvilla (Mary Lyn Ray) $3 HB EC Set sometime around the late 1800s, this is a hilarious story focusing on a couple's odyssey from their farm in New England to the West Coast to see the Pacific Ocean. Unable to leave the farm and all of their dependent animals while on their trip, Alvah and Arvilla pile livestock, chickens, and dogs and cats into a glass-enclosed wagon. Drawn by their trusty pair of horses, they make their way in their modern ark across plains and desert, happily arriving at their destination. Along the way, baleful stares from their barnyard passengers translate into the common tripper's query, "Are we there yet?" Once on the vast sandy beaches bordering the Pacific, Arvilla realizes her life's dream, writing postcards to all the folks back home. Watercolour and gouache illustrations expand on the book's outlandish premise. One hilarious spread shows the teeming menagerie as its members crane their necks out the windows, curiously taking in the changing American landscape. 5-8 YO http://www.amazon.com/Alvah-Arvilla-Mary-Lyn-Ray/dp/015202655X
El Chino (Allen Say) $6 PB VGC the stirring true story of Arizona-born Billy Wong, the first-ever Chinese bullfighter. As Billy grows up, his father tells him, over and over again, "In America you can be anything you want to be." This advice stands Billy in good stead as he faces one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after another on his triumphant way to the ring ("Only the Spaniards can become true matadors," everyone informs him). Say's text renders Billy's complex story with simplicity and grace, presenting Billy as an endearing, determined hero; Say's watercolours are luminous, filled with harmonious detail. The first several pages of the book are reproduced in sepia tones, but when Billy attends his first bullfight, the pictures burst into full colour--an arresting touch that vividly underscores the bullfight's profound impact on Billy's imagination. 5-9 YO http://www.amazon.com/El-Chino-Allen-Say/dp/0395778751
The Huckabuck Family: And How They Raised Popcorn In Nebraska And Quit And Came Back (Carl Sandburg) $3 HBDJ EC (Ex lib) First published in 1923, this prose-poem story of the Huckabuck family is now presented in a fantastic picture book with the most charming illustrations! Jonas Jonas Huckabuck, his wife Mama Mama, and their daughter Pony Pony raise popcorn. One night a fire starts in the barn and the popcorn starts to pop, until the entire farm is buried in it. With exuberant energy, the artist illustrates the reverence Sandburg held for the Midwest-its farming, industry, and people and this classic Depression-era migrant-worker fairy tale should spring to new life with this new version. 5-9 YO http://www.amazon.com/Huckabuck-Family-Raised-Popcorn-Nebraska/dp/0374335117
So You Want to be President? (Judith St. George) $6 HBDJ EC (Ex lib) Tired of books about the presidency that present themselves as history books? This is a wonderful book about the presidency that's serious fun. The basic theme is that anyone can be president: a fat man (William Howard Taft) or a tiny man (James Madison), a relative youngster (Teddy Roosevelt at 42) or oldster (Ronald Reagan at 69). Presidential hobbies, sports, virtues, and vices all get a tongue-in-cheek airing, perfectly matched by Small's political-cartoon style of caricature painting. It's fun, but the underlying purpose is clearly serious: to remind kids that the American presidents have been a motley group of individuals, not a row of marble busts. CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER 7-11 YO http://www.amazon.com/Want-President-Caldecott-Medal-Book/dp/0399234071
CHAPTER BOOKS & NOVELS
Lyddie (Katherine Paterson – Author of Jacob Have I Loved) $4 HB EC, $3 PB VGC She was no better than a slave, Lyddie thought. The debt-ridden farm had been let to neighbour, and she and her brother had been hired out. Was the end really near, as their mother had said when she fled with the babies after the hungry bear had broken into their Vermont farm house? That winter of 1843, the two children had been left to fend for themselves. If their long-gone father would return and set things right. It is the promise of a new and better life that finally prompts Lyddie to journey to the mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts. As a factory girl, she will earn a wage -and be free. No matter that she has to live in a crowded boarding house, that the clatter of incessant looms is deafening, that the murky lint-filled air brings on fevers and wracking coughs. Despite the menacing overseer, Lyddie works long, exhausting hours to be able to pay off the debt and regain her beloved farm. But does she jeopardize her job-and her family's future-by being friends with the radical Diana and perhaps signing a petition for better conditions. 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Lyddie/dp/0440847087/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196395265&sr=1-2
