Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Ibi Zoboi, and Erika L. Sanchez, this gorgeously written and deeply moving own voices novel is the YA debut from the award-winning author of Inside Out & Back Again. 4 starred reviews!In the final days of the Vit Nam War, Hng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. In a split second, Linh is ripped from her arms - and Hng is left behind in the war-torn country.Six years later, Hng has made the brutal journey from Vit Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn't know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.Hng is overjoyed when she reunites with Linh. But when she realizes he doesn't remember her, their family, or Vit Nam, her heart is crushed. Though the distance between them feels greater than ever, Hng has come so far that she will do anything to bridge the gap.
HarperCollins
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9780062229212
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Hardcover
Finding Langston
By Cline-ransome, Lesa
In a debut historical novel about the Great Migration a boy discovers Chicago's postwar South Side and the poetry of Langston Hughes. When 11-year-old Langston's mother dies in 1946, he and his father leave rural Alabama for Chicago's brown belt as a part of what came to be known as the Great Migration. It's lonely in the small apartment with just the two of them, and at school Langston is bullied. But his new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the local public library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston, a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.
Holiday House
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9780823439607
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Hardcover
Beyond the Bright Sea
By Wolk, Lauren
"An award-winning, well-researched, historical novel about an orphaned girl who sets out with her adoptive father to learn about her past despite the many dangers they face. A poignant story of belonging and the meaning of family." - Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor- Winner of the 2018 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction -From the bestselling author of Newbery Honor-winner Wolf Hollow, Beyond the Bright Sea is an acclaimed best book of the year.An NPR Best Book of the Year - A Parents' Magazine Best Book of the Year - A BOOKLIST Editors' Choice selection - A BookPage Best Book of the Year - A HornBook Fanfare Selection - A Kirkus Best Book of the Year - A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year - A Charlotte Observer Best Book of the Year - A SouthernLiving Best Book of the Year - A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year"The sight of a campfire on a distant island...proves the catalyst for a series of discoveries and events - some poignant, some frightening - that Ms. Wolk unfolds with uncommon grace."-The Wall Street Journal"Crow is a determined and dynamic heroine." - Publishers Weekly"Beautiful, evocative." - KirkusThe moving story of an orphan, determined to know her own history, who discovers the true meaning of family.Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. Abandoned and set adrift in a small boat when she was just hours old, Crow's only companions are Osh, the man who rescued and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their fierce and affectionate neighbor across the sandbar. Crow has always been curious about the world around her, but it isn't until the night a mysterious fire appears across the water that the unspoken question of her own history forms in her heart. Soon, an unstoppable chain of events is triggered, leading Crow down a path of discovery and danger. Vivid and heart-wrenching, Lauren Wolk's Beyond the Bright Sea is a gorgeously crafted and tensely paced tale that explores questions of identity, belonging, and the true meaning of family.
PENGUIN Group USA
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9781101994856
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Hardcover
Full of Beans
By Holm, Jennifer L
Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award Five Starred Reviews A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids, 2016 Grown-ups lie. That's one truth Beans knows for sure. He and his gang know how to spot a whopper a mile away, because they are the savviest bunch of barefoot conchs (that means "locals") in all of Key West. Not that Beans really minds; it's 1934, the middle of the Great Depression. With no jobs on the island, and no money anywhere, who can really blame the grown-ups for telling a few tales? Besides, Beans isn't anyone's fool. In fact, he has plans. Big plans. And the consequences might surprise even Beans himself. Return to the wonderful world of Newbery Honor Book Turtle in Paradise through the eyes of Turtle's cousin Beans "A surprising coming-of-age story with a remarkably honest message. " --The New York Times " Holm] captures this colorful slice of Depression history with her usual vivacious wit. . . . Children will love Beans. " --Shelf Awareness, Starred "A novel as entertaining as the motion pictures Beans] loves to see. "--The Horn Book Magazine, Starred"Inspired by actual events, Holm's talent for writing historical fiction is on full display. . . . Interesting family and small-town dynamics further enrich this fascinating account of a young boy's life in Florida's 'Recovery Key. '" --BOOKLIST , Starred "Filled with humor, heart, and warmth. " --Kirkus Review, Starred "Entertaining and illuminating historical fiction. " --Publishers Weekly, Starred
Random House
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9780553510362
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Print book
The Hired Girl
By Schlitz, Laura Amy
Winner of the 2016 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction A 2016 Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Award Winner Winner of the 2016 National Jewish Book Award for Children's and Young Adult LiteratureNewbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her delicious wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a moving yet comedic tour de force.Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself - because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of - a woman with a future. Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz relates Joan's journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!) , taking readers on an exploration of feminism and housework; religion and literature; love and loyalty; cats, hats, and bunions.
