Hello All
I had many requests for a hit, so I am sending the responses. Sorry they are not
more organized--haven't had the opportunity to do that yet...
Here are the responses I received in four parts.
THANK you so much for your help--the teachers were very impressed with your
suggestions!
Wendi Colby, LMS, 9-12
Northwood, NH
wcolby@coebrownacademy.com
Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch
Brides of Eden by Linda Crew. Both are very readable and fit with real events in
U.S. History.
ANY Ann Rinaldi
Soldier's heart, by Gary Paulsen
Boston Jane, by Jennifer Holm (3 in series so far)
Ornament Tree, by Jean Thesman (Spanish Flu pandemic in Seattle)
Fever, 1793, by Anderson
Sign of the Beaver, Witch of Blackbird pond, Calico Captive - all by E. Speare
In my hands: memories of a holocaust rescuer by Opdyke
Under a war-torn sky by Elliott
Ashes of Roses by Auch
The trial by Bryant
The river between us by Peck
Milkweed by Spinelli
Fever, 1793 by Anderson
Evvy's Civil War by Brenaman
Remembrance by Breslin
The Shakeress by Heuston
Soldier boys by Hughes
Slap your sides : a novel by Kerr
Witch child by Rees
Sorceress by Rees
Girl in blue by Rinaldi
Soldier X by Wulffson
Historical Novels-Middle School Focus
Fever 1793 (Laurie Halse Anderson) based on an actual epidemic of yellow fever in
Philadelphia that wiped out 5,000 people--or 10 percent of the city's
population--in three months. At the close of the 18th century, Philadelphia was the
bustling capital of the United States, with Washington and Jefferson in residence.
During the hot mosquito-infested summer of 1793, the dreaded yellow fever spread
like wildfire, killing people overnight
All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Remarque) Germany's Iron Youth, represented
by Paul Baumer and his friends, begin the war as teenagers sure of the justice of
their cause and the glory that will be theirs. When these young men are confronted
with trench warfare, dying in hellish agony, Paul must face the reality in which he
finds himself and prepare for the world to which he will return, irrevocably
changed.
Year of Impossible Goodbyes (Sook Nyul Choi) In 1945, 10-year-old Sookan's
homeland of North Korea is occupied by the Japanese. Left behind while her
resistance-fighter father hides in Manchuria and her older brothers toil in
Japanese labor camps, Sookan and her remaining family members run a sock factory
for the war effort, bolstered only by the dream that the fighting will soon cease.
Sookan watches her people--forced to renounce their native ways--become
increasingly angry and humiliated. When war's end brings only a new type of
domination--from the Russian communists--Sookan and her younger brother must make a
harrowing escape across the 38th parallel after their mother has been detained at a
Russian checkpoint.
The Midwife's Apprentice (Karen Cushman) Alyce, who rises from the dung heap
(literally) of homelessness and namelessness to find a station in life, is
apprentice to the crotchety, snaggletoothed midwife Jane Sharp. On Alyce's first
solo outing as a midwife, she fails to deliver. Instead of facing her ignorance,
Alyce chooses to run from failure--never a good choice.
A Light in the Forest (Conrad Richter) When he was just four years old, John
Cameron Butler was captured by the Lenne Lenape Indians. He has since been adopted
by the Indians, who named him True Son, and has grown to love the only family he
has ever known, as well as the ways of his people. But now it's 1765 and in order
to make a land deal, the Lenne Lenape and other tribes have agreed to return all
their captives to the white Army, including now-15-year-old True Son/John. When he
arrives at the Butler home in Paxton, Pa., True Son chafes at his white family's
speech, customs and clothing, acting defiant and depressed. He soon manages (with
help from his cousin Half Arrow) a dangerous escape and rejoins his Indian
relatives. But once back among his people, True Son commits an act of betrayal that
forces the Lenne Lenape to disown him forever, leaving him a young man unsure of
where he belongs.
