Norman Dietz
Author
Formats
Description
Set before the Civil War, in the first half of the nineteenth century, this novel of Mark Twain's delves into the ironies of racial prejudice. A young would-be lawyer, Wilson, sets out to solve a murder using the (at that time) unproven method of fingerprinting. Thought to be a simpleton or 'puddenhead', he eventually makes his critics look like puddenheads themselves. The main focus of the novel, however, deals with the identities of two young...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 9.7 - AR Pts: 23
Formats
Description
The enchanting story of a shipwrecked family --a minister, his wife, and four sons-- who are cast up on a desert island, build a wonderful house in a tree, and survive so cleverly and happily apart from the world that they never want to be rescued.
Author
Formats
Description
Drawing on thousands of government documents and personal letters, featuring original maps and over sixty photographs, this book reconstructs the diverse and remarkable ways in which Americans have interacted with this alluring yet often hostile land stretching from Morocco to Iran, from the Persian Gulf to the Bosporus.--From publisher description.
Author
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Description
Albert Honigs most constant companions have always been his bees. A never-married octogenarian, he makes a modest living as a beekeeper, as his father and his fathers father did before him. Deeply acquainted with the workings of the hives, Albert is less versed in the ways of people, especially his friend Claire, whose presence and absence in his life have never been reconciled. When Claire is killed in a seemingly senseless accident during a burglary...
Author
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Description
Drawing on both native and Spanish chronicles, the author describes the story of the conquest of the largest native empire of the New World. Describes the story of the modern search for Vilcabamba, how Machu Picchu was discovered, and how a trio of American explorers only recently discovered the lost Inca capital of Vilcabamba.
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG+ - BL: 8.1 - AR Pts: 12
Appears on list
Formats
Description
"Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Tom Sawyer has been enjoyed by generations of readers across the world since its publication in 1876. With its humorous glimpses into life in nineteenth-century, small-town America, this novel has provided unique social commentary that continues to be discussed in classrooms today. Tom Sawyer, a mischievous boy growing up in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, is constantly getting in and out of...
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG+ - BL: 6.6 - AR Pts: 18
Appears on list
Description
Called "the veriest trash" by a member of the Concord, Massachusetts Library Board that banned the novel when it was first published, Huckleberry Finn has come to be viewed, as H.L. Mencken put it, as "one of the great masterpieces of the world." Ernest Hemingway wrote that "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn....There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since." A daringly ironic...
10) The Odyssey
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 3.7 - AR Pts: 1
Appears on list
Description
The first great adventure story in the Western canon, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage, family and identity; and about travellers, hospitality and the changing meanings of home in a strange world. This vivid new translation - the first by a woman - matches the number of lines in the Greek original, striding at Homer's sprightly pace. Emily Wilson employs elemental, resonant...
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 5.4 - AR Pts: 11
Description
Joshua Arnold and his mother move to their summer home in Corazon Sagrado, New Mexico, when Joshua's father joins the Navy during World War II. Joshua copes with the Mexican and Anglo customs and is concerned with his mother's drinking. When his father dies in the war, he takes responsibility for his mother, his own life, and his father's business.
Author
Description
In 1948, a mysterious and charismatic man arrives in a small Virginia town carrying two suitcases; one contains his worldly possessions, the other is full of money. He soon inserts himself into the town's daily life, taking a job in the local butcher shop and befriending the owner and his wife and their son. But the passion that develops between the man and the wife of the town's wealthiest citizen sets in motion a series of events that not only upset...
13) The rifle
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 6.8 - AR Pts: 3
Description
A priceless, handcrafted rifle, fired throughout the American Revolution, is passed down through the years until it fires on a fateful Christmas Eve of 1994.
Author
Series
Harmony series (Philip Gulley) volume 2
Pub. Date
[2002]
Description
Follows the residents of the small town of Harmony, including pastor Sam Gardner, through various crises of faith and relationship.
Author
Description
In Mind of the Raven, Bernd Heinrich, award-winning naturalist, finds himself dreaming of ravens and decides he must get to the truth about this animal reputed to be so intelligent. Much like a sleuth, Heinrich involves us in his quest, letting one clue lead to the next. But as animals can only be spied on by getting quite close, Heinrich adopts ravens, thereby becoming a raven father," as well as observing them in their natural habitat, studying...
16) The hit-away kid
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 3.8 - AR Pts: 1
Description
Barry McGee, hit-away batter for the Peach Street Mudders, enjoys winning so much that he has a tendency to bend the rules; then the dirty tactics of the pitcher on a rival team give him a new perspective on sports ethics.
17) Baseball pals
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 3 - AR Pts: 1
Description
When Jimmie is elected captain of his baseball team, his first decision is to appoint himself pitcher. But Jimmie's selfish move could ruin the whole team...
Author
Pub. Date
[2007]
Description
On April 18, 1775, a riot over the price of flour broke out in the French city of Dijon. That night, across the Atlantic, Paul Revere mounted the fastest horse he could find and kicked it into a gallop. So began what have been called the "sister revolutions" of France and America. In a single, thrilling narrative, this book tells the story of those revolutions and shows just how deeply intertwined they actually were.
19) James Madison
Author
Pub. Date
c2011
Description
An examination of the life of President James Madison and his influence on America.
20) Roughing it
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.8 - AR Pts: 30
Formats
Description
Originally published over one hundred years ago, Roughing It tells the (almost) true story of Mark Twain's rollicking adventures across the United States. A hilarious account of how the author tried finding wealth in the rocks of Nevada, it was published before his most famous works and shows why he would grow to become one of the most beloved American writers of all time.