Synopsis: It's a sizzling summer Saturday, and Headwaters Speedway is suddenly the place to be. Thanks to rainouts across the state, this small-town dirt track is drawing big-time stock cars and local drivers. First up: Trace Bonham in his Street Stock Chevy that's sure to be a winner, if only he can figure out why it's acting up. Next is Beau Kim: his Modified is patched together from whatever parts he could scrape up. And on the outside, moving in fast…

Synopsis: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Of all the books about the ground war in the Pacific, [this] is the closest to a masterpiece.”—The New York Review of Books “Eugene Sledge became more than a legend with his memoir, With the Old Breed. He became a chronicler, a historian, a storyteller who turns the extremes of the war in the Pacific—the terror, the camaraderie, the banal and the extraordinary—into terms we mortals can grasp.”—Tom Hanks In The Wall…

Synopsis: Recommended by the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy as an exemplary informational text. A History of US is a 10-volume, award-winning series about the birth and development of the United States as related by master storyteller Joy Hakim. All the People, the last volume in the series, covers US History from the end of World War II to the present. This updated fourth edition covers, for the first time, events…

Synopsis: Recommended by the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy as an exemplary informational text. Designed to accompany Joy Hakim's ten volume A History of US or as a stand alone reference, this collection of great American documents is ideal for all students of American history. Filled with primary sources, the Sourcebook and Index traces the gradual unfolding of ideas of freedom in America through letters, declarations…

Synopsis: Recommended by the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy as an exemplary informational text. From woman's suffrage to Babe Ruth's home runs, from Louis Armstrong's jazz to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's four presidential terms, from the finale of one world war to the dramatic close of the second, War, Peace, and All That Jazz presents the story of some of the most exciting years in U.S. history. With the end of World…

Synopsis: Recommended by the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy as an exemplary informational text. For the captains of industry men like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, and Henry Ford the Gilded Age is a time of big money. Technology boomed with the invention of trains, telephones, electric lights, harvesters, vacuum cleaners, and more. But for millions of immigrant workers, it is a time of big…

Synopsis: Recommended by the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy as an exemplary informational text. Covering a time of great hope and incredible change, Reconstruction and Reform is a dramatic look at life after the Civil War in the newly re United States. Railroad tycoons were roaring across the country. New cities sprang up across the plains, and a new and different American West came into being: a land of farmers,…

Synopsis: Recommended by the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy as an exemplary informational text. Riveting, moving, and impossible to put down, War, Terrible War takes us into the heart of the Civil War, from the battle of Manassas to the battle of Gettysburg and on to the South's surrender at Appomattox Court House. Follow the common soldiers in blue and gray as they endure long marches, freezing winter camps, and the…

Synopsis: Recommended by the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy as an exemplary informational text. Early nineteenth century America could just about be summed up by Henry David Thoreau's words when he said, "Eastward I go only by force, but westward I go free." It was an exuberant time for the diverse citizens of the United States, who included a range of folk, from mountain men and railroad builders to whalers and…

Synopsis: "Common Core Classroom Collections include a mix of titles representing the level of complexing and quality required by the Common Core State Standards"--Publisher's website.

Synopsis: Recommended by the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy as an exemplary informational text. How did compliant colonials with strong ties to Europe get the notion to become an independent nation? Perhaps the seeds of liberty were planted in the 1735 historic courtroom battle for the freedom of the press. Or maybe the French and Indian War did it, when colonists were called "Americans" for the first time by the…

Synopsis: Recommended by the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy as an exemplary informational text. All kinds of people are coming to America. If you're European, you come in search of freedom or riches. If you're African, you come in chains. And what about the Indians, what is happening to them? Soon with the influx of so many people, thirteen unique colonies are born, each with its own story. Meet Pocahontas and John…

Synopsis: "Common Core Classroom Collections include a mix of titles representing the level of complexing and quality required by the Common Core State Standards"--Publisher's website.

Synopsis: Funny, touching, and wholly original, Local News is a "first-rate collection from a perceptive and sensitive chronicler of ordinary life." --The Horn Book (starred review) In thirteen stories full of wit and energy, Gary Soto illuminates the ordinary lives of young people. Whether the kids are battling infestations of squirrels, dancing to romantic music on El Radio, trick-or-treating for one last time, or saving the world by becoming vegetarian…

Synopsis: Winner of the 2003 International Reading Association Award for Young Adult Novel. This gripping read is based on the true events of the murder of Emmett Till, one of the nation's most notorious crimes that helped spark the Civil Rights Movement. At first Hiram is excited to visit his hometown in Mississippi. But soon after he arrives, he crosses paths with Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago who is also visiting for the summer. Hiram…

Synopsis: After clearing enough forest to build a log cabin for their new home, Pa returns east to fetch the rest of the family, while young brothers Daniel and Will stay behind to watch the land. Pa had planned to return within six weeks . . . but something must have gone wrong. Now the boys must survive the winter with only a few supplies and their ability to invent and improvise. But are they alone in the woods? Jean Van Leeuwen?s engrossing novel of…

Synopsis: Master storyteller Rosemary Wells tells the incredible true story of a World War I nurse who brought medical care to the AppalachiansMary Breckinridge, trained as a nurse during World War I, rode on horseback into the isolated mountains of Appalachia and never looked back. Instead, she spent her life fording icy streams and climbing untracked mountains to bring medical help to those in need. More nurses on horseback joined Mary . . . and the…

Synopsis: American History Ink brings history to life with illustrated historical fiction covering important eras in our nation's history! Improve comprehension of historical fiction through high-interest topics reflecting our nation's rich history, engage and motivate students with stories told through the eyes of adolescents of the time, and prepare students for high-stakes assessments. These beautifully illustrated books represent important eras and…

Synopsis: American History Ink The Cattle Drive Teachers will find background information, brief summaries of each graphic novel, and two activities to help you guide your students’ understanding of each graphic novel. The first activity is designed to help the student utilize the story presented to complete the assigned task. The second activity is more broadly focused, allowing students to make connections between the graphic novel and the larger…