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A Yankee Girl at Fort Sumter
by Alice Turner CurtisWhen she is caught up in the events that will lead to the start of the Civil War, ten-year-old Sylvia is glad for the several good friends, including a young slave girl, she has made while living in Charleston, South Carolina.
Indian Boyhood
by Charles EastmanCharles Eastman, or Hakadah, as his Sioux relatives and fellow tribesmen knew him, as a full-blooded Indian boy learned the reticent manners and stoical ways of patience and bravery expected of every young warrior in the 1870's and 1880's. The hunts, games, and ceremonies of his native tribe were all he knew of life until his father, who had spent time with the white man, came to find him. Indian Boyhood is Eastman's first-hand reminiscence of the life he led until he was fifteen with the nomadic Sioux. Left motherless at birth, he tells how his grandmother saved him from relatives who offered to care for him "until he died." It was that grandmother who sang him the traditional Indian lullabies which are meant to cultivate bravery in all male babies, who taught him not to cry at night (for fear of revealing the whereabouts of the Sioux camp to hostile tribes), and who first explained to him some of the skills he would need to survive as an adult in the wilds. Eastman remembers the uncle who taught him the skills of the hunt and the war-path, and how his day began at first light, when his uncle would startle him from sleep with a terrifying whoop, in response to which the young boy was expected to jump fully alert to his feet, and rush outside, bow in hand, returning the yell that had just awakened him. Yet all Indian life did not consist in training and discipline. In time of abundance and even in famine, Indian children had much time for sport and games of combat — races, lacrosse, and wrestling were all familiar to Eastman and his childhood friends. Here too are observations about Indian character, social custom, and morality. Eastman describes the traditional arrangements by which the tribe governed itself — its appointed police force, hunting and warrior scouts, and its tribal council, and how the tribe supported these officers with a kind of taxation. Eastman also includes family and tribal legends of adventure, bravery, and nature that he heard in the lodge of Smoky Day, the tribe historian. But Eastman's own memories of attacks by hostile tribes, flights from the white man's armies, and the dangers of the hunt rival the old legends in capturing a vision of life now long lost.
The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett[This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 4-5 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
The Brown Fairy Book
by Andrew LangClassic collection of 32 less familiar folk tales narrated in clear, lively prose. Different enough to capture all imaginations, the tales are drawn from many different cultures: the American Indians, Australian Bushmen, African Kaffirs, and from Persia, Lapland, Brazil, and India.
Tom Swift And His Giant Cannon (Tom Swift #16)
by Victor AppletonTom Swift has gone through four series and through generations of the Tom Swift family. Quiet Vision has republished the first twenty five titles in the original Tom Swift series. The original Tom Swift series is referred to as Tom Swift Sr. Quiet Vision tracks Tom Swift from "His Motor Cycle" to "His Electric Locomotive." Many characters reoccur through the series including: Mary Nestor, who Tom eventually marries, Mr. Damon who is always blessing almost everything, Eradicate Sampson and his mule Boomerang who is braver and more intelligent than assumed and many others. Called an inventor, Tom Swift is more of a talented mechanic with a special love for airships and airplanes.