Book picks similar to
Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill


newbery-honor
historical-fiction
newbery
fiction

All Alone


Claire Huchet Bishop - 1953
    Like other boys in his village, Marcel would have to look over the family's cows during the summer; and the flexible, age-old rule was, "Don't visit, keep to yourself, mind your own business, attend to your own cows and nothing else." If it were not for the Oloooo! of another boy yodeling in the distance, this might have been a quiet summer for Marcel. Instead, it was the beginning of an incredible adventure.

What Hearts


Bruce Brooks - 1992
    His fake dad's a bully, and Asa knows everything, and baseball's a great way to act all that out.HOW TO SAY I LOVE YOU, TOOHis mom's back, and Asa's looking down the road again, wondering if his life will stand still long enough for him to risk falling in love. . . .Recipient of a 1993 Newbery Honor, this novel is an achingly beautiful, powerfully rendered journey through childhood that is not to be missed, now available in a new edition with a striking new cover.

One-Eyed Cat


Paula Fox - 1984
    But someone -- a face, fleetingly seen staring at him from an attic window -- was watching. And when a one-eyed cat turns up at an elderly neighbor's woodshed, Ned is caught in a web of guilt, fear, and shame that he cannot escape -- until another moonlit night, come spring, brings redemption and surprising revelations.

Across Five Aprils


Irene Hunt - 1964
    The Newbery Award winning author of Up a Road Slowly presents the unforgettable story of Jethro Creighton—a brave boy who comes of age during the turbulent years of the Civil War.

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?

Breaking Stalin's Nose


Eugene Yelchin - 2011
    He breaks a classmate's glasses with a snowball. He accidentally damages a bust of Stalin in the school hallway. And worst of all, his father, the best Communist he knows, was arrested just last night.This moving story of a ten-year-old boy's world shattering is masterful in its simplicity, powerful in its message, and heartbreaking in its plausibility.

Miracles on Maple Hill


Virginia Sorensen - 1956
    Her father is recovering from being a prisoner-of-war. The small town and the varied happenings and activities of country life help them to recover from past unhappiness, and bond more closely as a family.

Kneeknock Rise


Natalie Babbitt - 1970
    Everyone shudders in horror--delicious horror--whenever the Megrimum's unearthly wail floats down to the village. Before long, Egan is climbing the Rise to find a practical explanation for those wails.

The Light at Tern Rock


Julia L. Sauer - 1951
    Ronnie loves living in the lighthouse, and looks forward to telling his family about it at Christmas. But will lighthouse keeper Byron Flagg return in time for Ronnie and Aunt Martha to make it home for Christmas? A Newbery Honor Book.

Dogsong


Gary Paulsen - 1985
    He hates waking up to the sound of his father's coughing, the smell of diesel oil, the noise of snow machines starting up.Only Oogruk, the shaman who owns the last team of dogs in the village, understands Russel's longing for the old ways and the songs that celebrated them. But Oogruk cannot give Russel the answers he seeks; the old man can only prepare him for what he must do alone. Driven by a strange, powerful dream of a long-ago self and by a burning desire to find his own song, Russel takes Oogruk's dogs on an epic journey of self-discovery that will change his life forever.

Moccasin Trail


Eloise Jarvis McGraw - 1952
    Although Jim finds it difficult to fit in with the family he hasn't seen since childhood, and though they are wary and distrustful of him, Jim feels his duty is at their side. But slowly, as they survive the dangerous trek west, the perils of frontier life, and the kidnapping of their younger brother, Jim and his family realize that the only way to survive is to accept each other and truly reunite the family.

The Jumping-Off Place


Marian Hurd McNeely - 1929
    In the early 1900s, four orphaned siblings, the eldest being seventeen, set out to fulfill their uncle's dream of homesteading in Tripp County, South Dakota, and although they face drought, discomfort, and sabotaging squatters, new friends and inner strength help them carry on.

Justin Morgan Had a Horse


Marguerite Henry - 1945
    He spoke now to the horse, as though he were the one that mattered. "Why, come to think of it, you're just like us, Bub. You're American! That's what you are. American!" In 1791 a Vermont schoolmaster by the name of Justin Morgan comes home with a two-year-old colt named Little Bub. Taken as payment for an outstanding debt, the little colt doesn't seem like he is worth much, but the kindly teacher asks one of his students, Joel Goss, to train him. Joel knows the horse has great potential, and soon word about Little Bub spreads throughout the entire Northeast for his ability to outwork, outrun, outtrot, and outwalk any horse in the area. This is the extraordinary tale of a little workhorse, who, after being born in obscurity, becomes one of the greatest breeding stallions of all time. In this true story Newbery Medal-winning author Marguerite Henry and artist Wesley Dennis celebrate the life of the only horse ever to establish a breed all by himself -- the Morgan.

Amos Fortune, Free Man


Elizabeth Yates - 1950
    Although his freedom had been taken, Amos never lost his dignity and courage. For 45 years, Amos worked as a slave and dreamed of freedom. And, at age 60, he finally began to see those dreams come true.

Swift Rivers


Cornelia Meigs - 1932
    Poverty and the tempting stories of a wandering Easterner convince Chris to harvest the trees on his grandfather’s land and float the logs down the spring floodwaters of the Mississippi to the lumber mills in Saint Louis. Filled with stories of raft hands and river pilots, this fast-paced novel has all the momentum of the great Mississippi.