A Long Way from Chicago (Richard Peck) Although the narrator, Joey, and his
younger sister, Mary Alice, live in the Windy city during the reign of Al Capone
and Bugs Moran, most of their adventures occur "a long way from Chicago," during
their annual down-state visits with Grandma Dowdel. A woman as "old as the hills,"
"tough as an old boot," and larger than life ("We could hardly see her town because
of Grandma. She was so big, and the town was so small"), Grandma continually
astounds her citified grandchildren by stretching the boundaries of truth. In eight
hilarious episodes spanning the years 1929-1942, she plots outlandish schemes to
even the score with various colorful members of her community, including a teenaged
vandal, a drunken sheriff and a well-to-do banker.
Escape from Warsaw (Ian Serraillier) In 1942 Warsaw, World War II is raging, and
people live in fear from day to day. Ruth, Bronia, and Edek have to fend for
themselves when both of their parents are taken by the Nazis. Can they survive? A
gripping story based on true accounts.
The Burning Time (Carol Matas) This story, set in early 17th-century France,
offers an unusual perspective on a perennially popular, often sensationalized
subject. Rose Rives, 15, and her mother are shocked by the sudden accidental death
of Rose's father, but their tragedy has just begun. Madame Rives, a midwife and
healer, is accused of being a witch and, along with several other village women, is
tortured until she both confesses and names other supposed "witches." Rose is also
accused, but manages to escape capture with the help of friends.
Cold Sassy Tree (Olive Burns) The one thing you can depend on in Cold Sassy,
Georgia, is that word gets around - fast. When Grandpa E. Rucker Blakeslee
announces one July morning in 1906 that he's aiming to marry the young and
freckledy milliner, Miss Love Simpson - a bare three weeks after Granny Blakeslee
has gone to her reward - the news is served up all over town with that afternoon's
dinner. And young Will Tweedy suddenly finds himself eyewitness to a major scandal.
Boggled by the sheer audacity of it all, and not a little jealous of his grandpa's
new wife, Will nevertheless approves of this May-December match and follows its
progress with just a smidgen of youthful prurience. As the newlyweds' chaperone,
conspirator, and confidant, Will is privy to his one-armed, renegade grandfather's
second adolescence; meanwhile, he does some growing up of his own. He gets run over
by a train and lives to tell about it; he kisses his first girl, and survives that
too.
Bud, Not Buddy (Christopher Paul Curtis) "It's funny how ideas are, in a lot of
ways they're just like seeds. Both of them start real, real small and then... woop,
zoop, sloop... before you can say Jack Robinson, they've gone and grown a lot
bigger than you ever thought they could." So figures scrappy 10-year-old
philosopher Bud--"not Buddy"--Caldwell, an orphan on the run from abusive foster
homes and Hoovervilles in 1930s Michigan. And the idea that's planted itself in his
head is that Herman E. Calloway, standup-bass player for the Dusky Devastators of
the Depression, is his father. Guided only by a flier for one of Calloway's
shows--a small, blue poster that had mysteriously upset his mother shortly before
she died--Bud sets off to track down his supposed dad, a man he's never laid eyes
on.
Nightjohn (Gary Paulsen) Imagine being beaten for learning to read, shackled and
whipped for learning a few letters of the alphabet. Now, imagine a man brave enough
to risk torture in order to teach others how to read; his name is Nightjohn, and he
sneaks into the slave camps at night to teach other slaves how to read and write.
The Kite Rider (Geraldine McCaughrean) In 13th-century China, a 12-year-old boy
prepares to say goodbye to his father, who is about to put to sea as a crew member
of the Chabi, and to watch the testing of the wind, which involves strapping a man
to a huge kite and seeing if it flies straight up (a good omen for the Chabi's
voyage) or at a certain angle (foretelling danger). But almost before Haoyou knows
what is happening, the first mate makes his father the wind-tester, and Haoyou
looks on in horror as his father becomes a speck in the distant sky, then returns,
lifeless, to earth. The story takes Haoyou from his determined efforts to prevent
the evil first mate from marrying his beautiful mother to his joining a traveling
circus as a kite rider, mastering his father's tragedy as he himself flies skyward
into what the circus-goers take to be the spirit world.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain) Tom Sawyer has an eye for adventure and
is always getting into scrapes with his friends and partners in crime, Huck Finn
and Joe Harper. His escapades often lead him into dangerous and desperate
situations, but he always turns these to his advantage.