Although Mitsi Kashino and her family are swept up in the wave of anti-Japanese sentiment following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mitsi never expects to lose her home -- or her beloved dog, Dash. But, as World War II rages and people of Japanese descent are forced into incarceration camps, Mitsi is separated from Dash, her classmates, and life as she knows it. The camp is a crowded and unfamiliar place, whose dusty floors, seemingly endless lines, and barbed wire fences begin to unravel the strong Kashino family ties. With the help of a friendly neighbor back home, Mitsi remains connected to Dash in spite of the hard times, holding on to the hope that the war will end soon and life will return to normal. Though they've lost their home, will the Kashino family also lose their sense of family? And will Mitsi and Dash ever be reunited?
Scholastic Press
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9780545416351
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Hardcover
Bo at Ballard Creek
By Hill, Kirkpatrick
It's the 1920s, and Bo was headed for an Alaska orphanage when she won the hearts of two tough gold miners who set out to raise her, enthusiastically helped by all the kind people of the nearby Eskimo village.Bo learns Eskimo along with English, helps in the cookshack, learns to polka, and rides along with Big Annie and her dog team. There's always some kind of excitement: Bo sees her first airplane, has a run-in with a bear, and meets a mysterious lost little boy.Bo at Ballard Creek by Kirkpatrick Hill is an unforgettable story of a little girl growing up in the exhilarating time after the big Alaska gold rushes.
Henry Holt & Company
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9780805093513
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Hardcover
Chickadee
By Erdrich, Louise
Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, Chickadee is the first novel of a new arc in the critically acclaimed Birchbark House series by New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich.Twin brothers Chickadee and Makoons have done everything together since they were born—until the unthinkable happens and the brothers are separated.Desperate to reunite, both Chickadee and his family must travel across new territories, forge unlikely friendships, and experience both unexpected moments of unbearable heartache as well as pure happiness. And through it all, Chickadee has the strength of his namesake, the chickadee, to carry him on.Chickadee continues the story of one Ojibwe family's journey through one hundred years in America. School Library Journal, in a starred review, proclaimed, "Readers will be more than happy to welcome little Chickadee into their hearts.
HarperCollins; 1 edition
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9780060577902
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Hardcover
Dead End in Norvelt
By Gantos, Jack
Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the years best contribution to childrens literature and the Scott ODell Award for Historical Fiction!Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jacks way once his mom loans him out to help a feisty old neighbor with a most unusual chore -- typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launched on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder. Endlessly surprising, this sly, sharp-edged narrative is the author at his very best, making readers laugh out loud at the most unexpected things in a dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place where the past is present, the present is confusing, and the future is completely up in the air.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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9780374379933
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Paperback
One Crazy Summer
By Williams-garcia, Rita
In this Newbery Honor novel, New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of three sisters who travel to Oakland, California, in 1968 to meet the mother who abandoned them. "This vibrant and moving award-winning novel has heart to spare."*Eleven-year-old Delphine is like a mother to her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern. She's had to be, ever since their mother, Cecile, left them seven years ago for a radical new life in California. But when the sisters arrive from Brooklyn to spend the summer with their mother, Cecile is nothing like they imagined.While the girls hope to go to Disneyland and meet Tinker Bell, their mother sends them to a day camp run by the Black Panthers. Unexpectedly, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern learn much about their family, their country, and themselves during one truly crazy summer.This moving, funny novel won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction and the Coretta Scott King Award and was a National Book Award Finalist. Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern's story continues in P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama. Readers who enjoy Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham and Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming will find much to love in One Crazy Summer.This novel was the first featured title for Marley D's Reading Party, launched after the success of #1000BlackGirlBooks. Maria Russo, in a New York Times list of "great kids' books with diverse characters," called it "witty and original."*Brightly, in Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich's article "Knowing Our History to Build a Brighter Future: Books to Help Kids Understand the Fight for Racial Equality"
Amistad; 1 edition
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9780060760885
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Hardcover
The Storm in the Barn
By Phelan, Matt
Tall tale. Thriller. Gripping historical fiction. This artful, sparely told graphic novel a tale of a boy in Dust Bowl America will resonate with young readers today.In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges local bullies, his fathers failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl, including rising tensions in his small town and the spread of a shadowy illness. Certainly a case of dust dementia would explain who or what Jack has glimpsed in the Talbots abandoned barn a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, its hard to trust what you see with your own eyes and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes.
