KEY: jP = Picture Books; jZ = 1st and 2nd Grade Readers; jE = 3rd and 4th Grade Readers; J = 5th Grade and Up

1890's

update 08/2014

Picture Books

3rd - 4th Grade

Applebaum, Diana
COCOA ICE
A girl in Santo Domingo tells how cocoa is harvested during the late 1800s while at the same time her counterpart in Maine tells about the harvesting of ice. 		1997 unpaged

Blegvad, Lenore
KITTY AND MR. KIPLING
In 1892, eight-year-old Kitty learns about writing and the world beyond her Dummerston, Vermont, home when she befriends her new neighbors, author Rudyard Kipling and his family, who have recently arrived from England. 		2005 131 P.

Bunting, Eve
TRAIN TO SOMEWHERE
In the late 1800's, Marianne travels westward on the Orphan Train in hopes of being placed with a caring family.		 1996 32 pages

Gilliland, Judith
STEAMBOAT: THE STORY OF CAPTAIN BLANCHE LEATHERS
Describes how Blanche Douglas Leathers studied the Mississippi River and passed the test to become a steamboat captain in 1894.		 2000 unpaged

Hopkinson, Deborah
SAILING FOR GOLD
Book I of The Klondike Kid series
Seattle, July 1897. Ever since his mother died, Davey has had a secret plan: He's saving his money so he can run away to Alaska to find Uncle Walt, the only relatvie he has. 		2004 72 p.

Hopkinson, Deborah
THE LONG TRAIL
Book II of The Klondike Kid series
Stowing away on the steamer Al-Ki was only the beginning of Davey's daring quest to find his uncle in the Klondike. Now he's camping in the rough-and-tumble town of Skagway, working for his photographer friend Erik Larsen, and preparing for his next challenge - the steep, treacherous, hundreds-of-miles-long Chilkoot Trail. 		2004 72 p.

Hopkinson, Deborah
ADVENTURE IN GOLD TOWN
Book III of The Klondike Kid series
The real-life fire in the mining town of Dawson City provides an exciting backdrop for the conclusion of Davey's search to find his uncle during the Klondike Gold Rush. 		2004 78 p.

Kelly, Jacqueline
THE EVOLUTION OF CAPURINA TATE
.Growing up with six brothers in rural Texas in 1899, 12-year-old Callie realizes that her aversion to needlework and cooking disappoints her mother. She prefers to study the natural world with her grandfather, which leads to an important discovery. 		2009 340 p.

Lasky, Kathryn
SHE’S WEARING A DEAD BIRD ON HER HEAD!
A fictionalized account of the activities of Harriet Hemenway and Minna Hall, founders of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, a late 19th century Audubon Society that would endure and have impact on the bird-protection movement. 1890's.		 1995 unpaged

MacBride, Roger
MISSOURI BOUND
Even though she is sad to leave her home in South Dakota, Rose has many new experiences as she and her parents and the Cooley family make their journey to Missouri. 1894.		 1999 74 p.

Medearis, Michael DAISY AND THE DOLL
Daisy, an 8-year-old black girl living in rural Vermont in the 1890's, is given a black doll by her teacher and becomes uncomfortable that her skin is a different color from that of her classmates until she finds the courage to speak from her heart.		 2000 unpaged

Rand, Gloria SAILING HOME
A STORY OF A CHILDHOOD AT SEA
This story is based on a real family's life aboard a four-masted sailing bark, the John Edna,which carried cargo all over the world between 1896-1910. Under the command of Captain Mads Albert Madsen, he was accompanied on most of these voyages by his wife Anna marie and their children, Matilda, Albert, Dagmar and Ena. 		2000 unpaged

Rappaport, Doreen TROUBLE AT THE MINES
Rosie and her family are caught up in the Arnot, Pennsylvania, mining strike of 1899-1900, led by the union organizer, Mother Jones.		 1987 81 p.

Whalen, Sharla BEST FRIENDS UNDER THE SUN
Faithful Friends Collection Book 4
When a sculpture comemorating the pioneer spirit is finally unveiled, the subject matter amazes everyone in town, even the young visitor from England who has been dazzling the local girls.		 1997 64 p.

Whalen, Sharla FRIENDS ON ICE
Faithful Friends Collection Book Two
In the 1890’s in Illinois, Beth is dismayed to find her friendship with Maggie in trouble as the Winter Entertainment approaches. 		1997 64 p.

Whalen, Sharla MEET THE FRIENDS
Faithful Friends Collection Book One
Each of four girls knows what it feels like to be different, and as they become friends, they discover something important about themselves and each other. 1890’s Illinois.		 1997 64 p.

Whelan, Gloria HANNAH
Hannah, a blind girl living in Michigan in the late 19th century, doesn’t go to school, until a new teacher tells her about the Braille method of reading for the blind.		 1991 63 p.

5th Grade and Up

Bartoletti, Susan THE JOURNAL OF FIN REARDON
A NEWSIE
My Name is America
Finn Reardon, a 13-year-old Irish-American newspaper carrier who hopes to be a journalist someday, keeps a journal of his experiences living in New York City in 1899.		 2003 136 p.

Beatty, Patricia BEHAVE YOURSELF, BETHANY BRANT
A preacher's daughter with lots of curiosity and a penchant for getting into trouble has an eventful year and a half, as all the predictions of a fortune-teller at a Texas county fair in 1898 come true.		 1986 166 p.

Beatty, Patricia SARAH AND ME AND THE LADY FROM THE SEA
When, in 1894, their father’s business failure forces the family to live in their beach home on the peninsula just above the Oregon border, 12- year-old Marcella and her younger brother and sister find the experience much more rewarding than they imagined, especially when they become friends with the numerous members of the Kimball family.		 1989 177 p.

