(Stories are told in the first person: I did, I thought, etc.)

4.8/4 All Alone in the Universe ­ Perkins, Lynne Rae. Debbie is dismayed when her best friend, Maureen, starts spending time with ordinary, boring Glenna.

5.8/7 Ballad of Lucy Whipple ­ Cushman, Karen. In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.

5.1/8 Bat 6 ­ Wolff, Virginia Euwer. In small-town post-World War II Oregon, twenty-one 6th-grade girls recount the story of an annual softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface.

5.0/3 Borning Room ­ Fleischman, Paul. Lying at the end of her life in the room where she was born in 1851, Georgina remembers what it was like to grow up on the Ohio frontier.

5.3/2 Bull Run ­ Fleischman, Paul. The author creates 16 characters from all walks of life and traces their thoughts, emotions, and experiences, from their first hopes for a brave, new world through the brutal reality of war. He shows us history as lived by its makers, and lets us look through their eyes--Northern, Southern, courageous, and cowardly.

4.7/6 Duplicate ­ Sleator, William. Sixteen-year-old David, finding a strange machine that creates replicas of living organisms, duplicates himself and suffers the horrible consequences when the duplicate turns against him.

4.4/8 Ella Enchanted ­ Levine, Gail C. In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.

5.2/3 Guests ­ Dorris, Michael. Moss, an Algonquin boy, is looking forward to the annual harvest feast-until the 'guests" show up.

4.7/5 In Care of Cassie Tucker ­ Ruckman, Ivy. When her teenage cousin moves in with her family on their Nebraska farm in 1899, eleven-year-old Cassie learns a lot, including the meaning of "heathen" and "bigot."

4.9/2 Morning Girl ­ Dorris, Michael. Morning Girl and her younger brother Star Boy take turns describing their life on an island in 1492.

5.3/5 Mouse Rap ­ Myers, Walter Dean. During an eventful summer in Harlem, fourteen-year-old Mouse and his friends fall in and out of love and search for a hidden treasure from the days of Al Capone.

5.2/6 My Side of the Mountain ­ George, Jean Craighead. Young Sam Gribley learns to live off the land in this remarkable survival story.

4.9/2 Seedfolks ­ Fleischman, Paul. .One by one, a number of people of varying ages and backgrounds transform a trash-filled inner-city lot into a productive and beautiful garden, and in doing so, the gardeners are themselves transformed.

5.2/4 Sees Behind Trees ­ Dorris, Michael. A Native American boy with a special gift to "see" beyond his poor eyesight journeys with an old warrior to a land of mystery and beauty.

4.4/4 Shiloh ­ Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Marty finds a dog that he is sure is being abused. Even though he knows who owns the dog, he makes the decision to keep and care for it.

5.0/4 Sir Galahad, Mr. Longfellow, and Me ­ Horvath, Betty. In 1938, encouraged by her sixth-grade teacher, Emily taps an unsuspected talent for writing poetry and makes many discoveries about friends, family, and life.

4.6/5 Spirit House ­ Sleator, William. Fifteen-year-old Julie investigates the suspicious behavior of the Thai exchange student staying with her family and comes to believe in the wish-granting power of a spirit that appears to have followed him across the ocean.

4.5/6 Steal Away ­ Armstrong, Jennifer. In 1855, two girls, one white and one black, run away from a southern farm and make the difficult journey north to freedom.

3.4/4 Superfudge ­ Blume, Judy. Tewlve-year-old Peter's brother, Fudge, is a bigger pain than ever. Then, he learns that his mom is going to have a baby and the whole family is moving to Princeton for a year. It will be bad enough starting sixth grade in a strange place and going to the same school as Fudge, but Peter can imagine something even worse: what if the new baby is a carbon copy of Fudge?

3.3/3 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing ­ Blume, Judy. Nine-year-old Peter Hatcher's biggest problem is his little brother, Fudge. Funny complications follow as Peter tries to cope with Fudge.

5.3/8 True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle ­ Avi. As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious.

5.0/4 Weasel ­ DeFelice, Cynthia. Alone in the frontier wilderness of 1839, eleven­year-old Nathan runs afoul of the renegade killer known as Weasel.

Format: Predominantly Journal Entries/Diaries

6.7/5 A Gathering of Days ­ Blos, Joan. The journal of a 14-year-old girl, kept the last year she lived on the family farm, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town.

