High Interest Historical Fiction Chapter Books

Historical Fiction is a huge genre in children's literature. The list below is historical fiction read-a-likes inspired by the Lois Lowry book Number the Stars.

The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman

"In 1948 Europe, former American bomber pilot Freddie Birch is making a precarious living as a ventriloquist when he encounters young Avrom Amos. The boy is a dybbuk, the spirit of a Jewish youth murdered by the Nazis. He was one of the resistance fighters who helped Freddie escape from a POW camp. The ghost has "unfinished business" with the SS colonel who killed him, and he needs a living body—Freddie's—to accomplish it.Fleischman explores the sensitive topic of anti-Semitism—not just the overt evil of the Nazi system, but also the casual, pervasive bigotry of the period. Even Freddie has to deal with his own deep-seated prejudice. There is a strong emphasis on friendship and justice, and an ultimate affirmation of life and hope." --Elaine E. Knight (Reviewed August 1, 2007) (School Library Journal, vol 53, issue 8, p116)

Good Night, Maman by Norma Fox Mazer

Aimed at readers who have already encountered Anne Frank, this riveting historical novel from Mazer (Missing Pieces, 1995, etc.) is based on a little-known chapter of WWII history. Karin Levi's story begins in a tiny attic room in Paris in the 1940s, where she is hidden away with her brother, Marc, and their mother, practicing the art of quiet. German soldiers are conducting house-to-house searches, rounding up Jews, and the small family is soon on the run, depending on strangers for scraps of food and shelter. When Maman falls ill, Karin and Marc head for Naples without her; the children board the Henry Gibbons, a ship full of European refugees bound for Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York. Upon their arrival in America, their story turns from one of flight and danger to the happiness and sorrow associated with adjusting to a new language, customs, and schooling, and making new friends. Although it is a shock to Karin, it comes as no surprise to readers when Marc reveals that Maman is dead. Mazer skillfully paints Karin as brave and independent, yet depicts her devotion to Maman throughout, writing unsent letters and never losing sight of her belief that one day they will be reunited. Rather than relying on events and facts of the war and its atrocities to create sympathy, the author paints her central character's thoughts and feelings, her moments of weakness and her strength, so that the story is stirringly understated. (Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 1999)

Speed of Light by Sybil Rosen
Audrey Ina Stern, a Jewish girl living in Blue Gap, VA, in the 1950s, must come to terms with racism and anti-Semitism when her father, a city councilman, champions a black man for an opening in the local police department. Councilman Stern''s action triggers a sequence of events including phone threats, hostility from neighbors, and, ultimately, having his family''s home firebombed. For Tante, a distant relative who lives with the Sterns, these events rekindle haunting memories from her childhood, including imprisonment at Auschwitz and the loss of her family. Through the Sterns'' efforts, along with those of the courageous Mr. Cardwell, the black police candidate, and Miss Farley, an eccentric librarian, progress toward a more equal and just community is made. Tim Rausch, Crescent View Middle School, Sandy, UT Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. 

Witness by Karen Hesse

The author of Out of the Dust again turns language into music in her second quietly moving novel written entirely in verse. Here, 11 narrative voices chronicle actual events occurring in a sleepy Vermont town after the arrival of the Ku Klux Klan in 1924. Those victimized by the Klan include the families of Leanora Sutter, a 12-year-old African-American girl, and Esther Hirsh, the six-year-old daughter of a Jewish shoe salesman. Rounding out the portrait of the town are community leaders (an enlightened physician, a newspaper editor who moves from neutral to anti-Klan) as well as less prominent folk—shopkeepers, a Protestant minister—who are swayed into joining the white supremacist group. Staff (Reviewed August 20, 2001) (Publishers Weekly, vol 248, issue 34, p80) 

 The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg

After his older brother Harold is forced to join the Union Army, Homer runs away from their wicked uncle’s farm to save him. His southward journey divides easily into episodic adventures: outwitting two slave-hunting scoundrels with the help of a wealthy abolitionist; traveling south with an easily duped young clergyman; joining a medicine show led by a mysterious man; fleeing in a hot-air balloon with a disastrous flaw; and arriving at Gettysburg in time for the battle. If these adventures seem a little too colorful to be quite believable, first-person narrator Homer begins his tale by saying, the truth don’t come easy to me. The narrator’s humor and folksy charm bubbles to the surface from time to time, despite a streak of cruelty that runs straight through the story, from the farm to the battlefield. Notes on the period and a glossary are appended. This eventful, episodic novel is accessible to a younger audience than many others set during the Civil War. -- Phelan, Carolyn (Reviewed 01-01-2009) (Booklist, vol 105, number 9, p84)

 

Great Book for Summer Reading Cooking Programs

 

The Around the World Cookbook, 2008, DK Publishing by Abigail Johnson Dodge is a really fun book to inspire cooking programs in the library.  With easy recipes and  great colorful pictures this cookbook is wonderful for all ages.  Pair up a recipe from a region with a book from your collection.  Read the book aloud  and work with the group to cook an appropriate recipe.  For example read the Russian folktale "The Turnip" then cook the recipe for Roasted Beets (close enough!) You could even go one step further and incorporate a little food/garden lesson on how root vegetables are grown.  

