Thank you all for the kind words we have received over the last few years. I felt the need to reorganize and make it simpler for you all to gain access to everything needed, still by grade but linked to the different lessons (both free and subscription versions) to help make your journey a lot easier. 

Before you grab what you need, I want to remind you that each state is different in terms of regulations as in what subjects, hours and days are needed. That being said all the information below can used in any state.

In New York State, 7th and 8th graders are expected to cover English (two units), History and geography (two units), New York History, Patriotism and Citizenship, Constitution, Science (two units), Mathematics (two units), physical education (on a regular basis), Health education (on a regular basis), alcohol, drug and tobacco misuse, art (one-half unit), music (one-half unit), practical arts (on a regular basis), library skills (on a regular basis), Highway and Traffic Safety, and lastly Fire Safety and Prevention. 7th and 8th are accumulative, meaning that the total units will be covered between the two years. However, each year must be done with a total of 990 hours in 180 days. Also to note, that each unit is equivalent to 108 hours. 

English

Reading

In 7th grade your student will continue working at a deeper level of concept while challenging their critical thinking. This reading list is both as suggested fun as well as can be used in unit studies and in comparing and contrasting with various resources. Best suggestion is to begin working with this list for English Essays.

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Fiction

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist, or The Parish Boy’s Progress, is the second novel by Charles Dickens, and was first published as a serial 1837–9. The story is of the orphan Oliver Twist, who starts his life in a workhouse and is then apprenticed with an undertaker. He escapes from there and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets, which is led by the elderly criminal Fagin.Oliver Twist is notable for Dickens’s unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives, as well as exposing the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid–nineteenth century. The alternate title, The Parish Boy’s Progress, alludes to Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, as well as the 18th-century caricature series by William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress and A Harlot’s Progress.An early example of the social novel, Dickens satirizes the hypocrisies of his time, including child labour, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens’s own youthful experiences contributed as well.Oliver Twist has been the subject of numerous adaptations, for various media, including a highly successful musical play, Oliver!, and the multiple Academy Award winning 1968 motion picture.

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby or The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is a novel by Charles Dickens. The story centres on the life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, a young man who must support his mother and sister after his father dies

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alaxandre Dumas

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas’ epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s.

Robin Buss’s lively English translation is complete and unabridged, and remains faithful to the style of Dumas’s original. This edition includes an introduction, explanatory notes and suggestions for further reading

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d’Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. D’Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those being his friends Athos, Porthos and Aramis, inseparable friends who live by the motto “all for one, one for all”, a motto which is first put forth by d’Artagnan. In genre, The Three Musketeers is primarily a historical novel and adventure. However Dumas also frequently works into the plot various injustices, abuses and absurdities of the ancien regime, giving the novel an additional political aspect at a time when the debate in France between republicans and monarchists was still fierce. The story was first serialized from March to July 1844, during the July monarchy, four years before the French Revolution of 1848 violently established the second Republic. The author’s father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas had been a well-known general in France’s Republican army during the French revolutionary wars. Although adaptations tend to portray d’Artagnan and the three musketeers as heroes, the novel portrays less appealing characters, who are willing to commit violence over slight insults and through unquestioning loyalty to the king and queen, and treat their servants and supposed social inferiors with contempt and violence.

The Story of Bad Boy by Thomas Aldrich

The Story of a Bad Boy (1870), a semi-autobiographical novel by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, is considered the first in the “bad boy” genre of literature. It is hailed as the precursor to stories such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The protagonist Tom Bailey is mischievous, a vandal, and a troublemaker. The narrative follows Tom as he engages in a series of adventures from New Hampshire to New Orleans and beyond. Among the supporting characters, Sailor Ben, Miss Abigail, and Conway stand out. The Story of a Bad Boy is a charming text with many hilarious moments.

God’s Smuggler by Andrew Brother

With over 10 million sold, this classic work is now available in a new edition for young readers ages 9 to 12, complete with riveting illustrations. The exciting narrative follows the dangerous true-life mission of Brother Andrew, a Dutch factory worker who goes undercover to transport Bibles across closed borders. The courage of this young man will thrill a new generation of readers. They will meet one of the heroes of the faith–and discover the miraculous ways in which God provides for those who trust him.

Let Brother Andrew’s powerful adventure story, which has awed millions, inspire the young people in your life. Through its pages they will grow in knowledge of the mission field and understand more clearly what it means to risk everything to follow God’s heart.

The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Often rated as important as the Bible as a Christian document, this famous story of man’s progress through life in search of salvation remains one of the most entertaining allegories of faith ever written. Set against realistic backdrops of town and country, the powerful drama of the pilgrim’s trials and temptations follows him in his harrowing journey to the Celestial City.
Along a road filled with monsters and spiritual terrors, Christian confronts such emblematic characters as Worldly Wiseman, Giant Despair, Talkative, Ignorance, and the demons of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. But he is also joined by Hopeful and Faithful.
An enormously influential 17th-century classic, universally known for its simplicity, vigor, and beauty of language, The Pilgrim’s Progress remains one of the most widely read books in the English language.

The House of Sixty Father by Meindert DeJong

Tien Pao is all alone in enemy territoy. Only a few days before, his family had escaped from the Japanese army, fleeing downriver by boat. Then came the terrible rainstorm. Tien Pao was fast asleep in the little sampan when the boat broke loose from its moorings and drifted right back to the Japanese soldiers. With only his lucky pig for company, Tien Pao must begin a long and dangerous journey in search of his home and family.

Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif

An international bestseller, translated into eighteen languages, Paul de Kruif’s classic account of the first scientists to see and learn about the microscopic world continues to fascinate new readers. This is a timeless dramatization of the scientists, bacteriologists, doctors, and medical technicians who discovered the microbes and invented the vaccines to counter them. De Kruif writes about how seemingly simple but really fundamental discovers of science—for instance, how a microbe was first viewed in a clear drop of rain water, and when, for the first time, Louis Pasteur discovered that a simple vaccine could save a man from the ravages of rabies by attacking the microbes that cause it.

David Livingstone, Foe of Darkness by Jeanette Eaton

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.

We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Calico Bush by Rachel Field

In 1743, thirteen-year-old Marguerite Ledoux travels to Maine as the indentured servant of a family that regards her as little better than the Indians that threaten them, but her strength, quick thinking and courage surprise them all.

Horatio Hornblower by C.S Forester

This omnibus edition of the Hornblower Saga contains the first three novels C.S. Forester wrote about Horatio Hornblower — Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line, and Flying Colours. During the Age of Sail, mastery of the art of naval warfare was daunting — the necessary knowledge and skill required was massive, the need for resourceful leadership essential, and the ability to face war and savagery critical. The complexity of the ships will stagger, the battles will haunt your dreams, and the men will consume your imagination. C.S. Forester brings it all to life.

Beat to Quarters: (The Happy Return in the U.K.)

In June 1808, Captain Hornblower is assigned command of the 36-gun frigate HMS Lydia with orders to sail to the Pacific coast of Nicaragua on a secret mission to deliver armaments and form an alliance against England’s military enemy — Spain. Hornblower quickly discovers that his contact, the revolutionary leader, Alvarado, is a deranged man who imagines himself to be the descendant of gods and who has been killing all who oppose him. However, Hornblower does exactly as ordered and delivers the arms in order to beat to quarters, or prepare for combat. In the midst of this struggle, Hornblower must also provide safe passage for an aristocratic English noblewoman, Lady Barbara Wellesley, whose political connections must not be slighted. There is another desperate single-ship action, another glimpse of the madman, Alvarado, more Spanish intrigue, and romance held back by political caution before Hornblower can manage to turn his ship for the voyage home.