6.4/8 Catherine, Called Birdy ­ Cushman, Karen. Catherine is destined to marry a rich man no matter how she feels about it. She manages to send several would-be husbands packing, but when a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes to call, will she lose the battle?

4.9/2 Cyberpals According to Kaley ­ Regan, Dian Curtis. Kaley's fourth-grade class is doing a unit on letter writing. Each student must select an e-mail pen pal from a worldwide list of English-speaking schools. The nine-year-old encounters one problem after another with her choice of "cyberpals." The first one turns out to be a boy, and "boys=YUCK." Her next choice begins well, but after a few days the girl from Zimbabwe decides to write to someone else. Kaley keeps picking new pals and soon has six correspondences going. Readers learn about her life through these e-mails, and through notes to and from her teacher and reports that she writes for class.

4.7/14 Life As We Knew It ­ Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

5.6/7 Lily B. On the Brink of Cool ­ Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. "The eventually internationally recognized writer Lily Blennerhassett" spends her thirteenth summer missing her best friend and keeping a journal of her boring life at home and exciting newly-discovered relatives.

3.0/2 Private Notebook of Katie Roberts, Age 11 ­ Hest, Amy. In a series of journal entries and letters to a pen pal, Katie relates her feelings about her father's death in World War II, her mother's remarriage, and the family's move from New York City to Texas.

(Girls)

5.4/5 Christmas After All: the Diary of Minnie Swift ­ Lasky, Kathryn. In her fictionalized journal, eleven-year-old Minnie Swift recounts how her family dealt with the difficult times during the Depression and how the arrival of an orphan from Texas changed their lives in Indianapolis just before Christmas 1932.

5.5/6 A Coal Miner's Bride: the Diary of Anetka Kaminska Lattimer, Pennsylvania, 1896 ­ Bartoletti, Susan. A diary account of thirteen-year-old Annetka, life in Poland in 1896, immigration to America, marriage to a coal miner, widowhood, and happiness in finally finding her true love.

4.9/5 Color Me Dark: the Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North ­ McKissack, Patricia. Eleven-year-old Nellie Lee Love records in her diary the events of 1919, when her family moves from Tennessee to Chicago, hoping to leave the racism and hatred of the South behind.

4.5/4 Dreams in the Golden Country: the Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl ­ Lasky, Kathryn. Twelve-year-old Zippy, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, keeps a diary account of the first eighteen months of her family's life on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1903-1904.

5.6/2 Early Sunday Morning: the Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows ­ Denenberg, Barry. In her diary, twelve-year-old Amber describes moving to Hawaii in 1941 and experiencing the horror of Pearl Harbor.

5.1/5 The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow: the Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl ­ Turner, Ann. A diary of an Indian girl whose tribe is forced to move to a reservation.

5.7/5 The Great Railroad Race: the diary of Libby West ­ Gregory, Kristiana. As the daughter of a newspaper reporter, fourteen-year-old Libby keeps a diary account of the exciting events surrounding her during the building of the railroad in the West in 1868.

5.0/5 I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl ­ Hansen, Joyce. Twelve-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.

6.0/4 A Journey to the New World: the Diary of Remember Patience Whipple ­ Lasky, Kathryn. Twelve-year-old Mem presents a diary account of the trip she and her family made on the Mayflower in 1620 and their first year in the New World.

5.9/7 Land of the Buffalo Bones: the Diary of Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, an English girl in Minnesota ­ Bauer, Marion Dane. Fourteen-year-old Polly Rodgers keeps a diary of her 1873 journey from England to Minnesota as part of a colony of eighty people seeking religious freedom, and of their first year struggling to make a life there, led by her father, a Baptist minister.

5..3/4 A Light in the Storm: the Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin ­ Hesse, Karen. In 1860 and 1861, while working in her father's lighthouse on an island off the coast of Delaware, fifteen-year-old Amelia records in her diary how the Civil War is beginning to devastae her divided state.

5.6/6 A Line in the Sand: the Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence ­ Garland, Sherry. In the diary she receives for her thirteenth birthday in 1835, Lucinda Lawrence describes the hardships her family and other residents of the "Texas colonies" endure when they decide to face the Mexicans in a fight for their freedom.

