Whispers of War: The War of 1812 Diary of Susanna Merritt


Kit Pearson - 2002
    When war breaks out between the United States and Great Britain in 1812, eleven-year-old Susanna chronicles her experiences when her father and brother go off to fight leaving the women to fend for themselves on the family farm on the Niagara Peninsula of Upper Canada.

An Ocean Apart: The Gold Mountain Diary of Chin Mei-Ling


Gillian Chan - 2004
    Mei-ling works after school, and her father holds down several jobs, in a frantic effort to come up with the head tax that will allow her mother and brother to come to Canada. They must have that money before the Exclusion Act bars any more Chinese from immigrating. Mei-ling cannot stop thinking about what will happen if they are unable to come up with the money to reunite their family?

Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi


Susan Aihoshi - 2012
    She likes school, she likes her friends, and she yearns above all else to own a bicycle. Although WWII is raging elsewhere in the world, it hasn’t really impacted her life in B.C.Then on December 7, 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor…and everything changes.Suddenly a war of suspicion and prejudice is waged on the home front and Japanese-Canadians are completely stripped of their rights, their jobs and their homes. Mary is terrified when her family is torn apart and sent to various work camps, while she and her two sisters are sent, alone, to a primitive camp in B.C.’s interior. Here Mary spends the duration of the war, scared and uncertain of how it will all end.In Torn Apart, author Susan Aihoshi draws from the experiences of her own family during “The Uprooting” of the Japanese in B.C. during WWII. Through young Mary’s eyes, readers experience this regrettable time in Canadian history firsthand.

Dear Canada: These Are My Words: The Residential School Diary of Violet Pesheens


Ruby Slipperjack - 2016
    She misses her Grandma; she has run-ins with Cree girls; at her “white” school, everyone just stares; and everything she brought has been taken from her, including her name—she is now just a number. But worst of all, she has a fear. A fear of forgetting the things she treasures most: her Anishnabe language; the names of those she knew before; and her traditional customs. A fear of forgetting who she was.Her notebook is the one place she can record all of her worries, and heartbreaks, and memories. And maybe, just maybe there will be hope at the end of the tunnel.Drawing from her own experiences at Residential School, Ruby Slipperjack creates a brave, yet heartbreaking heroine in Violet, and lets young readers glimpse into an all-too important chapter in our nation’s history.

My Face to the Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher


Jim Murphy - 2001
    However, the schools were inadequate at best. Some returned home, unable to endure the hardships of prairie life, but others were more committed. Jim Murphy's Sarah Jane Price stayed, braving the rough conditions of the West and the daily tasks that ensued.

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.

Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, Japan, 1858


Kathryn Lasky - 2004
    Princess Kazunomiya, half-sister of the Emperor of Japan, relates in her diary and in poems the confusing events occurring in the Imperial Palace in 1858, including political and romantic intrigue.

Seeds of Hope: The Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild


Kristiana Gregory - 2001
    But tragedy strikes when Susanna's mother is lost to the sea. Hearing stories of great wealth, Susanna's physician father decides he wants to join the hordes of men rushing to California to mine for gold.

Early Sunday Morning: the Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows, Hawaii, 1941


Barry Denenberg - 1998
    In late 1941 her family moves to Hawaii, landing in the epicenter of the attack that plunged the United States into World War II. As she watches her world literally explode in flames, Amber demonstrates that in the face of tragedy, kids can find the courage to help and to simply go on.

The Journal of Rufus Rowe: A Witness to the Battle of Fredericksburg, Bowling Green, Virginia, 1862


Sid Hite - 2003
    He finds work and shelter in Fredericksburg, Virginia, just as the Rebel troops begin to amass in preparation for a confrontation with the Union Army. Rufus befriends several Confederate officers, who do not believe the Confederate army can be beaten, and sensitively observes and records the gripping battle that takes place there.

The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: The Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl


Ann Turner - 1999
    Army in 1864 New Mexico.

Land of the Buffalo Bones: The Diary of Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, An English Girl in Minnesota


Marion Dane Bauer - 2003
    Promising religious freedom and fertile land, Polly's father, Reverend Rodgers, moves their Baptist community from England to the Minnesota prairie. After a treacherous journey across the sea and across this country, Polly finds that it is no paradise at all. Written with incredible heart and compassion, insight and sensitivity, Marion Dane Bauer has created one of the most sophisticated and courageous characters Dear America has seen.

Lady of Palenque : Flower of Bacal, Mesoamerica, A.D. 749


Anna Kirwan - 2004
    749, through the eyes of Princess Green Jay, Lady of Palenque.A political marriage is arranged between the thirty-three-year-old king of Xukpip and Princess Green Jay, the thirteen-year-old daughter of the king of Lakamha. The two are paired because of similar horoscopes -- and Green Jay possesses skills that will be valuable to her husband-to-be: She can read and write. Author Anna Kirwan relates fascinating aspects of ancient Mayan culture as she shares the young princess's physical and emotional state from the betrothal, with its distressing rituals, through her arduous journey to a foreign land and people, and a husband who is a complete stranger.

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.

Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan, Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, 1763


Mary Pope Osborne - 1998
    Recently, however, this friendship has been threatened by violence against the Indians. Then, Catharine and her brother are taken captive by the Lenape in retaliation. At first, Catharine is afraid of her captors. But when a handsome brave begins to teach her about the ways of the Lenape, she comes to see that all people share the same joys, hopes, and fears. Osborne crafts a thrilling story of romance and danger and remarkable courage.