Across
the Wide and Lonesome Prairie : The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell
,1847 (Dear America ; 4)
by Kristiana Gregory
A
Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska, Lattimer, Pennsylvania,
1896
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Plucky Anetka is determined to thrive in her new life in an arranged
marriage to a Pennsylvania coal miner. In spite of the fact that her husband
doesn't love her, his three daughters still mourn their dead mother, and
she has left behind everything she knows and loves in Poland, this 13-year-old
redhead rolls up her sleeves and gets down to the backbreaking business
of keeping house.
Working conditions in the mines are horrendous and the labor movement
is rumbling; nearly every day, wives watch in frightened yet resigned anticipation
as the Black Maria, the "death wagon," rattles down the street to the newest
widow's door. When the Black Maria shows up at Anetka's shanty just a few
months after her wedding, she must dig deeper into her reserves of strength
to carry on. Luckily, a young man named Leon has been patiently waiting
in the wings. Their relationship is sweetly immature--until the very end,
she persists in trying to convince herself she can't stand him because
he teases her.
The fact that there are no real surprises in Susan Campbell Bartoletti's
historical novel will not detract from readers' enjoyment of the story.
The emphasis is on the historically accurate descriptions of coal mines
in Lattimer, Pennsylvania, during the late 1890s. An informative author's
note, photographs, notes to a coal-mining song, and even a tantalizing
recipe for potato dumplings round out this fascinating portrait of a grim
time in history. As with the other titles in the immensely popular Dear
America series, A Coal Miner's Bride is written in the form of a diary.
(Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter - Amazon.com
Early
Sunday Morning : The Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows, Hawaii, 1941
(Dear America)
by Barry Denenberg
(Hardcover - September 2001)
Freedom's
Wings: Corey's Diary, Kentucky to Ohio, 1857 (My America)
by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
Children's Fiction on the Underground Railroad
(Hardcover - May 2001)
The
Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow : The Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl, New
Mexico, 1864 (Dear America)
by Ann Warren Turner
The
Great Railroad Race : The Diary of Libby West, Utah Territory, 1868 (Dear
America)
by Kristiana Gregory
Historical Novel
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Publisher: Scholastic Trade; (April 1999)
I
Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly : The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl,
Mars Bluff, South Carolina, 1865 (Dear America ; 6)
by Joyce Hansen
Land
Of The Buffalo Bones: The Diary of Mary Elizabeth Rodgers, an English Girl
in Minnesota, New Yeovil, 1873 (Dear America)
by Marion Dane Bauer (Author)
(Hardcover)
A
Light in the Storm : The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin, Fenwick Island,
Delaware, 1861 (Dear America)
by Karen Hesse
This engaging addition to the successful Dear America series follows
the adventures of Amelia Martin, a lighthouse keeper's daughter living
on an island off the coast of Delaware in 1861. Amelia helps her father
keep the light and her mother keep the house, but she cannot keep their
marriage together. Newbery Medal recipient Karen Hesse (Out of the Dust)
cleverly personifies the conflict between North and South, abolitionist
and secessionist, Union and Confederacy in the troubled marriage of Amelia's
parents. Amelia watches, powerless, as the relationship disintegrates:
"I feel as if I am the Light in my family. I must keep my hope burning,
so that Father and Mother, even in the darkness that seems to engulf them,
might find their way back."
The broken marriage provides a powerful example of the way the Civil
War tore apart families and friendships. Girls will thrill to Amelia's
descriptions of her tomboyish responsibilities as lighthouse keeper and
family breadwinner, her burgeoning love affair with a local boy, and her
friendship with her abolitionist uncle. While some of the language and
details seem anachronistic, Hesse has crafted a remarkably elegant tale
of "girl as emotional beacon," tirelessly watching as her world crashes
on the shoals. (Ages 9 and older) --Claire Dederer - Amazon.com
Love
Thy Neighbor: The Tory Diary of Prudence Emerson, Greenmarsh, Massachusetts,
1774 (Dear America)
by Ann Turner (Author)
(Hardcover)
Mirror,
Mirror on the Wall: The Diary of Bess Brennan--The Perkins School for the
Blind, 1932 (Dear America)
by Barry Denenberg (Author)
(Hardcover)
My
Heart is on the Ground : The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl,
Carlisle Indiana School, Pennsylvania, 1880 (Dear America ; 14)
by Ann Rinaldi
(Hardcover - April 1999)
My
Face to the Wind : The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher, Nebraska,
1881 (Dear America)
by Jim Murphy
A
Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl, Belmont Plantation,
1859 (Dear America)
by Pat McKissack, Patricia C. McKissack (School & Library Binding
- March 1997)
So
Far From Home : The Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl, Lowell,
Massachusetts, 1847 (Dear America)
by Barry Denenberg
The
Starving Time: Elizabeth's Diary, Book Two, Jamestown, Virginia, 1609 (My
America)
by Patricia Hermes
(Hardcover - May 2001)
A
Time for Courage: The Suffragette Diary of Kathleen Bowen, Washington,
D.C., 1917 (Dear America)
by Kathryn Lasky
(Hardcover - February 2002)
Voyage
on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady (Dear America)
by Ellen Emerson White
(School & Library Binding - September 1998)
West
to a Land of Plenty : The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi, New York to
Idaho Territory, 1883 (Dear America)
by Jim Murphy
Where
Have All the Flowers Gone?: The Diary of Molly MacKenzie Flaherty (Dear
America)
by Ellen Emerson White
(Hardcover - June 2002)
The
Winter of Red Snow : The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart,
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777 (Dear America)
by Kristiana Gregory
Reading level: Ages 9-12
(School & Library Binding - September 1996)
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