5.0/4 Look to the Hills: the Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl ­ McKissack, Patricia. Brought up in France as the African slave companion of a nobleman's daughter, thirteen-year-old Zettie records the events of 1763, when she and her mistress escape to the New World where they are inadvertently drawn into the hostilities of the ongoing French and Indian War and, eventually, find a new direction to their lives.

5.6/5 Love Thy Neighbor: the Tory Diary of Prudence Emerson ­ Turner, Ann. In Greenmarsh, Massachusetts, in 1774, thirteen-year-old Prudence keeps a diary of the troubles she and her family face as Tories surrounded by American patriots at the start of the American Revolution.

6.0/4 Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: the Diary of Bess Brennan ­ Denenberg, Barry. In 1932, a twelve-year-old girl who lost her sight in an accident keeps a diary, recorded by her twin sister, in which she describes life at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.

5.6/6 My Face to the Wind: the Diary of Sarah Jane Price, a Prairie Teacher ­ Murphy, Jim. Following her father's death from a disease that swept through her Nebraska town in 1881, teenaged Sarah Jane must find work to support herself and records in her diary her experiences as a young school teacher.

4.3/5 My Heart is on the Ground: the Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl - In the diary account of her life at a government-run Pennsylvania boarding school in 1880, a twelve-year old Sioux Indian girl reveals a great need to find a way to help her people.

5.5/4 My Secret War: the World War II Diary of Madeline Beck ­ Osborne, Mary Pope. Thirteen-year-old Madeline's diaries for 1941 and 1942 reveal her experiences living on Long Island during World War II while her father is away in the Navy.

5.6/6 One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping: the Diary of Julie Weiss ­ Denenberg, Barry. A story set in Vienna on the eve of World War II. Eleven-year-old Julie Weiss adores her rich and successful father, but is ambivalent toward her superficial mother. Step by step, the girl, her Jewish family, and their friends suffer from the violent persecution inflicted on them by the Nazis. Her mother commits suicide. Her father, one of the few Jews who foresaw what would happen, is able to send Julie to her mother's sister in America. There, in shock and despair, the child takes time to mend, but the kindness of her aunt, an actress, and her jolly husband help her to start a new life. The pace of the story quickens rapidly as conditions in Austria escalate from a pervasive anti-Semitism to life-threatening Nazism. Denenberg furnishes adequate foreshadowing in the Vienna portion, two mysteries in the United States section, and a satisfying family relationship (relevant to the two mysteries) that adds interest and contributes to an upbeat ending.

5.5/5 Seeds of Hope: the Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild, California ­ Gregory Kristiana. A diary account of fourteen-year-old Susanna Fairchild's life in 1849, when her father succumbs to gold fever on the way to establish his medical practice in Oregon after losing his wife and money on their steamship journey from New York. Includes a historical note.

4.4/3 So Far From Home: the Diary of Mary Driscoll, and Irish Mill Girl ­ Denenberg, Barry. In the diary account of her journey from Ireland in 1847 and of her work in a mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, fourteen-year-old Mary reveals a great longing for her family.

5.1/4 Standing in the Light: the Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan, Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, 1763 ­ Osborne, Mary Pope. A Quaker girl's diary reflects her experiences growing up in the Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania and her capture by Lenape Indians in 1763.

6.4/6 Survival in the Storm: the Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards ­ Janke, Katelan. A twelve-year-old girl keeps a journal of her family's and friends' difficult experiences in the Texas Panhandle, part of the "Dust Bowl," during the Great Depression. Includes a historical note about life in America in 1935.

5.9/6 A Time for Courage: the Diary of Kathleen Bowen ­ Lasky. Kathryn. A diary account of thirteen-year-old Kathleen Bowen's life in Washington, D.C. in 1917, as she juggles concerns about the national battle for women's suffrage, the war in Europe, and her own school work and family. Includes a historical note.

6.2/6 Valley of the Moon: the Diary of Maria Rosalia de Milagros ­ Garland, Sherry. The 1845-1846 diary of thirteen-year-old Maria, servant to the wealthy Spanish family which took her in when her Indian mother died. Includes a historical note about the settlement and early history of California.

5.9/5 Voyage on the Great Titanic: the Diary of Margaret Ann Brady ­ White, Ellen Emerson. In her diary in 1912, thirteen-year-old Margaret Ann describes how she leaves her lonely life in a London orphanage to become a companion to a wealthy American woman, sails on the Titanic, and experiences its sinking.

