FAMILY LIFE
These stories about family encompass many generations, time periods and components of the various people who make up a family. Some blend historical fact into their stories, some are just plain funny, some may shed light on situations children may be currently experiencing in their own lives but all share a message that may impact their reader. I hope you enjoy reading some of these books and learning about their individual family lives.
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
In Louisa May Alcott's classic novel, the lives and adventures of the four independent, creative March sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy — are set against the backdrop of 19th century New England while their father is away during the Civil War.
The Ramona Series - Beverly Cleary
8 books about Ramona Quimby; irrepressible owl-wrecker, burr-crown-maker, one-bite-apple-eater, anti-smoking campaigner and toothpaste squeezer, goes from pesty little sister to grown-up 10-year-old over the course of this beloved, humorous series by author Beverly Cleary. Ramona began as an incidental character in a different series, but quickly became a kid-lit icon in her own right.
Walk Two Moons - Sharon Creech
Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle sets off on a cross-country road trip with her grandparents to try to find her mother, who recently left her and her father. On the way, Sal tells them about her friend Phoebe Winterbottom, whose story of an absent mother begins to illuminate Sal's own.
The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963 - Christopher Paul Curtis
Ten-year-old Kenny and his family, "the Weird Watsons" of Flint, Mich., go to visit their grandmother in Alabama as racial tensions are peaking. They arrive in Birmingham in time to see the deadly bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in this elegant blending of fact and fiction.
Catherine, Called Birdy - Karen Cushman
The daughter of a medieval English nobleman, Catherine has been raised for just one thing: marriage. But she has other ideas, and does her best to drive away any potential suitors, until she meets the dreadful and persistent Shaggy Beard, whom she fears she'll never escape.
Danny the Champion of the World - Roald Dahl
Danny lives in a converted gypsy caravan with his dad, who runs a gas station and garage — and secretly spends his spare time poaching pheasants from the forest of villainous local landowner Mr. Hazell. When Danny's father is injured by one of Mr. Hazell's man-traps, the two hatch an ingenious plan to wreck the landowner's annual pheasant shooting party by stealing all the pheasants first.
The Saturdays - Elizabeth Enright
In 1940s New York, the four Melendy children decide to pool their allowances to create the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (I.S.A.A.C.). Every Saturday, a different child can use the whole amount on an activity of their choice, from concerts to museums to utterly unexpected adventures.
Sarah, Plain and Tall - Sarah MacLachlan
When their widowed father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother, Sarah, who sings and makes her own clothes. But when she goes back home, the children fear she'll never return.
Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
In this collection of eight novels by Lucy Maude Montgomery, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a rather prim and elderly brother and sister pair, send away for an orphan boy to help them run their farm on Canada's Prince Edward Island. But when the orphan arrives, he's not a he, he's a she — the loquacious and dreamy red-haired Anne-with-an-E Shirley — who quickly takes up a central place in their hearts.
One Crazy Summer - Rita Williams-Garcia
In the tumultuous summer of 1968, Delphine and her two sisters travel from Brooklyn to Oakland, Calif., to spend a month with their mother, a radical poet who sends them to the local Black Panther center for summer camp. There, they begin to learn about the fraught relationship between race and power.
Heidi Y.