WARRIOR

973.7 MUR

Murphy, Jim. The Long Road to Gettysburg. New York: Clarion Books, [1992].

Note: Describes the events of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 as seen through

the eyes of two actual participants, nineteen-year-old Confederate

lieutenant John Dooley and seventeen-year-old Union soldier Thomas Galway.

Also discusses Lincoln's famous speech delivered at the dedication of the

National Cemetery at Gettysburg.

973.3 MUR

Murphy, Jim. A Young Patriot : the American Revolution as Experienced By One

Boy. Clarion Books, [1996].

Note: Profiles fifteen-year-old Joseph Plumb Martin, who served under George Washington during the Revolutionary War from 1776 to 1783, and his adventures during the war as he draws upon his wartime memoirs.

B CRAZYHORSE

Freedman, Russell. The Life and Death of Crazy Horse. Holiday House, [1996].

Note: An account of the Oglala Sioux leader's life, written with the attention to detail of a historian and the language of a storyteller. Freedman paints the famous warrior's story on a broad canvas, describing the forces (desire for farmland, gold, railroads) that brought increasing numbers of white settlers to the Indian lands. The divisions among and within the tribes in the face of the ever-growing problem are explained, as is Crazy Horse's adamant refusal to give in to either the threats or the treaty offers of the U.S. Army and the government. The climactic battle of the Little Big Horn is described and shown to be the last triumph of the Sioux before they were herded onto reservations, and the last great victory of Crazy Horse before he was pushed to surrender and face his own violent death.

B REE

Reeve, Christopher. Still Me. New York: Ballantine, [1999].

Note: This is the determined, passionate story of one man, a gifted actor and star, and how he and his family came to grips with the kind of devastating, unexplainable shock that fate can bring to any of us. Chris and Dana Reeve have gathered the will and the spirit to create a new life, one responsive and engaged and focused on the future.

Fic ALEXANDER

Alexander, Lloyd. The Iron Ring. 1st ed. New York: Dutton Children's Books,

[1997].

Note: Driven by his sense of "dharma," or honor, young King Tamar sets off on a

perilous journey, with a significance greater than he can imagine, during

which he meets talking animals, villainous and noble kings, demons, and the

love of his life.

Fic Alp

Alphin, Elaine Marie and Thermes, Jennifer. Ghost Soldier. 1st ed. New York: H.

Holt, [2001].

Note: Alexander, in North Carolina while his father decides whether to remarry

and move there, meets the ghost of a Confederate soldier and helps him look

for his family.

Fic ALVAREZ

Alvarez, Julia. Before We Were Free. New York: Alfred Knopf, [2002].

Note: In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.

Fic AVI

Avi and Murray, Ruth E. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. New York: Avon

Books, [1992, 1990].

Note: Accused and convicted of murder, thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle decides

to reveal what really happened aboard the Seahawk--a ship piloted by a

tyrannical captain and crewed by mutinous seamen--during the summer of 1832.

Fic BARTOLETTI

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. No man's Land: a Young Soldier's Story. New York:

Blue Sky Press, [1999].

Note: Because he had been unable to fight off the gator which injured his

father, fourteen-year-old Thrasher joins the Confederate Army hoping to

prove his manhood.

Fic BAUER

Bauer, Marion Dane. On My Honor. New York: Clarion Books, [1986].

Note: When his best friend drowns while they are both swimming in a treacherous

river that they had promised never to go near, Joel is devastated and

terrified at having to tell both sets of parents the terrible consequences

of their disobedience.

Fic Ber

Bertrand, Diane Gonzales. Trino's Choice. Houston: Piñata Books, [1999].

Note: Frustrated by his poor financial situation and hoping to impress a smart

girl, seventh grader Trino falls in with a bad crowd led by an older teen

with a vicious streak.

Fic BRUCHAC

Bruchac, Joseph. The Winter People. New York: Dial Books, [2002].

Note: As the French and Indian War rages in October of 1759, Saxso, a fourteen-year-old Abenaki boy, pursues the English rangers who have attacked his village and taken his mother and sisters hostage.

Fic Cad

Cadnum, Michael. Raven of the Waves. New York: Orchard Books, [2001].

Note: On his first Viking raid, seventeen-year-old Lidsmod sails on the ship

Raven, joining his comrades as they destroy and plunder villages in medieval

England and take an Anglo-Saxon boy as captive.

Fic COLLINS

Collins, Suzanne. Gregor the Overlander. New York: Scholastic Press, [2003].

Note: When eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy.

Fic Cor

Corder, Zizou. Lion Boy. New York: Dial, [2003].