5.2/6 West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi New York to Idaho Territory, 1883 ­ Murphy, Jim. While traveling in 1883 with her Italian-American family (including a meddlesome little sister) and other immigrant pioneers to a utopian community in Idaho, fourteen-year-old Teresa keeps a diary of her experiences along the way.

5.8/5 When Christmas Comes Again: the World War I Diary of Simone Spencer ­ Levine, Beth Seidel. Teenage Simone's diaries for 1917 and 1918 reveal her experiences as a carefree member of New York society, then as a "Hello girl," a volunteer switchboard operator for the Army Signal Corps in France.

6.6/3 When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: the Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson, Gordonsville, Virginia, 1864 ­ Denenberg, Barry. The diary of a fictional fourteen-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.

5.8/6 Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: the Diary of Molly MacKenzie Flaherty ­ White, Ellen Emerson. In 1968 Massachusetts, after her brother Patrick goes to fight in Vietnam, fifteen-year-old Molly records in her diary how she misses her brother, volunteers at a Veterans' Administration Hospital, and tries to make sense of the Vietnam War and tumultuous events in the United States. Includes historical notes.

5.5/4 Winter of Red Snow: the Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania,, 1777-1778 ­ Gregory, Kristiana. Eleven-year-old Abigail presents a diary account of life in Valley Forge from December, 1777 to July 1778 as General Washington prepares his troops to fight the British.

(Boys)

5.2/4 Journal of Ben Uchida, Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp ­ Denenberg, Barry. Twelve-year-old Ben Uchida keeps a journal of his experiences as a prisoner in a Japanese internment camp in Mirror Lake, California during World War II.

5.2/4 Journal of Biddy Owens, the Negro Leagues ­ Myers, Walter Dean. Teenager Biddy Owen's 1948 journal about working for the Birmingham Black Barons includes the games and the players, racism the team faces from New Orleans to Chicago, and his family's resistance to his becoming a professional baseball player. Includes a historical note about the evolution of the Negro Leagues.

5.7/5 Journal of C. J. Jackson: a Dust Bowl Migrant ­ Durbin, William. Thirteen-ytear-old C. J. records in a journal the conditions of the Dust Bowl that cause the Jackson family to leave their farm in Oklahoma and make the difficult journey to California, where they find a harsh life as migrant workers.

5.7/4 Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds: the Donner Party Expedition ­ Rodman, Philbrick. Douglas Deeds, a fifteen-year-old orphan, keeps a journal of his travels by wagon train as a member of the ill-fated Donner party, which became stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 1846-47.

5.3/4 Journal of Finn Reardon: a Newsie ­ Bartoletti, Susan. Finn Reardon, a thirteen-year-old Irish-American newspaper carrier who hopes to be a journalist someday, keeps a journal of his experiences living in New York City in 1899. Includes historical notes.

5.7/6 Journal of James Edmond Pease: a Civil War Union Soldier ­ Murphy, Jim. James Edmond Pease, a sixteen-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.

4.9/5 Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce: a Pilgrim boy, Plymouth, 1620 ­ Rinaldi, Ann. A fourteen-year-old indentured servant keeps a journal of his experiences on the Mayflower and during the building of Plymouth in 1620 and 1621.

5.3/5 Journal of Jedediah Barstow, an Emigrant on the Oregon Trail: Overland, 1845 ­ Levine, Ellen. In his 1845 diary, thirteen-year-old orphan Jedediah describes his wagon train journey to Oregon, in which he confronts rivers and sandy plains, bears and rattlesnakes, and the challenges of living with his fellow travelers. Includes historical notes.

6.2/6 Journal of Jesse Smoke: A Cherokee Boy ­ Bruchac, Joseph. Jesse Smoke, a sixteen-year-old Cherokee, begins a journal in 1837 to record stories of his people and their difficulties as they face removal along the Trail of Tears. Includes a historial note giving details of the removal.

5.0/4 Journal of Joshua Loper, a Black Cowboy ­ Myers, Walter Dean. In 1871, Joshua Loper, a sixteen-year-old black cowboy, records in his journal his experiences while making his first cattle drive under an unsympathetic trail boss.

