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An hour-old baby, abandoned on a street corner without even a blanket, was found with a scrap of paper reading, "Call her Hollis Woods." Hollis is eleven now and has been in foster homes all her life; she does not stay at any of them for very long. All of these places run together in her mind except the last one, the Regans' summer home in Branches, in upstate New York. It is October now, and she rides to a new placement with her social worker, a lady she calls "the mustard woman" because of a stain on her sweatsuit. Hollis is a gifted artist, and she thinks about the pictures she has created, especially a representation of a family she had done for a school assignment when she was only six. The assignment had been to find a picture of something beginning with the letter W, and Hollis's teacher had said she did it wrong because family starts with F. She had not stayed to hear Hollis explain that the picture did stand for something starting with W: it showed her dearest wish.

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Nick Freestone braves the ruthless Japanese and the jungles of Burma while trying to rescue his father. 14-year-old Nick Freestone is sent to Burma as London, suffering nightly from the blitzkrieg, becomes less and less safe.  His father, Jackson Freestone, owns a teak plantation there called the Hawk's Nest, and Nick has always looked forward to returning.  However, he receives a poor welcome as his father is not even there to meet him.

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George , Jean Craighead

On the Far Side of the Mountain
Sam Gribley's quest to live off the land and his joy in the solitude of the Catskill Mountains is interrupted when his lively sister, Alice, stays on after his family of 10 visits during the summer. At least she is company and quite inventive at making labor-saving devices.

Sam's world is more upset when a man who claims to be a government official confiscates his peregrine falcon and hunting partner, Frightful. Before long, Alice also disappears, leaving mysterious markers which point out her trail. Sam feels he must find Alice, and in doing so, discovers strange information about the man who took Frightful from him.

This book has mystery and suspense woven into its obvious woods survival theme. We find out more about the training and terminology used in falconry, as well as useful tips on marking a trail and tracking. Meet the old friends again, Jessie Coon James and Baron Weasel plus a group of new characters, both human and animal.

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Sammy Keyes has lots of problems. She gets suspended from junior high school --- on her very first day --- for punching Heather Acosta in the nose. She witnesses a man stealing $4000 from a lady's purse, and when he sees her watching him through her grandmother's binoculars, she waves at him. She's living with her grandmother in a senior highrise, where there aren't supposed to be any children, and nosy Mrs. Graybill is trying to prove it and kick her out. The burglar sure wants to shut her up. And the police are suspicious of her, too.

An ordinary seventh grader might be worried about it all. But Sammy is a spunky heroine who tackles life with cheerful courage. Street-smart and intelligent, she knows she'd better solve the burglary because if she doesn't, either the police will pin it on her or the thief will do worse. And he may be the last person she'd suspect...

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When the book opens up, a girl named April Hall has moved to a California college town to stay with her grandmother because her aspiring actress mother, Dorothea, is going on tour. April is about as thrilled by this turn of events as she would be by a few hundred mosquito bites and a bowl of broccoli.

But it ends up being not quite that bad. She befriends an African-American girl in her apartment building named Melanie, and her little brother Marshall. They all bond over a shared love of history books, especially about ancient Egypt. We know: dork alert. But the way they use their imagination and play with history could teach most teachers a thing or two about making learning fun.

So. One day, the kids discover a hole in a fence in their neighborhood that leads to an abandoned yard. One hitch: the yard is behind the antiques shop, which is run by a frightening man named the Professor. (At least, that's the only name he gets called. If he has a real-person name, he's too frightening to let it out.)

Even with the spooky Prof, the kids still decide to play pretend that they're in Egypt. They sneak into the yard again and again to play, building altars to the Egyptian gods and coming up with their own rituals. When a new girl named Elizabeth moves into the building, they let her in on the game too—but it's kept a secret from everyone else.

Everything sound a little too perfect and happy so far? Okay, time for a little plot twist.

A little girl in the neighborhood goes missing. And then turns up dead. Andthe murderer is still on the loose.

