Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published 1932) was the first book published by this acclaimed children’s author, and it kicks off the “Little House” series of stories that were loosely based on the author’s own childhood as a pioneer in Wisconsin. I find it to be more like a collection
In Newbery Honor book The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani (Kokila, 2018), the partition of India has a profound effect on the life of twelve-year-old Nisha, who is half-Muslim and half-Hindu and now must figure out where she is welcome. Along with her twin brother and her widower father, now Nisha finds she must leave their
Everyone except Maddie, and I mean everyone, has been inexplicably evacuated from her town in the middle of the night in the beginning chapters of the free verse novel Alone by Morgan E. Freeman (Aladdin, 2021). Now Maddie has no access to anyone (phones have been abandoned). She is without electricity and running water and
The 2023 middle grade novel Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson (Little Brown Books for Young Readers, February 2022) offers a hopeful and dream-like success for two children fleeing slavery. Just as they feel hope of escape ebbing away, a mystery man rescues them, leading them to an island community on the edge of the swamp. Homer’s
The middle grade novel No Place Like Home by James Bird (Feiwel & Friends, August 2023) is a heartfelt tale of resilience and the power of cultural identity. Twelve-year-old Ojibwe boy Opin faces the increasing discomfort of homelessness as he and his mother and brother make their way to Los Angeles to be with family.
The story of Noah in the Old Testament has always troubled me, as I grapple with the implications of a worldwide flood. However, in the young adult novel Storm (Simon & Schuster, 2014) by Donna Jo Napoli, the author takes a creative approach by envisioning the experience of a teenage stowaway named Sebah on Noah’s
How to Stay Invisible by Maggie C. Rudd (Atheneum Books, June 2023) is a survival story as well as a moving example of child abandonment and homelessness, but it also stands strong as a story of friendship and finding oneself. Twelve-year-old Raymond has never felt close to anyone, with his parents frequently moving at will
In the book Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park (Clarion Books, March 2020), Hanna loved her mom. She had taught Hanna to sew. But when her mom dies, Hanna and her father move to a different town. Hanna really wanted to go to school but when she went to school people teased her because she
Trapped Behind Nazi Lines by Eric Brown is a middle grade nonfiction book about a company of medics and nurses that, while flying to Italy during World War II, got lost in the clouds and ended up crash landing in Nazi-occupied Albania. The story tells how upon crash landing their airplane, they were able to
At first, I thought Teaching Kids to Think by Darlene Sweetland and Ron Stolberg (Sourcebooks, March 2015) had a deceptive title. I had thought it would be about helping kids learn and logic through academics. Rather, Teaching Kids to Think is focused on helping parents raise children that think through the basics of everyday survival and life, emphasizing
As I mentioned when I reread The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson last year, I grew up with fond memories of the plot, characters, setting, and the entire premise of the story. My older brother and I would imagine ourselves conquering the world, pouring over maps and phone books to determine where
In the middle grade historical novel in poetry May B. by Caroline Rose (to be published January 2012 by Swartz and Wade), young Mavis Betterley, called May, has been sent away from home for the first time, assigned to be a helper for one of her rural Kansas farm neighbors for six months. Despite her
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