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Dreiser,
Theodore. Sister
Carrie.
The
story of a young woman striving to improve her lot in life in Chicago at
the beginning of the century.
Fitzgerald,
F. Scott. The
Great Gatsby.
A
mysterious American millionaire tries to recapture the sweetheart of his
youth resulting in tragedy.
Hoh,
Diane. Titanic:
The Long Night.
Recounts
the last night aboard the Titanic.
Ingold,
Jeanette. Pictures,
1918.
Coming
of age in a rural Texas community in 1918, fifteen-year-old Asia assists
in the local war effort, contemplates romance with a local boy, and expands
her horizons through her pursuit of photography.
Lawrence,
Iain. Lord
of the Nutcracker Men.
An
English boy during World War I comes to believe that the battles he enacts
with his toy soldiers control the war his father is fighting on the front.
Levine,
Gail Carson. Dave
at Night.
When
orphaned Dave is sent to the Hebrew Home for Boys where he is treated cruelly,
he sneaks out at night and is welcomed into the music- and culture-filled
world of the Harlem Renaissance.
Nelson,
Theresa. Devil
Storm.
A
brother and sister living off the Texas Gulf Coast befriend Tom the Tramp
who becomes a hero during the Great Storm of 1900.
Peck, Richard.
The
Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp.
Blossom,
not the most popular member of her freshman class in 1914, travels ahead
seventy years, and returns in time to make Halloween a memorable night for
her classmates and teachers.
Peck, Richard.
Ghosts
I Have Been.
Blossom
Culp's gift of second sight, which she discovers gradually, leads her into
some unusual adventures.
Peck, Robert
Newton. A
Day No Pigs Would Die.
To
a thirteen-year-old Vermont farm boy whose father slaughters pigs for a
living, maturity comes early as he learns "doing what's got to be done,"
especially regarding his pet pig who cannot produce a litter.
Peck, Robert
Newton. Justice
Lion.
Fifteen-year-old
Muncie Bolt thinks he's lost Hem Lion's friendship forever when his father
prosecutes Hem's father for operating a still in Liberty, Vermont during
the days of Prohibition.
Ritter, John
H. Choosing
Up Sides.
In
1921 thirteen-year-old Luke finds himself torn between accepting his left-handedness
or conforming to the belief of his preacher-father that such a condition
is evil and must be overcome.
Rostkowski,
Margaret. After
the Dancing Days.
A
forbidden friendship with a badly disfigured soldier in the aftermath of
World War I forces thirteen-year-old Annie to redefine the word "hero" and
to question conventional ideas of patriotism.
Sinclair,
Upton. The
Jungle.
New
immigrants struggle to make it in America working the slaughterhouses, becoming
involved in politics, and protesting.
Skurzynski,
Gloria. The
Tempering.
The
summer of 1911 is a decisive one for three young men in a Pennsylvania steel
town as they find and lose jobs, fall in love, and begin to shape their
adult lives.
Webster, Jean.
Daddy
Long-Legs.
After
having grown up in an orphanage, Judy, at 17, finds herself the recipient
of a generous grant to attend college. Her benefactor chooses to remain
anonymous and they fall in love.
Yep,
Laurence. Dragonwings.
Moon
Shadow comes from China to join his father in San Francisco's Chinatown.
Corcoran,
Barbara. The
Sky Is Falling.
In
Boston during the early days of the Great Depression, Annah's affluent lifestyle
comes to an abrupt end when her father loses his banking job and Annah is
sent to live with her aunt on a New Hampshire island where she meets a destitute
but spunky girl named Dodie.
Crew, Linda.
Fire
on the Wind.
The
summer before her fourteenth birthday, a fierce forest fire rages throughout
northwestern Oregon and threatens the logging camp where Storie and her
family live.
DeFelice,
Cynthia. Nowhere
to Call Home.
When
her father kills himself after losing his money in the stock market crash,
twelve-year-old Frances, now a penniless orphan, decides to hop aboard a
freight train and live the life of a hobo.
Gee, Maurice.
