Elias is dying of consumption, which is why his parents agree to send him deep into Mammoth Cave. There's a doctor there who claims that the atmosphere of the cave could cure the disease, and sure enough Elias soon starts to feel plagued by boredom more than consumption. Until he discovers that there's more hiding in the caves than even the doctor knows. Soon he's sneaking off to explore and help the escaped enslaved people hiding in its labyrinthine corridors.

The historical facts behind this novel are fascinating from the tuberculosis sanatorium in Mammoth Cave to Stephen Bishop, the enslaved explorer who guided tourists and scientists through the cave's passageways. I wish Stephen Bishop had been the main character, but I liked Elias and found his struggles and inner dialogue believable. The plot kept plenty of suspense and adventure in the story and prevented it from becoming a dry historical recounting of events.

River Runs Deep b y Jennifer Bradbury

Eric'as Picks
4th - 6th Grade
Tags: Adventure, Historical Fiction, People of Color

Three different kids. Three times and places in the world. One mission in common. Escape

Osef is a Jewish boy living in 1930”s Nazi Germany.  With their traumatized father recently released from a camp, the family sets sail bound for Cuba. The fate of that ship is a fact of history  and a heart wrenching story of the choices that people must make in war times.

Isabel is a Cuban girl living during the riots and government repression of 1994. With her pregnant mother and family, they join another family on a leaky raft, hoping to find safety in America.  Facing drowning and sharks, they brave stormy  seas.

Mamoud is a Syrian boy in 2015.  His homeland is torn apart by violence and when the family’s apartment is bombed, they flee.  They face military violence, betrayal, near drowning and separation as they make their way to Europe.

All these families faced unimaginable dangers as well as hope for a better life.  Although separated by  decades and geography, unbelievable connections will tie their stories together.
This is an action-packed moving story that puts you in the heart of three actual happenings in the past and present.  The topics are both timely and timeless: courage, survival and the journey to find home.


Tessa's Picks, 5th-8th grade, Historical Fiction, Adventure, People of Color, Issues fiction, Social justice

Crow washed up on the shore of a tiny island twelve years ago. Osh took her in and raised her and Miss Maggie nursed her when she was ill and taught her how to read and write. No one else on the island will come near her. They're afraid she was born on the nearby leper colony and might carry the dreaded disease. So Crow has lived her life full of love and sea salt and beautiful views that Osh paints, isolated on her tiny island. Until the day she decides to look into the mystery of her past, and she discovers pirate treasure, danger, and sorrow. Will finding the truth be worth it, or will it destroy the happy life she already has?

This setting of this book is practically the main character of this story and I could almost taste the salt air as I read it. The adventure is slow to start, but picks up. Crow, Osh, and Miss Maggie are all characters that will stay with me.

Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk

Erica's Pick
4th - 6th Grade
​Tags: Adventure, character driven, family life, historical fiction, mystery, people of color

​A young man survives a shipwreck in 1766 and goes on to create a dynasty of famous actors in London. Another runs away from his boarding school in 1990 to seek out his estranged and eccentric uncle who lives in an even more mysterious house. Their stories, told through pictures and words, intertwine in unexpected ways that will leave you flipping pages and looking for clues about how their stories meet.

This story completely wrecked me. I was deeply touched by the slowly unraveling story of the uncle and his mysterious house. I was drawn in by wondering how the two stories connected. After reading this, I made a point of visiting the museum that inspired it. The whole experience of this book is simply beautiful.

Erica's Picks
4th - 6th
Tags: Art, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ, Mystery, Tear-Jerker

Two interweaving stories of present-day Jesse who is dealing with grief over the death of her brother on 9/11, while in 2001, Alia, a Muslim teenager is trapped in one of the twin towers where she meets a boy who will change her destiny.
Jesse's family doesn't talk about her brother Travis and her parents are about to divorce. Lead astray by the wrong crowd, she is arrested for hate speech tagging,and is sentenced to community service at the Islam Peace Center. The friends she makes there instill in Jesse a new understanding of Muslims and the Islamic faith.

Alia, is an aspiring comic book writer/illustrator. An incident at school causes her parents to withdraw permission for Alia to attend a program for talented high school artists. On September 11, she heads to her father's office at the World Trade Center to plead with him to change his mind. She is there when the planes hit the building and as she struggles to escape the flames she must trust the boy she just met if they are to make it out alive.This  touching look at a national tragedy promotes healing and understanding.

8th Summer 2017, 7th grade, Issues Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Tessa's Picks

“Their deaths might leave a hole in our hearts as deep as the ocean, but it is only because we are as deep as the ocean, and our capacity to love is as high as the sky. The earthquake took much from us. But there is much we can take from it as well” This novel set in 1906 San Francisco follows the story of Mercy Wong, a girl living in Chinatown who is determined to get an education and improve her life. She plots, lies, and bribes her way into the prestigious St. Clare's school only to find that it's not what she expected. All their problems need to be put aside however when disaster strikes and the St. Clare's girls need to work together just to survive. 



Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee
Erica's Picks
6th & up
Tags: Character Driven, Friendship, Historical Fiction, People of Color

n 20th century Tsarist Russia, aristocrats raise wolf cubs as pets. Wolves are at heart wild creatures and when their true nature comes out they must be sent away for it is considered bad luck to kill a wolf. Feo and her mother are wolf wilders; they retrain the creatures to survive in the forests.  When a sadistic general demands that they kill the wolves including the three who have bonded with Feo, they refuse. General Rakov takes the mother, Marina prisoner and burns down their house. Feo and her wolves escape and travel through the icy woods determined to  free her mother. In evocative prose, the author evokes the courage and fierceness of the girl and her wolves. Help comes from villagers who have been brutalized by Rakov and Feo realizes she is not alone..."The moments in which the world turns suddenly kind can feel like a punctured lung."  The children of the village become her army as they march to St Petersburg to stage a revolution and free Marina. The climax will have you cheering!

4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, adventure, historical fiction, animals, Tessa's picks

The words in this book are so wise and wonderful, I want to carry it around and speak them to anyone who will listen. I used to think i wouldn't like novels in free verse. Boy was I wrong. Like Brown Girl Dreaming, the verse seems to transport you into the mind and soul of the main character. Mimi Yoshiko Oliver's mother is Japanese and her father is black, and her family moves to a predominantly white town in Vermont  where she is judged by her identity and confined by her gender.
The time is the 1960s and the move from liberal Berkeley California is a culture shock.
Mimi is never afraid to speak her truth or stand up for what she believes.My favorite part is when the white principal tells her that "she is a credit to her race" and as she leaves their exchange she tell him the same thing. She is "Like raindrops on granite." I say,
because we know that's how I persist---
drip, drip, drip
until the granite cracks."
Funny, tender,strong, this is a book you will want to put in the hands of everyone you know.

Tessa's Picks, 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, 7th summer 2016, People of color, Novels in verse, Historical fiction, Character driven