Library
Mrs. Benton
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2,550 Items
Last Updated:
Sep 10, 2023
Fever 1793
Laurie Halse Anderson*****During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out.

Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish mother's insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather. But she soon discovers that the sickness is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.
Fever 1793
Laurie Halse Anderson*****During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out.

Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish mother's insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather. But she soon discovers that the sickness is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.
Streams to the River, River to the Sea
Scott O'Dell*****Scagawea, a Shashone Indian, guided and interpreted for explorers Lewis and Clarke as they traveled up the Mississippi, but she had adventures long before that one, like the time she was captured by the Minnetarees, and taken away from her family and everything that she knew and loved....
Cabin on Trouble Creek
Jean Van Leeuwen*****Wolves, bears, and a heavy snowstorm are just some of the dangers that Daniel and Will must face&150alone. It's 1803, and the boys and their father have recently arrived in Ohio, following the promise of rich farmland. After clearing enough forest to build a log cabin, Pa sets off for Pennsylvania to fetch the rest of the family, while eleven-year-old Daniel and nine-year-old Will stay behind to watch the land. Pa had planned to return within five or six weeks . . . but something must have gone terribly wrong. Now the boys must survive the winter with only an axe, two knives, a sack of cornmeal, and&150most important of all&150their ability to invent and improvise. But are they truly alone in the woods? Daniel thinks that someone is watching them . . .

Jean Van Leeuwen's engrossing novel of pioneer survival is based on a true incident. Readers, especially boys, will be fascinated by the struggles and triumphs of these brave young characters.
Cabin on Trouble Creek
Jean Van Leeuwen*****Wolves, bears, and a heavy snowstorm are just some of the dangers that Daniel and Will must face&150alone. It's 1803, and the boys and their father have recently arrived in Ohio, following the promise of rich farmland. After clearing enough forest to build a log cabin, Pa sets off for Pennsylvania to fetch the rest of the family, while eleven-year-old Daniel and nine-year-old Will stay behind to watch the land. Pa had planned to return within five or six weeks . . . but something must have gone terribly wrong. Now the boys must survive the winter with only an axe, two knives, a sack of cornmeal, and&150most important of all&150their ability to invent and improvise. But are they truly alone in the woods? Daniel thinks that someone is watching them . . .

Jean Van Leeuwen's engrossing novel of pioneer survival is based on a true incident. Readers, especially boys, will be fascinated by the struggles and triumphs of these brave young characters.
Cabin on Trouble Creek
Jean Van Leeuwen*****Wolves, bears, and a heavy snowstorm are just some of the dangers that Daniel and Will must face&150alone. It's 1803, and the boys and their father have recently arrived in Ohio, following the promise of rich farmland. After clearing enough forest to build a log cabin, Pa sets off for Pennsylvania to fetch the rest of the family, while eleven-year-old Daniel and nine-year-old Will stay behind to watch the land. Pa had planned to return within five or six weeks . . . but something must have gone terribly wrong. Now the boys must survive the winter with only an axe, two knives, a sack of cornmeal, and&150most important of all&150their ability to invent and improvise. But are they truly alone in the woods? Daniel thinks that someone is watching them . . .

Jean Van Leeuwen's engrossing novel of pioneer survival is based on a true incident. Readers, especially boys, will be fascinated by the struggles and triumphs of these brave young characters.
Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog's Tale
Laurie Myers*****In 1803, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off to explore the vast territory west of the Mississippi River, and are joined by Lewis's dog, Seaman. From his first meeting with Lewis, to being mistaken for a bear by Indians who have never seen such a large dog, Seaman's tales are filled with adventure and are based on the explorers' journals.
Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog's Tale
Laurie Myers*****In 1803, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off to explore the vast territory west of the Mississippi River, and are joined by Lewis's dog, Seaman. From his first meeting with Lewis, to being mistaken for a bear by Indians who have never seen such a large dog, Seaman's tales are filled with adventure and are based on the explorers' journals.
Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog's Tale
Laurie Myers*****
Seaward Born
Lea Wait*****"Sometimes a man has to risk everything to do what's right. Doing it is what makes him a man."

Thirteen-year-old Michael knows he is lucky. Few slaves in 1805 Charleston are where they want to be. But Michael works on the docks and ships in Charleston Harbor, close to the seas he longs to sail. Life seems good. But when Michael's protective mistress dies, everything changes, and Michael's friend Jim encourages him to run away. Michael is torn. Should he risk everything for a chance at freedom in some unknown place? Or should he stay — is staying safe worth staying a slave?
Seaward Born
Lea Wait*****"Sometimes a man has to risk everything to do what's right. Doing it is what makes him a man."