Ship of the Line:

It’s now May 1810. Hornblower’s success on the HMS Lydia earned him fame, but no fortune, and as a reward he is assigned command of his first ship-of-the-line, the seventy-four gun HMS Sutherland. Ugly and undesirable, the Sutherland is also 250 men short of a full crew. Undaunted, Hornblower uses his wits and meager financial resources to find the men he needs (i.e. kidnaps thieves and impresses a few convicts), purchase armaments, and prepare his ship to join a prolonged blockade along the Spanish coast. Shaken about a tragedy at home and conflicted about his relationship with is wife, Hornblower must stay true to his duty. He and his crew face capture and defeat as they are forced to fight a fleet of French ships with daring but crippling results. With many of his men killed or wounded and his ship in ruins, Hornblower must lower his flag and do the unthinkable — surrender his ship to the French.

Flying Colours:

A disgraced and shipless Hornblower, his first lieutenant, Bush, and his coxswain, Brown, are held prisoner in a French-occupied Spanish fortress on the Mediterranean Sea. Napoleon is keen to make an example of a British subject and sends one of his personal aides to accompany Hornblower and his two crew members to Paris for trial and probable execution. During transport in a snowstorm, they succeed in overthrowing their escort and escape in a small boat down the Loire River. The three find refuge with a nobleman and remain in hiding for the rest of the winter. Hornblower has an intense but brief affair with the nobleman’s widowed daughter-in-law, but when Spring arrives, he and Bush and Brown make their way to the sea and escape to England.

Unlike previous Hornblower adventures, naval action is not key to this rousing and splendidly detailed story. Flying Colours departs momentarily from scenes of sea battle to engage the reader in Napoleonic era history and a deeper examination of Hornblower’s imperfect but ever captivating character.

Mrs. Mike by Ben Freedman

Recently arrived in Calgary, Alberta after a long, hard journey from Boston, sixteen-year-old Katherine Mary O’Fallon never imagined that she could lose her heart so easily—or so completely. Standing over six feet tall, with “eyes so blue you could swim in them,” Mike Flannigan is a well-respected sergeant in the Canadian Mounted Police—and a man of great courage, kindness, and humor. Together, he and his beloved Kathy manage to live a good, honest life in this harsh, unforgiving land—and find strength in a love as beautiful and compelling as the wilderness around them…

The Last Crusader by George Grant

Christopher Columbus’ journal reveals that he was not only a man of God, but that his voyage in 1492 was motivated in part by his evangelistic zeal. Written in narrative, this story concludes with a discussion of the conflicts and controversies that suddenly surrounded the navigator during the quincentennial celebration of his accomplishment.

The Best Short Stories of O. Henry by O. Henry

The more than 600 stories written by O. Henry provided an embarrassment of riches for the compilers of this volume.  The final selection of the thirty-eight stories in this collection offers for the reader’s delight those tales honored almost unanimously by anthologists and those that represent, in variety and balance, the best work of America’s favorite storyteller.  They are tales in his most mellow, humorous, and ironic moods.  They give the full range and flavor of the man born William Sydney Porter but known throughout the world as O. Henry, one of the great masters of the short story.

By Pike and Dyke  by G.A Henty

In this story Mr. Henty traces the adventures and brave deeds of an English boy in the household of the ablest man of his age – William the Silent. Edward Martin, the son of an English sea-captain, enters the service of the Prince as a volunteer, and is employed by him in many dangerous and responsible missions, in the discharge of which he passes through the great sieges of the time…

In Freedom’s Cause by G.A Henty

At the end of the thirteenth century, the oppressed people of Scotland rebelled against their despised English ruler, Edward Longshanks. In Freedom’s Causerecounts the Scots’ desperate but ultimately triumphant struggle in the face of overwhelming odds — a hard-fought series of battles conducted under the leadership of William Wallace and Robert Bruce.
Time has burnished the feats of these great heroes to mythic proportions, but Wallace and Bruce were real people. This gripping tale of courage, loyalty, and ingenuity recounts their deeds within an accurate historical context. Readers join their company alongside a fictional protagonist, young Archie Forbes, whose estates have been wrongfully confiscated. Archie forms a group of scouts to fight alongside the legendary Scottish chieftains (who were memorably portrayed in the film Braveheart) for their country’s independence.
In Freedom’s Cause is one among the many historical novels for young readers by George Alfred Henty. A storyteller who specialized in blending authentic historical facts with exciting fictional characters, Henty produced more than 140 books and achieved a reputation as “The Prince of Storytellers.” Immensely popular and widely used in schools for many years, Henty’s novels continue to fire young imaginations with their spirited tales of adventure amid exciting historical eras.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Introducing one of the most famous characters in literature, Jean Valjean—the noble peasant imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread—Les Misérables ranks among the greatest novels of all time. In it, Victor Hugo takes readers deep into the Parisian underworld, immerses them in a battle between good and evil, and carries them to the barricades during the uprising of 1832 with a breathtaking realism that is unsurpassed in modern prose. 

Within his dramatic story are themes that capture the intellect and the emotions: crime and punishment, the relentless persecution of Valjean by Inspector Javert, the desperation of the prostitute Fantine, the amorality of the rogue Thénardier, and the universal desire to escape the prisons of our own minds. Les Misérables gave Victor Hugo a canvas upon which he portrayed his criticism of the French political and judicial systems, but the portrait that resulted is larger than life, epic in scope—an extravagant spectacle that dazzles the senses even as it touches the heart.

Captains Courageous by Kipling Rudyard

At the start of Captains Courageous, one of literature’s most beloved stories of the sea, a spoiled rich boy is literally swept away — dashed overboard from an ocean liner. Luckily, young Harvey Cheyne is rescued by a passing fishing vessel. As it turns out, Harvey’s apparent misfortune in tumbling from a life of pampered luxury into the humble company of a fishing schooner becomes a blessing in disguise. Compelled by the captain to earn his keep, Harvey loses his affectations as he learns the rewards of an honest day’s labor amid the gruff and hearty companionship of the crewmen, who teach him to be worth his salt as they fish the waters off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. 
Readers of all ages have delighted in Kipling’s engaging maritime yarn since its initial appearance in 1897. The author’s only novel to unfold in an American setting, this lively tale resounds with Kipling’s customary blend of adventure and humor. This attractive new edition, unabridged and inexpensive, offers an irresistible invitation to a master storyteller’s enduring tale of a boy’s initiation into adulthood.

This Dear-Bought Land by Jean – Lee Latham

In 1607 a fifteen-year-old boy joins the expeditionary force that hopes to establish a permanent English colony in Virginia.

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel in C. S. Lewis’s classic science fiction trilogy. It tells the adventure of Dr. Ransom, a Cambridge academic, who is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet’s treasures and plan to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there. Ransom discovers he has come from the “silent planet”—Earth—whose tragic story is known throughout the universe!

Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

Perelandra is a planet of pleasure, an unearthly, misty world of strange desires, sweet smells, and delicious tastes, where beasts are friendly and naked beauty is unashamed, a new Garden of Eden, where the story of the oldest temptation is enacted in an intriguingly new way. Here, in the second part of the trilogy, Dr. Ransom’s adventures continue against the backdrop of a religious allegory that, while it may seem quaint in its treatment of women today, nonetheless shows the capability of science to be an evil force tempting a ruler away from the path that has produced a paradisiac kingdom.

