Unit 3 Extra Credit Books

Book Extra Credit Instuctions

Historical fiction books to read:

Ayres, Katherine. North by Night : A Story of the Underground Railroad. Delacorte, 1998, 224 pages.

Through sixteen year old Lucinda's journal entries and letters to and from her family and friends, readers learn about her work with the Underground Railroad in a small Ohio town. The fast paced, well researched narrative provides insight into the social and political mores of the time and the dangers faced by those working to help slaves to freedom. (Review from Horn Book.)

Gregory, Kristina. Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie : The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell ,1847 (Dear America ; 4) Scholastic Trade, 1997, 168 pages.

"Gregory reconvenes the Dear America series in 1847, as Hattie, her parents, and her two younger brothers begin the long trek from Missouri to Oregon by wagon train. At first the adventure is exciting, but as the days, weeks, and months pass, Hattie realizes what a dangerous and tedious trip it will be. They cross the prairies, hastening the journey as news of the fate of the Donner party reaches them, but death, disease, weather, and the terrain take a terrible toll ... Through Hattie's diary, Gregory brings the rigors of the trip to life, but she also includes the details that kept the settlers going--the friendships and camaraderie that developed and the joyful events that occurred. Gregory brings a sobering dose of reality to an era that's often romanticized; this is a fine glimpse of history on a human scale." (Review from Kirkus Reviews.)

Harrigan, Stephen. The Gates of the Alamo. Penguin, 2001, 592 pages.

A huge, riveting, deeply imagined novel about the siege and fall of the Alamo in 1836-an event that formed the consciousness of Texas and that resonates through American history-The Gates of the Alamo follows the lives of three people whose fates become bound to the now-fabled Texas fort: Edmund McGowan, a proud and gifted naturalist whose life's work is threatened by the war against Mexico; the resourceful, widowed innkeeper Mary Mott; and her sixteen-year-old son, Terrell, whose first shattering experience with love leads him instead to war, and into the crucible of the Alamo. The story unfolds with vivid immediacy and describes the pivotal battle from the perspective of the Mexican attackers as well as the American defenders. Filled with dramatic scenes, and abounding in fictional and historical personalities-among them James Bowie, David Crockett, William Travis, and General Santa Anna-The Gates of the Alamo enfolds us in history and, through its remarkable and passionate storytelling, allows us to participate at last in an American legend. (Description from Amazon.com)

McKissack, Patricia. A Picture of Freedom : The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl, Belmont Plantation,1859 (Dear Ameirca : 5). Scholastic Trade, 1997, 202 pages.

"Thirteen-year-old Hattie records her family's journey on the Oregon Trail as part of a covered-wagon train. Clotee, a twelve-year-old slave girl, meditates on the meaning of the word freedom and learns about the Underground Railroad. " (Review from Horn Book)

Melzer, Milton. Underground Man. Harcouirt Brace, 1990.

An action-packed, thought-provoking novel based on the life of an actual nineteenth-century white abolitionist includes a lengthy afterword on Meltzer's research and on the differences between fiction and history. (Review for Horn Book)

Paterson, Katherine. Lyddie 1991.

Lyddie, an impoverished Vermont farm girl, is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Massachusetts in the 1840's.

Shaara, Jeffrey. Gone for Soldiers. Ballantine Books, 2000, 424 pages.

In Gone for Soldiers, Jeff Shaara carries us back 15 years before the momentous conflict he has so brilliantly chronicled, to a time when the Civil War's most familiar names are fighting for another cause, junior officers marching under the same flag in an unfamiliar land, experiencing combat for the first time in the Mexican-American War. In March 1847, 8,000 soldiers landed on the beaches of Vera Cruz, led by the army's commanding general, Winfield Scott-a heroic veteran of the War of 1812, short tempered, vain, and nostalgic for the glories of his youth. At his right hand is Robert E. Lee, a forty year-old engineer, a dignified, serious man who has never seen combat. In vivid prose that illuminates the dark psychology of soldiers trapped behind enemy lines, Jeff Shaara brings to life the familiar characters, the stunning triumphs and soul-crushing defeats of this fascinating, long-forgotten war. (Description from Amazon.com)

Williams, Sherley Anne. Dessa Rose. Quill Books: 1999, 272 pages.

This acclaimed historical novel is based on two actual incidents: In 1829 in Kentucky, a pregnant black woman helped lead an uprising of a group of slaves headed to the market for sale. She was sentenced to death, but her hanging was delayed until after the birth of her baby. In North Carolina in 1830, a white woman living on an isolated farm was reported to have given sanctuary to runaway slaves. In Dessa Rose, the author asks the question: "What if these two women met?" (Summary from Amazon.com)