Thirteen-year-old Michael knows he is lucky. Few slaves in 1805 Charleston are where they want to be. But Michael works on the docks and ships in Charleston Harbor, close to the seas he longs to sail. Life seems good. But when Michael's protective mistress dies, everything changes, and Michael's friend Jim encourages him to run away. Michael is torn. Should he risk everything for a chance at freedom in some unknown place? Or should he stay — is staying safe worth staying a slave?
Seaward Born
Lea Wait*****"Sometimes a man has to risk everything to do what's right. Doing it is what makes him a man."

Thirteen-year-old Michael knows he is lucky. Few slaves in 1805 Charleston are where they want to be. But Michael works on the docks and ships in Charleston Harbor, close to the seas he longs to sail. Life seems good. But when Michael's protective mistress dies, everything changes, and Michael's friend Jim encourages him to run away. Michael is torn. Should he risk everything for a chance at freedom in some unknown place? Or should he stay — is staying safe worth staying a slave?
Seaward Born
Lea Wait*****"Sometimes a man has to risk everything to do what's right. Doing it is what makes him a man."

Thirteen-year-old Michael knows he is lucky. Few slaves in 1805 Charleston are where they want to be. But Michael works on the docks and ships in Charleston Harbor, close to the seas he longs to sail. Life seems good. But when Michael's protective mistress dies, everything changes, and Michael's friend Jim encourages him to run away. Michael is torn. Should he risk everything for a chance at freedom in some unknown place? Or should he stay — is staying safe worth staying a slave?
My Daniel
Pam Conrad*****"All I want to find is one dinosaur," Daniel was saying. "And I'll find it right here. Like I do all my fossils." Wandering through the Natural History Museum with her grandchildren, Julia Creath feels the presence of her dead brother, Daniel, she remembers a time when fossil fever hit everyone, old and young — a time when people would kill for those old bones under the ground. Julia becomes the Nebraska farm girl she once was, as she weaves together the story of the great dinosaur rush — an adventurous tale of love and treachery, but most of all the story of her own childhood, and of the older brother she loved more than anything. Daniel had a dream that julia shared — and the she alone would see come true.
The Treasure of Amelia Island
M. C. Finotti*****Accelerated Reader Quiz #129357. Level 5.3

In 1813 the children of Ana Jai Kingsley run from the Patriots straight into even more danger

Eleven-year-old Mary Kingsley recounts the tumultuous events of December 1813. Her family lived in La Florida, a Spanish territory under siege by Patriots from the United States of America. Patriots wanted to force Spain out of the land it had ruled for nearly three hundred years.

Mary is the youngest child of a former slave, Ana Jai Kingsley. Her father freed Mary and the rest of the family, but the Patriots don't care. They see no place for freed people of color in a new Florida. They want to make Mary and her family slaves again.

Against these mighty events, Mary decides to search for a legendary pirate treasure with her brother George and her half-brother Diego. This treasure hunt, filled with danger and recklessness, is compelling and unforgettable and it changes Mary Kingsley forever.

The Kingsley family actually existed in this era. Zephaniah Kingsley married the African slave Ana Jai. He freed her and their three children and they lived at a plantation that you can visit today in northeast Florida.

Ages 8-12
The Smuggler's Treasure
Sarah Masters Buckey*****Sent to live with relatives in New Orleans during the War of 1812, eleven-year-old Elisabet determines to find a smuggler's treasure to ransom her imprisoned father.
The Smuggler's Treasure
Sarah Masters Buckey*****
Davy Crockett and the Highwaymen: A Historical Novel
Ron Fontes, Justine Korman*****When sharpshooting proves to be the wrong way of dealing with a fearsome gang, Davy Crockett turns to his skills to the telling of tall tales.
Davy Crockett and the Highwaymen: A Historical Novel
Ron Fontes, Justine Korman*****When sharpshooting proves to be the wrong way of dealing with a fearsome gang, Davy Crockett turns to his skills to the telling of tall tales.
The Stowaway: A Tale of California Pirates
Kristiana Gregory*****Kristiana Gregory's swashbuckling tale of a young boy's encounter with a true pirate is being repackaged with a new cover. This high seas adventure is full of historic facts and nefarious characters.

