Elijah of Buxton


Christopher Paul Curtis - 2007
    He's best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change 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 he 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.

Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman


Dorothy Sterling - 1954
    Escape seemed impossible--certainly dangerous. Yet Harriet did escape North, by the secret route called the Underground Railroad. Harriet didn't forget her people. Again and again she risked her life to lead them on the same secret, dangerous journey.

With the Might of Angels: The Diary of Dawnie Rae Johnson, Hadley, Virginia, 1954


Andrea Davis Pinkney - 2011
    After the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Dawnie learns she will be attending a previously all-white school. She's the only one of her friends to go to this new school and to leave the comfort of all that is familiar to face great uncertainty in the school year ahead.However, not everyone supports integration and much of the town is outraged at the decision. Dawnie must endure the harsh realities of racism firsthand, while continuing to work hard to get a good education and prove she deserves the opportunity. But the backlash against Dawnie's attendance of an all-white school is more than she's prepared for. When her father loses his job as a result, and her little brother is constantly bullied, Dawnie has to wonder if it's worth it. In time, Dawnie learns that the true meaning of justice comes from remaining faithful to the integrity within oneself.

The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: A Chinese Miner, California, 1852


Laurence Yep - 2000
    The true treasure for Ming-Chung, though, is America itself. In the midst of the lawless, often hostile environment, he is able to forge an international community of friends.

Freedom's Wings


Sharon Dennis Wyeth - 2001
    This is the story of his family's attempt to escape.Corey Birdsong is a lively young boy in search of freedom in the same country that made an economy of slavery. He and his family are owned by the Hart family of Kentucky. But, when Corey's father, Roland, flees to the North and Corey and his mother follow.Corey records his daily life on the Hart farm with incredible insight and honesty, and later he describes the difficult journey along the "Underground Railroad" to the North to be reunited with his father. With the help of many kind strangers, Corey, his parents, and his new baby sister arrive afely in Canada.

All the Stars in the Sky: The Santa Fe Trail Diary of Florrie Mack Ryder


Megan McDonald - 2003
    As they cross the Great Plains of the midwestern prairie, fording rivers and climbing mountains, the Ryders encounter endless hardship as they undertake this great adventure.

Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914


Carolyn Meyer - 2000
    Award-winning author Carolyn Meyer introduces readers to the unforgettable Anastasia Romanov whose idyllic life is forever changed with the coming of World War I.

A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32


Joan W. Blos - 1979
    So begins the journal of a girl coming of age in nineteenth-century New Hampshire. Catherine records both the hardships of pioneer life and its many triumphs. Even as she struggles with her mother’s death and father’s eventual remarriage, Catherine’s indomitable spirit makes this saga an oftentimes uplifting and joyous one. Quiet yet powerful, this Newbery Medal–winning book is sure to touch all who read it.

The Journal of Sean Sullivan: A Transcontinental Railroad Worker, Nebraska and Points West, 1867


William Durbin - 1999
    The author of the award-winning The Broken Blade tells the story of a fifteen-year-old who goes to Nebraska to work on the Transcontinental Railroad with his father.

Lyddie


Katherine Paterson - 1991
    Hearing about all the money a girl can make working in the textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, she makes her way there, only to find that her dreams of returning home may never come true.

Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets, Massachusetts - Rhode Island, 1653


Patricia Clark Smith - 2001
    The pilgrims -- called Coat-men by the Wampanoag -- have settled here in the natives' territory at Patuxit, a place that the Pilgrims have renamed Plymouth. Weetamoo's father, Corbitant, is sachem, or chief, of the Pocassets. He is mistrustful of the colonists and imparts his beliefs about them to his daughter, who is next in line to become chief. Weetamoo must learn the fundamental values and disciplines of a true Pocasset chief.

The House of Dies Drear


Virginia Hamilton - 1968
    It had a century-old legend—two fugitive slaves had been killed by bounty hunters after leaving its passageways, and Dies Drear himself, the abolitionist who had made the house into a station on the Underground Railroad, had been murdered there. The ghosts of the three were said to walk its rooms…

The Great Brain


John D. Fitzgerald - 1967
    Tom, a.k.a., the Great Brain, is a silver-tongued genius with a knack for turning a profit. When the Jenkins boys get lost in Skeleton Cave, the Great Brain saves the day. Whether it's saving the kids at school, or helping out Peg-leg Andy, or Basil, the new kid at school, the Great Brain always manages to come out on top—and line his pockets in the process.

Stepping on the Cracks


Mary Downing Hahn - 1991
    But the girls are also involved in their own personal war at home. Gordy Smith, the worst bully in sixth grade, teases and torments them, and Margaret is scared to death of him. But when Gordy and his pals Toad and Doug grow bolder than ever, Margaret and Elizabeth come up with a daring plan to get even. That's when the girls discover a shocking secret about Gordy that turns their lives upside-down and draws them into a startling confrontation with family, friends...and their own strongly held ideas.

My Heart is on the Ground: the Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl, Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, 1880


Ann Rinaldi - 1999
    From December, 1879, to October, 1880, readers follow a remarkably resilient girl, uprooted from her home and culture, trying to find a place for herself in a rapidly changing world. Loyal, caring, and creative, she is able to see a spirit helper in a kitchen mouse and willing to defy regulations in mourning the death of her dearest friend. Rinaldi depicts widely divergent cultures with clarity and compassion. Captain Pratt, founder of a school that forcibly strips children of their native culture, also provides vocational training and field trips, and responds to his students as true individuals. The body of the text is followed by an epilogue telling of Nannie's later life, an extensive historical note, and black-and-white photos. The period, the setting, and Nannie herself all come to life. An excellent addition to a popular series.