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Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty 

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Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty 

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Freedman, Russell

In 1723 Ben Franklin arrived in Philadelphia as a poor and friendless seventeen-year-old who had run away from his family and an apprenticeship in Boston. Sixty-two years later he stepped ashore in nearly the same spot but was greeted by cannons, bells, and a cheering crowd, now a distinguished statesman, renowned author, and world-famous scientist. Freedman's riveting story of how a rebellious apprentice became an American icon

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The book is about Sam Gribley, a 15-year-old boy who intensely dislikes living in his parents' cramped New York City apartment with his eight brothers and sisters. He decides to run away to his great-grandfather's abandoned farm in the Catskill Mountains to live in the wilderness. The reader meets Frightful, Sam's pet peregrine falcon, and The Baron, a weasel that Sam befriends. Roughly the first 80 percent of the novel is Sam's reminiscences during a snowstorm about how he came to be in a home made out of a hollowed-out tree, while the remainder of the novel is a traditional linear narrative about what happens after the snowstorm.

The second chapter opens with Sam Gribley remembering how he came to dislike living in New York City; how he learned of his grandfather's abandoned farm near Delhi, New York; how he learned wilderness survival skills by reading a book at the New York City Public Library; and about his trip to the small town of Delhi using $40 he earned by selling magazine subscriptions. Realizing his son will run away from home no matter what he does, Sam's father permits him to go to Delhi as long as Sam lets people in the town know that he is staying at the farm. Sam enters the forest near the town, builds a tent out of hemlock evergreen tree branches, and catches five trout in a nearby stream. But his survival skills are incomplete, and he is unable to build a fire. The next day, Sam searches for his grandfather's farm and fails to find it. However, he does meet Bill, a man living in a cabin in the woods. Bill teaches him how to make a fire. Sam is forced to go into town to learn where his grandfather's land is. He tells the local librarian who he is and where he is going, then journeys to the farm. Sam discovers the stone foundation for the long-destroyed farmhouse, but little else remains of the homestead.

Over the next several chapters, Sam continues to reminisce about how he came to be self-sufficient by living off the plants and animals he finds on his grandfather's abandoned farm. He finds a hollow tree and decides to make it his home. Remembering how Native Americans used fire to create dugout canoes, he uses fire to make the interior of the hollow tree bigger. One day, while Sam is chopping an ash tree to make a bed, an old woman named Mrs. Thomas Fiedler forces him to help her pick strawberries. Seeing a peregrine falcon hunting for its prey, Sam decides he wants a falcon as a hunting bird. Sam returns to town to get a haircut, and reads up on falconry at the local public library. He camps near a cliff for several days to learn the location of a peregrine falcon nest, and steals a chick from the nest while the mother bird attacks him. He names the bird Frightful, because of the difficult time he had getting the nestling. A short time later, Sam is forced to hide in the woods for two days. A forest ranger, spotting the smoke from Sam's cooking fire, came to investigate what he believed was a forest fire. The ranger lingers near Sam's home overnight, but leaves after believing that whoever started the fire must have left the place. Sam also relates to the reader his memories about his adventures in the fall. He makes a box trap to catch animals to eat, but ends up catching a weasel instead. Sam calls the weasel The Baron for the fearless way the animal moves about the hollowed-out treehouse. Realizing winter is coming, Sam wants to kill a deer so he can make a door for his home. He learns how to smoke meat to preserve it for winter, and how to tan hides. When a poacher illegally kills a deer, Sam hides the carcass from the hunter so he can use it for food, a door, and a new pair of clothes. Sam remembers how he tanned the hide using a hollow tree stump and various plants. He also avoids townspeople who wander near his home by hiding in the woods. Sam trains Frightful to hunt, and the bird proves very good at it. Sam prepares for winter by hunting frogs, pheasants, rabbits, and sparrows; preserving wild grains and tubers; smoking fish and meat; and preparing storage spaces by hollowing out the trunks of trees. Finding another poached deer, Sam makes himself deerskin clothing to replace his worn-out city clothes. Sam notices a raccoon digging for mussels in the creek, and he learns how to hunt for shellfish. Sam names the raccoon Jesse Coon James, because it looks like a bandit and reminds him of the legendary outlaw Jesse James.

