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Do You Know Who Wrote This? 
"You have been my friend, that in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my web for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a while, we die.... By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle, Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that!" [Tell Me!]
United States, 1800's 
Slavery, Underground Railroad, Civil War, & Reconstruction
Chapter Books (J Fiction) -- Grades 3-8
ABRAHAM'S BATTLE: A NOVEL OF GETTYSBURG
by Banks, Sara
In 1863, as the Civil War approaches his home in Gettysburg and he realizes that a big battle is about to begin, a freed slave named Abraham decides to join the ambulance corps of the Union Army.
ACROSS FIVE APRILS
by Hunt, Irene
Young Jethro Creighton grows from a boy to a man when he is left to take care of the family farm in Illinois during the difficult years of the Civil War. A Newbery Honor book.
AMISTAD RISING: A STORY OF FREEDOM
by Chambers, Veronica
A fictional account of the 1839 revolt of Africans aboard the slave ship Amistad and the subsequent legal case argued before the Supreme Court in 1841 by former president John Quincy Adams. Based on the true story of Joseph Cinque.
BAND OF ANGELS: A STORY INSPIRED BY THE JUBILEE SINGERS
by Hopkinson, Deborah
The daughter of a slave forms a gospel singing group and goes on tour to raise money to save Fisk University.
DAY OF TEARS
by Lester, Julius
Emma has taken care of the Butler children since Sarah and Frances's mother, Fanny, left. Emma wants to raise the girls to have good hearts, as a rift over slavery has ripped the Butler household apart. Now, to pay off debts, Pierce Butler wants to cash in his slave "assets," possibly including Emma.
EVVY'S CIVIL WAR
by Brenaman, Miriam
In Virginia in 1860, on the verge of the Civil War, 14-year-old Evvy chafes at the restrictions that her society places on both women and slaves.
FLYING FREE
Series Title: Corey's Diary
by Wyeth, Sharon
In 1858, 9-year-old Corey Birdsong and his family, fugitive slaves from Kentucky, build a new life in Amherstburg, Canada, while still hoping to help those they left behind. Sequel to FREEDOM'S WINGS.
FREEDOM'S WINGS
by Wyeth, Sharon
A 9-year-old slave keeps a diary of his journey to freedom along the Underground Railroad from Kentucky to Ohio to find a new home in 1857. Sequel is FLYING FREE.
GIRL IN BLUE
by Rinaldi, Ann
To escape an abusive father and an arranged marriage, 14-year-old Sarah, dressed as a boy, leaves her Michigan home to enlist in the Union Army, and becomes a soldier on the battlefields of Virginia, as well as a Union spy working in the house of Confederate sympathizer Rose O'Neal Greenhow in Washington, D.C.
HEAR THE WIND BLOW
by Hahn, Mary Downing
With their mother dead and their home burned, a 13-year-old boy and his little sister set out across Virginia in search of relatives during the final days of the Civil War.
I THOUGHT MY SOUL WOULD RISE AND FLY
Series Title: Dear America
by Hansen, Joyce
J FICTION HAN
Subtitle: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, South Carolina, 1865
12-year-old Patsy keeps a diary of the ripe but confusing time following the end of the Civil War and the granting of freedom to former slaves.
JOURNAL OF JAMES EDMOND PEASE
Series Title: My Name is America
by Murphy, Jim
J FICTION MUR
Subtitle: A Civil War Union Soldier, Virginia, 1863
James Edmond, a 16-year-old orphan, keeps a journal of his experiences and those of "G" Company which he joined as a volunteer in the Union Army during the Civil War.
LAND
by Taylor, Mildred D.
After the Civil War, Paul, the son of a white father and a black mother, finds himself caught between the two worlds of colored folks and white folks as he pursues his dream of owning land of his own. Prequel to ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY.
LETTERS FROM A SLAVE GIRL: THE STORY OF HARRIET JACOBS
by Lyons, Mary
A fictionalized version of the life of Harriet Jacobs, told in the form of letters that she might have written during her slavery in North Carolina and as she prepared for escape to the North in 1842.
LIGHT IN THE STORM
Series Title: Dear America
by Hesse, Karen
J FICTION HES
Subtitle: The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin, Fenwick Island, Delaware, 1861
In 1860 and 1861, while working in her father's lighthouse on an island off the coast of Delaware, 15-year-old Amelia records in her diary how the Civil War is beginning to devastate her divided state.
MEET ADDY
Series Title: AMERICAN GIRLS
by Porter, Connie Rose
9-year-old Addy Walker escapes from a cruel life of slavery to freedom during the Civil War.
1. Meet Addy
2. Addy Learns a Lesson
3. Addy's Surprise
4. Happy Birthday, Addy
5. Addy Saves the Day
6. Changes for Addy
MR. LINCOLN'S DRUMMER
by Wisler, G. Clifton
Recounts the courageous exploits of Willie Johnston, an 11-year-old Civil War drummer, who became the youngest recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor (given by President Lincoln). Based on a true story.
MY LAST SKIRT: THE STORY OF JENNIE HODGERS, UNION SOLDIER
by Durrant, Linda
Enjoying the freedom afforded her while dressing as a boy in order to earn higher pay after emigrating from Ireland, Jennie Hodgers serves in the 95th Illinois Infantry as Private Albert Cashier, a Union soldier in the American Civil War.
