Book picks similar to
Other Sandals by Sally Watson


historical-fiction
ya-fiction
fiction
childrens

Always, 'Twas You


Jennifer Moore - 2018
    But they lost touch and her dreams of a lasting love died. Now that she's back, Kaitlyn won't risk her heart again. But fate has other plans. She and Connor reconnect and he realizes the pendant makes her a target. As a government agent, Connor is conflicted between his duty protecting Kaitlyn and feelings he never got over. As the two race to find a centuries' old treasure, they discover first loves aren't easily forgotten.

Saving Dr. Warren


Jeffery McKenna - 2020
    ✯ The American Revolution ✯ WWII ✯ 9-11 What About Today?How do we share Patriotism with America's Future?The novel Saving Dr. Warren...A True Patriot answers that question through the eyes of a 14 year old boy.Steve O'Dell loves to write and does it well. But as an eighth-grade student at Needham Middle School, his talent sometimes seems more an embarassment than a blessing.Then, on Veterans Day 2001, Steve's award-winning essay propels him into an adventure twisting through Revolutionary battles and bloodshed. Thanks to the bizarre bequest of a manuscript and a musket ball from a long-lost family war hero, Steve's journey with the Revolutionary War hero Dr. Joseph Warren begins.A time-traveling talisman missing from the archives of one of Boston's oldest historical societies takes Steve through portals of history, where he walks side by side with a real Boston patriot. He makes house calls with Dr. Warren on March 5, 1770 and stumbles onto the bloodstained streets of the Boston Massacre. From the killings of March 5, to boarding tea ships in 1773, Steve's history book explodes to life as he helps Dr. Warren and forges a friendship with Boston's True Patriot. Steve watches Dr. Warren launch Paul Revere on his midnight ride, and he helps Dr. Warren dodge British musket balls in the first battles of the War for Independence. With each adventure, Steve tastes the light that ignites The Revolution.Steve will eventually convince others that the Revolutionary relic he was given really does open portals through time, but he faces his most difficult quest alone-saving Dr. Warren from the onslaught at Bunker Hill. Can he do it? And if he fails, will he ever return to this century?Saving Dr. Warren...A True Patriot rips through the pages of history. From the Revolutionary War to the vanishing veterans of World War II, to the ashes of September 11, 2001, Saving Dr. Warren demonstrates to both old and young that patriotism, standing like an old oak tree on a grandfather's farm, has and will endure.★ ☆ ★ ☆Author's NoteI love Historical fiction; it is a wonderful tool for learning. Saving Dr. Warren...A True Patriot is a historical fiction novel written for younger readers and middle school teachers. Within these pages are resources that junior high school teachers can use to help their class explore the impact of September 11th, World War II and the beginnings of the American Revolution.Through historical fiction, the author is able to provide young readers a perspective on what it would be like to experience 9-11 and the War on Terror as a middle school student, allowing history to come alive.Combat stories as told by a United States Marine and Medal of Honor recipient give middle school teachers the opportunity to share with students the Battle of Okinawa and impress upon them the sacrifices made for freedom. The importance of Veterans Day is also impressed upon Steve, the teenage protagonist, as he learns about his great uncle's experience as a World War II Marine.Finally, Steve's experiences with Dr. Joseph Warren will propel middle school readers into the beginnings of the American Revolution. All Americans have heard of Paul Revere, but how many know that it was Dr. Warren who sent his best friend out on the famous midnight ride? Junior high school students and teachers can experience the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the battles of Lexington, Concord and Menotomy, as well as the Battle of Bunker Hill, through the lens of Dr. Joseph Warren, America's forgotten hero.Saving Dr. Warren...A True Patriot was written to help teachers connect with these important historical events, while providing a fun adventure through history for teenage readers.

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars


Katherine Marsh - 2012
    He left his countryside home on the empty promise of a stranger, only to become a captive in a luxurious prison: Coudenberg Palace, the royal court of the Spanish Infanta. Nobody warned Jepp that as a court dwarf, daily injustices would become his seemingly unshakable fate. If the humiliations were his alone, perhaps he could endure them; but it breaks Jepp’s heart to see his friend Lia suffer. After Jepp and Lia attempt a daring escape from the palace, Jepp is imprisoned again, alone in a cage. Now, spirited across Europe in a kidnapper’s carriage, Jepp fears where his unfortunate stars may lead him. But he can't even begin to imagine the brilliant and eccentric new master—a man devoted to uncovering the secrets of the stars—who awaits him. Or the girl who will help him mend his heart and unearth the long-buried secrets of his past.Masterfully written, grippingly paced, and inspired by real histori­cal characters, Jepp, Who Defied the Stars is the tale of an extraordinary hero and his inspiring quest to become the master of his own destiny.New York Times Notable Children’s Books of 2012The Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Books of 2012

Gone Missing


Jean Ure - 2007
    Jean Ure returns with more warmth and wit in a brilliant book about what happens when two girls decide to run away from home.Fourteen-year-old Jade is fed up with fighting with her mum and step-dad, and her shy sixteen-year-old friend Honey is having a miserable time with her mum, but when Jade decides they should both run away, Honey isn't so sure.It's only when they get to London and things don't work out quite how they expected that Honey shows she has hidden depths, and Jade realises that home is not so bad after all…

Bone Music


David Almond - 2021
    Under a boundless starry sky, the unforgettable Sylvia Carr reconnects with the ancient past and discovers what it really means to be young in the world today.Sylvia, brave hearted and rebellious, moves into wild Northumberland from the city of Newcastle. She feels alien in this huge, silent, seemingly empty landscape, but then she meets Gabriel, a strange yet familiar boy. As they roam the forests and fells together, she sees nature with new eyes. She becomes aware that the past is all around her, and is deep inside herself. From the wing of a dead buzzard, they create a hollow bone - the kind of flute that was created and used in rituals in the distant past. This is a book of hope and joy - a book that celebrates humanity and explores the deep connections between ourselves and nature. It is timely and original. It speaks to young people about what it really is to be a human being alive today.

