Back in the Beforetime: Tales of the
California Indians
by Jane Louise Curry
Retellings of twenty-two legends about the
creation of the world from a variety of California Indian
tribes. (3rd-7th grade)
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
by Karen Cushman In 1849, 12-year-old
California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught
when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough
California mining town. (4th-8th grade)
Bandit's Moon
by Sid Fleischman Twelve-year-old
Annyrose relates her adventures with Joaquin Murieta and his
band of outlaws in the California gold-mining region during
the mid-1800s. (4th-7th grade)
Bill Peet: An Autobiography
by Bill Peet The well-known author
and illustrator relates the story of his life and work. (4th-6th
grade)
By the Great Horn Spoon
by Sid Fleischman The year is 1849.
Young Jack Flagg sets out to recoup his Aunt Arabella's fortune
on a ship bound from Boston to the California gold fields.
Thus begin the wild, swashbuckling adventures of a determined
12-year-old and his intrepid butler. (4th-7th grade)
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Cat Running
by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
When Cat Kinsey builds a secret hideout
to escape her unhappy homelife, she slowly gets to know a
poor family who have come to California after losing their
Texas home to the dust storms of the 1930s. (4th-7th grade)
Chato's Kitchen
by Gary Soto
To get the "ratoncitos," little
mice, who have moved into the barrio to come to his house,
Chato the cat prepares all kinds of good food: fajitas, frijoles,
salsa, enchiladas, and more. (K-4th grade)
Chicken Sunday
by Patricia Polacco
To thank Miss Eula for her wonderful Sunday
chicken dinners, three children sell decorated eggs to buy
her a beautiful Easter hat. (K-3rd grade)
Children of the Dust Bowl
by Jerry Stanley
Describes the plight of the migrant workers
who traveled from the Dust Bowl to California during the Depression
and were forced to live in a federal labor camp. (4th-9th
grade)
The Chumash of California (The
Library of Native Americans)
by Jack Williams
Each of these three titles discusses the
history of the nation and their customs, arts, and beliefs.
Valuable resource material. (4th-7th grade)
Daughter of Madrugada
by Frances Wood
After the United States wins the war with
Mexico in 1848, life on her Mexican family's ranch in California
is greatly changed for 13-year-old Cesa. (4th-8th grade)
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Dawn of the World: Coast Miwok Myths
edited by C. Hart Merriam
A collection of legends traditional to the
Indians who inhabited Marin and lower Sonoma County, California.
(4th-9th grade)
Dragon's Gate
by Laurence Yep
When he accidentally kills a Manchu, a 15-year-old
Chinese boy is sent to America to join his father, an uncle,
and other Chinese working to build a tunnel for the transcontinental
railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1867. (4th-8th
grade)
Esperanza Rising
by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave
their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in
the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt
to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on
the eve of the Great Depression. (4th-8th grade)
Fire Race: A Karuk Coyote Tale
by Jonathan London
With the help of other animals, Wise Old
Coyote manages to acquire fire from the wicked Yellow Jacket
sisters. (K-4th grade)
Going Home
by Eve Bunting
Although a Mexican family comes to the United
States to work as farm laborers so that their children will
have opportunities, the parents still consider Mexico their
home. (K-3rd grade)
The Gold Rush: A Primary Source History
by Keri O'Donnell
This well-written book, replete with fascinating
historical documents such as the very pencil sketch Marshall
drew indicating where he had discovered gold, introduces middle
school audiences to a fascinating period in American history.
An excellent title in this highly acclaimed new series.(5th-8th
grade)
The Golden Gate Bridge
by Sharlene Nelson
The history of the famous San Francisco
bridge. (4th-6th grade)
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John Sutter: Sutter's Fort and the California
Gold Rush
by Iris Wilson Engstrand
A biography of the man associated with the
gold rush in California, detailing his various business adventures
and pioneering exploits in California. Brief enough to work
for 4th grade California reports. (4th-7th grade)
The Josefina Story Quilt
by Eleanor Coerr
While traveling west with her family in
1850, a young girl makes a patchwork quilt chronicling the
experiences of the journey and reserves a special patch for
her pet hen, Josefina. (K-3rd grade)
Journey to Topaz
by Yoshiko Uchida
After the Pearl Harbor attack an 11-year-old
Japanese-American girl and her family are forced to go to
a concentration camp in the Utah desert. (3rd-8th grade)
Neighborhood Odes
by Gary Soto
Twenty-one poems about growing up in an
Hispanic neighborhood, highlighting the delights in such everyday
items as sprinklers, the park, the library, and pomegranates.
(3rd-7th grade)
The Ohlone of California (The
Library of Native Americans)
by Jack Williams
Each of these three titles discusses the
history of the nation and their customs, arts, and beliefs.
Valuable resource material. (4th-7th grade)
On the Brink of Extinction: The
California Condor
by Caroline Arnold
Describes the history of the condor in North America and the
efforts to capture and breed the few remaining California
condors to save them from extinction. (3rd-7th grade)
Patty Reed's Doll
by Rachel K. Laurgaard
A wooden doll recalls the hope with which
a group of pioneers begins their journey and the ordeals they
face as they travel from Springfield, Illinois, to California.
(4th-7th grade)
The Pomo of California (The
Library of Native Americans)
by Jack Williams
Each of these three titles discusses the
history of the nation and their customs, arts, and beliefs.
Valuable resource material. (4th-7th grade)
The Quest for California's Gold
by Thomas Burger
In 1849, thousands would leave behind jobs
and families to travel to the West in hopes of finding gold.
Most would discover, instead, great hardship and disappointment.
Their arrival would permanently alter the physical landscape
of California and the future of the United States. Burger
writes a strong, brief introduction to this chapter of California
history. (4th-7th grade)
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Riding the Flume
by Patricia Curtis Pfitsch
In 1894, 15-year-old Francie determines
to fight the lumbermen and protect the largest Sequoia tree
ever seen, which had been given to her sister just before
her death six years earlier. (5th-9th grade)
Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy
by Wendelin Van Draanen
A Hollywood actress who had been competing
with Sammy's mother for an important role is murdered, but
13-year-old Sammy and her friend Marissa are on the case.
(5th-8th grade)
The Strange Case of Baby H
by Kathryn Reiss
A survivor of the San Francisco earthquake
of 1906, 12-year-old Clara Curfman discovers a baby abandoned
on her doorstep. Taking the baby in, her family hopes it can
fill the void left by Clara's brother's death. But Clara soon
suspects the baby is the victim of a kidnapping, not an earthquake.
A title in the American Girl History Mysteries series. (4th-7th
grade)
The Tiger's Apprentice
by Laurence Yep
A tiger, a monkey, a dragon, and a 12-year-old
Chinese American boy fight to keep a magic talisman out of
the hands of an enemy who would use its power to destroy the
world.
Voices from the Fields: Children of Migrant
Farmworkers Tell Their Stories
by S. Beth Atkin
Photographs, poems, and interviews with
children reveal the hardships and hopes of Mexican American
migrant farm workers and their families. (4th-7th grade)
The Wells Fargo Book of the Gold Rush
by Margaret Rau
Chronicles the California gold rush, from
its beginning in 1848, through its peak, to the 1849 recession
that brought about its end. (4th-8th grade)
Working Cotton
by Sherley Anne Williams
A young black girl relates the daily events
of her family's migrant life in the cotton fields of central
California. (K-4th grade)
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