Candlewick; First Edition edition
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9780763636180
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Hardcover
Chains
By Anderson, Laurie Halse
If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom. From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling, impeccably researched novel that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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9781416905851
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Hardcover
Elijah of Buxton
By Curtis, Christopher Paul
Newbery Medalist and CSK Award winner Christopher Paul Curtis's debut middle-grade/young-YA novel for Scholastic features his trademark humor, compelling storytelling, and unique narrative voice.Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He's best known for having made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass, but that changes when a former slave steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief and discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled--a life from which he'll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home.
Scholastic Press; First Edition edition
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9780439023443
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Hardcover
The Green Glass Sea
By Klages, Ellen
It is 1943, and 11-year-old Dewey Kerrigan is traveling west on a train to live with her scientist father - but no one, not her father nor the military guardians who accompany her, will tell her exactly where he is. When she reaches Los Alamos, New Mexico, she learns why: he's working on a top secret government program. Over the next few years, Dewey gets to know eminent scientists, starts tinkering with her own mechanical projects, becomes friends with a budding artist who is as much of a misfit as she is - and, all the while, has no idea how the Manhattan Project is about to change the world. This book's fresh prose and fascinating subject are like nothing you've read before.
Viking Juvenile; First Edition edition
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9780670061341
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Hardcover
The Game of Silence
By Erdrich, Louise
Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior.It is 1850, and the lives of the Ojibwe have returned to a familiar rhythm: they build their birchbark houses in the summer, go to the ricing camps in the fall to harvest and feast, and move to their cozy cedar log cabins near the town of LaPointe before the first snows.The satisfying routines of Omakayas's days are interrupted by a surprise visit from a group of desperate and mysterious people. From them, she learns that all their lives may drastically change. The chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island in Lake Superior and move farther west. Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, is in danger: Her home.
HarperCollins
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9780060297893
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Print book
Worth
By Lafaye, A.
After Nathaniel's leg is crushed in an accident, his father brings home an orphan boy, John Worth, to help work the fields. Worth has come to Nebraska from New York City on the Orphan Train, which brings homeless children west to find new lives. Nathaniel feels increasingly jealous of the boy who has taken over not only his work but the attention of his father, who has barely spoken to him since his injury. In school for the first time he is far behind even his youngest classmates, and he feels as useless there as he does at home. Meanwhile, Worth is still grieving for his family and his old life. As the farm chores prevent him from going to school, he also resents losing his dream of an education and a good job. And for all the work he does, he knows he will never inherit the farm that he's helping to save.
Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; 1ST edition
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9780689857300
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Hardcover
The River Between Us
By Peck, Richard
Richard Peck is a master of stories about people in transition, but perhaps never before has he told a tale of such dramatic change as this one, set during the first year of the Civil War. The whole country is changing in 1861-even the folks from a muddy little Illinois settlement on the banks of the Mississippi. Here, fifteen-year-old Tilly Pruitt frets over the fact that her brother is dreaming of being a soldier and that her sister is prone to supernatural visions. A boy named Curry could possibly become a distraction. Then a steamboat whistle splits the air. The Rob Roy from New Orleans docks at the landing, and off the boat step two remarkable figures: a vibrant, commanding young lady in a rustling hoop skirt and a darker, silent woman in a plain cloak, with a bandanna wrapped around her head.
Dial; First Edition edition
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9780803727359
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Hardcover
Trouble Don't Last
By Pearsall, Shelley
Eleven-year-old Samuel was born as Master Hacklers slave, and working the Kentucky farm is the only life hes ever knownuntil one dark night in , that is.With no warning, cranky old Harrison, a fellow slave, pulls Samuel from his bed and, together, they run. The journey north seems much more frightening than Master Hackler ever was, and Samuels not sure what freedom means aside from running, hiding, and starving. But as they move from one refuge to the next on the Underground Railroad, Samuel uncovers the secret of his own pastand future. And old Harrison begins to see past a whole lifetime of hurt to the promise of a new lifeand a poignant reunionin Canada.In a heartbreaking and hopeful first novel, Shelley Pearsall tells a suspenseful, emotionally charged story of freedom and family.
Knopf Books for Young Readers; 1 edition
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9780375814907
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Hardcover
The Land
By Taylor, Mildred D.
Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award! Millions of fans have followed the Logan family in their seven-book series. Living in the South in the not-so-distant past, the Logans are the only black family to own farmland, while most of their black neighbors are sharecroppers on white-owned land. But where did this valuable legacy come from? The story begins with Paul-Edward Logan, grandfather of Cassie Logan, the beloved protagonist of Newbery Medal–winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Born during the Civil War, Paul-Edward is the son of a white plantation owner and a former slave. Though not an unusual heritage, his upbringing is. Paul-Edward’s white father sees to it that he and his sister have many of the privileges their white half-brothers enjoy.
Butterfly Yellow
By Lai, Thanhha
Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Ibi Zoboi, and Erika L. Sanchez, this gorgeously written and deeply moving own voices novel is the YA debut from the award-winning author of Inside Out & Back Again. 4 starred reviews!In the final days of the Vit Nam War, Hng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. In a split second, Linh is ripped from her arms - and Hng is left behind in the war-torn country.Six years later, Hng has made the brutal journey from Vit Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn't know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.Hng is overjoyed when she reunites with Linh. But when she realizes he doesn't remember her, their family, or Vit Nam, her heart is crushed. Though the distance between them feels greater than ever, Hng has come so far that she will do anything to bridge the gap.
Finding Langston
By Cline-ransome, Lesa
In a debut historical novel about the Great Migration a boy discovers Chicago's postwar South Side and the poetry of Langston Hughes. When 11-year-old Langston's mother dies in 1946, he and his father leave rural Alabama for Chicago's brown belt as a part of what came to be known as the Great Migration. It's lonely in the small apartment with just the two of them, and at school Langston is bullied. But his new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the local public library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston, a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.
Beyond the Bright Sea
By Wolk, Lauren
"An award-winning, well-researched, historical novel about an orphaned girl who sets out with her adoptive father to learn about her past despite the many dangers they face. A poignant story of belonging and the meaning of family." - Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor- Winner of the 2018 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction -From the bestselling author of Newbery Honor-winner Wolf Hollow, Beyond the Bright Sea is an acclaimed best book of the year.An NPR Best Book of the Year - A Parents' Magazine Best Book of the Year - A BOOKLIST Editors' Choice selection - A BookPage Best Book of the Year - A Horn Book Fanfare Selection - A Kirkus Best Book of the Year - A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year - A Charlotte Observer Best Book of the Year - A Southern Living Best Book of the Year - A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year"The sight of a campfire on a distant island...proves the catalyst for a series of discoveries and events - some poignant, some frightening - that Ms. Wolk unfolds with uncommon grace."-The Wall Street Journal"Crow is a determined and dynamic heroine." - Publishers Weekly"Beautiful, evocative." - KirkusThe moving story of an orphan, determined to know her own history, who discovers the true meaning of family.Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. Abandoned and set adrift in a small boat when she was just hours old, Crow's only companions are Osh, the man who rescued and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their fierce and affectionate neighbor across the sandbar. Crow has always been curious about the world around her, but it isn't until the night a mysterious fire appears across the water that the unspoken question of her own history forms in her heart. Soon, an unstoppable chain of events is triggered, leading Crow down a path of discovery and danger. Vivid and heart-wrenching, Lauren Wolk's Beyond the Bright Sea is a gorgeously crafted and tensely paced tale that explores questions of identity, belonging, and the true meaning of family.
Full of Beans
By Holm, Jennifer L
Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award Five Starred Reviews A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids, 2016 Grown-ups lie. That's one truth Beans knows for sure. He and his gang know how to spot a whopper a mile away, because they are the savviest bunch of barefoot conchs (that means "locals") in all of Key West. Not that Beans really minds; it's 1934, the middle of the Great Depression. With no jobs on the island, and no money anywhere, who can really blame the grown-ups for telling a few tales? Besides, Beans isn't anyone's fool. In fact, he has plans. Big plans. And the consequences might surprise even Beans himself. Return to the wonderful world of Newbery Honor Book Turtle in Paradise through the eyes of Turtle's cousin Beans "A surprising coming-of-age story with a remarkably honest message. " --The New York Times " Holm] captures this colorful slice of Depression history with her usual vivacious wit. . . . Children will love Beans. " --Shelf Awareness, Starred "A novel as entertaining as the motion pictures Beans] loves to see. "--The Horn Book Magazine, Starred"Inspired by actual events, Holm's talent for writing historical fiction is on full display. . . . Interesting family and small-town dynamics further enrich this fascinating account of a young boy's life in Florida's 'Recovery Key. '" --BOOKLIST , Starred "Filled with humor, heart, and warmth. " --Kirkus Review, Starred "Entertaining and illuminating historical fiction. " --Publishers Weekly, Starred
The Hired Girl
By Schlitz, Laura Amy
Winner of the 2016 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction A 2016 Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Award Winner Winner of the 2016 National Jewish Book Award for Children's and Young Adult LiteratureNewbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her delicious wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a moving yet comedic tour de force.Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself - because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of - a woman with a future. Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz relates Joan's journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!) , taking readers on an exploration of feminism and housework; religion and literature; love and loyalty; cats, hats, and bunions.