After the Rain


Natália Gomes - 2021
    So let’s start living.'Two strangersJack was sporty and outgoing. Alice was bookish and introverted. Their lives were on completely different paths.One life-changing tragedyThat is before the day they were in the wrong place at the wrong time: before the day their lives were torn apart in a bombing.A hopeful new friendshipStruggling to cope with their new worlds, their unlikely new friendship helps them find hope. But can they help each other rebuild their lives and start again?

Shooting the Moon


V.M. Jones - 1958
    But under the surface new currents are stirring — forces that threaten everything he believes indestructible. As events spiral out of control, Pip is brought face to face with a dramatic choice that changes his life forever as he learns what it means to confront issues of life and death alone. And in the face of ultimate loss, what matters most of all?

The Lost Wagon


Jim Kjelgaard - 1955
    Every member of the family will enjoy this tale of wagon trains, cowboys, settlers, love, romance, and did I mention wagons?

Love and War 1


John Jakes - 1984
    The young would clash on the bloody battlefields of Bull Run and Fredericksburg, while in intrigue-ridden Washington and Richmond strong-willed men and beautiful women would defend their principles with their lives...or satisfy illicit cravings with schemes that could destroy friends and enemies alike. This surging drama is the second part of the trilogy that includes NORTH AND SOUTH and HEAVEN AND HELL. "Craftsmanship nears artistry....A coherent and penetrating vision of the seamy underside of war." (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Long Way Back


Brendan Halpin - 2007
    It’s firmly rooted in familial embarrassment (the Kellys’ house is “decorated like the inside of somebody’s hut in Guatemala”), reinforced by an abiding love of Dee Dee Ramone and other (lesser) gods of the rock pantheon, and cemented by the secret of a remarkable religious epiphany Francis experiences at the age of twelve.Clare and Francis become happy adults with rewarding careers and loving spouses. But when tragedy strikes, Francis finds his faith shattered and his life horribly transformed, and Clare doesn’t know how to help the brother she loves but has never fully understood.Nearly flattened by sadness, Francis turns to the angry, propulsive music that sustained him through adolescence and finds that you’re never too old to be punk rock. With the help of a bass guitar and the support of Clare and some unlikely new friends, Francis gradually finds his way back from the depths of despair to a life that feels worth living.Told in Clare’s wry, compassionate voice, Long Way Back is an original, moving novel about grief, guitars, and grace. It shows that the Velvet Underground didn’t lie: Your life really can be saved by rock and roll.From the Hardcover edition.

The Breaker Boys


Pat Hughes - 2004
    Anger—mainly  at his father and stepmother—is what gets him there and what prevents him from making friends. Then, in the spring of 1897, it gets him kicked out and sent home. To avoid his family, Nate disappears on his bicycle every day. In this way he meets the breaker boys, who do dangerous, dirty work for his father, separating coal from debris. Nate admires these Polish immigrants, especially Johnny, and longs to become his friend. But the only way is for Nate to hide that he is the boss's son. As Nate and Johnny's friendship marches toward the moment of truth, Nate discovers that the mine workers are plotting a strike. Should he warn his family or protect his friend?This fascinating second novel features a hero who is blessed—or cursed—with the ability to see both sides of a painful issue and to accept that no one is impartial.

The Paper Magician


Charlie N. Holmberg - 2014
    Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic…forever.Yet the spells Ceony learns under the strange yet kind Thane turn out to be more marvelous than she could have ever imagined—animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic.An Excisioner—a practitioner of dark, flesh magic—invades the cottage and rips Thane’s heart from his chest. To save her teacher’s life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure that will take her into the chambers of Thane’s still-beating heart—and reveal the very soul of the man.From the imaginative mind of debut author Charlie N. Holmberg, The Paper Magician is an extraordinary adventure both dark and whimsical that will delight readers of all ages.

The World of Mortal Engines (Mortal Engines #1-4)


Philip Reeve
    Mortal Engines Quartet: 4 books - Mortal Engines / Predators Gold / Infernal Devices / A Darkling Plain

Daughter of the Regiment


Jackie French - 1998
    It was bright and strangely piercing, like a bit of sun had wandered in by mistake. Who is the girl through the hole in the chook-house? Is it a hole in time? And how can you help someone who lived more than 150 years ago. Harry dreads leaving the farm to go to boarding school next year. Cissie is an orphaned girl living with the soldiers at the garrison 150 years ago. Something more powerful than time has drawn them both together.

The Existence of Pity


Jeannie Zokan - 2016
    As the daughter of missionaries, Josie feels torn between their beliefs and the need to choose for herself. She soon begins to hide things from her parents, like her new boyfriend, her trips into the city, and her explorations into different religions.Josie eventually discovers her parents’ secrets are far more insidious. When she attempts to unravel the web of lies surrounding her family, each thread stretches to its breaking point. Josie tries to save her family, but what happens if they don’t want to be saved?The Existence of Pity is a story of flawed characters told with heart and depth against the beautiful backdrop of Colombia.