By Mary Ingalls Wilder
HarperTrophy, 1933. Fiction. 372 p.
Nine-year-old Almanzo lives with his family on a big farm in
New York State at the end of the nineteenth century. He raises his own two
calves, helps cut ice and shear sheep, and longs for the day he can have his
own colt.
By L. M. Montgomery
Children’s Classics, 1908. Fiction. 240 p.
Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live
with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm
and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.
By Ralph Moody
University of Nebraska Press, 1950. Biography. 260 p.
The Moody family moves from New Hampshire to a Colorado
ranch. Experience the pleasures and perils of ranching in 20th Century America,
through the eyes of a youngster.
By Alexander Kwame
Houghton Mifflin, 2014. Newbery. 237 p.
Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan
wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his
declining health.
By Pam Muños Ryan
Scholastic Press, 2015. Fiction. 585 p.
Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious
sisters and finds himself entwined in a prophecy, a promise, and a
harmonica--and decades later three children, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in
Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California find themselves caught up in the same
thread of destiny in the darkest days of the twentieth century, struggling to
keep their families intact, and tied together by the music of the same
harmonica.
By Christopher Paul Curtis
Scholastic, 2007. Fiction. 341 p.
In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born
child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American
south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher
who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.
By R.J. Palacio
Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. Fiction. 315 p.
Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme
facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being
home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan,
which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles
to be seen as just another student.
By Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow Books, 2013. Fiction. 229 p.
Seven-year-old Billy Miller starts second grade with a bump
on his head and a lot of worries, but by the end of the year he has developed
good relationships with his teacher, his little sister, and his parents and
learned many important lessons.
By Jeanne Birdsall
Random House, 2005. Fiction. 262 p.
While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire
Mountains, four lovable sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures
with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother.
By Sarah Weeks
Scholastic Press, 2012. Fiction. 152 p.
When she suspects that her father has a girlfriend, Melody
and her best friend are determined to figure out who it is and why it is a
secret.
By Beverly Cleary
Harper Trophy, 2006. 165 p.
The family routine is upset during Ramona's year in second
grade when her father unexpectedly loses his job.
Comments