5.9/7 Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty, United States Marine Corps ­ White, Ellen. An eighteen-year-old Marine records in a journal his experiences in Vietnam during the siege of Khe Sanh, 1967-1968. Includes a history of Vietnam, war timeline, glossary and related military information.

5.9/3 Journal of Rufus Rowe: a Witness to the Battle of Fredericksburg ­ Hite, Sid. In 1862, sixteen-year-old Rufus Rowe runs away from home and settles in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he documents in his journal the battle he watches unfold there.

5.0/4 Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins, a World Wart II Soldier ­ Myers, Walter Dean. A seventeen-year-old soldier from central Virginia records his experiences in a journal as his regiment takes part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and subsequent battles to liberate France.

.9/5 Journal of Sean Sullivan: a Transcontinental Railroad Worker ­ Durbin, William. In 1867, fifteen-year-old Sean experiences both hardships and rewards when he joins his father in working on the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

5.6/4 Journal of William Thomas Emerson: a Revolutionary War Patriot ­ Denenberg, Barry. William, a twelve-year-old orphan, writes of his experiences in pre-Revolutionary War Boston where he joins the cause of the patriots who are opposed to British rule.

4.8/6 Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: a Chinese Miner ­ Yep, Laurence. A young Chinese boy nicknamed Runt records his experiences in a journal as he travels from southern China to California in 1852 to join his uncle during the Gold Rush.

6.5/5 Anacaona, Golden Flower ­ Danticat, Edward. Beginning in 1490, Anacaona keeps a record of her life as a possible successor to the supreme chief of Xaragua, as wife of the chief of Maguana, and as a warrior battling the first white men to arrive in the West Indies, ravenous for gold.

5.8/5 Anastasia, the Last Grand Duchess ­ Meyer, Carolyn. A novel in diary form in which the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholals II describes the privileged life in her family up until the time of World War I and the tragic events that befell them.

6.2/6 Cleopatra, Daughter of the Nile ­ Gregory, Kristiana. While her father is in hiding after attempts on his life, twelve-year-old Cleopatra records in her diary how she fears for her own safety and hopes to survive to become Queen of Egypt some day.

5.7/5 Eleanor, Crown Jewel of Aquitaine ­ Gregory, Kristiana. The diary of Eleanor, first daughter of the duke of Aquitaine, from 1136 until 1137, when at age fifteen she becomes queen of France. Includes historical notes on her later life.

7.4/3 Elisabeth, the Princess Bride ­ Denenberg,Barry. The diary of Princess Elisabeth, written in 1853-1854, describing her engagement and marriage to her cousin Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria. Includes historical notes concerning her life as Empress.

5.5/6 Eilzabeth I, Red Rose of the Houseof Tudor ­ Lasky, Kathryn. In a series of diary entries, Princess Elizabeth, the eleven-year-old daughter of King Henry VIII, celebrates holidays and birthdays, relives her mother's execution, revels in her studies, and agonizes over her father's health.

6.6/5 Isabel, Jewel of Castilla ­ Meyer, Carolyn. While waiting anxiously for others to choose a husband for her, Isabel, the future Queen of Spain, keeps a diary account of her life as a member of the royal family.

6.0/5 Jahanara, Princess of Princesses ­ Lasky, Kathryn. Beginning in 1627, Princess Jahanara, first daughter of Shah Jahan of India's Moghul Dynasty, writes in her diary about political intrigues, weddings, battles, and other experiences of her life. Includes historical notes on Jahanara's later life and on the Moghul Empire.

6.4/6 Kaiulani, the People's Princess ­ White, Ellen. Follows the life of Victoria Kaiulani Cleghorn from 1889 to 1893 as she studies to be a better princess, even as Hawaii's monarchy, and her throne, are being undermined by American businessmen.

6.2/5 Kazunomiya, Prisoner of Heaven ­ Lasky, Kathryn. Princess Kazunomiya, half-sister of the Emperor of Japan, relates in her diary and in poems the confusing events occurring in the Imperial Palace in 1858, including political and romantic intrigue.

5.3/8 Lady of Ch'iao Kuo, Warrior of the South ­ Yep, Laurence. In 531 A. D., a fifteen-year-old princess of the Hsien tribe in southern China keeps a diary which describes her role as a liason between her own people and the local Chinese colonists, in times of both peace and war.