Nellie Bishop (Clara Gillow Clark) $4 HB EC (Ex lib) At 13, Nellie Bishop fights her parents' plan to marry her off for money to the highest bidder among the workmen in their Pennsylvania canal town. This fine historical novel, set in the 1880s, dramatizes the hardship among the labouring Irish at the time and shows a young girl trapped in a family brutalized by poverty. Nellie's mother takes in washing; her father drinks and gambles away the little they have; Nellie tries to protect her younger brother, Willie, from the harsh life that awaits him on the canal. 12+ http://www.amazon.com/Nellie-Bishop-Clara-Gillow-Clark/dp/1563976420/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196654102&sr=1-1
Roller Skates (Ruth Sawyer) $4 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 MEDAL WINNER http://www.amazon.com/Roller-Skates-Newbery-Library-Puffin/dp/0140303588/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196577101&sr=1-2
A Long Way from Chicago (Richard Peck) $4 HBDJ EC (Ex lib), $4 PB EC A rollicking celebration of an eccentric grandmother and childhood memories. Set in the 1930s, the book follows Joe and Mary Alice Dowdel as they make their annual August trek to visit their grandmother who lives in a sleepy Illinois town somewhere between Chicago and St. Louis. A woman with plenty of spirit, she keeps to herself, a difficult task in this small community. However, Grandma Dowdel uses her wit and ability to tell whoppers to get the best of manipulative people or those who put on airs. She takes matters into her own hands to intimidate a father who won't control his unruly sons, and forces the bank to rescind a foreclosure on an elderly woman's house. Whether it's scaring a pretentious newspaper man back to the city or stealing the sheriff's boat and sailing right past him as he drunkenly dances with his buddies at the Rod & Gun Club, she never ceases to amaze her grandchildren with her gall and cunning behaviour. 8-12 YO http://www.amazon.com/Long-Way-Chicago-Novel-Stories/dp/0141303522
Fair Weather (Richard Peck) $3 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 honour the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America? Spanish nobility, President Cleveland, and Ferris wheels, oh my! 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Fair-Weather-Richard-Peck/dp/0142500348/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196579545&sr=1-1
The Wright Brothers: Pioneers Of American Aviation (Quentin Reynolds) $5 PB GC Young Orville and Wilbur Wright loved building things. From the fastest sled in town to the highest-flying kite, the Wright brothers’ creations were always a step ahead of everyone else’s. They grew up learning all about mechanics from fixing bicycles and studied math and physics. On December 17, 1903, Orville took off in the world’s first flying machine!8-12 YO http://www.amazon.com/dp/0394847008
Historical Storybooks Series “Wilbur And Orville Take Off” (Jeanne Willis) $4 PB VGC (Ex lib) Tells the story of the Wright brothers’ childhood and their early experiments with a Chinese flying top which sparked an interest in developing a flying machine. Presents historical events, facts and personalities in an fun story form for young readers. Great illustrations and easy to read text. 5-9 YO http://www.shelfari.com/books/1482532/Wilbur-and-Orville-Take-Off
Preacher’s Boy (Katherine Paterson – Author of Sonlight titles Jacob Have I Loved, Bridge To Terabithia etc) $4 HB EC (Ex lib) As the year 1899 draws to a close, the people in Robbie's rural Vermont community anticipate the coming of the 20th century with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Recently, he has begun to question God and the validity of the Ten Commandments. As the son of a preacher, he is expected to exhibit exemplary behaviour, but he cannot seem to turn the other cheek to those who make fun of his "simple-minded" brother. In a fit of anger, Robbie comes dangerously close to drowning a boy and sets off a chain of irreversible events; he must rely on his conscience to lead him toward redemption. Besides delving into the mind of the young rebel, she successfully evokes the climate of the times, showing how the townspeople respond to modern inventions, discoveries and ideas. 11+ http://www.amazon.com/Preachers-Boy-Katherine-Paterson/dp/0395838975
American Girl History Mysteries “Whistler In the Dark” (Kathleen Ernst) $4 PB EC (Ex lib) It's 1867. Twelve-year-old Emma Henderson is mortified when Mother takes to wearing a Reform Dress-hideous bloomers! Worse, Mother has accepted a newspaper job in wild, far-off Colorado Territory. But even Emma can't imagine just how badly things will go in Twin Pines. From the moment she and Mother step off the stagecoach, it's clear that someone doesn't want them there. 9+ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/1584854855/ref=dp_image_text_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
Riding Freedom
(Pam Munoz Ryan) $4 PB EC This fictionalized biography of the first woman to
vote in the state of California, and perhaps in the whole United States, is
fascinating. Charlotte Parkhurst, known as Charley, spent most of her life
masquerading as a man. Raised in an orphanage where she is the only girl, she is
prevented from being adopted by the staff, who put her to work in the kitchen.