A willow whistle, similar to the one made in the novel My Side of the Mountain.

Shortly after befriending the raccoon, Sam hears sirens nearby. When he returns to his hollowed out tree home, he finds a man there. At first, Sam believes the man is a criminal, and nicknames him "Bando" (a shortened version of "bandit"). But the man is a professor of English literature, and is merely lost. He is surprised to find Sam, and gives Sam the nickname "Thoreau". Bando spends 10 days with Sam, building a raft to take them downstream to catch fish. He gives Sam 10 pounds of sugar and teaches him to make jam. He also shows Sam how to make a whistle out of a willow branch. Bando also tries to make clay pots. Bando departs, and they agree that Bando will come back at Christmas to visit with Sam.

Sam remembers how, as winter came closer, he realized he needed to make a clay fireplace to keep his home warm. Sam steals two more dead deer from local hunters to make winter clothes, begins rapidly storing as many fruits and nuts as he can (trying desperately to get to them before the squirrels do), and builds his fireplace. Sam insulates his treehouse home too well, however: his fire generates too much carbon monoxide and not enough oxygen can get inside the treehouse. Frightful becomes sick with CO poisoning, which warns Sam. Sam puts ventilation holes in the walls of his treehouse to admit more fresh air. He tries to go into town to visit the library again, but is forced to climb a tree and stay there all day to avoid being discovered by hunters. He obtains two more deer; their carcasses freeze in the winter cold, so he does not need to smoke them. Sam feels lonely and visits the town again, where he gets a haircut and meets another teenage boy (Tom Sidler). On Christmas Eve, Bando finally arrives back at the mountain, showing Sam many newspaper articles about the "wild boy" living in the forest. On Christmas Day, Sam gets a surprise: Sam's father has come to visit. Sam is overjoyed to see his father again, and the three have a Christmas dinner of venison together. Sam's father is greatly relieved to find that Sam is doing just fine.

The novel ceases to be a flashback in Chapter 18, and becomes a straightforward narrative. Sam learns many things about how animals behave in winter, even during terrible storms. After the blizzard ends, Sam must still forage for food. He is happy that a great horned owl has taken up residence on the farm, for it means that no people or building developments are nearby. Sam learns how Frightful and The Baron manage to survive during winter, helps the local deer find nourishment by cutting down tree branches for them to eat, and overcomes his own vitamin deficiency by eating the right foods.

After spring arrives, Matt Spell, a teenager who wants to become a reporter for the local newspaper, arrives at Sam's treehouse home. Matt wants to write about Sam's presence on the Gribley farm. At first, Sam lies to Matt and says the "wild boy" is someone who lives in a nearby cave. But Matt doesn't believe him. Sam then offers Matt a deal: Matt can come live with him for a week during school spring break, if Matt will not reveal his location. Matt agrees. After Matt leaves, Sam realizes he is very lonely and debates with himself whether he wants to be "caught" or not. A few weeks later, Sam encounters Aaron, a Jewish songwriter who is visiting the forest for inspiration and singing a song. He tells Sam it is close to Passover, which makes Sam realize Matt will be visiting soon. Matt spends a week with Sam, mostly gathering food during this time. Matt is thrilled to be there, but Sam is sad because he realizes he is beginning to replicate his old life in New York City. Matt makes Sam even more unhappy by confessing that he told newspaper photographers where to find Sam. Bando arrives while Matt is visiting, and the two work on making one of the other trees into a guest house. A short time later, Tom Sidler discovers Sam living at the farm. Sam calls him "Mr. Jacket," and the two boys play for a while. Tom's visit makes Sam realize he is desperate for human companionship.

Bando returns to check on Sam, and Sam asks Bando to bring him some jeans and a shirt next time so he can visit his new friend Tom in town. In June, Sam is surprised one day to find that his father, mother, and all his siblings have arrived at the farm. His father announces that the entire family is moving to the farm. At first, Sam (now 17 years old) is overjoyed that his family has come to see him. But he is also upset, because it means the end of his life living off the land alone. Sam argues with his father about the family's decision. But his father says the family is as loyal to Sam as Sam has been to them, and that he will build a proper house for the family on the farm. Sam is especially upset about the decision to build a traditional home. The novel ends as Sam meditates on the fact that, even if he went across the Pacific Ocean to get away from people, he still craves friendship and family. His journey in life, he decides, is about balancing his desire to live off the land with his desire to be with the people he loves.