Note: In the near future, a boy with the ability to speak the language of cats sets out from London to seek his kidnapped parents and finds himself on a Paris-bound circus ship learning to train lions.

Fic Cor

Corder, Zizou. The Chase. New York: Dial, [2004].

Note: After saving the lions from evil Maccomo, Charlie, a boy with the ability to speak the language of cats, goes to Venice to search for his parents and solve the mystery of their kidnapping with help from Bulgarian King Boris.

Fic CURRY

Curry, Jane Louise. A Stolen Life. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books,

[1999].

Note: In 1758 in Scotland, teenaged Jamesina MacKenzie finds her courage and

resolution severely tested when she is abducted by "spiriters" and, after a

harrowing voyage across the Atlantic, sold as a bond slave to a Virginia

planter.

Fic CUS

Cushman, Karen. The Midwife's Apprentice. New York: Clarion Books, [1995].

Note: In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp

-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains

the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a

place in this world.

Fic DEJENKINS

Jenkins, Lyll Becerra de. The Honorable Prison. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Puffin

Books, [1989, 1988].

Note: Because of the moral stand taken by her father, a newspaper editor who has

persistently attacked the military dictator ruling their Latin American

country, Marta and her family find themselves prisoners of the government.

Fic DYGARD

Dygard, Thomas J. Backfield Package. New York, NY: Puffin, [1993].

Note: The decision of four high school friends to go to the same college so that

they can continue playing football together is shaken when one of them

begins to receive attention as a star quarterback.

Fic FAR

Farmer, Nancy. House of the Scorpion. 1st. New York, NY: Atheneum, [2002].

Note: In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.

Fic HES

Hesse, Karen. Letters From Rifka. 1st ed. New York, N.Y: H. Holt, [1992].

Note: 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.

Fic Hoo

Hoobler, Dorothy and Hoobler, Thomas. The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn. New York:

Puffin, [2001, 1999].

Note: While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a

merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in

eighteenth-century Japan.

Fic JACQUES

Jacques, Brian. Marlfox. New York: Philomel, [1998].

Note: Summary: When three young residents of Redwall Abbey go on a quest to

recover a tapestry stolen by the Marlfoxes, their bravery removes the curse

of these evil animals on a lost island.

Fic Lax

Laxalt, Robert. Dust Devils. Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press, [1997].

Note: In the early 1900s, Ira Hamilton relates better to his Paiute friend Crickett than to his parents, but when he falls in love with Crickett's sister, he has to placate both his father and hers.

Fic LIPSYTE

Lipsyte, Robert. The Brave. 1st ed. New York, NY: HarperCollins, [1991].

Note: Having left the Indian reservation for the streets of New York, seventeen

-year-old boxer Sonny Bear tries to harness his inner rage by training with

Alfred Brooks, who has left the sport to become a policeman.

Fic LIPSYTE

Lipsyte, Robert. Warrior Angel. New York, NY: HarperCollins, [2003].

Note: Half Moscandaga Indian and half white, Sonny continues to feel like an outsider in both worlds, and although he’s now the heavyweight champion, he finds no comfort in his fame or fortune. Feeling burnt out and hopeless, he has no stomach to fight Jamaican boxer Navy Crockett to retain his title. But his outlook on life changes when he encounters Starkey, a suicidal young man who sends Sonny e-mail fan letters using the name Warrior Angel. Starkey imagines himself on a mission to protect and support Sonny.

Fic LOWRY

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, [1989].

Note: In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie

learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish

friend from the Nazis.

Fic MAZER

Mazer, Harry. The Last Mission. New York: Delacorte Press, [1979].

Note: In 1944 a 15-year-old Jewish boy tells his family he will travel in the

West but instead, enlists in the United States Air Corps and is subsequently

taken prisoner by the Germans.

Fic MYERS

Myers, Walter Dean. Scorpions. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, [1988].

Note: After reluctantly taking on the leadership of the Harlem gang, the

Scorpions, Jamal finds that his enemies treat him with respect when he

acquires a gun--until a tragedy occurs.

Fic ORR

Orr, Wendy. Peeling the Onion. New York: Holiday House, [1997].

Note: Following an automobile accident in which her neck is broken, a teenage

karate champion begins a long and painful recovery with the help of her

family.

Fic PAOLINI

Paolini, Christopher. Eldest. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, [2005].

Note: After successfully evading an Urgals ambush, Eragon is adopted into the Ingeitum clan and sent to finish his training so he can further help the Varden in their struggle against the Empire.

Fic PAULSEN

Paulsen, Gary. The Transall Saga. New York: Delacorte Press, [1998].

