Two Years Before the Mast is a memoir by the American author Richard Henry Dana Jr., published in 1840, having been written after a two-year sea voyage from Boston to California on a merchant ship starting in 1834. Dana left Harvard to enlist as a common sailor on a voyage around Cape Horn on the brig Pilgrim. He returned to Massachusetts two years later. He kept a diary throughout the voyage, and, after returning, he wrote this classic.

Jack and Praiseworthy face many wild obstacles on their journey to find gold, but they always manage to solve their problems. Sometimes they got lucky, and sometimes they used their wit to get themselves out of troublesome situations. Think about a time you faced a problem and solved it by either luck or your wit. 

Brady has never been trusted with secrets, until now. When he discovers an Underground Railroad station near his family’s farm, he is forced to make his own decision about the slavery controversy. Whatever his decision may be, he knows that is one secret that must be kept. 

Chris Brabson, is a young man that lives in Tennessee’s mountain country and sides with Confederates. Shockingly, Chris’s older brother, Jethro, joins the Union army as a soldier. As Chris begins to search for his older brother he realizes the Union soldiers are no different than the Confederate troops he fights alongside. A look at the human element of war and the bonds enemies sometimes share. 

At the onset of World War II, nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated in concentration camps. Inspired by Shigeru Yabu’s youthful camp experiences. “A Boy of Heart Mountain” is a poignant coming of-of-age story and celebration of the human spirit under duress. 

Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend, Ellen Rosen, often think of life before the war. It’s now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are “relocated,” Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen’s life.