Characters[edit]

Sam Gribley – a 15-year-old boy who leaves home to live in the wilderness.

Dad (Sam Gribley's Father) – Sam's father. He lets Sam leave home, believing Sam will return after just a day or two. He is surprised at Sam's independence and tenacity.

Bill - a man who helps strangers in the woods.

Mrs. Thomas Fiedler – a 97-year-old woman who forces Sam to help her pick strawberries for her famous jam.

Miss Turner – a librarian at a public library in Delhi, New York who befriends Sam.

Frightful – Sam's peregrine falcon. Sam trains Frightful to hunt for food that Sam can eat.

The Baron Weasel – a weasel that Sam accidentally traps. The weasel befriends Sam.

Bando – an English professor who is lost in the woods, and spends 10 days with Sam. He becomes a father-figure to Sam over the next year.

Jesse Coon James – a raccoon that Sam befriends. Sam learns how to hunt for mussels by watching Jesse.

Matt Spell – a teenage boy who writes for a local newspaper and visits Sam. He writes about Sam in the newspaper.

Aaron – a Jewish songwriter who visits the wilderness near Sam's home to get inspiration.

Tom Sidler – called "Mr. Jacket" by Sam, Tom is a boy who lives in the town of Delhi.

Alice Gribley - Sam's younger sister who decides to stay with him.

Mom Gribley - Sam's adoptive mother.

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Little boys, some as young as 6, spent their long days, not playing or studying, but sorting coal in dusty, loud, and dangerous conditions. Many of these breaker boys worked 10 hours a day, six days a week all for as little as 45 cents a day. Child labor was common in the United States in the 19th century. It took the compelling, heart breaking photographs of Lewis Hine and others to bring the harsh working conditions to light. Hine and his fellow Progressives wanted to end child labor. He knew photography would reveal the truth and teach and change the world. With his camera Hine showed people what life was like for immigrants, the poor, and the children working in mines, factories, and mills. In the words of an historian, the more than 7,000 photos Hine took of American children at work aroused public sentiment against child labor in a way that no printed page or public lecture could

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Dowd Siobhan

Salim was visiting his Aunt and is kidnapped by a stranger on the faris wheel. His cousin Ted has  Asperger's syndrome and solves the mystery.

Characters

Aunt Gloria

Marcus

Salim

Ted

Kat

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In Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, Sal Hiddle is thirteen when she and her father move from the home Sal loves in Bybanks, Kentucky, to a small house in the town of Euclid, Ohio. They move so that Sal’s father John can be closer to a red-haired woman named Margaret. Sal believes her father is romantically involved with Margaret, but she later discovers that is not the case.

Sal is the only child of John and Sugar. One April morning, Sugar announces that she’s going on a trip alone. She is apparently struggling with personal issues, including the fact that she is unable to have more children, and the journey seems to be one of self-discovery. Sugar is in Idaho when the bus she is riding runs off a cliff, killing everyone on board except Margaret. John visits Margaret in the hospital when he goes to Idaho to tend to Sugar’s burial and discovers Margaret was seated next to Sugar when the wreck occurred. It’s because John feels a connection to Sugar that he moves with Sal to Ohio.

Once in Ohio, Sal becomes friends with a girl in her class named Phoebe Winterbottom. Phoebe lives with her older sister and her parents in Margaret’s neighborhood. Soon after the friendship between Phoebe and Sal becomes solid, Phoebe’s mother disappears. Sal commiserates with Phoebe’s loss, having suffered when Sugar left home. Phoebe’s mother is gone only a few days when she returns with the grown son she’d given up for adoption. Phoebe’s story has a happy ending, a stark contrast to Sal’s own story.