That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

In this, the final book in C.S. Lewis’s acclaimed Space Trilogy, which includes Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, That Hideous Strength concludes the adventures of the matchless Dr. Ransom. Finding himself in a world of superior alien beings and scientific experiments run amok, Dr. Ransom struggles with questions of ethics and morality, applying age-old wisdom to a brave new universe dominated by science. His quest for truth is a journey filled with intrigue and suspense.

Know What You Believe by Paul Little

What does Christianity have to do with anything? What does the Christian faith teach about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit? What do I need to know about angels, Satan and demons? What place should the Bible or a church have in my life? By exploring these and other core questions, bestselling author Paul E. Little leads you into a greater appreciation of a God who has done great things to bring you into a relationship with him through Jesus Christ. He presents ten bottom-line, non-negotiable truths of Christianity using humorous, anecdotal illustrations gathered from years of experience helping believers share their faith with not-yet Christians. Expanded and updated throughout by Paul’s wife Marie, this contemporary edition is packed with illuminating answers to questions and misconceptions about the Christian faith, with study questions for each chapter.

Know Why You Believe by Paul Little

After 2,000 years, no question is going to bring Christianity crashing.” Do science and Scripture conflict? Are miracles possible? Is Christian experience real? Why does God allow suffering and evil? These are just a few of the twelve most common intellectual challenges to faith that Paul E. Little encountered during his twenty-five years of speaking and teaching in the university. These questions need solid answers, and that’s what a million people have already found in this clear and reasonable response to the toughest questions posed to Christian belief. Sprinkling in a few “sure-fire jokes” and other humorous illustrations, Little uses these questions to jog readers’ thinking and help them examine their present worldviews, ranging from scientific determinism to rabid existentialism. By thinking through the most common challenges to Christian faith, believers will be prepared to answer others out of the wellspring of their own certainty. This edition, revised and updated by Marie Little in consultation with experts in science and archaeology, provides twenty-first-century information and offers solid ground for those who are willing to search for truth. Including a study guide for individuals or groups, Know Why You Believe is the classic answerbook on Christian faith.

The Baronet’s Song by George MacDonald

This is the captivating story of an orphan whose life communicates truth despite his inability to speak, told by the master nineteenth-century Scottish storyteller, George MacDonald.

Streams to the River, River to the Sea by Scott O’Dell

In this redesigned edition of Scott O’Dell’s classic novel, a young Native American woman, accompanied by her infant and her cruel husband, experiences joy and heartbreak when she joins the Lewis and Clark expedition seeking a way to the Pacific.

The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day by Scott O’Dell 

Tom Barton and his Uncle Jack help William Tyndale smuggle newly translated Bibles into England.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

The Scarlet Pimpernel was first published in 1905 and has proved to be Orczy’s most famous and popular novel. The work was originally rejected by publishers, so she refashioned it as a play, with little initial success.
The book continued to be popular throughout the twentieth century and was adapted for film, stage and television on multiple occasions. One of the most famous and well-considered adaptations is the 1934 film starring Leslie Howard and directed by Harold Young. The television adaptations include a 1955-56 version and the 1999-2000 BBC production starring Richard E. Grant and Elizabeth McGovern.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is set in 1792 during the French Revolution, but centres on an English hero performing great and brave deeds in a violent and murderous climate. Marguerite St Just is a beautiful French actress, who is married to the English fop, Sir Percy Blakeney. The couple have become estranged as Marguerite has tired of her husband’s seemingly superficial lifestyle. She has heard about the exploits of the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel — an unknown English man — who is daily helping French aristocrats to escape the Revolution. She is captivated and entranced by the stories surrounding him, but is soon forced into a position where she must assist the French ambassador to England in capturing the elusive man. Orczy’s novel unfolds with a series of twists and turns, with frequent moments of excitement and tension. The author’s aristocratic heritage no doubt contributed to the politically conservative nature of the work, and her desire to make the hero of a tale an Englishman also underlines not only her own views but her belief in the nationalistic disposition of her English readership.

The Good Master by Kate Seredy

Jancsi is overjoyed to hear that his cousin from Budapest is coming to spend the summer on his father’s ranch on the Hungarian plains. But their summer proves more adventurous than he had hoped when headstrong Kate arrives, as together they share horseback races across the plains, country fairs and festivals, and a dangerous run-in with the gypsies.
 
In vividly detailed scenes and beautiful illustrations, this Newbery Award-winning author presents an unforgettable world and characters who will be remembered forever. 

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (author of The Witch of Blackbird Pond) won the Newbery Medal in 1962. This gripping, action-packed novel tells the story of 18-year-old Daniel bar Jamin – a fierce, hotheaded young man bent on revenging his father’s death by forcing the Romans from his land of Israel. Daniel’s palpable hatred for Romans wanes only when he starts to hear the gentle lessons of the traveling carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth. 

A fast-paced, suspenseful, vividly wrought tale of friendship, loyalty, the idea of home, community, and ultimately, as Jesus says to Daniel: “Can’t you see, Daniel, it is hate that is the enemy? Not men. Hate does not die with killing. It only springs up a hundredfold. The only thing stronger than hate is love.” 

The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses is an 1888 historical and romance novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. The novel is set in the reign of King Henry VI and during the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487). The book tells the story of Richard Shelton becoming a knight, rescuing his lady Joanna Sedley, and obtaining justice for the murder of his father, Sir Harry Shelton. Outlaws in Tunstall Forest main weapon and calling card is a black arrow.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

A new, beautifully laid-out, easy-to-read edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic thriller, originally published 1886.

Morning Star of the Reformation by Andy Thomas

When young John of Wycliffe arrives at Oxford University, he finds it a fascinating and perilous place. With his friend, Sebastian Ayleton, John experiences the terrible plague called “the pestilence” (the Black Death), and he becomes involved in clashes between university factions as well as riots among the townspeople. Whenever he can find time away from his studies, John’s favorite place is the inn of the Kicking Pony. There, he and his companions discuss the political and religious issues of the day, and it is with his friends that he first shares his growing vision of an English Bible for all Englishmen to read. In the darkness of medieval England, John’s pursuit of truth gleams like a solitary star, the morning star that promises the sunrise to come. He paved the way for the theologians of the next century and opened hearts in preparation for the great Reformation itself.

Historical fiction

The American Revolution (Landmark) by Bruce Bliven

In the American colonies of the 1770s, people were fed up with British laws. Local farmers and tradesmen secretly formed a militia. In 1775, when the British marched into Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, the Americans were ready. From that first battle to the final showdown at Yorktown, the Americans fought against tremendous odds. The British army was bigger and better trained. Food and guns were scarce. But George Washington’s ragged army fought for–and won–the freedom and independence we cherish to this day.Illustrated with black-and-white photographs, the tale of our country’s fight for independence is brought to life in fast-moving, dramatic detail.

A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal by Joan Bios

Thirteen-year-old Catherine Cabot Hall put ink to the first unblemished page of her diary on October 17, 1830, the day after her father returned from Boston with the diary tucked conspicuously under his arm. Catherine’s mother had died of fever four years before, and now Catherine performed the duties of housewife and mother, living contentedly with her father and younger sister, Matty, on their New Hampshire farm. In spite of the daily hardships, Catherine had much to be thankful for, especially for Cassie, her dearest friend. But when Catherine received a disturbing note from a stranger, she wasn’t sure what she should do or who she should tell. Only her diary knew the anguish in her heart. Would her secret drive a wedge in her friendship with Cassie or bind them together forever? 

