Blood on the River: James Town, 1607


Elisa Carbone - 2006
    So when he becomes the page of Captain John Smith and boards the ship the Susan Constant, bound for the New World, he can't believe his good fortune. He's heard that gold washes ashore with every tide. But beginning with the stormy journey and his first contact with the native people, he realizes that the New World is nothing like he had ever imagined. The lush Virginia shore where they establish the colony of James Town is both beautiful and forbidding, and it s hard to know who's a friend or foe. As he learns the language of the Algonquin Indians and observes Captain Smith's wise diplomacy, Samuel begins to see that he can be whomever he wants to be in this new land.

Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin


Marguerite Henry - 1947
    But I like to remember him as a boy who wanted so very much to paint that he dug his colors out of the earth and made his brushes from his cat's tail." Marguerite Henry

Father and I Were Ranchers


Ralph Moody - 1950
    Through his eyes, the pleasures and perils of ranching in the early twentieth century are experienced... auctions and roundups, family picnics, irrigation wars, tornadoes and wind storms all give authentic color to Little Britches. So do wonderfully told adventures, which equip Ralph to take his father's place when it becomes necessary.Newly republished in a hardcover edition with a 1950s cover, jacket and pictorial endpages. Interior illustrations by Edward Shenton.

King George: What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution


Steve Sheinkin - 2005
    This isn't one of them." What it is, instead, is utterly interesting, antedotes (John Hancock fixates on salmon), from the inside out (at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, hundreds of soldiers plunged into battle "naked as they were born") close-up narrative filled with little-known details, lots of quotes that capture the spirit and voices of the principals ("If need be, I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston" -- George Washington), and action, It's the story of the birth of our nation, complete with soldiers, spies, salmon sandwiches, and real facts you can't help but want to tell to everyone you know.King George: What Was His Problem? is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

The Minstrel in the Tower


Gloria Skurzynski - 1988
    But on the way, the siblings are kidnapped and locked in an ancient hidden tower. To finish their quest, they need to escape--and fast! Can Alice use her courage to slip away and find help? And can Roger use his musical talents to guide her back before it's too late?History Stepping Stones now feature updated content that emphasizes Common Core and today's renewed interest in nonfiction. Perfect for home, school, and library bookshelves!

Guns for General Washington: A Story of the American Revolution


Seymour Reit - 1990
    Seymour Reit re-creates the true story of Will Knox, a nineteen-year-old boy who undertook the daring and dangerous task of transporting 183 cannons from New York’s Fort Ticonderoga to Boston--in the dead of winter--to help George Washington win an important battle.

George Washington's Socks


Elvira Woodruff - 1991
    Through encounters with Hessian soldiers, revolutionaries, and even George Washington himself, Matthew, Quentin, Hooter, Tony, and Katie watch history unfold before their eyes as they see first-hand, the grim realities of war and the cost of freedom.

Who Was Thomas Alva Edison?


Margaret Frith - 2005
    The electric light bulb was only one of thousands of Edison’s inventions, which include the phonograph and the kinetoscope, an early precursor to the movie camera.As a boy, observing a robin catch a worm and then take flight, he fed a playmate a mixture of worms and water to see if she could fly! Here’s an accessible, appealing biography with 100 black-and-white illustrations.

Twenty and Ten


Claire Huchet Bishop - 1952
    Will the children be able to withstand the interrogation and harassment?

Who Was Abigail Adams?


True Kelley - 2014
    She urged her husband, President John Adams, to "remember the ladies" and despite having no formal education herself, she later advocated for equal education in public schools for both boys and girls. She was also the first First Lady to live in the White House! This biography tells the story of Abigail Adams and her role in America's Revolutionary War period.

Turn Homeward, Hannalee


Patricia Beatty - 1984
    "A fast-moving novel based upon an actual historical incident with a spunky heroine and fine historical detail."--School Library Journal. Author's note."There are few authors who can consistently manage both to entertain and inform." --Booklist

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912


Lauren Tarshis - 2010
    The ship is full of exciting places to explore, but when George ventures into the first class storage cabin, a terrible boom shakes the entire boat. Suddenly, water is everywhere, and George's life changes forever.Lauren Tarshis brings history's most exciting and terrifying events to life in this new fictional series. Readers will be transported by stories of amazing kids and how they survived!

Strawberry Girl


Lois Lenski - 1945
    Ten-year-old Birdie Boyer can hardly wait to start picking them. But her family has just moved to the Florida backwoods, and they haven′t even begun their planting. "Don′t count your biddies ′fore they′re hatched, gal young un!" her father tells her.Making the new farm prosper is not easy. There is heat to suffer through, and droughts, and cold snaps. And, perhaps most worrisome of all for the Boyers, there are rowdy neighbors, just itching to start a feud.

The Sign of the Beaver


Elizabeth George Speare - 1983
    When he befriends Attean, an Indian chief's grandson, he is invited to join the Beaver tribe and move north. Should Matt abandon his hopes of ever seeing his family again and go on to a new life?

Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears


Cornelia Cornelissen - 1998
    . .the west. Soft Rain is confident that her family will not have to move, because they have just planted corn for the next harvest but soon thereafter, soldiers arrive to take nine-year-old, Soft Rain, and her mother to walk the Trail of Tears, leaving the rest of her family behind.    Because Soft Rain knows some of the white man's language, she soon learns that they must travel across rivers, valleys, and mountains. On the journey, she is forced to eat the white man's food and sees many of her people die. Her courage and hope are restored when she is reunited with her father, a leader on the Trail, chosen to bring her people safely to their new land.  Praise for Soft Rain:    "An eye-opening introduction to this painful period of American history."--Publisher's Weekly    "The characters themselves transform a sorrowful story of adversity into a tale of human resilience."--Kirkus Reviews    "This gentle child's-eye view will move readers enormously."--Jane Yolen