The Night Flyers

Elizabeth McDavid Jones

In 1918, caring for her family's homing pigeons while her father is away fighting in World War I, twelve-year-old Pam comes to suspect that a mysterious stranger in her small North Carolina town is a German spy. Gr. 3 - 5.

If you enjoy this title, make sure to check out the rest of the American Girl History Mysteries series!

Titles in this series are shelved under jMYSTERY AME [AMERICAN GIRL]

Crispin: Cross of Lead

Avi

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. Gr. 5 - 9.

Twenty and Ten

Claire Hucket Bishop

Twenty school children hide ten Jewish children from the Nazis occupying France during World War II. Gr. 3 - 6.

Caddie Woodlawn

Carol Ryrie Brink

Chronicles the adventures of eleven-year-old Caddie growing up with her six brothers and sisters on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century. Gr. 4 - 6.

Pedro's Journal: A Voyage with Christopher Columbus

Pam Conrad

The cabin boy on the "Santa Maria" keeps a diary to record his experiences when he sails with Columbus on his first voyage to the New World in 1492. Gr. 3 - 5.

Bud, Not Buddy

Christopher Paul Curtis

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. Gr. 5 - 7.

The Courage of Sarah Noble

Alice Dalglish

An eight-year-old girl finds courage to go alone with her father to build a new home in the Connecticut wilderness, and to stay with the Indians when her father goes back to bring the rest of the family. Gr. 2 - 4.

I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly

Joyce Hansen

Twelve-year-old Patsy keeps a diary of the ripe but confusing time following the end of the Civil War and the granting of freedom to former slaves. Gr. 4 - 8.

If you enjoy this title, make sure to check out the rest of the Dear America series!

Titles in this series are shelved as jDEA [DEAR AMERICA]

Wheel on the School

Meindert DeJong

The storks are brought back to their island by the schoolchildren in a Dutch village. Gr. 4 - 7.

An Island Far From Home

John Donahue

The twelve-year-old son of a Union army doctor killed during the fighting in Fredericksburg comes to understand the meaning of war and the fine line between friends and enemies when he begins corresponding with a young Confederate prisoner of war. Gr. 5 - 7.

If you enjoy this title, check out the rest of the Adventures in Time series!

Matchlock Gun

Walter Edmunds

The exciting, true story of a courageous boy who protected his mother and sister from the Indians of the Hudson Valley. Gr. 3 - 5.

Humbug Mountain

Sid Fleischman

A young boy and his wandering family foil villains and rout nasty varmints as they make a home for themselves in a beached boat on the banks of the Missouri. Gr. 4 - 6.

Johnny Tremain

Esther Forbes

After injuring his hand, a silversmith's apprentice in Boston becomes a messenger for the Sons of Liberty in the days before the American Revolution. Gr. 5 - 8.

The Slave Dancer

Paula Fox

Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slave ship and his job is to play music to help with the exercise periods of the human cargo. Gr. 4 - 7.

Thunder at Gettysburg

Patricia Lee Gauch

Fourteen-year-old Tillie becomes involved in the tragic battle of July 1-3, 1863. Gr. 2 - 4.

Factory Girl

Barbara Greenwood

Twelve-year-old Emily must hold down her job working twelve-hour days in a garment factory in order to keep from starving. Gr. 4 - 7.

The Day it Rained Forever: The Story of the Johnstown Flood

Virginia T. Gross

Christina Berwind and her family live in Johnstown. When the rains came, the dam that held Lake Conemaugh burst, unleashing a wall of water 125 feet high and rushing down the narrow valley at 50 miles an hour toward the town. Gr. 3 - 5.

If you enjoy this title, make sure to check out the rest of the titles in the Once Upon America series!

The Silver Donkey

Sonya Hartnett

In France during World War I, four French children learn about honesty, loyalty, and courage from an English army deserter who tells them a series of stories related to his small, silver donkey charm. Gr. 4 - 7.