Guns of Thunder by Douglas Bond

“Make one move,” he said, cocking the gun, his voice low, “and I’ll slay ye with yer own weapon.”

The M’Kethe clan finds itself in pre-Revolutionary War Connecticut weathering a storm of religious and political upheaval. Ian M’Kethe is forced to make a choice in the face of enormous odds as tensions mount between the colonists and the French with their Indian allies. Forging an unlikely friendship with Watookoog, an Indian, Ian risks everything and gains something he thought he had lost forever.

The Faith & Freedom Trilogy, sequel to the Crown & Covenant Series, chronicles new generations of the M’Kethe family who find freedom in 18th-century America. Adventure is afoot as Old World tyrannies clash with New World freedoms. Douglas Bond weaves together fictional characters and historical figures from Scottish and American history.

Rebel’s Keep by Douglas Bond

In Scotland in 1679, the beleagured Covenanters continue to endure religious persecution at the hands of King Charles II, and Angus M’Kethe and his family begin to think of leaving their country.

The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party by Marian Calabro

n late October 1846, the last wagon train of that year’s westward migration stopped overnight before resuming its arduous climb over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, unaware that a fearsome storm was gathering force. After months of grueling travel, the 81 men, women and children would be trapped for a brutal winter with little food and only primitive shelter. The conclusion is known: by spring of the next year, the Donner Party was synonymous with the most harrowing extremes of human survival. But until now, the full story of what happened, what it tells us about human nature and about America’s westward expansion, remained shrouded in myth.

Drawing on fresh archaeological evidence, recent research on topics ranging from survival rates to snowfall totals, and heartbreaking letters and diaries made public by descendants a century-and-a-half after the tragedy, Ethan Rarick offers an intimate portrait of the Donner party and their unimaginable ordeal: a mother who must divide her family, a little girl who shines with courage, a devoted wife who refuses to abandon her husband, a man who risks his life merely to keep his word. But Rarick resists both the gruesomely sensationalist accounts of the Donner party as well as later attempts to turn the survivors into archetypal pioneer heroes. “The Donner Party,” Rarick writes, “is a story of hard decisions that were neither heroic nor villainous. Often, the emigrants displayed a more realistic and typically human mixture of generosity and selfishness, an alloy born of necessity.”

A fast-paced, heart-wrenching, clear-eyed narrative history, A Desperate Hope casts new light on one of America’s most horrific encounters between the dream of a better life and the harsh realities such dreams so often must confront.

Noah Webster: Master of Words by David Collins

He served his fellow man and country with unselfish devotion. His dictionary speaks for itself.

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

It is 1757. Across north-eastern America the armies of Britain and France struggle for ascendancy. Their conflict, however, overlays older struggles between nations of native Americans for possession of the same lands and between the native peoples and white colonisers. Through these layers of conflict Cooper threads a thrilling narrative, in which Cora and Alice Munro, daughters of a British commander on the front line of the colonial war, attempt to join their father. Thwarted by Magua, the sinister ‘Indian runner’, they find help in the person of Hawk-eye, the white woodsman, and his companions, the Mohican Chingachgook and Uncas, his son, the last of his tribe. 
Cooper’s novel is full of vivid incident- pursuits through wild terrain, skirmishes, treachery and brutality- but reflects also on the interaction between the colonists and the native peoples. Through the character of Hawkeye, Cooper raises lasting questions about the practises of the American frontier and the eclipse of the indigenous cultures.

Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia (Landmark) by Margaret Cousins

Benjamin Franklin was one of the busiest men in the American colonies. He was a printer, a postmaster, an inventor, a writer, and a diplomat. When the Revolutionary War began, Ben supported America in the Continental Congress. Like the clever adages from his Poor Richard’s Almanac, Ben Franklin still sets an example for Americans today.

Mark Twain by Clinton Cox

An introduction to the life of Mark Twain examines his many achievements as a riverboat pilot, newspaper reporter, adventurer, satirist, and author of many classic works including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Undying Glory: True Story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment by Clinton Cox

Undying Glory was chosen as a CBC/NCSS Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies. Kirkus Reviews gave it an outstanding starred review, saying it showed how black soldiers “proved their competence and dignity against incredible odds.” Another reviewer declared that the battle scenes rivaled “any I have read in fiction or nonfiction.”The success of the 54th Regiment at Fort Wagner and other battles cleared the way for the enlistment of 200,000 black men in the Civil War that ended slavery. The story of their courage, said one Union commander, “will be forever traced in undying glory.”

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe

Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. This first edition credited the work’s fictional protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents. It was published under the considerably longer original title The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character (whose birth name is Robinson Kreutznaer)—a castaway who spends years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued.The story is widely perceived to have been influenced by the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on the Pacific island called “Más a Tierra” (in 1966 its name was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island), Chile. However, other possible sources have been put forward for the text. It is possible, for example, that Defoe was inspired by the Latin or English translations of Ibn Tufail’s Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, an earlier novel also set on a desert island. Another source for Defoe’s novel may have been Robert Knox’s account of his abduction by the King of Ceylon in 1659 in “An Historical Account of the Island Ceylon,” Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons (Publishers to the University), 1911.

Of Courage Undaunted by James Daugherty

Newbery and Caldecott Medal winner James Daugherty has applied his literary and artistic skill to bringing to life the remarkable expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their 3555-mile trek from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. Taken largely from original accounts of the expedition, Daugherty has written in his simple, forceful, and lyrical way to evoke the drama and pathos of what was one of American’s most daring journeys of discovery. 

Commissioned in 1803 by President Thomas Jefferson to explore and open up this vast territory, Lewis and Clark felt it was the realization of a lifelong dream. Against the hardships of the wilderness, possible attack by hostile Indians, sudden blizzards and terrifying natural obstacles, these two men led the Corps of Discovery ably and nobly to complete their mission. Their Corps included American Indians from the Sioux, Mandan, Shoshone, Clatsop and Chopunnish tribes. Sacajawea, the only woman on the trip, was a Shoshone woman who contributed invaluable service as interpreter and guide. Daugherty’s evocative sepia and black ink illustrations depict individuals of humor, vitality, passion, and strength.

The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty

In England in the early 1600s, everyone was forced to join the Church of England. Young William Bradford and his friends believed they had every right to belong to whichever church they wanted. In the name of religious freedom, they fled to Holland, then sailed to America to start a new life. But the winter was harsh, and before a year passed, half the settlers had died. Yet, through hard work and strong faith, a tough group of Pilgrims did survive. Their belief in freedom of religion became an American ideal that still lives on today.

James Daugherty draws on the Pilgrims’ own journals to give a fresh and moving account of their life and traditions, their quest for religious freedom, and the founding of one of our nation’s most beloved holidays; Thanksgiving.

I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth de Trevino

In the era of Rembrandt, Rubens, and Van Dyke, Spain had its own great painter: Diego Velasquez. His assistant is an African slave, Juan, who, by helping his master in his studio in the preparation of paints and stretching of canvasses, becomes an artist himself. Self-taught by watching his master’s technique, he is torn between the need to keep his secret, for such work as the creation of art is forbidden to slaves, and the desire to reveal his own talents.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Johnny Tremain is one of the finest historical novels ever written for children. To read this riveting novel is to live through the defining events leading up to the American Revolutionary War. Fourteen-year-old Johnny Tremain, an apprentice silversmith with a bright future, injures his hand in an accident, forcing him to look for other work. In his new job as a horse boy, he encounters John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren. Soon Johnny is involved in pivotal events from the Boston Tea Party to the shots fired at Lexington. For this anniversary edition, Nathan Hale brings his distinct graphic-novel storytelling to a new foreword.