Dash
By Larson, Kirby
Although Mitsi Kashino and her family are swept up in the wave of anti-Japanese sentiment following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mitsi never expects to lose her home -- or her beloved dog, Dash. But, as World War II rages and people of Japanese descent are forced into incarceration camps, Mitsi is separated from Dash, her classmates, and life as she knows it. The camp is a crowded and unfamiliar place, whose dusty floors, seemingly endless lines, and barbed wire fences begin to unravel the strong Kashino family ties. With the help of a friendly neighbor back home, Mitsi remains connected to Dash in spite of the hard times, holding on to the hope that the war will end soon and life will return to normal. Though they've lost their home, will the Kashino family also lose their sense of family? And will Mitsi and Dash ever be reunited?
Bo at Ballard Creek
By Hill, Kirkpatrick
It's the 1920s, and Bo was headed for an Alaska orphanage when she won the hearts of two tough gold miners who set out to raise her, enthusiastically helped by all the kind people of the nearby Eskimo village.Bo learns Eskimo along with English, helps in the cookshack, learns to polka, and rides along with Big Annie and her dog team. There's always some kind of excitement: Bo sees her first airplane, has a run-in with a bear, and meets a mysterious lost little boy.Bo at Ballard Creek by Kirkpatrick Hill is an unforgettable story of a little girl growing up in the exhilarating time after the big Alaska gold rushes.
Chickadee
By Erdrich, Louise
Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, Chickadee is the first novel of a new arc in the critically acclaimed Birchbark House series by New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich.Twin brothers Chickadee and Makoons have done everything together since they were born—until the unthinkable happens and the brothers are separated.Desperate to reunite, both Chickadee and his family must travel across new territories, forge unlikely friendships, and experience both unexpected moments of unbearable heartache as well as pure happiness. And through it all, Chickadee has the strength of his namesake, the chickadee, to carry him on.Chickadee continues the story of one Ojibwe family's journey through one hundred years in America. School Library Journal, in a starred review, proclaimed, "Readers will be more than happy to welcome little Chickadee into their hearts.
Dead End in Norvelt
By Gantos, Jack
Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the years best contribution to childrens literature and the Scott ODell Award for Historical Fiction!Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jacks way once his mom loans him out to help a feisty old neighbor with a most unusual chore -- typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launched on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder. Endlessly surprising, this sly, sharp-edged narrative is the author at his very best, making readers laugh out loud at the most unexpected things in a dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place where the past is present, the present is confusing, and the future is completely up in the air.
One Crazy Summer
By Williams-garcia, Rita
In this Newbery Honor novel, New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of three sisters who travel to Oakland, California, in 1968 to meet the mother who abandoned them. "This vibrant and moving award-winning novel has heart to spare."*Eleven-year-old Delphine is like a mother to her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern. She's had to be, ever since their mother, Cecile, left them seven years ago for a radical new life in California. But when the sisters arrive from Brooklyn to spend the summer with their mother, Cecile is nothing like they imagined.While the girls hope to go to Disneyland and meet Tinker Bell, their mother sends them to a day camp run by the Black Panthers. Unexpectedly, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern learn much about their family, their country, and themselves during one truly crazy summer.This moving, funny novel won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction and the Coretta Scott King Award and was a National Book Award Finalist. Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern's story continues in P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama. Readers who enjoy Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham and Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming will find much to love in One Crazy Summer.This novel was the first featured title for Marley D's Reading Party, launched after the success of #1000BlackGirlBooks. Maria Russo, in a New York Times list of "great kids' books with diverse characters," called it "witty and original."*Brightly, in Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich's article "Knowing Our History to Build a Brighter Future: Books to Help Kids Understand the Fight for Racial Equality"
The Storm in the Barn
By Phelan, Matt
Tall tale. Thriller. Gripping historical fiction. This artful, sparely told graphic novel a tale of a boy in Dust Bowl America will resonate with young readers today.In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges local bullies, his fathers failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl, including rising tensions in his small town and the spread of a shadowy illness. Certainly a case of dust dementia would explain who or what Jack has glimpsed in the Talbots abandoned barn a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, its hard to trust what you see with your own eyes and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes.