6.3/7 Lady of Palenque, Flower of Bacal ­ Kirwan, Anna. In 749, the Maya princess Green Jay, of the Kingdom of Bacal, writes in her diary about her arduous journey to Xukpip to meet King Fire Keeper, her future husband.

6.2/7 Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles ­ Lasaky, Kathryn. In 1769, thirteen-year-old Maria Antonia Josepha Hohanna, daughter of Empress maria Theresa, begins a journal chronicling her life at the Austrian court and her preparations for her future role as a queen of France.

6.0/6 Mary, Queen of Scotts, Queen Without a Country ­ Lasky. Kathryn. Mary, the young Scottish queen, is sent a diary from her mother in which she records her experiences living at the court of France's King Henry II as she awaits her marriage to Henry's son, Francis.

5.6/3 Nzingha, Warrior Queeen of Matamba ­ McKissack, Patricia. Presents the diary of thirteen-year-old Nzingha, a sixteenth-century West African princess who loves to hunt and hopes to lead her kingdom one day against the invasion of the Portuguese slave traders.

6.6/5 Sondok, Princess of the Moon and Stars - Holman, Sheri. In a series of messages placed in her grandmother's ancestral jar, a seventh century princess and future ruler of the Korean kingdom of Silla vents her frustration at not being permitted to study astronomy because she is a girl.

6.2/6 Victoria, May Blossom of Britannia ­ Kirwan, Anna. In 1829, nine-year-old Victoria begins a journal chronicling her life as an English princess. Includes information on the reign, marriage, and family life of Queen Victoria and English civilization during that period.

Format: predominantly letters

5.2/3 Dear Austin: Letters from the Underground Railroad ­ Woodruff, Elvira. In 1863, in letters to his older brother, eleven-year-old Levi describes his adventures in the Pennsylvania countryside with his black friend Jupiter and his experiences with the Underground Railroad.

5.6/5 Dear Ellen Bee ­ Lyons, Mary. A scrapbook kept by a young black girl details her experiences and those of the older white woman, "Miss Bet," who had freed her and her family, sent her north from Richmond to get an education, and then worked to bring an end to slavery. Based on the life of Elizabeth Van Lew.

5.3/3 Dear Levi: Letters from the Overland Trail ­ Woodruff, Elvira. Twelve-year-old Austin Ives writes letters to his younger brother describing his three-thousand-mile journey from their home in Pennsylvania to Oregon in 1851.

5.1/4 Letters from a Slave Girl ­ 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.

4.2/4 Letters from Rifka ­ Hesse, Karen. In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family's flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America.

4.5/5 P.S. Longer Letter Later ­ Danziger, Paula and Ann M. Martin. Elizabeth and Tara*Starr are totally different, but they are best friends. Tara*Starr moves away, and the two girls must continue their friendship through letters. As time goes on the friendship begins to change. Will they be able to stay best friends?

4.8/6 Love from Your Friend, Hannah ­ Skolsky, Mindy W. From her home in back of the Grand View Restaurant in rural New York, Hannah writes letters to her best friend, a pen pal, and even to President and Mrs. Roosevelt.

Format: Multiple Styles/Other

5.7/2 Aleutian Sparrow ­ Hesse, Karen. An Aleutian Islander recounts her suffering during World War II in American internment camps designed to "protect" the population from the invading Japanese.

4.9/3 Dear Mr. Henshaw ­ Cleary, Beverly. A boy writes letters to an author through the years and keeps a diary.

4.7/2 Locomotion ­ Woodson, Jacqueline. In a series of poems, eleven-year-old Lonnie writes about his life, after the death of his parents, separated from his younger sister, living in a foster home, and finding his poetic voice at school.

3.6/4 Nothing but the Truth ­ Avi. A ninth-grader's suspension for singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" during homeroom becomes a national news story.

5.6/7 Out of the Dust ­ Hesse, Karen. In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

4.8/3 Strider ­ Cleary, Beverly. Can a stray dog change the life of a teenage boy? It looks as if Strider can. He's a dog that loves to run; because of Strider, Leigh Botts finds himself running--well enough to join the school track team. Strider changes Leigh on the inside, too, as he finally begins to accept his parents' divorce and gets to know a redheaded girl he's been admiring. With Strider's help, Leigh finds that the future he once hated to be asked about now holds something he never expected: hope.

5.0/2 Witness ­ Hesse, Karen. A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.