Embedded Files
A Curated List, by Mr. Haines
Colonial Period (1607 - 1775)
Colonial Period (1607 - 1775)
Blood on the River: James Town 1607
by Elisa Carbone
820 Lexile - FIC CAR
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Twelve-year-old Samuel Collier is a lowly commoner on the streets of London. So when he becomes the page of Captain John Smith and boards the ship the Susan Constant, bound for the New World, he can't believe his good fortune. He's heard that gold washes ashore with every tide. But beginning with the stormy journey and his first contact with the native people, he realizes that the New World is nothing like he had ever imagined.
Worlds Apart
by Kathleen Karr
700 Lexile - FIC KAR
Fifteen-year-old Christopher West befriends a young Native American boy his own age in the Carolinas in 1670. Christopher's new friend teaches him how to hunt, forage, and respect the land and in exchange Christopher teaches his Sewee acquaintance English and how to play chess. As the English move inland and take land and resources from the Indians, Christopher experiences conflicting loyalties.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
by Elizabeth George Speare
850 Lexile - FIC SPE and SORA Always Available
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.
Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials
by Stephanie Hemphill
700 Lexile - FIC HEM
A powerful fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials from the point of view of three of the real young women living in Salem in 1692.
Ghost Hawk
by Susan Cooper
940 Lexile - SORA
John Wakely is only ten when his father dies, but he has already experienced the friendship of nearby tribes. Yet his fellow colonists aren’t as accepting of the native people. When he is apprenticed to a barrel-maker, John sees how quickly the relationships between settlers and natives are deteriorating.
The Color of Fire: A Novel
by Ann Rinaldi
600 Lexile - FIC RIN
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Someone is setting fires in New York City. It is 1741 and, as a colony of Britain, America is at war with Spain. The people in New York City are on a heightened state of alert, living in fear of Catholics acting as Spanish secret agents. Phoebe, an enslaved girl, watches as the town erupts into mass hysteria when the whites in New York City convince themselves that the black slaves are planning an uprising.
Calico Captive
by Elizabeth George Speare
900 Lexile - FIC SPE and SORA
Early one morning in the year 1754 the stillness of Charlestown, New Hampshire, was shattered by shrill war whoops and the terror of an Indian raid. Young Miriam Willard, on a day which had promised new happiness, found herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War. It was a harrowing march north. Miriam could only force herself to the next stopping place, the next small portion of food, the next icy stream to be crossed. What waits at the end of the trail--besides an Indian quantlet and a life of slavery?
I am Regina
by Sally Keehn
720 Lexile - FIC KEE
The cabin door crashes open-and in a few minutes Regina's life changes forever. Allegheny Indians murder her father and brother, burn their Pennsylvania home to the ground, and take Regina captive. Only her mother, who is away from home, is safe. Torn from her family, Regina longs for the past, but she must begin a new life.
Woods Runner
by Gary Paulsen
870 Lexile - FIC PAU
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Samuel, 13, spends his days in the forest, hunting for food for his family. He has grown up on the frontier of a British colony, America. Far from any town, or news of the war against the King that American patriots have begun near Boston. But the war comes to them. British soldiers and Iroquois attack. Samuel’s parents are taken away, prisoners. Samuel follows, hiding, moving silently, determined to find a way to rescue them.
The Winter People
by Joseph Bruchac
800 Lexile - FIC BRU
Saxso is fourteen when the British soldiers attack his Canadian village. It is the year 1759, and war is raging between the British and the French, with the Abenaki people-Saxso's people-by their side. Many people are killed and some are taken hostage, including Saxso's own mother and two younger sisters. It's up to Saxso, on his own, to track the raiders and bring his family back home.
Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783)
Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783)
Daniel at the Siege of Boston, 1776
by Laurie Calkhoven
710 Lexile - FIC CAL
Twelve-year-old Daniel Prescott cheered when the Sons of Liberty dumped English tea into Boston Harbor. Then King George sent his soldiers to take over Boston and its port. Now Daniel's home is a city under siege.
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1
by M.T. Anderson
1090 Lexile - FIC AND and SORA
Set against the disquiet of Revolutionary Boston, M. T. Anderson's extraordinary novel takes place at a time when American Patriots rioted and battled to win liberty while African slaves were entreated to risk their lives for a freedom they would never claim.
Five 4ths of July
by Pat Hughes
710 Lexile - FIC HUG
On July 4th, 1777, fourteen-year-old Jake Mallory and his friends are celebrating their new nation's independence, but over the next four years Jake finds himself in increasingly adventurous circumstances as he battles British forces, barely survives captivity on a prison ship, and finally returns home to Connecticut, war-torn and weary, but hopeful for America's future.