Paul Revere and the World He Lived In by Esther Forbes

This vivid account of the life and times of Paul Revere was first published in 1942 to great acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize. An elegant storyteller and expert historian, Edith Forbes paints a memorable portrait of American colonial history and of this most legendary of revolutionary heroes — “not merely one man riding one horse on a certain lonely night of long ago, but a symbol to which his countrymen can yet turn.”

George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster

The period measured by the life of George Washington, 1732 to 1799, was one of revolution and change in many parts of the world as Enlightenment thinking took hold in the minds of men. Prolifically illustrated with intriguing line drawings and detailed timelines, Foster’s telling of the life story of George Washington does justice to the man it celebrates. 

When George was a young man, Benjamin Franklin was the most well-known American, Louis XV was on the throne of France, and George II was king of England. Father Junipero Serra had just arrived in Mexico to work with the Panes Indians. Mozart and Bach were writing their immortal music and Voltaire warred with his pen against Ignorance, Injustice and Superstition. The young nobleman Lafayette watched the feisty American colonies with fascinated interest as they stood up to Mother England when she sought to tax them unfairly. James Cook was sent by the Royal Society of London to Tahiti where their team of astronomers might observe a total eclipse of the sun and thereby accurately measure the distance between the earth and the sun. 

These are just a few of the wonderful narratives explored by Foster in this engaging biography.

Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille by Russell Freedman

A biography of the 19th century Frenchman who developed Braille. The book spans Braille’s life from childhood through his days at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth and into his final years, when the alphabet he invented was finally gaining acceptance.

The Double Life of Pocahontas by Jean Fritz

In a story that is as gripping as it is historical, Newbery Honor-winning author Jean Fritz reveals the true life of Pocahontas. Though at first permitted to move freely between the Indian and the white worlds, Pocahontas was eventually torn between her new life and the culture that shaped her.

Why Not, Lafayette? by Jean Fritz

A young Frenchman of nineteen traveling across the sea to help a struggling nation fight for its independence? Why not? To Lafayette, anything was possible. A man who threw off the boundaries imposed on him to stand up for what he believed, the Marquis de Lafayette grew from an idealistic young man searching for honor and glory, into an idealistic statesman with rock-solid principles of liberty. Here, Jean Fritz brings to life the exciting story of the brave and appealing man known as “The Hero of the New World.”

The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

A new edition of The Federalist Papers — the collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym “Publius” to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1787-1788.

Cromwell’s Boy by Erik Haugaard

A 13-year-old spy’s wit and horsemanship make him invaluable to the Cromwell forces as they fight against King Charles.

The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson

Stories of magic, superstition, and witchcraft were strictly forbidden in the little town of Salem Village. But a group of young girls ignored those rules, spellbound by the tales told by a woman named Tituba.  When questioned about their activities, the terrified girls set off a whirlwind of controversy as they accused townsperson after townsperson of being witches. Author Shirley Jackson examines in careful detail this horrifying true story of accusations, trials, and executions that shook a community to its foundations.

Jahanara: Princess of Princesses by Kathryn Lasky

Experience the sumptuous wealth and the unforgettable drama within the Moghul Dynasty of seventeenth-century India through Newbery Honor- author Kathryn Lasky’s diary of Princess Jahanara.

In the 1600s, the Moghul emperors of India were among the greatest and most superb rulers of the East. Jahanara is the daughter of one of these powerful figures, Shah Jahan, The Magnificent. A lover of refinement, his courts are of the finest architecture, priceless painting, unbelievable gardens, and ultra-fabulous wealth. Jahanara, the oldest and favorite of his children, is showered with emeralds and diamonds and rubies. She is attended by numerous servants and learned tutors. But her world is not one of complete

The Captive Princess by Wendy Lawton

Once upon a time there was an Algonquin princess named Pocahontas, a curious 10-year-old who loved exploring the tidewater lands of her people. One day she encounters strangers, a group of people that look different from her own. She befriends them, and when her people come into conflict with these new settlers, Pocahontas steps in to save the life of one of them by offering her own. Based on the true story of Pocahontas’ early life.

The Tinker’s Daughter by Wendy Lawton

John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress, only mentioned one of his children in his memoirs- Mary. Born blind, her story still intrigues us today. Mary developed a fierce determination for independence despite her disability after years of proving she was not hindered by her blindness. Only when she admits she needs help does she tap into the Source of all strength.

Forgotten Founding Father: George Whitefield by Stephen Mansfield

For many of those who are even familiar with his name, George Whitfield is thought of as a preacher, a man connected with the Great Awakening in the 1700s. While this is true, it is only part of the story. As a student at Oxford University, he experienced a spiritual awakening under the influence of John Wesley’s Methodists and immediately began tending to prisoners, caring for the poor, and preaching the Christian gospel. He met with astounding success, in time speaking to larger crowds than had ever gathered in the history of England. Whitefield became the most famous man of his age. His impact upon the American colonies, however, may have been his most lasting gift. In seven tours of the colonies, Whitfield preached from Georgia to Maine, calling the colonists to spiritual conversion and challenging them in their sense of national destiny. He befriended men like Benjamin Franklin, converted men like Patrick Henry, and inspired men like George Washington. Furthermore, when he learned that England intended to tighten her control over the colonies, Whitefield warmed his American friends in sermon after sermon and even accompanied Benjamin Franklin to make the American case in the Court of Saint James. Many of the colonists considered him the father of their revolution. Forgotten Founding Father captures the early struggles and international successes of this amazing leader. The result is a portrait of a gifted but flawed human who yielded himself as a tool in the hands of a sovereign God. Also portrayed is how important Whitfield was to the American cause and how much Americans today owe to him — a story that will inspire a new generation with a past vividly and truthfully retold.

The Ocean of Truth: The Story of Isaac Newton by Joyce McPherson

Sir Isaac Newton is one of history’s most renownedscientists. He independently developed the mathematicaltechnique known as Calculus, wrote a treatiseon the properties of light and color that is stillconsulted by scientists, and worked out the mathematical details of the law of gravity. What is less well known is the depth of his Christian faith, and the amount of writing, speaking, and research he devoted to defenses of the tenets of Biblical belief.This book makes Newton come alive for readers. From the detailed account of the events that led to his conversion, his Christian faith plays a central role in this biography, as it did in his life.

A Young Patriot by Jim Murphy

In the summer of 1776, Joseph Plumb Martin was a fifteen-year-old Connecticut farm boy who considered himself “as warm a patriot as the best of them.” He enlisted that July and stayed in the revolutionary army until hostilities ended in 1783. Martin fought under Washington, Lafayette, and Steuben. He took part in major battles in New York, Monmouth, and Yorktown. He wintered at Valley Forge and then at Morristown, considered even more severe. He wrote of his war years in a memoir that brings the American Revolution alive with telling details, drama, and a country boy’s humor. Jim Murphy lets Joseph Plumb Martin speak for himself throughout the text, weaving in historical backfround details wherever necessary, giving voice to a teenager who was an eyewitness to the fight that set America free from the British Empire.

The African Slave Trade by Shirlee Newman

Describes the history of slavery, explaining how European countries purchased and sold slaves and how they were eventually brought to the United States.

Streams to the River, River to the Sea by Scott O’Dell

In this redesigned edition of Scott O’Dell’s classic novel, a young Native American woman, accompanied by her infant and her cruel husband, experiences joy and heartbreak when she joins the Lewis and Clark expedition seeking a way to the Pacific.