The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) It is 1642 in the Puritan town of Boston.
Hester Prynne has been found guilty of adultery and has born an illegitimate child.
In lieu of being put to death, she is condemned to wear the scarlet letter A on her
dress as a reminder of her shameful act. Hester's husband had been lost at sea
years earlier and was presumed dead, but now reappears in time to witness Hester's
humiliation on the town scaffold. Upon discovering her deed, the vengeful husband
becomes obsessed with finding the identity of the man who dishonored his wife. To
do so he assumes a false name, pretends to be a physician and forces Hester keep
his new identity secret. Meanwhile Hester's lover, the beloved Reverend Dimmesdale,
publicly pressures her to name the child's father, while secretly praying that she
will not. Hester defiantly protects his identity and reputation, even while faced
with losing her daughter, Pearl.
Don't You Know There's a War On? (Avi) Howie Crispers juggles everything from
failing math grades and air raid blackouts to a crush on his teacher and worries
about his merchant marine father, criss-crossing the North Atlantic. Howie also
suspects his principal of being a Nazi spy, and follows him into a brownstone one
morning where he overhears plans to fire his beloved teacher, Miss Rolanda Gossim
(he thinks of her at night when fear overtakes him: "She was my emergency brake, my
life raft, my parachute, my own private rescue squad"). How he "saves" Miss Gossim
makes for a smashing story enlivened by the added emotional texture of a boy
dealing with wartime realities (particularly the death of his "bestest" friend
Denny's father) and romance (Miss Gossim is actually married to a missing airman
and pregnant). Howie's voice, firmly rooted in Brooklyn ("You'd feel worse than a
Giants fan in Ebbets Field," he says of disappointing Miss Gossim), takes on the
inflections and slang of the era. The novel ends on an upbeat note, with
16-year-old Howie celebrating the end of the war and still carrying a torch for
Miss Gossim.
Fallen Angels (Walter Dean Meyers) A coming of age tale for young adults set in the
trenches of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, Fallen Angels is the story of Perry,
a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the service when his dream of attending
college falls through. Sent to the front lines, Perry and his platoon come
face-to-face with the Vietcong and the real horror of warfare. But violence and
death aren't the only hardships. As Perry struggles to find virtue in himself and
his comrades, he questions why black troops are given the most dangerous
assignments, and why the U.S. is there at all.
Goodbye, Vietnam (Gloria Whelan) examines the monumental struggle and privation
that a group of people must endure to escape political and economic oppression in
contemporary Vietnam. Thirteen-year-old Mai is frightened and distraught to learn
that her parents have planned to leave their home and secure passage to Hong Kong.
But with hopes of freedom and prosperity to spur them on, Mai and her relatives
cram themselves onto a barely seaworthy boat captained by a crusty, greedy man. The
voyage is difficult at best: food and water are scarce; illness, lice, rats and
blazing sun plague the debilitated passengers. When they finally reach Hong Kong,
the challenges of a police inspection and a camp filled with thousands of other
refugees await them.
Killer Angels (Michael Shaara) Winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
In the four most bloody and courageous days of our nation's history, two armies
fought for two dreams. One dreamed of freedom, the other of a way of life. Far more
than rifles and bullets were carried into battle. There were memories. There were
promises. There was love. And far more than men fell on those Pennsylvania fields.
Shattered futures, forgotten innocence, and crippled beauty were also the
casualties of war.
"Having our say" by the Delany Sisters as a non-fiction book that reads like a
novel.
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