Soldier’s Secret: The Story of Deborah Sampson
by Sheila Klass
790 Lexile - FIC KLA
In the 1700s, women's responsibilities were primarily child rearing and household duties. But Deborah Sampson wanted more from life. She wanted to read, to travel--and to fight for her country's independence. When the colonies went to war with the British in 1775, Deborah was intent on being part of the action. Seeing no other option, she disguised herself in a man's uniform and served in the Continental army for more than a year.
Forge
by Laurie Halse Anderson
820 Lexile - FIC AND and SORA
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Blistering winds. Bitter cold. And the hope of a new future. The Patriot Army was shaped and strengthened by the desperate circumstances of the Valley Forge winter. This is where Curzon the boy becomes Curzon the young man. In addition to the hardships of soldiering, he lives with the fear of discovery, for he is an escaped slave passing for free.
Ashes
By Laurie Halse Anderson
820 Lexile - FIC AND and SORA
As the Revolutionary War rages on, Isabel and Curzon have narrowly escaped Valley Forge--but their relief is short-lived. Before long they are reported as runaways, and the awful Bellingham is determined to track them down. With purpose and faith, Isabel and Curzon march on, fiercely determined to find Isabel's little sister Ruth, who is enslaved in a Southern state--where bounty hunters are thick as flies.
The Fighting Ground
by Avi
Jonathan may be only thirteen years old, but with the Revolutionary War unfolding around him, he's more certain than ever that he wants to be a part of it--to fight for independence alongside his brother and cousin to defeat the British. But Jonathan's father, himself wounded from battle, refuses to let his son join the front lines.
Cast Two Shadows: The American Revolution in the South
by Ann Rinaldi
610 Lexile - FIC RIN
In South Carolina in 1780, fourteen-year-old Caroline sees the Revolutionary War take a terrible toll on her family and friends, and comes to understand the true nature of war.
Sophia’s War: A Tale of the Revolution
by Avi
730 Lexile - FIC AVI
In 1776, young Sophia Calderwood witnesses the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City, which is newly occupied by the British army. Sophia is horrified by the event and resolves to do all she can to help the American cause.
Johnny Tremain
by Esther Forbes
840 Lexile - FIC FOR and SORA Always Available
Fourteen-year-old Johnny Tremain, an apprentice silversmith with a bright future ahead of him, injures his hand in a tragic accident, forcing him to look for other work. In his new job as a horse-boy, riding for the patriotic newspaper The Boston Observer and as a messenger for the Sons of Liberty, he encounters John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren.
My Brother Sam is Dead
by James Lincoln Collier
770 Lexile - SORA
The Revolutionary War had no clear-cut loyalties—it divided families, friends, and towns. Young Tim Meeker’s sixteen-year-old brother goes off to fight with the Patriots while his father remains a reluctant British Loyalist in the Tory town of Redding, Connecticut. Tim’s always looked up to his brother, who’s smart and brave. With the war soon raging, Tim knows he’ll have to make a choice—between the Revolutionaries and the Redcoats…and between his brother and his father.
Early Republic (1789 - 1848)
Early Republic (1789 - 1848)
Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons
by Ann Rinaldi
560 Lexile - FIC RIN
Kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold as a slave in 1761, a young girl is purchased by the wealthy Wheatley family in Boston. Phillis Wheatley--as she comes to be known--has an eager mind and it leads her on an unusual path for a slave--she becomes America's first published black poet.
Fever, 1793
by Laurie Halse Anderson
580 Lexile - FIC AND
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During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out.
Crossing the Panther’s Path
by Elizabeth Alder
810 Lexile - FIC ALD
After braving a blizzard across the wilderness to join his Mohawk mother and Irish father, fifteen-year-old Billy Calder meets the Shawnee chief Tecumseh. Based on a true story, this is rousing historical fiction about young soldiers and the terrible events culminating in the War of 1812.
Copper Sun
by Sharon Draper
820 Lexile - FIC DRA
Amari's life was once perfect. Engaged to the handsomest man in her tribe, adored by her family, and fortunate enough to live in a beautiful village, it never occurred to her that it could all be taken away in an instant. But that was what happened when her village was invaded by slave traders. Her family was brutally murdered as she was dragged away to a slave ship and sent to be sold in the Carolinas.
Letters From a Slave Girl
by Mary Lyons
880 Lexile - FIC LYO
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Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery; it's the only life she has ever known. Now, with the death of her mistress, there is a chance she will be given her freedom, and for the first time Harriet feels hopeful. But hoping can be dangerous, because disappointment is devastating. Harriet has one last hope, though: escape to the North. And as she faces numerous ordeals, this hope gives her the strength she needs to survive.