Hero Tales from American History by T. Roosevelt

Courage under Fire. Self-Sacrifice. Battles that Changed America.

American history is full of men and women who have acted courageously when their families, communities and country needed them most. Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt discovered they both loved telling the stories of these outstanding individuals who helped make America. They pared down their favorite stories to 26 and gave them as a gift to the young people of America in 1895.

The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville is pleased to make this volume available again to America’s youth in hopes that it inspires them to learn more of our history and encourages them to new acts of heroism.

The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery

The Revolutionary War is seen through the eyes of a British family to whom an American prisioner of war has been entrusted. Technically the young prisioner is in Uncle Lawrence’s custody, but the children soon forge a forbidden friendship with him. He becomes The Reb and they, his Redcoats. After the Reb nearly dies, even Uncle Lawrence, embittered by the unjust death of a friend in America, thaws toward him-but this doesn’t stop the Reb from scheming to escape. Constance Savery deftly weaves themes of trust and forgiveness into an interesting plot with likeable characters.

How We Crossed the West by Rosalyn Schnauzer

Appealing art and descriptive text bring Lewis and Clark alive for young adventurers. Carefully chosen text from Lewis and Cark’s actual journals opens a fascinating window into this country’s exciting history.

Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Democracy by John Severance

The words of the Declaration of Independence, so familiar to us and so important to our country, were those of Thomas Jefferson. He was a primary force behind United States independence. Without his influence, our country would be vastly different from the nation we know today. Jefferson initiated public education, established a national library, and paved the way for the abolishment of slavery. Although he was not a power-hungry or even ambitious politician, Jefferson served in many different offices, including president, in order to help his fledgling country remain on its feet. His faith and dedication to the idea of self-government never wavered, even in the face of many personal hardships. John B. Severance traces Jefferson’s life from his plantation boyhood to his two terms as president and his last days preparing for the opening of the University of Virginia, weaving details of both Jefferson’s political career and his rich personal life together to create a thoughtful and well-researched biography. Jefferson quotes, bibliography, index.

Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare

In the year 1754, the stillness of Charlestown, New Hampshire, is shattered by the terrifying cries of an Indian raid. Young Miriam Willard, on a day that had promised new happiness, finds herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War.
 
It is a harrowing march north. Miriam can only force herself to the next stopping place, the next small portion of food, the next icy stream to be crossed. At the end of the trail waits a life of hard work and, perhaps, even a life of slavery. Mingled with her thoughts of Phineas Whitney, her sweetheart on his way to Harvard, is the crying of her sister’s baby, Captive, born on the trail.
 
Miriam and her companions finally reach Montreal, a city of shifting loyalties filled with the intrigue of war, and here, by a sudden twist of fortune, Miriam meets the prominent Du Quesne family, who introduce her to a life she has never imagined. Based on an actual narrative diary published in 1807, Calico Captive skillfully reenacts an absorbing facet of history.

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

Although he faces responsibility bravely, thirteen-year-old Matt is more than a little apprehensive when his father leaves him alone to guard their new cabin in the wilderness. When a renegade white stranger steals his gun, Matt realizes he has no way to shoot game or to protect himself. When Matt meets Attean, a boy in the Beaver clan, he begins to better understand their way of life and their growing problem in adapting to the white man and the changing frontier.

Elizabeth George Speare’s Newbery Honor-winning survival story is filled with wonderful detail about living in the wilderness and the relationships that formed between settlers and natives in the 1700s. Now with an introduction by Joseph Bruchac.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1687. Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met. Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place. Just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit. But Kit’s friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty. 

Elizabeth George Speare won the 1959 Newbery Medal for this portrayal of a heroine whom readers will admire for her unwavering sense of truth as well as her infinite capacity to love.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

The main character and narrator is 17-year-old David Balfour. (Balfour is Stevenson’s mother’s maiden name.) His parents have recently died, and he is out to make his way in the world. He is given a letter by the minister of Essendean, Mr Campbell, to be delivered to the House of Shaws in Cramond, where David’s uncle, Ebenezer Balfour, lives.

David arrives at the ominous House of Shaws and is confronted by his paranoid Uncle Ebenezer, who is armed with a blunderbuss. His uncle is also miserly, living on “parritch” and small ale, and the House of Shaws itself is partially unfinished and somewhat ruinous. David is allowed to stay and soon discovers evidence that his father may have been older than his uncle, thus making David the rightful heir to the estate. Ebenezer asks David to get a chest from the top of a tower in the house but refuses to provide a lamp or candle. David is forced to scale the stairs in the dark and realises that not only is the tower unfinished in some places, but the steps simply end abruptly and fall into an abyss. David concludes that his uncle intended for him to have an “accident” so as not to have to give over his nephew’s inheritance.Alexander Stoddart’s Kidnapped statue at Corstorphine, Edinburgh, depicting Alan Breck Stewart and David Balfour at their final parting on Corstorphine Hill. This statue misrepresents the characters’ heights: Balfour is supposed to be at least a foot taller than Breck.

David confronts his uncle, who promises to tell David the whole story of his father the next morning. A ship’s cabin boy, Ransome, arrives the next day and tells Ebenezer that Captain Hoseason of the brig Covenant needs to meet him to discuss business. Ebenezer takes David to a pier on the Firth of Forth, where Hoseason awaits, and David makes the mistake of leaving his uncle alone with the captain while he visits the shore with Ransome. Hoseason later offers to take them on board the brig briefly, and David complies, only to see his uncle returning to shore alone in a skiff. David is then immediately struck senselessly.

David awakens, bound hand and foot, in the hold of the ship, and learns that the captain plans to sell him into slavery in the Carolinas. But the ship encounters contrary winds, which drive her back toward Scotland. Fog-bound near the Hebrides, they strike a small boat. All of the small boat’s crew are killed except one man, Alan Breck Stewart, who is brought on board and offers Hoseason a large sum of money to drop him off on the mainland. David later overhears the crew plotting to kill Alan and take all his money. David and Alan barricade themselves in the roundhouse, where Alan kills the murderous Shuan, and David wounds Hoseason. Five of the crew members are killed outright, and the rest refuse to continue fighting.

Hoseason has no choice but to give Alan and David passage back to the mainland. David tells his tale to Alan, who in turn states that his birthplace, Appin, is under the tyrannical administration of Colin Roy of Glenure, the King’s factor and a Campbell. Alan, who is a Jacobite agent and wears a French uniform, vows that should he find the “Red Fox” he will kill him.

The Covenant tries to negotiate a difficult channel without a proper chart or pilot and is soon driven aground on the notorious Torran Rocks. David and Alan are separated in the confusion, with David being washed ashore on the isle of Erraid, near Mull, while Alan and the surviving crew row to safety on that same island. David spends a few days alone in the wild before getting his bearings.

David learns that his new friend has survived, and David has two encounters with beggarly guides: one who attempts to stab him with a knife, and another who is blind but an excellent shot with a pistol. David soon reaches Torosay, where he is ferried across the river, receives further instructions from Alan’s friend Neil Roy McRob, and later meets a catechist who takes the lad to the mainland.Kidnapped cover, by William Brassey Hole, London edition, Cassell and Company, 1886

As he continues his journey, David encounters none other than the Red Fox (Colin Roy) himself, who is accompanied by a lawyer, a servant, and a sheriff’s officer. When David stops the Campbell man to ask him for directions, a hidden sniper kills the King’s hated agent.

