Historical Fiction Project
U.S. History
Westward Expansion
“There has to be this pioneer, the individual who has the courage, the ambition to overcome the obstacles that always develop when one tries to do something worthwhile, especially when it is new and different.”
Alfred P. Sloan
Arrington, Frances
Prairie Whispers
Only twelve-year-old Colleen knows that her baby sister died just after she was born and that Colleen put another baby in her place, until the baby's father shows up and makes trouble for her and her family on the South Dakota prairie in the 1860s.
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Bowman, Erin
Vengeance Road
When her father is murdered for a journal revealing the location of a hidden gold mine, eighteen-year-old Kate Thompson disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers -- and justice.
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Holt, Kimberly Willis
The Water Seeker
This book chronicles the story of Amos Kincaid, a young man burdened with the same talent as his father, a dowser, or one with the ability to find water buried deep underground. Initially keeping his gift a secret for fear of overwhelming responsibility and pressure, Amos soon must face his fate of being a dowser when he encounters several hardships while crossing the Oregon Trail.
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Lee, Stacey
Under a Painted Sky
In 1845, Sammy, a Chinese American girl, and Annamae, an African American slave girl, disguise themselves as boys and travel on the Oregon Trail to California from Missouri.
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Wilson, Dianne L.
Black Storm Comin'
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.
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Wolf, Allan
New Found Land: Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery
The letters and thoughts of Thomas Jefferson, members of the Corps of Discovery, their guide Sacagawea, and Captain Lewis's Newfoundland dog, all tell of the historic exploratory expedition to seek a water route to the Pacific Ocean.