The
Fat Man.
In
1933, Herbert Muskie returns to his rundown hometown of Loomis, New Zealand,
and uses a combination of cunning and psychological threats to take control
of the lives of twelve-year-old Colin Potter and his family as part of a
plan to get even for the mistreatment he suffered as a schoolboy.
Hunt,
Irene. No
Promises in the Wind.
A
fifteen-year-old boy struggles to survive and come to terms with inner conflicts
in the desperate world of the Depression.
Ingold,
Jeanette. Airfield.
In
1933 fifteen-year-old Beatty hangs around a small Texas airport waiting
for visits from her pilot-father from whom she longs to learn about her
deceased mother.
Peck,
Richard. A
Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories.
A
boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during
the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.
Schwartz,
Virginia Frances. Messenger.
Based
on the lives of the author's mother and grandmother, tells the story of
a widowed Croatian immigrant trying to keep her family together in the mining
towns of Ontario in the 1920s and 1930s.
Steinbeck,
John. The
Grapes of Wrath.
The
story of the Joads, set during the Great Depression, as they struggle to
make ends meet.
Baer,
Edith. Walk
the Dark Streets.
Continues
the story of Eva, a young Jewish girl living in Nazi Germany where she and
her parents experience increasing tensions in daily life while considering
possibilities of escape.
Bawden, Nina.
Carrie's
War.
Carrie
and her younger brother spend World War II as evacuees in a small Welsh
village where Carrie, upset by a family feud, commits an act that haunts
her for thirty years.
Benchley,
Nathaniel. Bright
Candles: A Novel of the Danish Resistance.
The
experiences of a sixteen-year-old Danish boy during the German occupation
of his country in World War II.
Benchley,
Nathaniel. A
Necessary End: A Novel of World War II.
A
young man's diary reveals the fears, frustrations, and humor which filled
his three years in the Navy during World War II.
Bunin, Sherry.
Dear
Great American Writers School.
Fourteen-year-old
Bobby Lee's letters to a correspondence school describe her life in a small
Kentucky town during World War II and her growth as a person and as a writer.
Corcoran,
Barbara. Axe-Time,
Sword-Time.
On
the eve of World War II a young girl handicapped by a reading disability
tries to cope with family problems and the question of her future.
Cormier, Robert.
Heroes.
After
joining the army at fifteen and having his face blown away by a grenade
in a battle in France, Francis returns home to Frenchtown hoping to find--and
kill--the former childhood hero he feels betrayed him.
Ferry, Charles.
Raspberry
One.
Nick
and Hildy, two young aircrewmen flying bombing support against Japan's kamikaze
offensive in the Pacific, are devastated but ultimately strengthened by
their war experience.
Gee, Maurice.
The
Champion.
In
1943 twelve-year-old Rex sees his quiet New Zealand village dramatically
changed by the arrival of a black American soldier on leave from the war.
Harrison,
Barbara. Theo.
A
twelve-year-old puppeteer performs bravely on and off the stage after joining
the Greek resistance movement during World War II.
Heller, Joseph.
Catch-22.
The
classic tale of pilots stationed in Italy during World War II.
Hertenstein,
Jane. Beyond
Paradise.
Within
months of arriving in the exotic Philippines from Upper Sandusky, Ohio,
to live with her missionary parents on the island of Panay, fourteen-year-old
Louise finds herself a prisoner of war in an internment camp when the Japanese
invade her new country in 1941.
Levitin, Sonia.
Silver
Days.
Escaping
from Hitler's Germany, a prosperous Jewish family lives in a New York City
tenement until Papa decides to move the family to California.
Lingard, Joan.
The
File on Fraulein Berg.
In
Northern Ireland in 1944, three girls collect data on the activities of
their German instructor who they suspect is a Nazi spy.
Lingard,
Joan. Tug
of War.
Follows
the fortunes of the Petersons family as they flee their native Latvia before
the advancing Russian armies in late 1944 and find themselves homeless refugees
in a war-torn Germany.