David is denounced as a conspirator and flees for his life, but by chance reunites with Alan. The youth believes Alan is the assassin, but Alan denies responsibility. Alan and David then begin their flight through the heather, hiding from government soldiers by day. As the trek drains David’s strength, his health rapidly deteriorates; by the time they are set upon by wild Highlanders who are sentries for Cluny Macpherson, an outlawed chief in hiding, the lad is barely conscious. Alan convinces Cluny to give them shelter, and David is tended by a Highland doctor. He soon recovers, though in the meantime Alan loses all of their money at cards with Cluny, only for Cluny to give it back when David practically begs for it.

When David and Alan resume their flight in cold and rainy weather, David becomes ill again, and Alan carries him on his back down the burn to reach the nearest house, fortuitously that of a Maclaren, Duncan Dhu, who is both an ally of the Stewarts and a skilled piper. David is bedridden and given a doctor’s care, while Alan hides nearby, visiting after dark.

In one of the most humorous passages in the book, Alan convinces an innkeeper’s daughter from Limekilns that David is a dying young Jacobite nobleman, despite David’s objections, and she ferries them across the Firth of Forth. There, they meet a lawyer of David’s uncle’s, Mr. Rankeillor, who agrees to help David receive his inheritance. Rankeillor explains that David’s father and uncle had once quarrelled over a woman, David’s mother, and the older Balfour had married her, informally giving the estate to his brother while living as an impoverished schoolteacher with his wife. This agreement had lapsed with his death.

David and the lawyer hide in bushes outside Ebenezer’s house while Alan speaks to him, claiming to be a man who found David nearly dead after the wreck of the Covenant and says he is representing folk holding him captive in the Hebrides. He asks David’s uncle whether Alan should kill David or keep him. The uncle flatly denies Alan’s statement that David had been kidnapped but eventually admits that he paid Hoseason “twenty pound” to take David to “Caroliny”. David and Rankeillor then emerge from their hiding places, and speak with Ebenezer in the kitchen, eventually agreeing that David will be provided two-thirds of the estate’s income for as long as his uncle lives.

The novel ends with David and Alan parting ways on Corstorphine Hill; Alan returns to France, and David goes to a bank to settle his money.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of “buccaneers and buried gold”. Its influence is enormous on popular perceptions of pirates, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an “X”, schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders.

Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates

Amos Fortune, a young African prince of a tribe called the At-mun-shi, was born free in Africa in 1710. He lives a peaceful life until a raid on their village by slavers kills his father, the chief. At-mun is kidnapped, transported to America via the White Falcon (a slave ship), and sold in New England. Now called ‘Amos’, he is sold to a man named Caleb Copeland, and though the Copeland family do not treat him badly he rejects his slave status and determines to earn his freedom. He comes to an arrangement with Copeland, but when Caleb dies in debt the arrangement is disregarded, and so Amos Fortune is sold again to a man named Ichabod Richardson. Richardson teaches Amos about tanning, and he becomes a skilled worker. He is now about thirty. Amos works for Richardson for four years, then buys his freedom. He marries a woman named Lily, whose freedom he also buys; but she dies a year later. Amos is sad that she died, yet happy she died a free woman. Later he marries another African woman named Lydia, and it takes three more years to save up her freedom price. Lydia dies a year later. Again, Amos is sad she died but happy that she died free. He marries a younger woman named Violet, and he buys freedom for her daughter too. Amos moves to Jaffrey, New Hampshire to start his own tanning business there, and does so despite opposition. Eventually Amos saves up enough money that he buys his own land and he builds a house and a barn.

At one point Amos becomes very angry with his wife, who has taken money from him. He climbs Mt. Monadnock and does not leave until he gets an answer from God. Eventually he receives his answer and climbs back down, then forgives his wife as she is sorry for stealing his money. She had done it to keep him from helping a woman named Lois who needed help to keep her children from being taken away. She was lazy and would not support her children, but Amos had pity on her. He decides against helping her and keeps the money. Amos goes to buy the land that he has always wanted. They buy the land and they build a house before winter. They also build a place where Amos can work as a tanner. At this point in his life, he is 80 years old.

Nonfiction

Facing Frederick : The Life Of Frederick Douglass, A Monumental American Man by Tonya Bolden

Teacher. Self-emancipator. Orator. Author. Man. Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) is one of the most important African American figures in US history, best known, perhaps, for his own emancipation. But there is much more to Douglass’s story than his time spent in slavery and his famous autobiography. Delving into his family life and travel abroad, this book captures the whole complicated, and at times perplexing, person that he was. As a statesman, suffragist, writer, newspaperman, and lover of the arts, Douglass the man, rather than the historical icon, is the focus in Facing Frederick.

Votes For Women! : American Suffragists And The Battle For The Ballot by Winifred Conkling

On August 18, 1920, American women finally won the right to vote. Ratification of the 19th Amendment was the culmination of an almost 80-year fight in which some of the fiercest, most passionate women in history marched, protested, and sometimes broke the law in to achieve this huge leap toward equal rights.

In this expansive yet personal volume, author Winifred Conkling covers not only the suffragists’ achievements and politics but also the private journeys that fueled their passion and led them to become women’s champions.

From Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who founded the suffrage movement at the 1848 Seneca Falls convention; to Victoria Woodhull, the first female candidate for president; to Sojourner Truth and her famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?”; to Alice Paul, who was arrested and force-fed in prison, Conkling combines thorough research with gripping storytelling to bring the battle for the right to vote to vivid life.

Votes for Women! also explores the movement’s often powerful, sometimes difficult relationship with the temperance and abolition movements, and takes unflinching look at some of the uglier moments in the fight for the women’s vote. Votes for Women! is a mesmerizing listen, perfect for fans of propulsive narrative nonfiction stories like Most Dangerous and The Family Romanov.

Enchanted Air : Two Cultures, Two Wings, A Memoir by Margarita Engle

In this poetic memoir, which won the Pura Belpré Author Award, was a YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, and was named a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, acclaimed author Margarita Engle tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War.

Margarita is a girl from two worlds. Her heart lies in Cuba, her mother’s tropical island country, a place so lush with vibrant life that it seems like a fairy tale kingdom. But most of the time she lives in Los Angeles, lonely in the noisy city and dreaming of the summers when she can take a plane through the enchanted air to her beloved island. Words and images are her constant companions, friendly and comforting when the children at school are not.

Then a revolution breaks out in Cuba. Margarita fears for her far-away family. When the hostility between Cuba and the United States erupts at the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Margarita’s worlds collide in the worst way possible. How can the two countries she loves hate each other so much? And will she ever get to visit her beautiful island again?

The Family Romanov : Murder, Rebellion, And The Fall Of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming

[A] superb history…. In these thrilling, highly readable pages, we meet Rasputin, the shaggy, lecherous mystic…; we visit the gilded ballrooms of the doomed aristocracy; and we pause in the sickroom of little Alexei, the hemophiliac heir who, with his parents and four sisters, would be murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918.” —The Wall Street Journal

Here is the tumultuous, heartrending, true story of the Romanovs—at once an intimate portrait of Russia’s last royal family and a gripping account of its undoing. Using captivating photos and compelling first person accounts, award-winning author Candace Fleming (Amelia Lost;The Lincolns) deftly maneuvers between the imperial family’s extravagant lives and the plight of Russia’s poor masses, making this an utterly mesmerizing read as well as a perfect resource for meeting Common Core standards.

