Recommended Books for Term 3 -- January/February:
Appropriate nonfiction books include biography, autobiography, and literary nonfiction. Literary nonfiction tells about real subjects in a story format.
Historical Fiction: The setting is based in real places and events from the past. The characters may be based on people who really existed. The author could also make up characters who go through the experiences or interact with famous people of that time and place. Examples: Midwife’s Apprentice and Numbering the Stars.
Here are a few suggested topics and books: For more, ask your librarian. Look under Multicultural and Historical Fiction, and under nonfiction. Watch our class blog at cavemanenglish.blogspot.com as I may add more suggestions.
Africa: Things Fall Apart by Achebe
Civil War : Numbering the Bones by Rinaldi, Shades of Gray, The River Between Us by Peck, and more; Ballad of the Civil War by Stolz, Mary 680L: Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Wells
Communist Europe: I Am David by Holm
Disease: Fever 1793 by Anderson, Invisible Enemies by Farrell
Exploration: Blood on the River by Carbone: The King’s Fifth by O’Dell
Immigration: Esperanza Rising by Ryan; The Circuit: Stories From the Life of a Migrant Child by Jimenez, Francisco 880L
Industry and Exploitation: The Mill Girls by Selden
Israel and Palestine: Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye,
Japanese Internment during WWII: Journey to Topaz, Farewell to Manzanar, Caged Eagles, The Journal of Ben Uchida, Bat 6
Korea: Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook-Nyul Choi -- North Korea during Japanese occupation; When My Name Was Keoko and A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Medieval Europe : Crispin by Avi, Catherine Called Birdy, Matilda Bone, or The Midwife’s Apprentice by Cushman
Prohibition: Black Duck by Lisle 790L
Revolutionary War: My Brother Sam is Dead, Johnny Tremain
The Russian Front: Burying the Sun and others by Gloria Whelan, The Endless Steppe by Hautzig
Slavery and Segregation in the U.S.: Witness by Hesse, True North by Katherine Lasky; Steal Away Home by Ruby: My Name is Not Angelica by O’Dell.
Vietnam War: 10,000 Days of Thunder: A History of the Vietnam War by Caputo
Westward Expansion: Sacajawea by Bruchac, Riding Freedom by Ryan, Charlotte’s Rose by Cannon,
War and its effect on young people: Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo by Filipovic, Breadwinner (life under the Taliban in Afghanistan) and others by Ellis
World War I: All’s Quiet on the Western Front
World War II: Soldier Boys by Hughes, Code Talker by Bruchac
Holocaust: Night by Elie Wiesel, The Hiding Place, Milkweed by Spinelli, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by Boyne; Destined to Live: A True Story of a Child in the Holocaust by Gruener; The Devil’s Arithmetic, Marika
Others: Across the Lines by Reeder, Carolyn 1000L; Dia's Story Cloth by Cha, Dia; Long Hard Journey, A: The Story of the Pullman Porter by McKissack, Patricia C. and Frederick 1050L; Shuttered Windows by Florence Crannell Means
Cold is the Sea and others (fiction and nonfiction about submarines) by Edward L. Beach
Biography: Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille by Freedman, Russell 1000L; Edwin Hubble: American Astronomer by Fox, Mary Virginia 1120 L; Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Petry, Ann 1000L
You may select a book that is not on this list, but don’t use The Diary of Anne Frank (an eighth grade class book), Getting Away with Murder or Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe, books already on your “Do Not Read” list, any Dave Peltzer books, or books being read in the Reading Literature classes. Make sure the book is approved by a parent and by the teacher. Also, don’t use Words By Heart by Ouida Sebestyen. We’ll read that in class.