The year is 1818, and the coastal village of Monterey, California, is a peaceful home for 11-year-old Carlito and his family ... until pirate ships appear on the horizon. Carlito and his friends are excited at first. They can't wait to see what real pirates look like. But once the ships drop anchor, they attack. And on one terrible night, Carlito witnesses a murder - his father's. When Carlito climbs on the pirate ship in search of revenge, the ship sets sail and he becomes a stowaway. Can Carlito bring his father's murderer to justice? Or will he suffer the same horrendous fate?
Great Expectations: Treasury of Illustrated Classics
Charles Dickens*****Great Expectations charts the progress of Pip from childhood through often painful experiences to adulthood, as he moves from the Kent marshes to busy, commercial London, encountering a variety of extraordinary characters ranging from Magwitch, the escaped convict, to Miss Havisham, locked up with her unhappy past and living with her ward, the arrogant, beautiful Estella. Pip must discover his true self, and his own set of values and priorities. Whether such values allow one to prosper in the complex world of early Victorian England is the major question posed by Great Expectations, one of Dickens's most fascinating, and disturbing, novels. This edition includes the original, discarded ending, Dickens's brief working notes, and the serial instalments and chapter divisions in different editions. It also uses the definitive Clarendon text.
Moby-Dick: An Adapted Classic
Herman Melville, Glenn Holder*****A young man named Ishmael decides that he wants to work on a whaling ship. Ishmael signs up to hunt whales on the ship "Pequod". The ship's captain, Ahab, has had a previous encounter with a giant white sperm whale known as Moby Dick. Captain Ahab is now totally intent mentally with the capture and killing of Moby Dick.
Ahyoka and the Talking Leaves: The Story of the Cherokee Alphabet
Peter Roop, Connie Roop*****A fictional recreation of the life of Ahyoka, a young Cherokee who worked with her exiled father to help him create Cherokee syllabary, the only written language ever invented by a single person.
Ahyoka and the Talking Leaves: The Story of the Cherokee Alphabet
Peter Roop, Connie Roop*****A fictional recreation of the life of Ahyoka, a young Cherokee who worked with her exiled father to help him create Cherokee syllabary, the only written language ever invented by a single person.
Riding Freedom
Pam Muñoz Ryan*****A reissue of Pam Munoz Ryan's bestselling backlist with a distinctive new author treatment.

In this fast-paced, courageous, and inspiring story, readers adventure with Charlotte Parkhurst as she first finds work as a stable hand, becomes a famous stage-coach driver (performing brave feats and outwitting bandits), finds love as a woman but later resumes her identity as a man after the loss of a baby and the tragic death of her husband, and ultimately settles out west on the farm she'd dreamed of having since childhood. It wasn't until after her death that anyone discovered she was a woman.
Beethoven Lives Upstairs
Barbara Nichol*****
Secrets in the Hills: A Josefina Mystery
Kathleen Ernst*****Josefina has heard tales and legends all her life: rumors of gold and silver buried in the hills, tales of a ghostly Weeping Woman who haunts the countryside. But she never imagined that such tales might be true—until one day a mysterious stranger arrives at her rancho. Set in New Mexico in 1826.
Oliver Twist: Children's Classics
Charles Dickens*****HARDBOUND - ILLUSTRATED - 182 PAGES
Oliver Twist: Junior Classics
Charles Dickens*****Junior Classics have been adapted and illustrated with care and thought to introduce you to a worlds of famous authors, characters, ideas, and great stories that have been loved for generations. Poor Oliver... Starved and mistreated as a workhouse orphan, he runs away to London, hoping to find a better life. But twists and turns - and some rather odd characters - await him and shape his tale. Oliver's fate is in the hands of villains and thieves, one kind old gentleman, one woman with a change of heart, and a twisted man who follows his every move... Fully illustrated and adapted. Ages 8 and up. Reading Level 3.7.
Night Bird: A Story of the Seminole Indians
Kathleen V. Kudlinski*****Night Bird worries about the fate of the Seminoles when her clan is forced by fears of whites to hold their Green Corn ceremony in secret and wonders if moving onto new land in Oklahoma is the answer to their troubles.
The Indian School
Gloria Whelan*****When shy, ten-year-old Lucy comes to live with her aunt and uncle at their mission school, she's surprised at the number of harsh rules and restrictions imposed on the children. Why, she wonders, should the Indians have to do all the changing? And why is her aunt so strict with them? Then a girl called Raven runs away in protest, and Lucy knows she must overcome her timidity and stand up to her aunt—no matter what the consequences. Once again Gloria Whelan has taken a chapter from our past and transformed it into gripping, accessible, historically accurate fiction.
To Be a Slave
Julius Lester*****To be a slave. To be owned by another person, as a car, house, or a table is owned. To live as a piece of property that could be sold...