A Dog In The Cave : The Wolves Who Made Us Human by Kay Frydenborg

We know dogs are our best animal friends, but have you ever thought about what that might mean? Fossils show we’ve shared our work and homes with dogs for tens of thousands of years. Now there’s growing evidence that we influenced dogs’ evolution—and they, in turn, changed ours. Even more than our closest relatives, the apes, dogs are the species with whom we communicate best.
      Combining history, paleontology, biology, and cutting-edge medical science, Kay Frydenborg paints a picture of how two different species became deeply entwined—and how we coevolved into the species we are today.

Strange Fruit. Volume 1, Uncelebrated Narratives From Black History by Joel Christian Gill

Strange Fruit Volume I is a collection of stories from early African American history that represent the oddity of success in the face of great adversity. Each of the nine illustrated chapters chronicles an uncelebrated African American hero or event. From the adventures of lawman Bass Reeves, to Henry “Box” Brown’s daring escape from slavery.

Girl Code : Gaming, Going Viral, And Getting It Done by Andrea Gonzales

Perfect for aspiring coders everywhere, Girl Code is the story of two teenage tech phenoms who met at Girls Who Code summer camp, teamed up to create a viral video game, and ended up becoming world famous. The book also includes bonus content to help you start coding!

Fans of funny and inspiring books like Maya Van Wagenen’s Popular and Caroline Paul’s Gutsy Girl will love hearing about Andrea “Andy” Gonzales and Sophie Houser’s journey from average teens to powerhouses.

Through the success of their video game, Andy and Sophie got unprecedented access to some of the biggest start-ups and tech companies, and now they’re sharing what they’ve seen. Their video game and their commitment to inspiring young women have been covered by the Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, CNN, Teen Vogue, Jezebel, the Today show, and many more.

Get ready for an inside look at the tech industry, the true power of coding, and some of the amazing women who are shaping the world. Andy and Sophie reveal not only what they’ve learned about opportunities in science and technology but also the true value of discovering your own voice and creativity.

Vincent And Theo : The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman

The deep and enduring friendship between Vincent and Theo Van Gogh shaped both brothers’ lives. Confidant, champion, sympathizer, friend—Theo supported Vincent as he struggled to find his path in life. They shared everything, swapping stories of lovers and friends, successes and disappointments, dreams and ambitions. Meticulously researched, drawing on the 658 letters Vincent wrote to Theo during his lifetime, Deborah Heiligman weaves a tale of two lives intertwined and the extraordinary love of the Van Gogh brothers.

The Faithful Spy : Dietrich Bonhoeffer And The Plot To Kill Hitler by John Hendrix

Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party is gaining strength and becoming more menacing every day. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor upset by the complacency of the German church toward the suffering around it, forms a breakaway church to speak out against the established political and religious authorities. When the Nazis outlaw the church, he escapes as a fugitive. Struggling to reconcile his faith and the teachings of the Bible with the Nazi Party’s evil agenda, Bonhoeffer decides that Hitler must be stopped by any means possible!
 
In his signature style of interwoven handwritten text and art, John Hendrix tells the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to help free the German people from oppression during World War II.

Fatal Fever : Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow

This engrossing story reveals the facts behind Mary Mallon, a hardworking Irish cook hired by several of New York’s well-to-do families, who ultimately came to be known as “Typhoid Mary”.  Read how Mary unwittingly spread deadly bacteria, the ways an epidemiologist discovered her trail of infection, and how the health department ultimately decided her fate. Young readers will be on the edges of their seats wondering what happened to Mary and the innocent typhoid victims. The book includes a glossary, timeline, list of well-known typhoid sufferers and victims, further resource section, author’s note, and source notes.

Beyond Magenta : Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

I’ve always loved my body, and now I love it even more because it fits how I feel.” – Jessy 

“Learn your pronouns because I don’t want to have to slap somebody tonight.” – Christina 

“Transition? Everyone goes through one kind of transition or another. We go through transitions every day. Except mine is maybe a little more extreme.” – Mariah 

“Being trans is not the next step to being gay. They are similar in that they are both breaking gender rules.” – Cameron 

“When people say I look male or female, it messes up my head. – Nat 

“My family was okay with me being gay, but trans was a different issue for them. I think a lot of it was because they had no experience with it.” – Luke 

In Beyond Magenta, six teens tell what it is like for them to be members of the transgender community.

Voices In The Air : Poems For Listeners by Noami Shihab Nye

Acclaimed and award-winning poet, teacher, and National Book Award finalist Naomi Shihab Nye’s uncommon and unforgettable voice offers readers peace, humor, inspiration, and solace. This volume of almost one hundred original poems is a stunning and engaging tribute to the diverse voices past and present that comfort us, compel us, lead us, and give us hope. 

Voices in the Air is a collection of almost one hundred original poems written by the award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye in honor of the artists, writers, poets, historical figures, ordinary people, and diverse luminaries from past and present who have inspired her. Full of words of encouragement, solace, and hope, this collection offers a message of peace and empathy.

Voices in the Air celebrates the inspirational people who strengthen and motivate us to create, to open our hearts, and to live rewarding and graceful lives. With short informational bios about the influential figures behind each poem, and a transcendent introduction by the poet, this is a collection to cherish, read again and again, and share with others. Includes an index.

The Whydah : A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked, And Found by Martin W. Sandler

The 1650s to the 1730s marked the golden age of piracy, when fearsome pirates like Blackbeard ruled the waves, seeking not only treasure but also large and fast ships to carry it. The Whydah was just such a ship, built to ply the Triangular Trade route, which it did until one of the greediest pirates of all, Black Sam Bellamy, commandeered it. Filling the ship to capacity with treasure, Bellamy hoped to retire with his bounty – but in 1717 the ship sank in a storm off Cape Cod. For more than two hundred years, the wreck of the Whydah (and the riches that went down with it) eluded treasure seekers, until the ship was finally found in 1984 by marine archaeologists. The artifacts brought up from the ocean floor are priceless, both in value and in the picture they reveal of life in that much-mythologized era, changing much of what we know about pirates.

The 57 Bus by  Dashka Slater

One teenager in a skirt. 
One teenager with a lighter.
One moment that changes both of their lives forever. 

If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight.

Chasing King’s Killer : The Hunt For Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Assassin by James L. Swanson

In his meteoric, thirteen-year rise to fame, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a mass movement for Civil Rights — with his relentless peaceful, non-violent protests, public demonstrations, and eloquent speeches. But as violent threats cast a dark shadow over Dr. King’s life, Swanson hones in on James Earl Ray, a bizarre, racist, prison escapee who tragically ends King’s life.

As he did in his bestselling Scholastic MG/YA books Chasing LIncoln’s Killer and “THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN SHOT!”, Swanson transports readers back to one of the most shocking, sad, and terrifying events in American history.

Over 80 photographs, captions, bibliography, various source notes, and index included.

North American Indian by DK Eyewitness

DK Eyewitness Books: North American Indian is an original and exciting new guide to the fascinating civilizations of North American Indians. Included are full-color photographs that offer a unique and revealing “eyewitness” view of this rich culture. See a necklace made of bear claws, a model of a Blackfeet teepee, a false face made from cornhusks, how fish were trapped in a basket, and a Cheyenne feathered war bonnet. Learn about why love dolls were important, how turtle shells made music, what’s stored inside a parfleche, the meanings of carvings on a Haida totem pole, and much, much more. 

The most trusted nonfiction series on the market, Eyewitness Booksprovide an in-depth, comprehensive look at their subjects with a unique integration of words and pictures.

Art

Independently explores personal identity and interests through art

Is able to incorporate imagination, the elements of art and the principles of design in their artwork

Capable of explaining ideas and participating in group discussions about art and more in-depth critiques

Music