Her own predilection is to be with the horses and the elderly man who cares for
them. Vern's tales of escaping slavery are the seeds of Charlotte's own
desperate bid for freedom after her only other friend is adopted. Her knack with
horses soon enables the disguised Charley to pursue her dream of driving a
stagecoach. She does it so well that she is admired and sought after, and is
offered the opportunity to earn a livelihood in the California gold fields. Many
trials arise, including the loss of sight in her left eye, but throughout,
Charlotte remembers her friends, works hard and persistently, and fulfils her
ambitions, culminating in her voting in a presidential election. The author
provides a compact and exciting story about real people who exemplify traits
that readers admire. A concluding note tells more about the historical facts
surrounding Parkhurst's life, but kids will read it just for the adventure. 9+
WINNER OF THE 1999-2000 CALIFORNIA YOUNG
READER MEDAL
RECIPIENT OF THE READING MAGIC AWARD FOR 1998'S MOST OUTSTANDING BOOK. 1999
TEACHER'S CHOICE AWARD. WINNER OF THE NATIONAL WILLA CATHER AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG
ADULT NOVEL 1999. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CENTRE
FOR LITERATURE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, AWARD OF MERIT. WINNER OF THE 1999-2000 ARIZONA
YOUNG READER'S AWARD
http://www.amazon.com/Riding-Freedom-Pam-Munoz-Ryan/dp/0439087961
Ellis Island “Land Of Dreams” (Joan Lowery Nixon) $3 HBDJ EC The story takes place in 1902, when Kristin Swenson and her parents reach the colony of Great Rock Lake, Minnesota. Strong-willed, unconventional, and ready to embrace the freedoms of her new land, the 17-year-old girl tests the limits set upon her by her parents and by the community. They expect her to conform to the proper behaviour of a Swedish young lady and to accept an arranged marriage. After a fire destroys her family's home, Kristin learns that her parents and neighbours are not at odds with her after all. She grows to realize that her own stubbornness stands in the way of her happiness; that accepting the choices of others doesn't necessarily preclude making her own; and that change takes time. Nixon's careful research provides a convincing portrait of Swedish-American church and home life. 11+ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/joan-lowery-nixon/land-of-dreams.htm
Clara And The Bookwagon (Nancy Smiler Levinson) $6 PB BRAND NEW Clara, a young farm girl growing up in rural Maryland at the turn of the century, dreams of being able to read and to learn, but her hard working, no-nonsense father says, ``Books are for rich people. Farm people like us do not have time to read.'' During the summer, Clara meets a woman driving a large wagon filled with books. The woman gives Clara a ride back to the farm where, after much persuading, Clara's father agrees to let Clara learn to read and to borrow books from America's first ``bookmobile.'' Colourful illustrations, also unadorned and straightforward, reinforce and complement the mood of the text. 5-9 YO http://www.amazon.com/Clara-Bookwagon-Can-Read-Book/dp/0064441342
When The Circus Came To Town (Laurence Yep) $4 HBDJ EC (Ex lib) Ten-year-old Ursula is the fearless leader of her playmates, but after she contracts smallpox and is left with significant facial scarring, she sees herself as "Monster Ursula." She becomes a recluse, never leaving her family's stagecoach station in early 20th-century Whistle, MT. Through the efforts of the new Chinese cook, Ah Sam, she eventually finds the courage to rediscover herself. He and his family of acrobats help to heal not just the girl, but also the racial divides in Whistle, and Ursula finally understands that it is what is inside a person that matters most. Wang's evocative illustrations add to the flavour of this absorbing read. 9-12 YO http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/y/laurence-yep/when-circus-came-to-town.htm
