January’s Sparrow by Patricia Polacco December 23, 2011
Posted by jcarlson in : Historical Fiction , add a comment
Patricia Polacco is a very talented storyteller and artist. In this book, she tells the story of the Crosswhite family and their escape to freedom. The Crosswhites are slaves who live in Kentucky. Their master is very cruel. They take off one night and wind up in Marshall, Michigan. Four or five years later, their master tracks them down and tries to take them back to Kentucky. The citizens of Marshall come to their rescue. However, the Crosswhites must move on. If you enjoy historical fiction and want to find out what happens to the Crosswhites, read this book.
~Mrs. Carlson~
The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill December 13, 2011
Posted by jcarlson in : Historical Fiction, School Fiction , add a comment
If you like historical fiction and are interested in Alaska, this is a perfect book for you. It takes place in a small Alaskan village in 1948. A whole string of teachers have worked in the one room school, and none of them were happy. Then Miss Agnes shows up. She’s different. She makes school interesting. She even helps the adults. Miss Agnes plans to go back to England when the school year ends. Who will replace this amazing teacher?
~Mrs. Carlson~
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson December 3, 2011
Posted by jcarlson in : Family Fiction, Historical Fiction , 2comments
As you can tell from the title, this book takes place in the year 1793. Mattie Cook, a 14 year old girl, lives with her widowed mother and grandfather in the rooms above their Philadelphia coffeehouse. She’s rather lazy but has big plans for the future. Then the yellow fever epidemic hits. Thousands of people in Philadelphia die. Mattie’s mother is the first in the family to get sick. Mattie and her grandfather flee the city at her mother’s urging. Will Mattie or her grandfather get sick? Does her mother survive? Does Mattie return to the coffeehouse? To find out the answers to these questions, read this well-written historical fiction book.
~Mrs. Carlson~
The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker November 13, 2011
Posted by jcarlson in : Friendship Fiction, Historical Fiction , add a comment
This is a really cute book about a clumsy, funny tomboy named Tugs Button. Her family is just plain blah! They don’t have any special talents or interests. Tugs wants to be different from the rest of her family.
The story takes place during the summer of 1929 in a small Iowa town. Tugs attempts to become friends with a very popular girl, tries to win a camera, and stumbles upon a mystery. Read this book to find out how clever Tugs deals with these challenges.
~Mrs. Carlson~
Storyteller by Patricia Reilly Giff May 29, 2011
Posted by jcarlson in : Family Fiction, Historical Fiction , 1 comment so far
Can you imagine seeing a portrait of an ancestor and realizing how much the person resembles you? That’s exactly what happened to Elizabeth. She finds a drawing of a girl named Zee in her Aunt Libby’s home. Zee lived during the American Revolution. We learn about Zee and Elizabeth as their stories alternate throughout the book. We discover that the girls not not only look alike, but their personalities are similar. Elizabeth learns about Zee’s successes and her struggles and discovers that everyone’s story is important. If you like historical fiction, give this book a try.
~Mrs. Carlson~
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm February 8, 2011
Posted by jcarlson in : Family Fiction, Historical Fiction , 5comments
One of my favorite books is Penny from Heaven. This book is by the same author. They are similar in that each one has a spunky girl as the main character. Also, both books are historical fiction. Penny from Heaven takes place during the 1950’s, while Turtle in Paradise is set during the 1930’s.
In this book, Turtle is sent to live with her aunt and three male cousins who live in the Florida Keys. Her mother is a housekeeper who gets a job working for a lady who doesn’t like kids. Turtle’s boy cousins and their friends call themselves the Diaper Gang. They pull around a wagon and take care of the neighbors’ babies while thinking up all sorts of mischief. The Gang reminded me of the Little Rascals, a TV show I watched when I was young. They are funny, daring, and don’t like girls. Turtle is smart, though. She knows how to capture their attention. She even gets them involved in a hunt for pirate’s treature. This book is filled with humor, adventure, and heartbreak. I absolutely loved it!
~Mrs. Carlson~
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia January 18, 2011
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I certainly understand why this book is a 2011 Newbery honor book. It’s funny, heartwarming, and rather unusual. The book takes place in Oakland, California in 1968. Eleven year old Delphine, the narrator, and her two younger sisters go to Oakland to visit their mother who left them years ago. They hope to find a mother who loves and misses them, but Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She sends the girls to a summer camp run by the Black Panthers, a revolutionary group. Delphine watches over her little sisters as she tries to learn the truth about her mother. If you like historical fiction and want to learn about a difficult time in American history through the eyes of an 11 year old girl, try this book. I loved it!
~Mrs. Carlson~
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry May 4, 2010
Posted by jcarlson in : Historical Fiction , 6comments
This book is about a girl named Annemarie that helps her Jewish friend Ellen during World War II. Ellen is a Jewish girl that is going through some hard times in life during the war. Things that are hard for her such as the Nazis are looking for her, her parents are taken away somewhere they will be safe, and she goes to live with her friend Annemarie. To figure out what happens to Ellen and see if she can ever live a normal life again, you should read this book. I liked this book because it was interesting and adventurous!
~Lily and Anna, Fourth Graders~
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer Holm October 2, 2009
Posted by jcarlson in : Family Fiction, Historical Fiction , 7comments
Nothing is that easy for Penny. Her dad died when she was only a baby, her mom won’t let her go to places because she’s afraid of her of catching Polio, Penny’s mom is dating the milkman and her grandma’s cooking might kill someone! All she wants to do is eat butter pecan ice cream and go to a Dodgers game!
This book takes place in the summer of 1953 and it will change Penny’s life forever! She was born into a family where the two sides don’t talk to each other. Penny lives with her grandparents (Me-me and Pop-Pop) and her mom. She goes to her dad’s side for dinner on Sundays. Penny and her cousin, Frankie, are always getting in trouble. They try to find the money that their Grandfather Falucci buried. First, they’re in the news about robbery when they tried to sneak in their Nonny’s yard. The next day Frankie finds the money in the basement of their Nonny’s house and…the trouble really starts happening when Penny’s hand is stuck in the wringer! But what Penny finds are that miracles can happen.
~Kristen, Fifth Grader~
The Cay by Theodore Taylor January 12, 2009
Posted by jcarlson in : Friendship Fiction, Historical Fiction , 25comments
Phillip, his mom, and his dad lived on Curacao, an island. Phillip’s mom wanted to move because she didn’t like the smell of oil and gas, so she decided to move from the island they live on to Virginia. Phillip doesn’t want to go on a ship called the SS Hato. It gets torpedoed because they are in the middle of a war. Everyone is in the water, but Phillip gets hit on the head with something. Not long after, Phillip wakes up to see that he is on a raft in the middle of the ocean with an African American named Timothy. The next day Phillip goes blind, and they see a cay and live on it. After a few months, they get hit by a hurricane, and Timothy dies. Now Phillip is blind and alone with a cat named Stew Cat. Does he get rescued? Read and find out.
~Alan, Fifth Grader~