Soon after Phoebe’s situation is resolved, Sal’s paternal grandparents, Gram and Gramps Hiddle, arrive to take her to Idaho. They plan their trip to stop at the places Sugar had visited and intend to arrive at Sugar’s grave on her birthday. As they set out on their trip, Gram and Gramps suggest Sal entertain them by telling a story. She begins the story of her friendship with Phoebe, intertwining her own memories along the way. Pieces of Phoebe’s story prompt memories of Sal’s life and she pours it all out to her grandparents. Meanwhile, Sal and her grandparents have some adventures of their own. Gram is snake bit while swimming and they spend a couple of days in a hospital. As they continue their trip, Gram becomes increasingly ill and the trip is halted when she becomes so sick that she has to be hospitalized again. Gramps, realizing that it’s important to Sal to reach her mother’s grave on Sugar’s birthday, hands over the keys to the car and Sal sets out on the last few hours of the journey alone.

She reaches the spot where the bus went off the cliff and, though she still doesn’t really understand the reason for Sugar’s trip, comes to terms with her life. She is picked up by the police but upon hearing her story, simply drive her back to the hospital and return the car to Gramps. There, Sal discovers that Gram has died.

The stay in Ohio is fairly brief and Sal returns to her beloved farm in Bybanks, Kentucky, with her father. They are joined by Gramps.

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At age 12, Tree stands 6′ 3 1/2″ and not much makes sense — why his parents are getting divorced, why he’s terrible on the basketball court — but he begins to find his purpose helping Grandpa…and then comes Sophie, an older, bolder girl at school with a motto and a mission.

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Avi, Greg
| City of Orphans

George , Jean Craighead
| On the Far Side of the Mountain

Giff, Patricia Reilly
| Pictures of Hollis Woods

George , Jean Craighead
| On the Far Side of the Mountain

Holm, Jennifer
| Our Only May Amelia

Houston/Houston
| Farewell to Manzana

Bauer, Joan
| Stand Tall

lBond, Nancy
| A String in the Harp

Boyne, John
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Burgan, Michael
| Breaker Boys: How a Photograph Helped End Child Labor

Creech, Sharon
| Walk Two Moons

Elephant Run

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley
| The Egypt Game

Soto, Gary
| Baseball in April

Tolen, Stephanie S.
| Surviving the Applewhites

Van Draanen, Wendelin
| Sammy Keys and the Hotel Thief

Woodson, Jacqueline
| Feathers

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In 1893 New York, thirteen-year-old Maks, a newsboy, teams up with Willa, a homeless girl, to clear his older sister, Emma, from charges that she stole from the brand new Waldorf Hotel, where she works.

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Boyne, John  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

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Boyne, John  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

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Bruno is a 9-year-old boy growing up during World War II in Berlin. He lives with his parents, his 12-year-old sister Gretel and maids, one of whom is called Maria. After a visit by Adolf Hitler, Bruno's father is promoted to Commandant, and the family has to move to 'Out-With' because of the orders of "The Fury" (Bruno's naïve interpretation of the word 'Führer'). Bruno is initially upset about moving to Out-With (never identified, but cf. Auschwitz[4]) and leaving his friends, Daniel, Karl, and Martin. From the house at Out-With, Bruno sees a camp in which the prisoners wear striped pyjamas. One day, Bruno decides to explore the strange wire fence. As he walks along the fence, he meets a Jewish boy named Shmuel, who he learns shares his birthday. Shmuel says that his father, grandfather, and brother are with him on this side of the fence, but he is separated from his mother. Bruno and Shmuel talk and become very good friends, although Bruno still does not understand very much about Shmuel and his side of the fence. Nearly every day, unless it's raining, Bruno goes to see Shmuel and sneaks him food. As the meetings go on, and Shmuel gets more and more skinny, Bruno's naïveté means he never realizes he is living beside a death camp.

When lice eggs are discovered in Bruno's hair he is forced to get all of his hair shaved off. Bruno comments that he looks like Shmuel, and Shmuel agrees, except that Bruno is fatter. Bruno's mother eventually persuades his father to take them back to Berlin and stay at Out-With without them.

