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John Lincoln Clem: Civil War Drummer Boy by E. F. AbbottA tale based on the life of the youngest drummer boy to participate in the Civil War describes how, at the age of 9, he ran away from his family to join the 3rd Ohio Union Regiment and served as a drummer boy before becoming the youngest soldier to serve in the war and returning home a hero.
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The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by AviAccused and convicted of murder, thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle decides to reveal what really happened aboard the Seahawk--a ship piloted by a tyrannical captain and crewed by mutinous seamen--during the summer of 1832.
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John BoyneAn evocatively illustrated edition of the international best-seller follows the experiences of young Bruno in a desolated, fenced-in region of 1942 Berlin, where his friendship with a boy from very different circumstances has devastating consequences.
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Finding Langston
by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Discovering a book of Langston Hughes' poetry in the library helps 11-year-old Langston cope with the loss of his mother, relocating from Alabama to Chicago as part of the Great Migration and being bullied. A debut novel.
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The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963
by Christopher Paul Curtis
When the eldest son of the family becomes a troublemaker, the Watsons travel to Grandma's Alabama home and witness the bombing of the Birmingham church, in a story told from the perspective of nine-year-old Kenny Watson.
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The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen CushmanDragged along to California during the Gold Rush, shy and bookish Lucy intends to be miserable until she can return to her New England home and writes yearning letters to those she left behind. By the Newbery Medal-winning author of Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice.
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Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. DraperGrowing up in the segregated South where they accept the disparities in how they are treated, Stella and her little brother witness a terrible event that compels them to fight back and trigger fundamental changes. By the Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of Out of My Mind.
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The Dagger Quick by Brian EamesChristopher "Kitto" Wheale, a clubfooted boy seemingly doomed to follow in the footsteps of his father as a cooper in seventeenth-century England, finds himself on a seafaring adventure with his uncle, the infamous pirate William Quick.
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The Birchbark House by Louise ErdrichChronicles the experiences of an Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, and her family as they live their lives quietly on an island in Lake Superior in 1847, until the white man comes and begins moving her entire tribe off their land.
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Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War by Helen FrostTwelve-year-olds Anikwa, of the Miami village of Kekionga, and James, of the trading post outside Fort Wayne, find their friendship threatened by the rising fear and tension brought by the War of 1812.
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Some Kind of Courage by Dan GemeinhartLosing his father to an accident, his mother and sister to illness and his horse to a cruel thief, young Joseph confronts deadly animals, dangerous men and the harsh elements of nature to reclaim the only family he has left.
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The Inquisitor's Tale, or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dogby Adam GidwitzCrossing paths at an inn, three 13th-century travelers impart the wryly whimsical tales of a monastery oblate, a Jewish refugee and a psychic peasant girl, who, in the company of a loyal greyhound, must escape evil knights, sit alongside a king and save their land from a flatulent dragon.
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The Night Garden by Polly HorvathLiving with her parents on a Vancouver Island farm during World War II, Franny helps babysit a neighbor's children for an extended period during which the children receive letters from their father that imply he is about to do something big to change their lives.
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Ahimsa by Supriya KelkarWhen her mother is jailed for being one of Gandhi's freedom fighters, ten-year-old Anjali overcomes her own prejudices and continues her mother's social reform work, befriending Untouchable children and working to integrate her school.
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When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith KerrPortrays the experiences of a nine-year-old Jewish girl and her family as they are forced to leave Hitler's Germany to seek refuge in neighboring countries.
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The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline KellyCurious about the grasshoppers in her backyard in rural Texas, 11-year-old Calpurnia turns to her grandfather and avid naturalist for information and ends up with a newfound respect for the natural world, the way it operates, and the similarities it shares with her own life as the only daughter in a family with six brothers, in this coming-of-age tale set in 1899.
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Audacity Jones to the Rescue by Kirby LarsonLonging for excitement in spite of having good friends and books, an 11-year-old resident at Miss Maisie's School for Wayward Girls accompanies a mysterious adventurer to Washington D.C. before discovering his plot against the president.
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The Portal by Kathryn LaskyMoving into her grandmother's Tudor home after her mother's tragic death, Rose is transported 400 years back in time and becomes the servant and confidante of the banished princess Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII.
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The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin LevineIn 1958 Little Rock, Arkansas, painfully shy twelve-year-old Marlee sees her city and family divided over school integration, but her friendship with Liz, a new student, helps her find her voice and fight against racism.
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Number the Stars by Lois LowryIn 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.
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In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph MarshallA mixed-race Lakota youth learns about his Native American heritage through the story of Crazy Horse, in an account that draws on oral traditions to recount his heroic advocacy of his people and how he lead a war party to victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
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Rescue on the Oregon Trail by Kate MessnerUnable to pass his tests as a search-and-rescue dog because he is too easily distracted, Ranger is transported to the year 1850, where he must help a young boy and his family on the Oregon Trail. By the award-winning author of The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.
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Anne of Green Gables by L. M. MontgomeryThe classic novel about the Prince Edward Island orphan includes a brief biography of the author.
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Until Tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth by Sheila O'ConnorDesperate to keep her older brother from being drafted in the Vietnam War, eleven-year-old Reenie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mr. Marsworth, an elderly shut-in, who helps her in her mission.
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Towers Falling by Jewell Parker RhodesThree dynamic fifth-graders who were born after September 11 work together on a project about how communities grow together, discovering how the attacks still powerfully affect their families and their neighborhood.
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Blue Birds by Caroline Starr RoseA novel in verse by the author of May B. follows the experiences of 12-year-old Alis, who in 1587 happily travels with her family to the New World and forges a close friendship with a girl from a hostile Roanoke tribe.
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Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz RyanEsperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.
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Paper Wishes by Lois SepahbanNear the start of World War II, young Manami, her parents and Grandfather are evacuated from their home and sent to Manzanar, an ugly, dreary internment camp Japanese-American citizens in the desert.
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Betty Before X by Ilyasah ShabazzA powerful middle-grade novel about the childhood activism of Malcolm X's wife, written by their daughter, describes how young Betty finds confidence and purpose by volunteering for the Housewives League in 1945 Detroit, learning skills and developing awareness that inspires her future as a Civil Rights icon.
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Paperboy by Vince VawterTaking over a friend's newspaper route in 1959 Memphis, an 11-year-old baseball enthusiast struggles with a speech disability while attempting to communicate with customers, a situation that turns dangerous when he has a confrontation with a thieving local junkman.
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Like a River: A Civil War Novel by Kathy Cannon WiechmanTwo Union soldiers, one too young to have properly enlisted, and the other a girl disguised as a boy, find themselves struggling through the rigors and horrors of war, from amputation to the Andersonville prison camp.
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One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-GarciaIn the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn, New York, to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, 11-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of their intrusion and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.
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Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene YelchinIn the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, 10-year-old Sasha idolizes his father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values and beliefs.
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