Little Pear


Eleanor Frances Lattimore - 1931
    Although his story takes place long ago, he is much like any little boy today--always on the lookout for excitement and adventure!Little Pear is just looking for fun, but he has a knack for finding trouble without even trying! Join him as he stows away to the fair in a wheelbarrow full of vegetables, nearly flies away on a kite, has a mishap with a firecracker, and is rescued from the river by a houseboat family.

The Corn Grows Ripe


Dorothy Rhoads - 1956
    Who will plant and harvest the corn that they need to survive--and to please the Mayan gods? The neighbors have fields of their own to tend, and Tigre's mother and grandmother cannot do it on their own. Twelve-year-old Tigre has never done a man's work before. Can he shoulder the burden on his own, and take his father's place?"A book of special artistic distinction, with its well-told story rich in Mayan folkway and custom and its boldly appropriate drawings."--The Horn Book

The Great and Terrible Quest


Margaret Lovett - 1967
    Exciting, engrossing, enchanting! Reading Level: Ages 11-13.

Rascal


Sterling North - 1963
    Rascal is only a baby when Sterling brings him home, but soon the two are best friends, doing everything together--until the spring day when everything suddenly changes.Rascal is a heartwarming boyhood memoir that continues to find its way into the hearts of readers fifty years later. This special anniversary edition includes the book's classic illustrations restored to their original splendor, as well as a letter from the author's daughter, and material from the illustrator's personal collection."Everyone should knock off work, sit beneath the nearest tree, and enjoy Rascal from cover to cover."—Chicago Tribune

Who Was Sacagawea?


Judith Bloom Fradin - 2002
    Through this engaging book, kids will understand the reasons that today, 200 years later, she is still remembered and immortalized on a golden dollar coin.

Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?


Bonnie Bader - 2007
    Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 25 when he helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott and was soon organizing black people across the country in support of the right to vote, desegregation, and other basic civil rights. Maintaining nonviolent and peaceful tactics even when his life was threatened, King was also an advocate for the poor and spoke out against racial and economic injustice until his death from an assassin's bullet in 1968. With clearly written text that explains this tumultuous time in history and 80 black-and-white illustrations, this Who Was?? celebrates the vision and the legacy of a remarkable man.

Plain Girl


Virginia Sorensen - 1955
    So when she's forced to attend public school she's terrified. She fears the new world she must enter, fears the way she sticks out next to other kids, and--most of all--fears she may do what her brother did: run away and join the sinful but great wide world she's only just discovering.

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.

"B" Is for Betsy


Carolyn Haywood - 1939
    She learns about tadpoles and the true meaning of Thanksgiving, makes new friends, and has more fun than she'd ever imagined.

Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun


Rhoda Blumberg - 1985
    For centuries, Japan had isolated itself from the outside world by refusing to trade with other countries and even refusing to help shipwrecked sailors, foreign or Japanese. The country's people still lived under a feudal system like that of Europe in the Middle Ages. But everything began to change when American Commodore Perry and his troops sailed to the Land of the Rising Sun, bringing with them new science and technology, and a new way of life.NOTE: Blumberg's "Shipwrecked! The True Adventure of a Japanese Boy" is a companion volume.

Children of the Longhouse


Joseph Bruchac - 1996
    He has done the right thing—but he has also made enemies. Grabber and his friends will do anything they can to hurt him, especially during the village-wide game of Tekwaarathon (lacrosse). Ohkwa'ri believes in the path of peace, but can peaceful ways work against Grabber's wrath?"An exciting story that also offers an in-depth look at Native American life centuries ago." — Kirkus Reviews "Eloquently conveys how democracy, respect, and justice are integral components of the Native American's religion and government....Readers will come away from this novel with a broadened awareness of a nearly vanished culture." —Publishers Weekly

Bravest Dog Ever: Story of Balto


Natalie Standiford - 1989
    Dozens of children in Nome become sick with diphtheria. Without antitoxin serum, they will perish - and the closest supply is 650 miles away! The only way to get the serum to Nome is by sled, but can the dogs deliver it in time? Heading bravely into a brutal blizzard, Balto leads the race for life.Illus. in full color.

The Broken Blade


William Durbin - 1997
    It was something older men, like his father, did. But when Pierre's father has an accident, Pierre quits school to become a voyageur for the North West Company, so his family can survive the winter. It's hard for Pierre as the youngest in the brigade. From the treacherous waters and cruel teasing to his aching and bloodied hands, Pierre is miserable. Still he has no choice but to endure the trip to Grand Portage and back.

Caddie Woodlawn


Carol Ryrie Brink - 1935
    She'd rather hunt than sew and plow than bake, and tries to beat her brother's dares every chance she gets. Caddie is friends with Indians, who scare most of the neighbors -- neighbors who, like her mother and sisters, don't understand her at all. Caddie is brave, and her story is special because it's based on the life and memories of Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother, the real Caddie Woodlawn. Her spirit and sense of fun have made this book a classic that readers have taken to their hearts for more than seventy years.

The Little Riders


Margaretha Shemin - 1963
    And Johanna does. She loves the twelve metal figures on horseback who ride forth each hour from the clock on the ancient church tower. She would do anything to protect them, anything. And one night she risks her life to prove it.Set during the Second World War when the German army occupied Holland, The Little Riders is an exciting, moving adventure story, just right for reading aloud.