Golden Mountain Chronicles “Dragon’s Gate” (Laurence Yep) $6 PB VGC Tells of 14-year-old Otter's 1865 emigration from China and subsequent travails in California in the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Combining believable characters with thrilling adventure, Yep convinces readers that the Chinese railroad workers were indeed men to match the towering mountains of the west. 10+ NEWBERY HONOR MEDAL http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n4/n24646.jpg
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 MEDAL http://www.amazon.com/Dragonwings-Golden-Mountain-Chronicles-1903/dp/0064400859/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196648745&sr=1-1
Babies In Her Saddlebags (Joyce Hopp) $4 PB VGC Here is a heart-warming story about a real mission in twentieth century America under conditions that will thrill the imagination of the most enthusiastic reader of foreign mission stories. The "missionary," British midwife Betty Lester, left her homeland to come come to the backwoods of Kentucky and serve its people with a dedication that would be a credit to any Christian missionary, anywhere in the world. Follow Betty over the back trails of the Kentucky mountains into the cabins of mothers about to be, showing you the drama of childbirth under the most primitive conditions. 12+ http://www.amazon.com/Babies-Saddlebags-Destiny-Joyce-Hopp/dp/081630677X
Come Away With Me (Laurie Lawlor) $3 PB GC A dreamer with an infectious sense of humour, 12-year-old Moe is the likeable heroine of this first volume in the promising Heartland series. The tale is set in a Wisconsin town in the summer of 1910, a period filled with minor calamities for the true-to-life McDonohugh family. Moe can take credit for the mishaps; although she has only the noblest of intentions, her plans invariably backfire - with results that will entertain the reader. Her father's expensive wax mannequin melts after she creates a special display for it in the sweltering front window of his dry-goods store; she summons a swarm of bees, which then attack her older sister; and her storytelling encourages her younger siblings to hide a valuable item - her visiting cousin's glass eyeball. Effectively conveying the changing times, Lawlor depicts Moe's mother's determination to be both "sensible" and thoroughly modern, a conflict that culminates in the novel's humorous concluding scenario, which has the family taking a disastrous camping trip in its brand-new Model-T, the first automobile in town. 9-13 YO http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0671537164/ref=dp_image_text_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
Dear America “When Christmas Comes Again – The World War I Diary Of Simone Spencer, New York City To The Western Front, 1917” (Beth Seidel Levine) $6 HB EC In April of 1917, Simone Spencer's world changes. Her beloved brother Will goes off to war, and Simone seeks a way to help. The passionate daughter of a feisty French mother and a rebellious upper-class father, Simone is not cut out for the society life she is meant to lead. So, when General Pershing calls for French-speaking American girls to operate the switchboards on the Western Front, Simone becomes one of the first brave "Hello Girls" whose courage helped lead the Allies to victory. In the end, Christmas brings the Spencers back together again. Great historical fiction written in diary format with a historical note and original illustrations/newspaper clippings in each at the back. Highly recommended! 10+ http://www.amazon.com/When-Christmas-Comes-Again-Spencer/dp/0439439825/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5164673-2540815?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190345188&sr=1-1
