AMERICAN HISTORY

Books for Teens

George Washington, spymaster : how America outspied the British and won the Revolutionary War
by Allen, Thomas B.
A biography of Revolutionary War general and first President of the United States, George Washington, focusing on his use of spies to gather intelligence that helped the colonies win the war.

The journal of Finn Reardon : a newsie
by Bartoletti, Susan Campbell
Finn Reardon, a thirteen-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. Includes historical notes.

The President's daughter
by Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker
A fictionalized account of ten-year-old Ethel Roosevelt's early experiences in the White House after her father, Theodore Roosevelt, becomes president in 1901.

Early Sunday morning : the Pearl Harbor diary of Amber Billows
by Denenberg, Barry.
In her diary, twelve-year-old Amber describes moving to Hawaii in 1941 and experiencing the horror of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The journal of Ben Uchida, citizen #13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp
by Denenberg, Barry.
Twelve-year-old Ben Uchida keeps a journal of his experiences as a prisoner in a Japanese internment camp in Mirror Lake, California, during World War II.

I walk in dread : the diary of Deliverance Trembley, witness to the Salem witch trials
by Fraustino, Lisa Rowe
Twelve-year-old Deliverance Trembley writes in her diary about the fears and doubts that arise during the 1692 witch hunt and trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts, especially when her pious friend, Goody Corey, is condemned as a witch.

The journal of Scott Pendleton Collins : a World War II soldier
by Myers, Walter Dean
A seventeen-year-old soldier from central Virginia records his experiences in a journal as his regiment takes part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and subsequent battles to liberate France.

The journal of Joshua Loper : a Black cowboy
by Myers, Walter Dean
In 1871 Joshua Loper, a sixteen-year-old black cowboy, records in his journal his experiences while making his first cattle drive under an unsympathetic trail boss.

Witch child
by Rees, Celia.
In 1659, fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans near Salem, Massachusetts.

My heart is on the ground : the diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux girl
by Rinaldi, Ann.
In the diary account of her life at a government-run Pennsylvania boarding school in 1880, a twelve-year-old Sioux Indian girl reveals a great need to find a way to help her people.

America's great disasters
by Sandler, Martin.
Examines the causes and effects of such American disasters as the sinking of the steamboat Sultana in 1871, the Johnstown Flood, the Dust Bowl, the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Secrets of a Civil War submarine : solving the mysteries of the H.L. Hunley
by Walker, Sally M.
Learn about the building, the sinking and then finding a Civil War submarine!

The journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty, United States Marine Corps
by White, Ellen Emerson
An eighteen-year-old Marine records in his journal his experiences in Vietnam during the siege of Khe Sanh, 1967-1968.

The journal of Wong Ming-Chung : a Chinese miner
by Yep, Laurence.
A young Chinese boy nicknamed Runt records his experiences in a journal as he travels from southern China to California in 1852 to join his uncle during the Gold Rush.