Salem Witch

Patricia Hermes

In 1692, teen girls in the town of Salem begin accusing people of witchcraft and Elizabeth and George don't know what to believe. Their opinions diverge as the community begins putting these women on trial, especially after Elizabeth herself is accused of witchcraft. Gr. 4 - 6.

If you enjoy this title, make sure to check out others in the My Side of the Story series.

Out of the Dust

Karen Hesse

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. Gr. 4 - 7.

Across Five Aprils

Irene Hunt

Young Jethro Creighton grows from a boy to a man when he is left to take care of the family farm in Illinois during the difficult years of the Civil War. Gr. 5 - 8.

Number the Stars

Lois Lowry

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. Gr. 5 - 7.

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Patricia MacLachlan

When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay. Gr. 3 - 5.

If you enjoy this title, make sure to check out the rest in this series!

Stop the Train!

Geraldine McCaughrean

Despite the opposition of the owner of the Red Rock Runner railroad in 1893, the new settlers of Florence, Oklahoma, are determined to build a real town. Gr. 4 - 7.

Snow Treasure

Marie McSwigan

Twelve year old Peter Lundstrom and his friends help his Uncle Victor with a plan to protect the bank's gold bullion from the invading Nazis. Gr. 4 - 7.

Emma's Journal: The Story of a Colonial Girl

Marissa Moss

From 1774 to 1776, Emma describes in her journal her stay in Boston, where she witnesses the British blockade and spies for the American militias. Gr. 3 - 5.

If you enjoy this title, make sure to check out others in the Young American Voices series.

My Brother's Keeper

Mary Pope Osborne

In 1863, as the Civil War approaches her quiet town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, nine-year-old Virginia records in a journal the horrible things she witnesses before, during, and after the Battle of Gettysburg. Gr. 3 - 5.

If you enjoy this title, make sure to check out the rest of My America series!

Titles in this series are shelved under jMY A [MY AMERICA]

Red-Dirt Jessie

Anna Myers

Jessie, a young girl living in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl during the Depression, tries to tame a wild dog and help her father recover from a nervous breakdown. Gr. 4 - 6.

The Journal of William Thomas Emerson: a Revolutionary War Patriot

Barry Denenberg

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 British rule. Gr. 4 - 7.

If you enjoy this title, check out the rest of the My Name is America series!

Titles in this series are shelved under jMYN [MY NAME IS AMERICA]

Sarah Bishop

Scott O'Dell

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. Gr. 5 - 8.

The Single Shard

Linda Sue Park

Tree-ear, a thirteen-year old ophan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potter's village, and longs to learn how to throw the fragile celadon ceramics himself. Gr. 5 - 7.

Bread and Roses, Too

Katherine Paterson

Jake and Rosa form an unlikely friendship as they try to survive and understand the 1912 Bread and Roses strike of mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Gr. 4 - 7.

The Cookcamp

Gary Paulsen

During World War II, a little boy is sent to live with his grandma, a cook in a camp for workers building a road through the wilderness. Gr. 4 - 7.

Shades of Gray

Carolyn Reeder

At the end of the Civil War, twelve-year-old Will, having lost all his immediate family, reluctantly leaves his city home to live in the Virginia countryside with his aunt and the uncle he considers a "traitor" because he refused to take part in the war. Gr. 4 - 7.

Grace and the Bully: Drought on the Frontier

Norma Jean Lutz

Ten-year-old Cincinnatian Grace Morgan is fed up with the unkempt boy who harasses her quiet cousin, but she sees things differently when their town is hit by a serious drought and she and her family get a taste of poverty. Gr. 3 - 6.

If you enjoy this title, make sure to check out the rest of the Sisters in Time series!

Titles in this series are shelved under jSIS [SISTERS]

Angel on the Square

Gloria Whelan

In 1913 Russia, twelve-year-old Katya eagerly anticipates leaving her St. Petersburg home, though not her older cousin Misha, to join her mother, a lady in waiting in the household of Tsar Nicholas II, but the ensuing years bring world war, revolution, and undreamed of changes to her life. Gr. 4 - 7.