I am planning on a potluck family dinner this summer as part of the summer reading theme "One World, Many Stories."  This cookbook could be used by patrons to help choose a dish to make and bring to the dinner. 

Ideas for promoting our new Teen Space

This is my brainstorming  list for ways I could boost teen use in the library and get them to come fill our new Teen Space in the library.  I am thinking of running it like a branding campaign where all the promo materials have a certain look and tone

• Get student newspaper to do a feature article on the new space
• Create funky bookmarks promoting the library to teens (perhaps stickers or magnets would work too)
• Email blasts through our constant contact account
• Have a promo read over the loudspeakers at school
• Get English teachers to offer extra credit to students who get a library card
• Visit with the PTA to talk to parents

New York State Learning Standards

The Arts
Standard 1: Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Arts Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts) and participate in various roles in the arts.

Standard 2: Knowing and Using Arts Materials and Resources
Students will be knowledgeable about and make use of the materials and resources available for participation in the arts in various roles.

Standard 3: Responding to and Analyzing Works of Art
Students will respond critically to a variety of works in the arts, connecting the individual work to other works and to other aspects of human endeavor and thought.

Standard 4: Understanding the Cultural Contributions of the Arts
Students will develop an understanding of the personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communication and how the arts in turn shape the diverse cultures of past and present society.

Career Development and Occupational Studies
Standard 1: Career Development
Students will be knowledgeable about the world of work, explore career options, and relate personal skills, aptitudes, and abilities to future career decisions.

Standard 2: Integrated Learning
Students will demonstrate how academic knowledge and skills are applied in the workplace and other settings.

Standard 3a: Universal Foundation Skills
Students will demonstrate mastery of the foundation skills and competencies essential for success in the workplace.

Standard 3b: Career Majors
Students who choose a career major will acquire the careerspecific technical knowledge/skills necessary to progress toward gainful employment, career advancement, and success in postsecondary programs.

English Language Arts
Standard 1: Language for Information and Understanding Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Standard 2: Language for Literary Response and Expression
Students will read and listen to oral, written, and electronically produced texts and performances from American and world literature; relate texts and performances to their own lives; and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for self-expression and artistic creation.

Standard 3: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

Standard 4: Language for Social Interaction
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Science
Standard 1: Personal Health and Fitness
Students will have the necessary knowledge and skills to establish and maintain physical fitness, participate in physical activity, and maintain personal health.

Standard 2: A Safe and Healthy Environment
Students will acquire the knowledge and ability necessary to create and maintain a safe and healthy environment.

Standard 3: Resource Management
Students will understand and be able to manage their personal and community resources.

Languages Other Than English
Standard 1: Communication Skills
Students will be able to use a language other than English for communication.

Standard 2: Cultural Understanding
Students will develop cross-cultural skills and understandings.


Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education
Standard 1: Analysis, Inquiry, and Design
Students will use mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, as appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers, and develop solutions.

Standard 2: Information Systems
Students will access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies.

Standard 3: Mathematics (Revised 2005)
Students will understand the concepts of and become proficient with the skills of mathematics; communicate and reason mathematically; become problem solvers by using appropriate tools and strategies; through the integrated study of number sense and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and statistics and probability.

Standard 4: Science
Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.

Standard 5: Technology
Students will apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs.

Standard 6: Interconnectedness: Common Themes
Students will understand the relationships and common themes that connect mathematics, science, and technology and apply the themes to these and other areas of learning.

Standard 7: Interdisciplinary Problem Solving
Students will apply the knowledge and thinking skills of mathematics, science, and technology to address real-life problems and make informed decisions.

Social Studies
Standard 1: History of the United States and New York
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

Standard 2: World History
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 3: Geography
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

Standard 4: Economics
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of how the United States and other societies develop economic systems and associated institutions to allocate scarce resources, how major decision-making units function in the United States and other national economies, and how an economy solves the scarcity problem through market and nonmarket mechanisms.

Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing governments; the governmental system of the United States and other nations; the United States Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.