Note: While backpacking in the desert, thriteen-year-old Mark falls into a tube of blue light and is transported into a more primitive world, where he must use his knowledge and skills to survive.

Fic Pie

Pierce, Tamora. Alanna: The First Adventure. New York: Atheneum, [1983].

Note: Eleven-year-old Alanna, who aspires to be a knight even though she is a girl, disguises herself as a boy to become a royal page, and learns many hard lessons along her path to high adventure.

Fic Pie

Pierce, Tamora. Trickster’s Choice. New York: Random House, [2003].

Note: Alianne must call forth her mother's courage and her father's wit in order to survive on the Copper Isles in a royal court rife with political intrigue and murderous conspiracy.

Fic Pie

Pierce, Tamora. Trickster’s Queen. New York: Random House, [2004].

Note: Aly fails to foresee the dangers that await as she uses her magic to safeguard Dove and her younger siblings, despite knowing that her thirteen-year-old charge might be the queen of the Copper Isles when the colonial rulers are defeated.

Fic SOTO

Soto, Gary. Jesse. 1st ed. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, [1994].

Note: Two Mexican American brothers hope that junior college will help them

excape their heritage of tedious physical labor.

Fic SPINELLI

Spinelli, Jerry. Milkweed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, [2003].

Note: Captures the hardships and cruelty of life in the ghettos of Warsaw during the Nazi occupation of World War II, through the eyes of a Jewish orphan who must use all his wits and courage to survive unimaginable events and circumstances.

Fic SPINELLI

Spinelli, Jerry. Wringer. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins, [1997].

Note: As Palmer comes of age, he must either accept the violence of being a

wringer at his town's annual Pigeon Day or find the courage to oppose it.

Fic WALLACE

Wallace, Rich. Wrestling Sturbridge. New York: Knopf, [1997].

Note: Stuck in small town Sturbridge, Pennsylvania, where no one ever leaves, and relegated by his wrestling coach to sit on the bench while his best friend Al becomes state champion, Ben decides he can't let his last high school wrestling season slip by without challenging his friend and the future.

Fic WHITESEL

Whitesel, Cheryl Aylward. Blue Fingers: A Ninja’s Tale. New York: Clarion Books, [2004].

Note: Having failed apprenticeship as a dye maker, Koji is captured and forced to train as a ninja, where he remains disloyal until he discovers samurai have burned his former village.

Fic WOL

Wolff, Virginia Euwer. True believer : a Novel. 1st ed. New York: Atheneum Books

for Young Readers, [2000].

Note: Living in the inner city amidst guns and poverty, fifteen-year-old

LaVaughn learns from old and new friends, and inspiring mentors, that life

is what you make it--an occasion to rise to.

Fic ZIN

Zindel, Paul. Reef of Death. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, [1998].

Note: While helping a beautiful Aboriginal girl search for her people's missing

treasure near the Great Barrier Reef, seventeen-year-old PC finds himself

fighting an evil scientist and a deadly underwater monster.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Other Titles Recommended but not available in the school library:

B Lewin

Lewin, Ted. I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler. New York: Hyperion, [1994].

Note: The author and his brothers Don and Mark were all pro wrestlers in their teens. Their story, spanning the years 1952 to 1967, is a fascinating word-and-picture montage of the ring and the characters who are drawn to it.

B Tho

Lipsyte, Robert. Jim Thorpe: Twentieth-Century Jock. New York: HarperCollins, [1993].

Note: A biography of the American Indian known as one of the best all-round athletes in history for his accomplishments as an Olympic medal winner and as an outstanding professional football and baseball player.

B OWE

Streissguth, Tom. Jesse Owens. New York: Lerner, [1999].

Note: Describes the life of the sharecroppers' son who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and challenged Hitler's notion of Aryan superiority.

B Powell

Senna, Carl. Colin Powell: A Man of War and Peace. New York: Walker and Company, [1992].

Note: Examines the life and career of the Army general who became the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

B Tou

Myers, Walter Dean. Toussaint L’Ouverture: the Fight for Haiti’s Freedom. New York: Simon & Schuster, [1996].

Note: When the subject of this book, Toussaint L'Overture, was born slavery was one the 'givens' of history, as much a part of modern life as traffic congestion and noise. All great civilizations, the educated people in that day would have told you, are built on sweated labor of slaves--Greece, Roman being two prime examples.

B Wood

Wood, Ted. A Boy Becomes a Man at Wounded Knee. New York: Walker and Company, [1995].