Magorian,
Michelle. Good
Night, Mr. Tom.
A
battered child learns to embrace life when he is adopted by an old man in
the English countryside during the Second World War.
Matas, Carol.
After
the War.
After
being released from Buchenwald at the end of World War II, fifteen-year-old
Ruth risks her life to lead a group of children across Europe to Palestine.
Mazer, Norma
Fox. Good
Night, Maman.
After
spending years fleeing from the Nazis in war-torn Europe, twelve-year-old
Karin Levi and her older brother Marc find a new home in a refugee camp
in Oswego, New York.
Napoli,
Donna Jo. Stones
in Water.
After
being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theater along with other
Italian boys including his Jewish friend, Roberto is forced to work in Germany,
escapes into the Ukrainian winter, before desperately trying to make his
way back home to Venice.
Nixon, Joan
Lowery. Star
Baby.
Despite
her interfering stage mother, seventeen-year-old Abby, a former child movie
star, pursues her dream of becoming an actress in Hollywood during World
War II.
Orlev, Uri.
The
Man from the Other Side.
Living
on the outskirts of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, fourteen-year-old
Marek and his grandparents shelter a Jewish man in the days before the Jewish
uprising.
Oughton, Jerrie.
The
War in Georgia.
Living
in Georgia during World War II, thirteen-year-old Shanta sometimes feels
that her family and neighborhood are more hopeless battlefields that those
in foreign lands.
Pausewang,
Gudrun. The
Final Journey.
During
World War II, eleven-year-old Alice, whose life has been sheltered and comfortable,
discovers some important things about herself and the people she meets when
she and her grandfather board a train and begin an increasingly intolerable
journey to an unknown destination.
Pressler,
Mirjam. Halinka.
While
living in a home for emotionally disturbed girls in Germany just after World
War II, twelve-year-old Halinka carefully hides her thoughts, feelings,
and even her hopes.
Rylant, Cynthia.
I
Had Seen Castles.
Now
an old man, John is haunted by memories of enlisting to fight in World War
II, a decision which forced him to face the horrors of war and changed his
life forever.
Siegal, Aranka.
Grace
in the Wilderness: After the Liberation, 1945-1948.
Liberated
from a German concentration camp at the end of World War II, but haunted
by the memory of her ordeal, fifteen-year-old Piri starts a strange new
life as a Jew in Sweden.
Taylor, Theodore.
The
Bomb.
In
1945, when the Americans liberate the Bikini Atoll from the Japanese, fourteen-year-old
Sorry Rinamu does not realize that the next year he will lead a desperate
effort to save his island home from a much more deadly threat.
Thesman, Jean.
Rachel
Chance.
When
Rachel's illegitimate baby brother is kidnapped by a travelling band of
revivalists in 1940, she sets out with her grandfather, a hired hand, and
an eccentric neighbor in a desperate attempt to steal him back.
Westall,
Robert. Blitzcat.
During
World War II a black cat journeys all across war-ravaged England in an effort
to track down her beloved master.
Yep, Laurence.
Hiroshima:
A Novella.
Describes
the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, particularly as it
affects Sachi, who becomes one of the Hiroshima Maidens.
Hobbs,
Valerie. How
Far Would You Have Gotten If I Hadn't Called You Back?
After
moving with her family from New Jersey to California in the late 1950s,
sixteen-year-old Bron discovers the world of drag racing.
Holt, Kimberly
Willis. My
Louisiana Sky.
Growing
up in Saitter, Louisiana, in the 1950s, twelve-year-old Tiger Ann struggles
with her feelings about her stern, but loving grandmother, her mentally
slow parents, and her good friend and neighbor, Jesse.
Larson, Roger.
What
I Know Now.
In
1957 in California, having fallen in love with a young man who has come
to his house to build a garden, a fourteen-year-old gay boy finds his life
and his world view changing.
Lasky, Kathryn.
Pageant.
Sarah
Benjamin, a Jewish teenager, wonders if she can endure four more years at
an exclusive, very Christian and impossibly stuffy girls school.
