The Road from Home
David Kherdian Beech TreePaperbacks c1979 238 pages
Setting: Turkey, Syria, and Greece
Time; 1907-1924
Biography of the author's mother telling the story of the Turkish government attempt to destory the Armenian population.
Newbery honor, ALA notable book
Save Queen of Sheba
Louise Moeri Puffin Books c1981 116 pages

A good story to supplement lessons on westward expansion .David and his sister, Queen Sheba,
survive an Indian attack while on the trail west. The story tells of his efforts to save himself and his sister and find their parents.
Pocket Poems

selected by Bobbi Katz Dutton Children's Books c2004
Good selection of short poems...use for A Poem in Your Pocket Day
The Frog Wore Red Suspenders
Jack Prelutsky Greenwillow Books, c2002

A great book of poetry. The Little Brown Toad is my grandkids favorite....we love reciting it together.
Use for atlas lessons since most poems are about a location in the USA
Dear Levi Letters from the Overland Trail
Elvira Woodruff Yearling,c1994 119 pages.

Set in 1851, Austin tells about his wagon train trip across the Overland Trail to his brother Levi through letters he writes. Austin is going west to take over their father's claim . Not all the stories have happy endings. Enough adventure for to keep 2nd -4th graders interested. A good historical fiction read to accompany westward expansion lessons.
The Bronze Pen
Zilpha Keatley Snyder Atheneum c2008 200 pages
Audrey Abbot enters a magical cave and is given a bronze pen by an old woman who tells her to "use it wisely and to good purpose". Audrey shares the secret of the bronze pen with Lizzie, her best friend, and together they teat its powers.
A fantasy for grades 3-5
Francie
Karen English, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, c1999 Coretta Scott King Honor Book
199 pages.
Francie her mother and younger brother, Prez, are waiting in Alabama for their father who is working in Chicago to send for them. Francie must work for wealthy white families as she struggles with her place in the world and waiting for her father to keep his promises. Francie tries to help the boy she was tutoring escape arrest and puts the black community in danger. A good read detailing the pre Civil -rights era.
Grades 3-6