Freewater
by Amina Luqman-Dawson
4.6 AR Reading Level - FIC LUQ and SORA
Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there's no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find a secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp.
Elijah of Buxton
by Christopher Paul Curtis
980 Lexile - FIC CUR
Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He's best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled.
The Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
Thirteen-year-old Jessie Bollier earns a few pennies playing his fife on the docks of New Orleans. One night, on his way home, a canvas is thrown over his head and he's knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, Jessie finds himself aboard a slave ship, bound for Africa.
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861 - 1877)
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861 - 1877)
Bull Run
by Paul Fleischman
810 Lexile - FIC FLE
Northerners, Southerners, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters describe the glory, the horror, the thrill, and the disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.
Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
1100 Lexile - FIC HUN
In 1861, America is on the cusp of war, and young Jethro Creighton is just nine-years-old. His brother, Tom, and his cousin, Eb, are both of fighting age. As Jethro's family is pulled into the conflict between the North and the South, loyalties are divided, dreams are threatened, and their bonds are put to the test in this heart-wrenching, coming of age story.
Evvy’s Civil War
by Miriam Brenaman
730 Lexile - FIC BRE
On her fourteenth birthday in June of 1861, spunky Evelyn Chamberlyn finds herself stuffed into a corset, a dress with hoops and a hairstyle so ornate she calls it the Edifice. It is time for her to be introduced to society-no more climbing fences and jumping into streams. She is expected to be a lady now. But Evvy has an agenda of her own, questions of her own, and soon finds answers of her own too.
March Toward the Thunder
by Joseph Bruchac
850 Lexile - FIC BRU
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Louis Nolette is a fifteen-year-old Abenaki Indian from Canada who is recruited to fight in the northern Irish Brigade in the war between the states. Even though he is too young, and not American or Irish, he finds the promise of good wages and the Union's fight to end slavery persuasive reasons to join up.
Iron Thunder
by Avi
620 Lexile - FIC AVI
After his father is killed, 13-year-old Tom Carroll takes a job at a Brooklyn ironworks. Tom learns that the men are building a ship from iron to be used by the Union Army against the Confederate ironclad called the Merrimac.
The Storm Before Atlanta
by Karen Schwabach
730 Lexile - FIC SCH
At a time when most people have grown weary of the war between the states, two young children are desperate to find their way to the battlefields. Jeremy DeGroot wants nothing more than to join a troop as a drummer boy. For Dulcie, a runaway slave, freedom means she must head directly toward the fighting in the hopes that she'll become "contraband," that is, property of the Union troops. Both Jeremy and Dulcie find a place with the 107th New York Volunteer Regiment and even start to forge a friendship.
Two Girls of Gettysburg
by Lisa Klein
830 Lexile - FIC KLE and SORA
Lizzie and Rosanna are cousins. But when the Civil War breaks out, Lizzie finds herself committed to the cause of the Union, while Rosie is swept up in the passions of the old south. Torn in their alliances, each girl finds herself grappling with the brutality of war, and the elusive promise of love, until the battle at Gettysburg brings them together once again.
Riot
by Walter Dean Myers
320 Lexile - FIC MYE and SORA
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As the Civil War rages, another battle breaks out behind the lines. During a long hot July in 1863, the worst race riots the United States has ever seen erupt in New York City. Earlier that year, desperate for more Union soldiers, President Abraham Lincoln instituted a draft-a draft that would allow the wealthy to escape serving in the army by paying a $300 waiver, more than a year's income for the recent immigrant Irish. And on July 11, as the first drawing takes place in Lower Manhattan, the city of New York explodes in rage and fire.
Brotherhood
By Anne Westrick
720 Lexile - FIC WES
The year is 1867, the South has been defeated, and the American Civil War is over. But the conflict goes on. Yankees now patrol the streets of Richmond, Virginia, and its citizens, both black and white, are struggling to redefine their roles and relationships. By day, fourteen-year-old Shadrach apprentices with a tailor and sneaks off for reading lessons with Rachel, a freed slave, at her school for African-American children. By night he follows his older brother Jeremiah to the meetings of a group whose stated mission is to protect Confederate widows like their mother. But as the true murderous intentions of the group, now known as the Ku Klux Klan, are revealed, Shad finds himself trapped between old loyalties and what he knows is right.