Mary On Horseback (Rosemary Wells) $7 HBDJ BRAND NEW (Beautiful quality copy) The practice of modern medicine was practically nonexistent in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky in the 1920s. Diphtheria, typhoid, and small pox ravaged the mountain dwellers' lives. Mary Breckinridge, herself a widow whose children had also died, decided to change things. This pioneering nurse-midwife who founded the Frontier Nursing Service is introduced through the eyes of three fictional characters whose lives are irrevocably changed by their encounters with her. McCarty's evocative illustrations, based on photographs taken for the Frontier Nursing Service, are an ideal complement to the text. An after word provides a brief biography of Breckinridge and information on the Frontier Nursing Service. This one's a gem. 7-12 YO http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Horseback-Three-Mountain-Stories/dp/014130815X
Bud, Not Buddy (Christopher Paul Curtis) $6 HB EC, $5 PB EC Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H. E. Calloway of Grand Rapids. Full of laugh-out-loud humour and wonderful characters, hitting the high notes of jazz and sounding the deeper tones of the Great Depression. 12+ WINNER OF THE NEWBERY AWARD; WINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING AWARD; WINNER 2000 - ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOKS; WINNER 1999 - SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR; WINNER 2000 - IRA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD FOR OLDER READERS; WINNER 2000 - ALA BEST BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS; WINNER 1999 - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/christopher-paul-curtis/bud-not-buddy.htm
Grandpa’s Mountain (Carolyn Reeder – Sonlight author ‘Shades of Grey’) $3 PB VGC Carrie, 11, loves to spend summers at her grandparents' home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, away from hard times of the Great Depression in the city. Everything is thrown akimbo when the government begins buying up thousands of mountain acres, evicting the occupants and burning their homes. At first Grandpa is unbelieving, then he convinces himself that, with the support of his like-minded neighbours, he can fight to win. However, many of them--poor and uneducated, some merely subsistence tenant farmers--welcome the chance to sell or be relocated near town and are furious at him for interfering. The longer Grandpa fights, the more alone he stands. While resisting change, he himself is changed, becoming as hard and intractable as the men he opposes. Carrie is torn between her respect for him and shock at his behaviour. Through seemingly traitorous actions, Grandma makes it possible for him to win his personal fight against defeatism. Carrie returns to her parents' home at summer's end, strengthened by two stalwart grandparents and the way each chose to deal with crisis. 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Grandpas-Mountain-Carolyn-Reeder/dp/0380719142
A Place To Belong (Emily Crofford) $4 HBDJ 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+ http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/5147910/used/A%20Place%20to%20Belong
Moxie (Phyllis Rossiter) $4 HBDJ EC (Inscription) Based loosely on the author’s husband's childhood in Kansas, this story of heroic struggle against the threats of drought and foreclosure of property paints a vivid picture of the desperate conditions for American farmers in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. As families all around are abandoning their dried-up farms, 13-year-old Drew Ralston inspires his demoralized parents and older brother, Poke, to fight the odds and weather the storm. Against his father's wishes, Drew buys a mule named Moxie from a neighbour selling off the family's belongings. With the mule and Billy Boy, a dog given to him by a classmate whose family was forced from their farm, Drew proves himself worthy of his father's high expectations. 10+ WINNER OF THE BEST BOOK AWARD OF THE MISSOURI WRITERS GUILD; CHILDREN'S BOOK COUNCIL AND THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL STUDIES NOTABLE BOOK.