Note: Wanbli Numpa, a young Lakota Sioux boy, accompanies his father, uncle, and grandfather on a torturous 150-mile ride from Bridger, South Dakota, to Wounded Knee Creek to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wounded Knee massacre. The stark realism of this compelling photoessay chronicles Numpa's journey into manhood.

Fic ALDER

Alder, Elizabeth. Crossing the Panther’s Path. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, [2002].

Note: Sixteen-year-old Billy Caldwell, son of a British soldier and a Mohawk woman, leaves school to join Tecumseh in his efforts to prevent the Americans from taking any more land from the Indians in the Northwest Territory.

Fic Alp

Alphin, Elaine. The Proving Ground. New York: Henry Holt and Company, [1993].

Note: While trying to adjust to life at a new military base in a town where the residents hate the Army, Kevin, the son of a lieutenant colonel, uncovers a terrorist plot to destroy the base.

Fic Bro

Brooks, Bruce. What Hearts. New York: HarperCollins, [1992].

Note: After his mother divorces his father and remarries, Asa's sharp intellect and capacity for forgiveness help him deal with the instabilities of his new world.

Fic Coc

Cochran, Thomas. Roughnecks. San Diego, CA: Gulliver Books, [1999].

Note: Travis Cody prepares for the final game of his high school football career, a rematch with his school's chief rival.

Fic DANTICAT

Danticat, Edwidge. Anacaona, Golden Flower. New York: Scholastic, [2005].

Note: 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.

Fic FARMER

Farmer, Nancy. The Sea of Trolls. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2004].

Note: After Jack becomes apprenticed to a Druid bard, he and his little sister Lucy are captured by Viking Berserkers and taken to the home of King Ivar the Boneless and his half-troll queen, leading Jack to undertake a vital quest to Jotunheim, home of the trolls.

Fic Hic

Hicyilmaz,Gaye. Against the Storm. Boston: Little, Brown, [1992].

Note: Twelve-year-old Mehmet's move from his Turkish village with flowers everywhere to a shanty-town existence in the city of Ankara brings him almost unbearable misery, but his desire to create a life for himself helps him to survive.

Fic KINDL

Kindl, Patrice. Lost in the Labyrinth: a Novel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, [2002].

Note: Fourteen-year-old Princess Xenodice tries to prevent the death of her half-brother, the Minotaur, at the hands of the Athenian prince, Theseus, who is aided by Icarus, Daedalus, and her sister Ariadne.

Fic Kre

Krensky, Stephen. The Printer’s Apprentice. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, {1995].

Note: In 1734 New York, watching the trial of printer Peter Zenger, who has been charged with printing scandalous opinions about the governor, his ten-year-old apprentice, Gus Croft, wonders about the freedom of the press.

Fic Mac

MacLean, John. When the Mountain Sings. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, [1992].

Note: Thirteen-year-old competitive skier Sam experiences the excitement and intensity of preparing for his first championship race.

Fic McC

McColley, Kevin. The Walls of Pedro Garcia. New York: Delacorte, [1993].

Note: Twelve-year-old Pedro, who works with his grandfather on the estate of a rich man in Mexico, seeks to prove his strength and manhood by forcing a confrontation with the head groundsman.

Fic STROUD

Stroud, Jonathan. The Golem’s Eye. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, [2004].

Note: In their continuing adventures, magician's apprentice Nathaniel, now fourteen years old, and the djinni Bartimaeus travel to Prague to locate the source of a golem's power before it destroys London.

Fic Wie

Wieler, Diana. Rhan Van: the Defender. Toronto, ON: Groundwood Books, [1998].

Note: At 15, Rhan Van is a kid with a foot in two worlds. As RanVan, the powerful knight of the video arcade game Stormers, he moves in a world of endless tunnels and insect-like attackers. Here, if he plays well and masters the rules, he can save the Princess from the Dark Lord and justice will be done.

Fic WILSON

Wilson, Diane Lee. Black Storm Comin’. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, [2005].

Note: Twelve-year-old Colton, son of a black mother and a white father, takes a job with the Pony Express in 1860 after his father abandons the family on their California-bound wagon train, and risks his life to deliver an important letter that may affect the growing conflict between the North and South.

Fic Wun

Wunderli, Stephen. The Heartbeat of Halftime. New York: Avon, [1996].

Note: A winning story about Wing, a 13-year-old football player and his friends who are sick of losing. When the team finally turns it around and starts scoring points, Wing is struggling with a more difficult problem: His father, who taught him everything he knows about the game is too ill to be in the stands to share his victory and, for Wing, winning takes on a whole new meaning.

All annotations are excerpts from Amazon.com and Novelist.

More information on each title is available at either website.