Embedded Files
A Curated List, by Mr. Haines
Which Way to the Wild West?
by Steve Sheinkin
940 Lexile - SORA 50 copies available
With a storyteller's voice and attention to the details that make history read and interesting, Steve Sheinkin delivers the wild facts about America's greatest adventure. From the Louisiana Purchase to the gold rush to the life of a cowboy, and everyday happenings that defined living on the frontier.
What the Eagle Sees
by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger
1060 Lexile - SORA 300 copies available
What do people do when their civilization is invaded? Indigenous people have been faced with disease, war, broken promises, and forced assimilation. Despite crushing losses and insurmountable challenges, they formed new nations from the remnants of old ones. They adopted new ideas and built on them, they fought back, and they kept their cultures alive.
The Captain’s Dog
by Roland Smith
890 Lexile - FIC SMI
Born the runt of his litter and gambled away to a rusty old riverman, the Newfoundland pup Seaman doesn’t imagine his life will be marked by any kind of glory--beyond chasing down rats. But when he meets Captain Meriwether Lewis, Seaman finds himself on a path that will make history. Lewis is just setting off on his landmark search for the Northwest Passage, and he takes Seaman along.
Sacagawea: Girl of the Shining Mountains
By Peter Roop
780 Lexile - FIC ROO and SORA
At age eleven, Sacagawea was kidnapped by an enemy tribe, forced into slavery, and later married off to a fur trader more than twice her age. Now sixteen and a new mother, she's about to serve as a guide for one of the greatest expeditions in U.S. history-the Journey of Discovery led by Lewis and Clark.
Sing Down the Moon
By Scott O’Dell
820 Lexile - SORA Always Available
In this powerful novel based on historical events, the Navajo tribe's forced march from their homeland to Fort Sumner is dramatically and courageously narrated by young Bright Morning.
The Road to Home
by Mary Jane Auch
690 Lexile - FIC AUC
Nye is looking forward to the comfort of her grandmother's arms, and help in caring for her two younger siblings. But when her family's covered wagon reaches Rome, New York, just as the digging of the Erie Canal gets under way, Mem's father decides to delay their journey home to join the canal crew.Soon it becomes apparent that Papa has no intention of making the rest of the trip to Connecticut, or of watching over his family.
Gold Rush Girl
by Avi
730 Lexile - FIC AVI and SORA
Victoria Blaisdell longs for independence and adventure, and she yearns to accompany her father as he sails west in search of real gold! But it is 1848, and Tory isn't even allowed to go to school, much less travel all the way from Rhode Island to California. Determined to take control of her own destiny, Tory stows away on the ship. Though San Francisco is frenzied and full of wild and dangerous men, Tory finds freedom and friendship there.
Hard Gold: The Colorado Rush of 1859
by Avi
740 Lexile - FIC AVI
Young Early goes West to Colorado in search of gold to save the family's land, when hard times strike the Wittcomb family.
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
by Karen Cushman
1030 Lexile - FIC CUS
When Lucy Whipple's widowed mother uproots her family from their comfortable Massachusetts environs and moves them to a rough mining camp in Gold Rush California called Lucky Diggins, Lucy resents the upheaval.
The Story of Jonas
By Maurine Dahlberg
820 Lexile - FIC DAH
Jonas has lived all of his thirteen years on a farm in Missouri, and even though he hears whispers about freedom, he thinks he'll never try to escape. He knows what happens to slaves who attempt to run away. Besides, Master William has promised to make Jonas his personal manservant, and Jonas thinks fine suits and special privileges sound like a dream. But this dream is put on hold when, in 1859, Master William's good-for-nothing son, Percy, decides to seek his fortune in the Kansas Territory gold fields, taking Jonas along as his cook and caretaker.
Black Storm Comin’
By Diane Wilson
860 Lexile - FIC WIL
Twelve-year-old Colton, son of an African-American mother and a white father, takes a job with the Pony Express in 1860 after his father abandons the family on their California-bound wagon train, and risks his life to deliver an important letter that may affect the growing conflict between the North and South.
Brothers of the Buffalo: A Novel of the Red River War
by Joseph Bruchac
A captivating and historical story of two young men on opposing sides of war. In 1874, the U.S. Army sent troops to subdue and move the Native Americans of the southern plains to reservations. Brothers of the Buffalo follows Private Washington Vance Jr., an African-American calvaryman, and Wolf, a Cheyenne warrior, during the brief and brutal war that followed.
Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule
by Harriette Gillem Robinet
610 Lexile - FIC ROB
Like other ex-slaves, Pascal and his older brother Gideon have been promised forty acres and maybe a mule. With the friends they have made, they claim a place of their own. Green Gloryland is the most wonderful place on earth, their own family farm with a healthy cotton crop and plenty to eat. But the notorious night riders have plans to take it away, threatening the beautiful freedom that the two boys are enjoying for the first time in their young lives.
The Land
by Mildred Taylor
760 Lexile - FIC TAY
The story begins with Paul-Edward Logan, grandfather of Cassie Logan, the beloved protagonist of Newbery Medal-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Born during the Civil War, Paul-Edward is the son of a white plantation owner and a former slave. Though not an unusual heritage, his upbringing is. Paul-Edward's white father sees to it that he and his sister have many of the privileges their white half-brothers enjoy. But at fourteen, Paul-Edward runs away to seek his fortune.
Prairie Lotus
by Linda Sue Park
730 Lexile - FIC PAR and SORA
After Hana’s mother dies, her father moves the two of them to a small midwestern town. Park sets the scene with care and you’ll see a realistic portrayal of life in the 1880s from the point of view from someone who is experiencing racism. Despite many unfair things, Hana stays resilient and determined to graduate from school and help her father in his shop.
The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones
by Helen Hemphill
720 Lexile - FIC HEM
Saddle up! We're headed for Deadwood. When Prometheus Jones wins a horse with the raffle ticket he got from Pernie and LaRue Boyd, he knows things won't go smoothly. No way are those two rednecks going to let a black man, even a freeman from the day of his birth, keep that horse. So as soon as things get ugly, he jumps on the horse, pulls his friend Omer up behind him, and heads off. They hook up with a cattle drive out of Texas heading for Deadwood, North Dakota.
Call Me Francis Tucket
by Gary Paulsen
970 Lexile - FIC PAU
Alone. Francis Tucket now feels more confident that he can handle almost anything. A year ago, on the wagon train, he was kidnapped from his family by a Pawnee hunting party. Then he escaped with the help of the mountain man, Mr. Grimes. Now that he and Mr. Grimes have parted ways, Francis is heading west on his Indian pony, crossing the endless prairie, trying to find his family.
Tucket's Home
by Gary Paulsen
870 Lexile - FIC PAU
Francis Tucket, Lottie and Billy have survived extraordinary, hair-raising adventures in their quest to find Francis's family, lost when he was kidnapped from a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. Now they meet up with a British explorer, bloodthirsty soldiers, and in a tragic, heroic encounter, with Jason Grimes, the mountain man. Their way is made more treacherous still by the secret they carry, the ancient gold they discovered in a Spanish grave.
Sarah, Plain and Tall
by Patricia MacLachlan
650 Lexile - FIC MAC and SORA
Set in the late nineteenth century and told from young Anna's point of view, Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of how Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton comes from Maine to the prairie to answer Papa's advertisement for a wife and mother. Before Sarah arrives, Anna and her younger brother Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she sing? Will she stay?
A Sky Full of Song
by Susan L Meyer
660 Lexile - SORA
After fleeing persecution in the Russian Empire, eleven-year-old Shoshana and her family, Jewish immigrants, start a new life on the prairie. Shoshana takes fierce joy in the wild beauty of the plains and the thrill of forging a new, American identity. But it's not as simple for her older sister, Libke, who misses their Ukrainian village and doesn't pick up English as quickly or make new friends as easily. Desperate to fit in, Shoshana finds herself hiding her Jewish identity in the face of prejudice, just as Libke insists they preserve it.
Hattie Big Sky
by Kirby Larson
700 Lexile - FIC LAR and SORA
Alone in the world, teen-aged Hattie is driven to prove up on her uncle's homesteading claim. For years, sixteen-year-old Hattie's been shuttled between relatives. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she courageously leaves Iowa to prove up on her late uncle's homestead claim near Vida, Montana. With a stubborn stick-to-itiveness, Hattie faces frost, drought and blizzards.
Little House on the Prairie
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
760 Lexile - FIC WIL and SORA
Laura Ingalls and her family leave their little house in the big woods of Wisconsin and set out for the big skies of the Kansas Territory. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their house.
The Second Bend in the River
by Ann Rinaldi
540 Lexile - FIC RIN
In 1798 Rebecca, a young settler in the Ohio territory, meets the Shawnee called Tecumseh and later develops a deep friendship with him.
Bold Journey: West with Lewis and Clark
by Charles Bohner
840 Lexile - FIC BOH
Drawing on journal entries and grounded in fact, Charles Bohner's story re-creates the Lewis and Clark expedition from the experience of Hugh McNeal, one of the youngest members on the journey.
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