White, Ruth.
Belle
Prater's Boy.
When
Woodrow's mother suddenly disappears, he moves to his grandparents' home
in a small Virginia town where he befriends his cousin and together they
find the strength to face the terrible losses and fears in their lives.
Freeman,
Suzanne T. The
Cuckoo's Child.
Eleven-year-old
Mia refuses to believe that her parents are not coming back after they're
reported lost at sea.
Jones, Adrienne.
Long
Time Passing: A Novel.
In
the turbulence of the late 1960s, while his father is serving as a Marine
officer in Vietnam, seventeen-year-old Jonas falls in love with a free-spirited
flower child active in the peace movement and begins to question his own
attitude toward the Vietnamese War.
Krisher, Trudy.
Kinship.
In
1961 fifteen-year-old Pert, who lives with her mother in Kinship, Georgia,
meets her long-absent father and discovers the true meaning of home.
Krisher, Trudy.
Spite
Fences.
As
she struggles with her troubled relationship with her mother during the
summer of 1960, a young girl is also drawn into the violence, hatred, and
racial tension in her small Georgia town.
McDermott,
Alice. That
Night.
Rick
decides to rescue Sheryl from her troubled home life after he discovers
she is pregnant.
Nelson, Theresa.
And
One for All.
Geraldine's
close relationship with her older brother Wing and his friend Sam changes
when Wing joins the Marines and Sam leaves for Washington to join a peace
march.
Pennebaker,
Ruth. Don't
Think Twice.
Seventeen
years old and pregnant, Anne lives with other unwed mothers in a group home
in rural Texas where she learns to be herself before giving her child up
for adoption.
Tillage, Leon.
Leon's
Story.
The
son of a North Carolina sharecropper recalls the hard times faced by his
family and other African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century
and the changes that the civil rights movement helped bring about.
Antle,
Nancy. Lost
in the War.
Twelve-year-old
Lisa Grey struggles to cope with a mother whose traumatic experiences as
a nurse in Vietnam during the war are still haunting her.
Ho, Minfong.
The
Clay Marble.
In
the late 1970s twelve-year-old Dara joins a refugee camp in war-torn Cambodia
and becomes separated from her family.
Holt, Kimberly
Willis. When
Zachary Beaver Came to Town.
During
the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his
best friend Cal meet the star ofa sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest
boy in the world.
Lafaye, A.
Strawberry
Hill.
During
the summer of 1976, twelve-year-old Raleia Pendle feels like a misfit with
her hippie parents and begins a friendship with the town recluse.
Lewis, Catherine.
Postcards
to Father Abraham.
When
sixteen-year-old Meghan loses her leg to cancer and her brother to Vietnam,
she expresses intense anger in postcards which she writes to her idol, Abraham
Lincoln.
Shoup, Barbara.
Stranded
in Harmony.
While
struggling with the changes he faces during his senior year in a small Indiana
town, Lucas gains insight through a unique friendship with a former Vietnam
war protester.
White,
Ellen Emerson. The
Road Home.
Rebecca,
a young nurse stationed in Vietnam during the war, must come to grips with
her wartime experiences once she returns home to the United States.
Cottonwood,
Joe. Quake!
A Novel.
With
their parents away at the 1989 World Series, fourteen-year-old Franny, her
younger brother, and their cousin try to cope with the frightening events
following an earthquake that destroys their home on Loma Prieta mountain.
Cooney, Caroline
B. Operation:
Homefront.
With
their mother and wife shipped off to the Persian Gulf to serve in Desert
Storm, the Herrick children and their father must learn to get by without
her.
Kerr, M.E.
Linger.
When
his older brother suddenly joins the army and is sent to the Persian Gulf,
sixteen-year-old Gary begins to take a new look at the restaurant that has
been the focal point of his family and their small Pennsylvania town.
Qualey, Marsha.
Hometown.
Just
before the 1991 Gulf War begins, sixteen-year-old Border Baker moves to
a small town with his father, a Vietnam War draft resister.