This book is about how it felt. The words of black men and women who had themselves been slaves are here, accompanied by Julius Lester's historical commentary and Tom Feelings's powerful and muted paintings, To Be a Slave has been a touchstone in children's literature for over thirty years.

"It is rare to find a book that enables children to identify as compellingly with slaves as this one does." -Publishers Weekly

"From history-and for our time-there's nothing better than To Be a Slave." -The New York Times Book Review

Awards:

A 1969 Newbery Honor Book
An ALA Notable Book
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Smithsonian Magazine Best Book of the Year
Heart of a Samurai
Margi Preus*****In 1841 a Japanese fishing vessel sinks. Its crew is forced to swim to a small, unknown island, where they are rescued by a passing American ship. Japan’s borders remain closed to all Western nations, so the crew sets off to America, learning English on the way.
Manjiro, a 14-year-old boy, is curious and eager to learn everything he can about this new culture. Eventually the captain adopts Manjiro and takes him to his home in New England. The boy lives there for some time and then heads to San Francisco to pan for gold. After many years, he makes it back to Japan, only to be imprisoned as an outsider. With his hard-won knowledge of the West, Manjiro is in a unique position to persuade the emperor to ease open the boundaries around Japan; he may even achieve his unlikely dream of becoming a samurai.

Heart of a Samurai is a 2011 Newbery Honor Book.

Accolades and Praise for Heart of a Samurai
2011 Newbery Honor Book
New York Times Bestseller
NPR Backseat Book Club pick

"A terrifc biographical novel by Margi Preus." -Wall Street Journal

*STARRED REVIEW*
"It’s a classic fish-out-of-water story (although this fish goes into the water repeatedly), and it’s precisely this classic structure that gives the novel the sturdy bones of a timeless tale. Backeted by gritty seafaring episodes—salty and bloody enough to assure us that Preus has done her research—the book’s heart is its middle section, in which Manjiro, allegedly the first Japanese to set foot in America, deals with the prejudice and promise of a new world. By Japanese tradition, Manjiro was destined to be no more than a humble fisherman, but when his 10-year saga ends, he has become so much more."
—Booklist, starred review

*STARRED REVIEW*
"Illustrated with Manjiro’s own pencil drawings in addition to other archival material and original art from Tamaki, this is a captivating fictionalized (although notably faithful) retelling of the boy’s adventures. Capturing his wonder, remarkable willingness to learn, the prejudice he encountered and the way he eventually influenced officials in Japan to open the country, this highly entertaining page-turner."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
*STARRED REVIEW*
"Stunning debut novel. Preus places readers in the young man’s shoes, whether he is on a ship or in a Japanese prison. Her deftness in writing is evident in two poignant scenes, one in which Manjiro realizes the similarities between the Japanese and the Americans and the other when he reunites with his Japanese family."
—School Library Journal, starred review

*STARRED REVIEW*
"Preus mixes fact with fiction in a tale that is at once adventurous, heartwarming, sprawling, and nerve-racking in its depictions of early anti-Asian sentiment. She succeeds in making readers feel every bit as “other” as Manjiro, while showing America at its best and worst through his eyes."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"First-time novelist Preus turns the true story of Manjiro into an action-packed boy's adventure tale."
—Horn Book
Escape from Slavery: Five Journeys to Freedom
Doreen Rappaport*****Freedom!

Eliza and her baby, running across the ice. Selena and Cornelia Jackson, masquerading as boys. Henry Box Brown, shipping himself north in a wooden crate. Jane Johnson, risking everything to testify against her former owner in court. Ellen Craft, posing as her husband's owner.

