| A is for Appaclachia / Linda Hager Pack; illustrated by Pat Banks – Harmony House Publishers, 2002 |
This incredible alphabet book details interesting facts about Appalachian culture. Though it is an alphabet book, its content is very advanced. |
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Animals Nobody Loves / Seymour Simon – SeaStar Books, 2001 |
Twenty not-so-beloved animals are examined in this “attractive” volume.
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| Blister / Susan Shreve – Arthur A. Levine Books, 2001 |
When a family tragedy occurs, ten-year-old Alyssa "Blister" Reed changes schools, moves to an apartment with her depressed mother while her father gets his own place, and tries to believe her grandmother, who tells her she is "elastic" and can handle it all. |
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Caleb’s Story / Patricia MacLachlan – Joanna Cotler Books, 2001 |
The stranger lurking on the Witting family's prairie farm turns out to be their long-lost grandfather, whose presence plus prodding from Sarah forces Jacob to deal with his past. |
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The Cod’s Tale / Mark Kurlansky; illustrated by S.D. Schindler -- Putnam, 2001 |
Standard facts and figures about cod are presented in a fascinating style: how big they grow, how many eggs they hatch, and how they survive. But the book is much more than this. Time lines show the impact of cod fishing on scores of historical events. Comical illustrations and odd-ball facts make the book a very appealing read. |
Earthborn / Sylvia Waugh -- Delacorte Press, 2002
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Upon suddenly learning that her parents are researchers from another planet and they must leave in seven days or risk discovery, twelve-year-old Nesta decides to stay in their York, England, home, whether or not her parents go. |
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Elizabeth’s Song / Michael Wenberg; illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright – Beyond Words Publishing, 2002 |
Young Elizabeth loves music so much she saves and saves her pennies to buy a guitar. After she teaches herself to play the guitar, she begins composing songs. Late in her life Elizabeth becomes well known for her unique style of playing. Many famous folk singers record the songs she wrote. Despite living in the time of racial segregation, Elizabeth stays positive with her music. |
| Everything on a Waffle / Polly Horvath – Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001 |
Eleven-year-old Primrose living in a small fishing village in British Columbia recounts her experiences and all that she learns about human nature and the unpredictability of life in the months after her parents are lost at sea.
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| If the World Were a Village / David Smith; illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong – Kids Can Press, 2002 |
Over a billion people inhabit the Earth, but what if the world were a village with a population of 100? Smith’s book tells us who we are in this village, what languages we speak, how many of us have televisions and how many of us make less than one dollar a day. What you learn about your village may surprise you. |
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; illustrated by Christopher Bing – Handprint Books, 2001
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An illustrated version of the narrative poem which describes Paul Revere's midnight ride in 1775 to warn the people of the Boston countryside of an impending attack by the British. |
| Power of Un / Nancy Etchemendy – Cricket Books,
2000 |
When he is given a device that will allow him to "undo" what has happened in the past, Gib Finney is not sure what event from the worst day in his life he should change in order to keep his sister from being hit by a truck. |
| Red Rose Box / Brenda Woods – G. P. Putnam Sons,
2002 |
In 1953, Leah Hopper dreams of leaving the poverty and segregation of her home in Sulphur, Louisiana, and when Aunt Olivia sends train tickets to Los Angeles as part of her tenth birthday present, Leah gets a first taste of freedom |
| Ruby Holler / Sharon Creech – Joanna Cotler Books, 2002. |
Thirteen-year-old fraternal twins Dallas and Florida have grown up in a terrible orphanage but their lives change forever when an eccentric but sweet older couple invites them each on an adventure, beginning in an almost magical place called Ruby Holler. |
| Saffy’s Angel / Hilary McKay – Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2001 |
After learning that she was adopted, thirteen-year-old Saffron's relationship with her eccentric, artistic family changes, until they help her go back to Italy where she was born to find a special memento of her past. |
| Scranimals / Jack Prelutsky; illustrated by Peter Sis – Greenwillow Books,
2002 |
Prepare to explore a wilderness of puns and rhymes where birds, beasts, vegetables, and flowers have been mysteriously scrambled together to create creatures you've never seen before -- and are unlikely to meet again! |
| Secret to Freedom / Marcia Vaughn; illustrated by Larry Johnson – Lee & Low Books, 2001 Great |
Aunty Lucy tells a story of her days as a slave, when she and her brother learned the quilt code. Runaway slaves learned to decipher codes on quilts that were hung out to signal directions on the Underground
Railroad. |
| Skeleton Man / Joseph Bruchac – Harper Collins,
2001 |
After her parents disappear and she is turned over to the care of a strange "great-uncle," Molly must rely on her dreams about an old Mohawk story for her safety and maybe even for her life. |
| A Strong Right Arm
/ Michelle Green – Dial Books for Younger Readers,
2002 |
Mamie Johnson’s determination to become a professional baseball player leads her to become one of only three women to play in the Negro Leagues. Mamie’s courage and curve ball help her to make her unlikely dream come true. |
| Surviving Brick Johnson / Laurie Myers – Clarion Books, 2000 |
Afraid of getting maimed for making fun of Brick, the husky new kid in his fifth-grade class, Nick decides that even his baseball collection will not protect him so he signs up for karate class, despite his little brother's reassurances that Brick is not a bully. |
| We Rode the Orphan Trains / Andrea Warren – Houghton Mifflin,
2001 |
At one time in history, orphans ran loose on the streets of New York City . Poor and homeless, these children did not have the refuge of clean orphanages or foster homes. A young minister named Charles Loring Brace devised a plan to find these waifs a home. He loaded them onto trains and sent them West. These trains became known as the Orphan Trains. This book details the lives of some of the orphans who found both good and bad homes. |
| What Would Joey Do?
/ Jack Gantos – Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
2002. |
Joey tries to keep his life from degenerating into total chaos when his mother sends him to be home-schooled with a hostile blind girl, his divorced parents cannot stop fighting, and his grandmother is dying of emphysema |
When Marian Sang / Pam Munoz Ryan; illustrated by Brain Selznick --Scholastic, 2002
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An introduction to the life of Marian Anderson, extraordinary singer and civil rights activist, who was the first African American to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, and whose life and career encouraged social change |
| Wingwalker / Rosemary Wells; illustrated Brian
Selznick, Hyperion, 2002 |
During the Depression, Reuben and his out-of-work parents move from Oklahoma to Minnesota , where his father gets a job as a carnival wingwalker and Reuben has a chance to overcome his terror of flying. |