Chains
By Anderson, Laurie Halse
If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom. From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling, impeccably researched novel that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual.
Elijah of Buxton
By Curtis, Christopher Paul
Newbery Medalist and CSK Award winner Christopher Paul Curtis's debut middle-grade/young-YA novel for Scholastic features his trademark humor, compelling storytelling, and unique narrative voice.Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He's best known for having made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass, but that changes when a former slave steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief and discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled--a life from which he'll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home.
The Green Glass Sea
By Klages, Ellen
It is 1943, and 11-year-old Dewey Kerrigan is traveling west on a train to live with her scientist father - but no one, not her father nor the military guardians who accompany her, will tell her exactly where he is. When she reaches Los Alamos, New Mexico, she learns why: he's working on a top secret government program. Over the next few years, Dewey gets to know eminent scientists, starts tinkering with her own mechanical projects, becomes friends with a budding artist who is as much of a misfit as she is - and, all the while, has no idea how the Manhattan Project is about to change the world. This book's fresh prose and fascinating subject are like nothing you've read before.
The Game of Silence
By Erdrich, Louise
Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior.It is 1850, and the lives of the Ojibwe have returned to a familiar rhythm: they build their birchbark houses in the summer, go to the ricing camps in the fall to harvest and feast, and move to their cozy cedar log cabins near the town of LaPointe before the first snows.The satisfying routines of Omakayas's days are interrupted by a surprise visit from a group of desperate and mysterious people. From them, she learns that all their lives may drastically change. The chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island in Lake Superior and move farther west. Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, is in danger: Her home.
Worth
By Lafaye, A.
After Nathaniel's leg is crushed in an accident, his father brings home an orphan boy, John Worth, to help work the fields. Worth has come to Nebraska from New York City on the Orphan Train, which brings homeless children west to find new lives. Nathaniel feels increasingly jealous of the boy who has taken over not only his work but the attention of his father, who has barely spoken to him since his injury. In school for the first time he is far behind even his youngest classmates, and he feels as useless there as he does at home. Meanwhile, Worth is still grieving for his family and his old life. As the farm chores prevent him from going to school, he also resents losing his dream of an education and a good job. And for all the work he does, he knows he will never inherit the farm that he's helping to save.
The River Between Us
By Peck, Richard
Richard Peck is a master of stories about people in transition, but perhaps never before has he told a tale of such dramatic change as this one, set during the first year of the Civil War. The whole country is changing in 1861-even the folks from a muddy little Illinois settlement on the banks of the Mississippi. Here, fifteen-year-old Tilly Pruitt frets over the fact that her brother is dreaming of being a soldier and that her sister is prone to supernatural visions. A boy named Curry could possibly become a distraction. Then a steamboat whistle splits the air. The Rob Roy from New Orleans docks at the landing, and off the boat step two remarkable figures: a vibrant, commanding young lady in a rustling hoop skirt and a darker, silent woman in a plain cloak, with a bandanna wrapped around her head.
Trouble Don't Last
By Pearsall, Shelley
Eleven-year-old Samuel was born as Master Hacklers slave, and working the Kentucky farm is the only life hes ever knownuntil one dark night in , that is.With no warning, cranky old Harrison, a fellow slave, pulls Samuel from his bed and, together, they run. The journey north seems much more frightening than Master Hackler ever was, and Samuels not sure what freedom means aside from running, hiding, and starving. But as they move from one refuge to the next on the Underground Railroad, Samuel uncovers the secret of his own pastand future. And old Harrison begins to see past a whole lifetime of hurt to the promise of a new lifeand a poignant reunionin Canada.In a heartbreaking and hopeful first novel, Shelley Pearsall tells a suspenseful, emotionally charged story of freedom and family.
The Land
By Taylor, Mildred D.
Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award! Millions of fans have followed the Logan family in their seven-book series. Living in the South in the not-so-distant past, the Logans are the only black family to own farmland, while most of their black neighbors are sharecroppers on white-owned land. But where did this valuable legacy come from? The story begins with Paul-Edward Logan, grandfather of Cassie Logan, the beloved protagonist of Newbery Medal–winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Born during the Civil War, Paul-Edward is the son of a white plantation owner and a former slave. Though not an unusual heritage, his upbringing is. Paul-Edward’s white father sees to it that he and his sister have many of the privileges their white half-brothers enjoy.