Cesa is a 13-year-old Californian, who lived during the time of the gold rush, after the Mexican-American war. Her family has always owned the massive Rancho de la Valle de la Madrugada, the ranch of the valley of the dawn. Cesa can mean Princess in Spanish, which is what her father calls her. Cesa leads her five brothers in games of war, and rides her horse all over the ranch, believing herself to be like a queen. When Americans arrive, searching for gold, and insisting that all of the land now belongs to America, Cesa's way of life is threatened. Will good come of the changes, the way flowers spring up after the rains, which follow the yearly drought? This is the story of the birth of California as it is known today.

Similar books: Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan, East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 3/27/2009

ISBN-10: 0786261420

ISBN-13: 9780786261420

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New York City, 1906 - a deadly outbreak of typhoid fever is sweeping the city. Sixteen-year-old budding scientist Prudence Galewski leaves secretarial school to follow her dreams and work as an assistant in the Department of Health and Sanitation. This agency is responsible for discovering the reason for the spread of the deadly disease. Meet 'Typhoid Mary' the Irish immigrant blamed for this outbreak, who has never been sick a day in her life. Follow the path of Prudence and her boss, the head epidemiologist as they try to prove what no one else will believe - that someone without symtoms can be the carrier. This historical fiction is told in journal form and very satisfyingly chronicles the heroine's growth as a person as well as a scientist in the turbulent era when women did not even have the right to vote.

Reviewed by: ewl

Date read: 3/10/2011

ISBN-10: 0689857381

ISBN-13: 9780689857386

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Hannah is almost thirteen, and she would much rather hang out with her best friend Rosemary at the mall than go to her family's Seder dinner to celebrate Passover. Passover is about remembering, and Hannah is tired of remembering especially when she wasn't even there. But this year it's Hannah's turn to open the door for the prophet Elijah. Instead of the expected empty hallway, Hannah walks through the doorway and finds herself in Poland... in 1942! Everyone here calls her by her Hebrew name, Chaya. Soon the Nazis come and take Hannah away with the rest of the village. Only Hannah knows what awaits them in the concentration camps. In the camps, Hannah discovers the importance of remembering, of friendship... and of sacrifice.

Reviewed by: mkl

Date read: 7/8/2009

ISBN-10: 0140345353

ISBN-13: 9780140345353

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The fictionalized diary of a 12-year-old boy who joins the Union army as a drummer, and ends up fighting in the Civil War.

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 4/13/2009

ISBN-10: 0761301186

ISBN-13: 9780761301189

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This book is made up of excerpts from Susie King Taylor's actual diary. She was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1848, as a slave. When Susie was 6, she was able to go to a school taught by a freed slave. In April 1862, when the Yankees captured the island she was living on, the slaves were put under the protection of the Union fleet. The Captain, amazed that Susie could read and write, put her in charge of teaching school to the 40 children there. When the first black regiment to fight in the Civil War was created, Susie served as their nurse. She wrote about trying to keep herself, and her patients, warm, and fed. She mourned the many that died from malaria, smallpox, typhoid, pneumonia, and dysentery. After the war, she moved to the North. Years later, she returned to the South. From the injustices she experienced after the war, she realized that equality still had a long way to go. Her book was published in 1902, and she died in 1912.

Similar books: Dear America fiction series

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 4/13/2009

ISBN-10: 076141648X

ISBN-13: 9780761416487

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