Byars, Betsy KEEPER OF THE DOVES
1899. For aspiring writer Amen McBee, life at the end of the nineteenth century with her four older sisters and a baby on the way is full of adventure. However, a strange old man who keeps doves brings a feeling of unease into the family. 		2004 121 p.

Carbone, Elisa STORM WARRIORS
In 1895, after his mother's death, 12-year-old Nathan moves with his father and grandfather to Pea Island off the coast of North Carolina, where he hopes to join the all-black crew at the nearby lifesaving station, despite his father's objections.		 2001 166 p.

Duey, K and K.A. Bale SURVIVAL! TRAIN WRECK. Kansas, 1892
In 1892 Max and Jodi, young employees of a traveling circus, find their lives endangered when their train wrecks in a storm.		 1999 172 p.

Easton, Richard A REAL AMERICAN
1892. Resentful of the Italian miners who inhabit his Pennsylvania town during the coal boom, an eleven-year-old boy discovers that being American has nothing to do with the color of your skin or the languages you speak.		 2002 156 p.

Farrell, Mary Cronk FIRE IN THE HOLE
1899. Fourteen-year-old Mick doesn"t want to end up like his father, a roughneck union miner working for low wages in the Coeur d"Alene silver-mining district of Idaho. He detests the vigilante attitude of his father"s union and would rather do his fighting with words like his mentor, Mr. Delaney, who runs the town newspaper. But when the radicals of his father"s union blow up the mining company"s ore-concentrating mill, Mick' dreams blow up with it. Federal soldiers put the town .		 2004 170 p.

Griffin, Peni SWITCHING WELL
Two 12-year-old girls in San Antonio, Texas, Ada in 1891 and Amber in 1991, switch places through a magic well and try desperately to return to their own times.		 1993 218 p.

Hill, Kirkpatrick MINUK
ASHES IN THE PATHWAY
Girls of Many Lands series
Twelve-year-old Minuk's traditional Eskimo way of life is changed forever in 1892 with the arrival of Christian missionaries.		 2002 185 p.

Hobbs, Will DOWN THE YUKON
sequel to Jason's Gold. In the wake of Dawson City's Great Fire of 1899, 16-year-old Jason and his girlfriend jamie canoe the Yukon River across Alaska in an epic race from Canada's Klondike to the new gold fields at Cape Nome.		 2001 187 p.

Hobbs, Will JASON'S GOLD
When news of the discovery of gold in Canada's Yukon in 1897 reaches 15-year-old Jason, he embarks on a 5,000-mile journey to strike it rich.		 1999 216 p.

Holm, Jennifer OUR ONLY MAY AMELIA
It isn′t easy being a pioneer in the state of Washington in 1899, but it′s particularly hard when you are the only girl ever born in the new settlement. With seven older brothers and a love of adventure, May Amelia Jackson just can′t seem to abide her family′s insistence that she behave like a Proper Young Lady. She′s sure she could do better if only there were at least one other girl living along the banks of the Nasel River. And now that Mama′s going to have a baby, maybe there′s hope. Inspired by the diaries of her great-aunt, the real May Amelia, first-time novelist Jennifer Holm has given us a beautifully crafted tale of one young girl whose unique spirit captures the courage, humour, passion and depth of the American pioneer experience. ∗Newbery Honour Book (USA), 2000 .		 2001 272 p.

Jones, Elizabeth McDavid GHOST LIGHT ON GRAVEYARD SHOAL
American Girl History Mysteries
In 1895, twelve-year-old Rhoda investigates her suspicion that a wrecker may be luring ships to their destruction on the Virginia barrier island where her father is Keeper of a U.S. Lifesaving Station. Includes historical notes on the United States Life-Saving Service. 		2003 153 p.

Lerangis, Peter SMILER'S BONES
In 1897, Robert Peary brought six polar Eskimos to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Soon four of them had died, one returned to Greenland, and one boy, Minik, was left. This is his story. 		2007 147 p.

Mazzio, Joann LEAVING ELDORADO
In 1896-97, after her gold-mad father abandons her in the small New Mexico Territorymining town of Eldorado, 14-year-old Maude struggles to survive and to hold onto her dream of becoming an artist.		 1993 170 p.

McCaughrean, Geraldine STOP THE TRAIN!
Despite the opposition of the owner of the Red Rock Railroad in 1893, the new settlers of Florence, Oklahoma, are determined to build a real town.		 2001 187 p.

Pfitsch, Patricia Curtis RIDING THE FLUME
In 1894, 15-year-old Francie determines to fight the lumbermen and protect the largest sequoia tree ever seen which had been given to her sister just before her death six years earlier.		 1997 71 p.

Steiner, Barbara MYSTERY AT CHILKOOT PASS
1897. Swept up in the great Klondike gold rush, Hetty McKinley sails north with Papa and her dashing Uncle Donall. Landing n Alaska, Hetty feels excitement in the air. But as the McKinleys trek the rugged trail inland to Chilkoot Pass, their adventure turns grim. Winter descends, and Hetty discovers she is traveling with thieves...one of whom may be her own uncle.		 2002 155 p.

Voight, Cynthia THE CALLENDER PAPERS
1894. In 19th-century Massachusetts, orphan Jean, employed to sort out the family papers of a reclusive artist, becomes curious about the mysterious, long-ago death of his wife and the subsequent disappearance of their young child.		 1983 214 p.

Wallace, Bill EYE OF THE GREAT BEAR
Eleven-year-old Bailey has a reputation for being a coward until the prophecy given him by an Indian medicine man in 1899 in Texas comes true when Bailey encounters a bear in the mountains of Montana.		 1999 161 p.