Escaping from slavery against overwhelming odds, these people were helped by courage, ingenuity, and the informal network known as the Underground Railroad. Here are their gripping stories, told by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Charles Lilly, and accompanied by information about slave laws of the era, key Underground Railroad leaders, and a bibliography.
I'm Sorry, Almira Ann
Jane Kurtz*****Sarah and her family have set off on an exciting journey West, following the Oregon Trail. Luckily, Sarah¹s best friend, Almira Ann is on the trail, too. But the journey sours when the boisterous Sarah scares Almira Ann, unintentionally causing her to fall out of the wagon and break her leg. Now, Almira Ann must spend the rest of the hot, dusty trip inside the bouncing wagon. As Sarah tries to mend her friendship with Almira Ann, she learns a valuable lesson about difficult, though rewarding, journeys.
Kate's House
Mary Francis Shura*****(1900s) Eleven-year-old Kate and her family are in Oregon at last and Kate is having a difficult time adjusting to her new life. The dark woods are frightening, and her best friend Tildy wants to return to her mother back East. But by Christmastime, Kate's mother is expecting a baby, Tildy has decided to stay, and Kate has finally come to accept Oregon as her home.
Facing West: A Story of the Oregon Trail
Kathleen V. Kudlinski*****When his family travels west via wagon train in 1845, Ben faces many adventures and hardships. Along with the dangers of rough weather and wild animals, Ben also fears the possibility that he might have a devastating asthma attack. As his family sets out from Missouri to Oregon, young Ben wonders whether he will have more trouble with the dangers of the journey or his debilitating asthma.
Moccasin Trail
Eloise Jarvis McGraw*****The only thing Jim wants is to go home - home to the family he deserted six years ago!
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain*****/Twain/Mark The famed adventures of Tom Sawyer and his friend, Huck Finn. Based on Mark Twain's recolle.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain*****/Twain/Mark The famed adventures of Tom Sawyer and his friend, Huck Finn. Based on Mark Twain's recolle.
The Birchbark House
Louise Erdrich*****"[In this] story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children's stories about nineteenth-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at 'them' as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich, drawing on her family's history, wants to tell about 'us', from the inside. The Birchbark House establishes its own ground, in the vicinity of Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Little House' books." —The New York Times Book Review
Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, 1847
Kristiana Gregory*****Thirteen-year-old Hattie Campbell records the details of her family's harrowing migration to Oregon in a covered wagon and describes the many challenges, both joyful and tragic, that mark the journey.
The Man Who Was Poe
Avi*****In Providence, R.I., in 1848, Edgar Allan Poe reluctantly investigates the problems of eleven-year-old Edmund, whose family has mysteriously disappeared and whose story suggests a new Poe tale with a ghastly final twist.
The Man Who Was Poe
Avi*****It is night and Edmund is all alone. His mother is gone. His sister has disappeared. Edmund has no one, except for a dark and mysterious stranger who follows him through the cold and shadowy city with offers of help. But who is this stranger who gives Edmund refuge? He has a mission of his own and he needs Edmund, but he tells him nothing of his purpose. Yet the stranger is Edmund's only hope of discovering the dark secrets that surround the disappearance of his family...
Under the Same Sky
Cynthia DeFelice*****A teenager discovers racism and romance on his father?s farm

For his fourteenth birthday, Joe Pedersen wants a motorbike that costs nearly a thousand dollars. But his mom says the usual birthday gift is fifty dollars, and his dad wants Joe to earn the rest of the money himself and ?find out what a real day?s work feels like.? Angry that his father doesn?t think he?s up to the job, Joe joins the Mexican laborers who come to his father?s farm each summer. Manuel, the crew boss, is only sixteen, yet highly regarded by the other workers and the Pedersen family. Joe?s resentment grows when his father treats Manuel as an equal. Compared with Manuel, Joe knows nothing about planting and hoeing cabbage and picking strawberries. But he toughs out the long, grueling days in the hot sun, determined not only to make money but to gain the respect of his stern, hardworking father. Joe soon learns about the problems and fears the Mexicans live with every day, and, before long, thanks to Manuel, his beautiful cousin Luisa, and the rest of the crew, Joe comes to see the world in a whole different way.

In her sensitive new novel, Cynthia DeFelice explores our dependency on migrant workers and simultaneous reluctance to let these people into our country and into our lives.
Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl
Marissa Moss*****In this first book in the Young American Voices series, young Rachel and her family travel by covered wagon following the Oregon Trail from Illinois all the way to California. The terrain is rough and the seven-month trip is filled with adventure—a surprise encounter with Indians, a thunderous buffalo stampede, even the perilous crossing of a flooded river. Rachel's own handwritten journal chronicles every detail and features cherished "pasted-in" mementos—wildflowers, buttons, quilt patches—gathered along the way. Hear Rachel's story in her own words as she and her family make their way to their new home in California.