(3) 4-6 Dear America series. Susanna chronicles her family's experiences living in the gold rush camps in the mountains of the California Territory during the year 1849. Addressing the dangers for women and minorities, as well as the loyalties and the betrayals associated with mining, Gregory presents an accurate portrayal of the difficult life in the mining camps. Appendices include a historical note, photographs, illustrations, a recipe, a song, and a map.

Reviewer: Juliet Stebbins

(4) 4-6 When Molly's father's plane is shot down over enemy territory during World War II, the entire town believes him dead, except for Molly. While never giving up hope that her father will return, Molly fights prejudice and fear--repercussions of the war--in her coastal Maine town. Some subplots and secondary characters are one-dimensional, but the story's joyous conclusion is convincing and affecting.

Reviewer: Juliet Stebbins

(3) 4-6 Dear America series. With her father stationed in the Pacific, thirteen-year-old Maddie and her mother move into a boarding house on Long Island. Along with the other boarders, the Becks volunteer their services on the home front to help the war effort. Through Maddie's diary entries, Osborne captures the excitement and the reality of war from the perspective of a teenage girl. A historical note and black-and-white photos are appended.

Reviewer: Juliet Stebbins

(4) 4-6 Kate's canal boat family has changed now that her mother has remarried. While her stepfather is fighting in the Civil War and her stepsiblings are stealing her mother's affections, Kate decides to make the long annual canal trip alone, with only her stepbrother for help. The characters are realistic, and the story is interesting, but Kate's coming to appreciate her new family is not conveyed with much punch.

Reviewer: Juliet Stebbins

(3) 4-6 In an engaging story, Amelia is confused and frustrated when her Maryland town divides its loyalties between the Union and Confederacy. An author's note describes the actual incident the book is based on, in which a Confederate general made plans to exact a huge ransom from the town of Hagerstown, Maryland--or burn down the town. As usual, Rinaldi carefully explains what is and isn't factual in her novel. Bib.

Reviewer: Juliet Stebbins

(3) 4-6 In 1866, teenager Vinnie Reams was commissioned to sculpt a statue of Abraham Lincoln to be displayed in the Rotunda of the Capitol building. In a lengthy but engrossing novel, Sappéy has re-created nine years of this young woman's life, from the beginning of the Civil War through Lincoln's death and Vinnie's completion of the statue. An author's note separates fact from fiction.

Reviewer: Juliet Stebbins

(4) 4-6 Mary Elizabeth feels a closer connection with the Ghost Stallion, a wild horse roaming the open prairie near her Oregon home, than she does with her own family, particularly her father. Yearning to be free like the stallion, Mary Elizabeth challenges her past and learns what family really means to her. The story and its conclusion are predictable, but the plot is well paced and will appeal to horse fans.

Reviewer: Juliet Stebbins

(4) YA Boarding a train for Chicago, sixteen-year-old Katherine Lunden leaves her rural Wisconsin home in search of the exciting city life she reads about in the post-Civil War newspapers. Assuming the name Edith Shay from an abandoned suitcase, Katherine is fortunate to fall into the hands of kind souls in each city she visits, but her adventures, and misadventures, although too mild to seem realistic, make a pleasant story of learned self-reliance.

Reviewer: Juliet Stebbins