20th Century and Beyond (1890's to present)
20th Century and Beyond (1890's to present)
The King of Mulberry Street
by Donna Jo Napoli
560 Lexile - FIC NAP
In 1892, nine-year-old Dom’s mother puts him on a ship leaving Italy, bound for America. He is a stowaway, traveling alone and with nothing of value except for a new pair of shoes from his mother. In the turbulent world of homeless children in Manhattan’s Five Points, Dom learns street smarts, and not only survives, but thrives by starting his own business.
City of Orphans
by Avi
570 Lexile - FIC AVI
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The streets of 1893 New York are full of life: crowded, filthy, dangerous. If you are a newsboy like thirteen-year-old Maks Geless, you need to watch out for Bruno, leader of the Plug Ugly Gang whose shadowy, sinister boss is plotting to take control of all the newsies on the lower East Side.
Uprising
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
790 Lexile - FIC HAD
Bella, newly arrived in New York from Italy, gets a job at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. There, along with hundreds of other immigrants, she works long hours at a grueling job under terrible conditions. Yetta, a coworker from Russia, has been crusading for a union, and when factory conditions worsen, she helps workers rise up in a strike. Wealthy Jane learns of the plight of the workers and becomes involved with their cause.
Stella by Starlight
by Sharon Draper
740 Lexile - FIC DRA
Stella lives in the segregated South--in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact about it. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can't. Some folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn't bothered them for years. But one late night, later than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her little brother see something they're never supposed to see, something that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination.
The Notorious Izzy Fink
By Don Brown
830 Lexile - FIC BRO
Sam Glodsky lives among the rough-and-tumble gangs on the streets of New York's Lower East Side. When 13-year-old Sam falls in with fearsome gangster Monk Eastman, he joins an outrageous scheme to rescue Eastman's prize racing-pigeon from a cholera-ridden steamship quarantined in the harbor.
Ringside, 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial
by Jen Bryant
1070 Lexile - FIC BRY
The year is 1925, and the students of Dayton, Tennessee, are ready for a summer of fishing, swimming, some working, and drinking root beer floats at Robinson’s Drugstore. But when their science teacher, J. T. Scopes, is arrested for having taught Darwin’s theory of evolution in class, it seems it won’t be just any ordinary summer in Dayton.
Harlem Summer
by Walter Dean Myers
860 Lexile - FIC MYE
It's 1925 and Mark Purvis is a 16-yr-old with a summer to kill. He'd rather jam with his jazz band (they need the practice), but is urged by his parents to get a job. As an assistant at The Crisis, a magazine for the "new Negro," Mark rubs shoulders with Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. He's invited to a party at Alfred Knopf's place. He's making money, but not enough, and when piano player Fats Waller entices him and his buddies to make some fast cash, Mark finds himself crossing the gangster Dutch Schultz.
The Dragon’s Child: A Story of Angel Island
by Laurence Yep
640 Lexile - FIC YEP
Ten-year-old Gim Lew Yep knows that he must leave his home in China and travel to America with the father who is a stranger to him. Gim Lew doesn't want to leave behind everything that he's ever known. But he is even more scared of disappointing his father. He uses his left hand, rather than the "correct" right hand; he stutters; and most of all, he worries about not passing the strict immigration test administered at Angel Island.
Esperanza Rising
by Pam Munoz Ryan
750 Lexile - FIC RYA and SORA
Esperanza thought she'd always live a privileged life on her family's ranch in Mexico. She'd always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home filled with servants, and Mama, Papa, and Abuelita to care for her. But a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California and settle in a Mexican farm labor camp. Esperanza isn't ready for the hard work, financial struggles brought on by the Great Depression, or lack of acceptance she now faces.
Suspect Red
by Laura Elliott
760 Lexile - FIC ELL
It's 1953, and the United States has just executed an American couple convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Everyone is on edge as the Cold War standoff between communism and democracy leads to the rise of Senator Joe McCarthy and his zealous hunt for people he calls subversives or communist sympathizers. Suspicion, loyalty oaths, blacklists, political profiling, hostility to foreigners, and the assumption of guilt by association divide the nation. Richard and his family believe deeply in American values and love of country, especially since Richard's father works for the FBI. Yet when a family from Czechoslovakia moves in down the street with a son Richard's age named Vlad, their bold ideas about art and politics bring everything into question.
Fallout
by Todd Strasser
740 Lexile - FIC STR and SORA
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In the summer of 1962, the possibility of nuclear war is all anyone talks about. But Scott's dad is the only one in the neighborhood who actually prepares for the worst. As the neighbors scoff, he builds a bomb shelter to hold his family and stocks it with just enough supplies to keep the four of them alive for two critical weeks. In the middle of the night in late October, when the unthinkable happens, those same neighbors force their way into the shelter before Scott's dad can shut the door.
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