The next day Bruno concocts a plan with Shmuel to sneak into the camp to look for Shmuel's father. Shmuel brings a set of prison clothes (which look to Bruno like striped pyjamas), and Bruno leaves his own clothes outside the fence. As they search the camp, both children are rounded up along with a group of prisoners on a "march". In the gas chamber, Bruno apologizes to Shmuel for not finding his father and tells Shmuel that he is Bruno's best friend for life. Shmuel does not answer, as at that moment the door of the gas chamber is closed, it becomes dark, and all is chaos.

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The novel is about the American Morgan family and their experiences in Wales. The Morgan family originally settled in Wales at the behest of Mrs. Morgan, who wanted to relocate from Boston. Mrs. Morgan passes away before the start of the novel, leaving her family in Wales. The novel opens a year after her death as the older daughter Jen is flying from America to Wales to join her family for Christmas.

Mr. Morgan has taken a temporary teaching position at the University of Aberystwyth and with the two younger children is living in a nearby seaside village. Jen is dismayed to find their home cold and uncomfortable, her brother and sister unhappy, and their father ignoring them. She eventually convinces her father to let her remain with the family in Wales instead of finishing high school in America. To supplement the lack of a traditional education, her father gives her challenging reading assignments.

Peter Morgan, who dislikes living in Wales, becomes fascinated by a mysterious object that he found by the shore. He finds out that it is a harp-tuning key that once belonged to the Celtic bard Taliesin. The key has a subtle magical power that enables Peter to see visions of Taliesin's life. Soon it is not only Peter who is seeing visions, and the whole family witnesses an ancient battle on Borth Bog, although they do not realize what is happening.

John Owen of the National Museum gets wind of the key's existence and tries to obtain it for the museum. However, Peter becomes convinced that the key should instead be returned to Taliesin. At the end of the story, Peter manages to find Taliesin's secret grave and return the key.

Jennifer Morgan, a 15-year-old American girl

Peter Morgan, her 12-year-old brother

Becky Morgan, her 10-year-old sister

David Morgan, a university teacher of English, widowed father of Jen, Peter, and Becky.

Mrs. Davies, the Morgans' English-born neighbor and daily help, who runs a bed and breakfast.

Gwilym Davies, her schoolboy son, a keen birdwatcher who becomes friends with the Morgan children.

Rhian Evans, a Welsh schoolfriend of Becky's, who lives on a sheep farm in the hills with her family.

Dr. Gwyn Rhys, Director of Welsh Studies at the University of Aberystwyth, David's friend and colleague.

Dr. John Owen of the National Museum in Cardiff.

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Herman Calloway

Bud, Not Buddy Summary. Bud, Not Buddy centers around Bud Caldwell, a 10 year old orphan who has grown up in Flint, Michigan. The book opens in 1936, four years after Bud's mother's death. Bud has just been placed with the Amoses, his third foster family.

Characters

Bud Caldwell

Herman E. Calloway

Lefty Lewis

Todd Amos

Angela Janet Caldwell

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Feathers is a children's historical novel by Jacqueline Woodson that was first published in 2007. The story is about a sixth grade girl named Frannie growing up in the '70s. One day an unexpected new student causes much chaos to the class because he is the only white boy in the whole school.

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Giff, Patricia Reilly
| Pictures of Hollis Woods

George , Jean Craighead
| On the Far Side of the Mountain

Burgan, Michael
| Breaker Boys: How a Photograph Helped End Child Labor

Creech, Sharon
| Walk Two Moons

Elephant Run

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley
| The Egypt Game

Soto, Gary
| Baseball in April

Tolen, Stephanie S.
| Surviving the Applewhites

Van Draanen, Wendelin
| Sammy Keys and the Hotel Thief

Woodson, Jacqueline
| Feathers

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Bud, Not Buddy

Dowd, Siobhan
| The London Eye Mystery

Freedman, Russell
| Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty

George , Jean Craighead
| On the Far Side of the Mountain

Giff, Patricia Reilly
| Pictures of Hollis Woods

Hansen , Joyce
| Dear America: I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly

Holm, Jennifer
| Our Only May Amelia

Houston/Houston
| Farewell to Manzana