Out Of The Dust (Karen Hesse) $4 HB LIKE NEW Like the Oklahoma dust bowl from which she came, 14-year-old narrator Billie Jo writes in sparse, free-floating verse. In this compelling, immediate journal, Billie Jo reveals the grim domestic realities of living during the years of constant dust storms: That hopes--like the crops--blow away in the night like skittering tumbleweeds. That trucks, tractors, even Billie Jo's beloved piano, can suddenly be buried beneath drifts of dust. Perhaps swallowing all that grit is what gives Billie Jo--our strong, endearing, rough-cut heroine--the stoic courage to face the death of her mother after a hideous accident that also leaves her piano-playing hands in pain and permanently scarred. 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Dust-Apple-Signature-Karen-Hesse/dp/0590371258
Blue Willow (Doris Gates) $2 PB GC (Older edition), $3 PB VGC The sweet story of ten-year-old Janey Larkin, whose family is struggling to make ends meet in California's Central Valley during the Great Depression. Janey and her family have a few treasured possessions which they've dragged along with them from place to place because of the difficulties in finding work. Janey's beautiful blue willow plate is her greatest treasure, but when tough times get worse, she decides to offer it as payment for her family's rent... This is a beautiful story of family life in difficult times which also offers a portrait of the Great Depression. 9+ NEWBERY HONOR MEDAL http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/content/media/products/8x/059041268x_lg.jpg
An American Adventure “High Country Ambush” (Lee Roddy) $3 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 CHRISTIAN TITLE http://www.amazon.com/High-Country-Ambush-American-Adventure/dp/1556612877/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196576321&sr=1-1
Amish Adventure (Barbara Smucker) $2 PB GC An auto accident with an Amish buggy sends 12-year-old Ian McDonald into the bewildering world of the "Plain People." Although he's confused by the clothes that look like they are about 200 years out of date and the absence of 20th-century conveniences such as cars and electricity, Ian gets to know the family he lives with and comes to love and respect them. 10+ http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Amish-Adventure-Barbara-Smucker/9780140317022-item.html (Cover different)
Maniac Magee (Jerry Spinelli) $2 PB GC This modern-day tall tale presents a humorous, yet poignant, look at the issue of race relations, a rare topic for a work aimed at middle readers. This is a story not only about homelessness and racial prejudice, but also about love, home, and understanding. Two Mills is a town divided by race into East and West End. There Jeffrey becomes "Maniac Magee", the subject of baseball legends that have lasted ever since. In his search for a place to belong, he eventually succeeds in uniting the town by forcing at least some of the Blacks and Whites to know each other. 12+ http://www.amazon.com/Maniac-Magee-Jerry-Spinelli/dp/0316809063#reader_0316809063
Miracles On Maple Hill (Virginia Sorensen) $5 PB GC This is a loving family saga about Marley, brother Joe, their parents, and their friends. When Marley's father returns home from World War II a broken man physically and spiritually, her mother decides that the family needs to leave the city for an extended visit to Grandma's house in the country. Readers are drawn into the tale of a year in the life of this family as the father slowly regains his strength and confidence. The year is filled with small miracles from the first spring blossoms to the healing of their beloved neighbour, Mr. Chris. 9+ NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER http://www.amazon.com/Miracles-Maple-Hill-Odyssey-Classic/dp/0152545611
Jamestown’s American Portraits “This Generation Of Americans – The Story Of The Civil Rights Movement” (Fredrick L. McKissack, Jr.) $3 PB VGC Jamestown’s American Portraits explores the growth of different generations and cultures through the lives of boys and girls coming from different and unique backgrounds that represent America’s own diverse population, spanning from the Jamestown Settlement to the Civil Rights Movement. It is August 1963, and 13-year-old Clayton Banks is a month away from starting high school. If life were simply about playing baseball, Clayton's life would be perfect. But the Civil Rights Movement is changing the world around him, and Clayton not only wants to understand it, he wants to participate. 11+ http://www.amazon.com/Jamestowns-American-Portraits-Generation-Americans/dp/0809205858/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196572057&sr=1-2
Miracle’s Boys (Jacqueline Woodson) $4 HBDJ EC (Ex lib) A young adult novel by Jacqueline Woodson featuring three young bi-racial brothers growing up without parents in New York. 12+ WINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING AWARD 10+ http://www.amazon.ca/gp/reader/0399231137/ref=sib_dp_pt/189-7280181-5097536#reader-link
The School That Went On Strike (Pamela Scobie – Oxford University Press) $2 PB VGC (Ex lib) Based on true events that occurred in 1914, this is the story of a group of children who came together to fight for justice after the Head Mistress and Assistant Master of their school were sacked. It follows the events of their school strike and their eventual triumph over the authorities. 11+ http://www.amazon.co.uk/School-That-Went-Strike/dp/0192750518
CANADA
An Eagle To The Wind (Mel Ellis) $3 HBDJ VGC In the forests along Lake Superior in 1893, a teenage boy watches the activities of a pair of eagles that become symbols of his own passage to adulthood. 11+ http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0030227666/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_all
(Last update February, 2011)