MY NAME IS SALLY LITTLE SONG
by Woods, Brenda
When their owner plans to sell one of them in 1802, 12-year-old Sally and her family run away from their Georgia plantation to look for both freedom from slavery and a home in Florida with the Seminole Indians.
Nightjohn
by Paulsen, Gary
J Fiction
12-year-old Sarny's brutal life as a slave becomes even more dangerous when a newly-arrived slave offers to teach her how to read. Sequel is SARNY, A LIFE REMEMBERED
NORTH BY NIGHT: A STORY OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
by Ayers, Katherine
A 16-year-old girl with two suitors undertakes a daring plan to help slaves along the Underground Railroad.
NOW LET ME FLY: THE STORY OF A SLAVE FAMILY
by Johnson, Dolores
A fictionalized account of the life of Minna, kidnapped as a girl in Africa, as she endures the harsh life of a slave on a Southern plantation in the 1800's and tries to help her family survive.
PICTURE OF FREEDOM
Series Title: Dear America
by McKissack, Patricia C.
J FICTION MCK
Subtitle: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl, Belmont Plantation, Virginia, 1859
In 1859, 12-year-old Clotee, a house slave who must conceal the fact that she can read and write, records in her diary her experiences and her struggle to decide whether to escape to freedom.
SARNY, A LIFE REMEMBERED
by Paulsen, Gary
Continues the adventures of Sarny, the slave girl Nightjohn taught to read, through the aftermath of the Civil War during which time she taught other Blacks and lived a full life until age ninety-four.
Sequel to NIGHTJOHN.
SHADES OF GRAY
by Reeder, Carolyn
At the end of the Civil War, 12-year-old Will, having lost all his immediate family, reluctantly leaves his city home to live in the Virginia countryside with his aunt and the uncle he considers a "traitor" because he refused to take part in the war.
SLAVE DANCER
by Fox, Paula
Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a 13-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo. Newbery Medal, 1974
SPY IN THE SKY
by Karr, Kathleen
When Northerner Thaddeus Lowe lands his huge balloon in South Carolina at the beginning of the Civil War, 10-year-old orphan Ridley Jones joins up with him, and the two set out to find a way to use Lowe's balloon to help the North. (Thaddeus Lowe began the Balloon Corps for President Lincoln and the Union Army.)
STEAL AWAY HOME
by Ruby, Lois
In two parallel stories, a Quaker family in Kansas in the late 1850s operates a station on the Underground Railroad, while almost 150 years later, 12-year-old Dana moves into the same house and finds the skeleton of a black woman who helped the Quakers.
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
by Philbrick, Rodman
12-year-old Homer, a poor but clever orphan, has extraordinary adventures after running away from his evil uncle to rescue his brother, who has been sold into service in the Civil War.
TIN HEART
by Ackerman, Karen
As the onset of the Civil War causes a rift between their fathers, Mahaley and Flora find a way to preserve their friendship.
TURN HOMEWARD, HANNALEE
by Beatty, Patricia
12-year-old Hannalee Reed, forced to relocate in Indiana along with other Georgia millworkers during the Civil War, leaves her mother with a promise to return home as soon as the war ends.
WHEN WILL THIS CRUEL WAR BE OVER?
Series Title: Dear America
by Denenberg, Barry
J FICTION DEN
Subtitle: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson, Gordonsville, Virginia, 1864
The diary of a fictional 14-year-old girl living in Virginia, in which she describes the hardships endured by her family and friends during one year of the Civil War.
Will at the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
Series Title: Boys of Wartime
by Calkhoven, Laurie
J FIC CAL
In 1863, 12-year-old Will, who longs to be a drummer in the Union army, is stuck in his sleepy hometown of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but when the Union and Confederate armies meet right there in his town, he and his family are caught up in the fight. Includes historical notes, glossary, and a timeline of events.
WOLF BY THE EARS
by Rinaldi, Ann
Harriet Hemings, rumored to be the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, one of his black slaves, struggles with the problems facing her--to escape from the velvet cage that is Monticello, or to stay, and thus remain a slave.
Books for Teens (YA Fiction)
COPPER SUN
by Draper, Sharon
Two 15-year-old girls--one a slave and the other an indentured servant--escape their Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.
IF I JUST HAD TWO WINGS
by Schwartz, Virginia
In 1861, 13-year-old Phoebe runs away from her master's Alabama plantation and joins four other slaves as they journey to Canada on the Underground Railroad.
LAST SILK DRESS
by Rinaldi, Ann
During the Civil War, Susan finds a way to help the Confederate Army and uncovers a series of mysterious family secrets.
MINE EYES HAVE SEEN
by Rinaldi, Ann
In the summer of 1859, 15-year-old Annie travels to the Maryland farm where her father, John Brown, is secretly assembling his provisional army prior to their raid on the United States arsenal at nearby Harper's Ferry.
River Between Us
by Peck, Richard
YA Fiction
During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.
Soldier's Heart
by Paulsen, Gary
YA Fiction
Eager to enlist, 15-year-old Charley has a change of heart after experiencing both the physical horrors and mental anguish of Civil War combat.
WITH EVERY DROP OF BLOOD
by Collier, James
While trying to transport food to Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War, 14-year-old Johnny, a white rebel soldier, is captured by a black Union soldier named Cush, who is also a runaway slave.
