The Secret Soldier: The Story of Deborah Sampson


Ann McGovern - 1975
    This is the exciting true story of a woman who became a soldier during the American Revolutionary War, by dressing and acting like a man.

The Swiss Family Robinson


Johann David Wyss - 1812
    But things do not turn out as they had expected. The sole survivors of a terrible shipwreck, they wash ashore to learn that the danger has only begun. Their new world will test their courage, cleverness, endurance, and faith as they struggle to survive and create a civilization of their own in the wilderness. Note: This Townsend Library classic has been carefully edited to be more accessible to today's students. It includes a brief author's biography and an afterword that provides important context about the work.

Year of Impossible Goodbyes


Sook Nyul Choi - 1991
    It is 1945, and courageous ten-year-old Sookan and her family must endure the cruelties of the Japanese military occupying Korea.  Police captain Narita does his best to destroy everything of value to the family, but he cannot break their spirit.  Sookan's father is with the resistance movement in Manchuria and her older brothers have been sent away to labor camps.  Her mother is forced to supervise a sock factory and Sookan herself must wear a uniform and attend a Japanese school.Then the war ends.  Out come the colorful Korean silks and bags of white rice.  But Communist Russian troops have taken control of North Korea and once again the family is suppressed.  Sookan and her family know their only hope for freedom lies in a dangerous escape to American-controlled South Korea.Here is the incredible story of one family's love for each other and their determination to risk everything to find freedom.

The Great Turkey Walk


Kathleen Karr - 1998
    . . turkeys?Big, brawny Simon Green, who's just completed third grade (for the fourth time), may not be book smart, but he's nobody's fool. When it's time to be done with school and make his way in the world, Simon hatches a plan that could earn him a bundle. He intends to herd a huge flock of bronze turkeysall the way from his home in eastern Missouri to the boomtown of Denver, where they'll fetch a mighty price. In the year 1860, the hazards of such a trek are many - how does one shepherd the birds across a river, for instance? - but Simon is undaunted. Accompanied by a faithful drover, and eventually to be joined by two boon companions, he undertakes the biggest journey of his young life, in this high-spirited Wild Wild West adventure by an acclaimed author of historical fiction.

Who Was Walt Disney?


Whitney Stewart - 2009
    Often it got him into trouble. Once he painted pictures with tar on the side of his family's white house. His family was poor, and the happiest time of his childhood was spent living on a farm in Missouri. His affection for small-town life is reflected in Disneyland Main Streets around the world. With black-and-white illustrations throughout, this biography reveals the man behind the magic.This book is not authorized, licensed or endorsed by the Walt Disney Company or any affiliate.

Hana's Suitcase: A True Story


Karen Levine - 2002
    In 2000, a suitcase arrived at a children's Holocaust education center in Tokyo, Japan, marked "Hana Brady, May 16, 1931." The center's curator searches for clues to young Hana and her family, whose happy life in a small Czech town was turned upside down by the invasion of the Nazis.

The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles


Padraic Colum - 1921
    This title describes the cycle of myths about the Argonauts and the quest for the Golden Fleece, as well as the tales of the creation of Heaven and Earth, the labours of Hercules, Theseus and the Minotaur, and others.

Who Was Annie Oakley?


Stephanie Spinner - 2002
    She amazed audiences all over the world with her sharpshooting, horse-riding, action-packed performances. In an age when most women stayed home, she traveled the world and forged a new image for American women.

Riding Freedom


Pam Muñoz Ryan - 1998
    She doesn’t like playing with dolls, she can hold her own in a fight, and she loves to work in the stables. Charlotte has a way with horses and wants to spend her life training and riding them on a ranch of her own. The problem is, as a girl in the mid-1800s, Charlotte is expected to live a much different life – one without freedom. But Charlotte is smart and determined, and she figures out a way to live her dreams with a plan so clever and so secret – almost no one figures it out.

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark


Debbie Levy - 2016
    This biographical picture book about the Notorious RBG, tells the justice’s story through the lens of her many famous dissents, or disagreements.

Calico Bush


Rachel Field - 1931
    She promises her services to the Sargent family for six long years in return for food and shelter. But life as a "bound-out girl" is full of more hardship than Maggie ever could have imagined. Living with the family in an isolated part of northern Maine, Maggie struggles through the harsh, hungry winter of 1743, the constant threat of Indian attacks, and worst of all, the loneliness she suffers knowing that her own family is lost forever. Will the Sargent's house ever feel like home?

A Murder for Her Majesty


Beth Hilgartner - 1986
    Horrified at having witnessed her father's murder and fearing that the killers are agents of Queen Elizabeth I, eleven-year-old Alice Tuckfield hides in the Yorkshire cathedral by disguising herself as one of the choirboys.

Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot"


Michael O. Tunnell - 2010
    US Air Force Lieutenant Gail S. Halvorsen knew the children of the city were suffering. To lift their spirits, he began dropping chocolate and gum by parachute.Michael O. Tunnell tells an inspiring tale of candy and courage, illustrated with Lt. Halvorsen's personal photographs, as well as letters and drawings from the children of Berlin to their beloved "Uncle Wiggly Wings."

So Far from the Bamboo Grove


Yoko Kawashima Watkins - 1986
    Though Japanese, eleven-year-old Yoko has lived with her family in northern Korea near the border with China all her life. But when the Second World War comes to an end, Japanese on the Korean peninsula are suddenly in terrible danger; the Korean people want control of their homeland and they want to punish the Japanese, who have occupied their nation for many years. Yoko, her mother and sister are forced to flee from their beautiful house with its peaceful bamboo grove. Their journey is terrifying -- and remarkable. It's a true story of courage and survival.

Henry Ford: Young Man With Ideas (Childhood of Famous Americans)


Hazel B. Aird - 1959
    These lively, inspiring, believable biographies sweep today's young readers right into history.