Children's Fiction with a Strong Geographic
Background
(Within the U.S.)
(This is an extremely long list. Printing is not
advised)
McKissack, Pat. Run Away Home. J FIC McKissack
In 1886 in Alabama, an eleven-year-old African American girl and her
family befriend and give refuge to a runaway Apache boy.
Warner, Gertrude Chandler. The Mystery of the Midnight Dog.
J
FIC Warner
While visiting a small town in Alabama, the Aldens hear mysterious
howls at midnight, leading them to wonder if an old local legend about
a ghost dog is true.
Alaska
George, Jean Craighead. Water Sky J
FIC George
A boy who goes to Barrow, Alaska, to live with friends of his father
for awhile learns the importance of whaling to the Eskimo culture.
Griese, Arnold A. The Wind Is Not a River.
J
FIC Griese
As the only ones not captured when the Japanese take over their
Aleutian
island village during World War II, two children must survive on their
own.
Morey, Walt. Gentle Ben. J FIC Morey
Traces the friendship between a boy and a bear in the rugged Alaskan
Territory.
Norton, Browning. Wreck of the Blue Plane.
J
FIC Norton
Fourteen-year-old Mark accompanies his older brother to Kodiak Island,
Alaska, and finds himself involved in a dangerous search for a wrecked
plane containing a large sum of stolen money.
O'Dell, Scott. Black Star, Bright Dawn. J
FIC O'Dell // Y PB O
Bright Dawn must face the challenge of the Iditarod dog sled race alone
when her father is injured.
Taylor, Theodore. The Children's War. J FIC
Taylor
When the Japanese invade the isolated Alaskan outpost where he lives
and take all the men prisoners, a twelve-year-old boy helps an Army spy
gather information on the enemy.
California
Beatty, Patricia. Eight Mules from Monterey. J FIC
Beatty
During the summer of 1916 thirteen-year-old Fayette and her brother
accompany their widowed mother on a mule trip into the California
mountains,
where she is to establish library outposts in isolated communities.
Beatty, Patricia. Lacy Makes a Match. J FIC Beatty
A 13-year-old living in a turn-of-the-century California mining town
determines to marry off her adoptive brothers and discover the identity
of her real parents.
Cameron, Eleanor. A Spell Is Cast. J FIC Cameron
During her visit to Tarnhelm, a huge old house on the California coast,
Cory Winterslow discovers the secret of her past.
Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. Cat Running. J FIC
Snyder
When eleven-year-old Cat Kinsey builds a secret hideout to escape her
unhappy homelife, she slowly gets to know a poor family who have come
to
California after losing their Texas home to the dust storms of the
1930s.
Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. And Condors Danced. J FIC
Snyder
The year Carly turns eleven, 1907, is filled with playing detective,
watching condors, observing a fierce feud involving her family's
Southern
California ranch, and coping with unexpected tragedies.
Colorado
Beatty, Patricia. Melinda Takes a Hand. J
FIC Beatty
In the years 1893, sensible thirteen-year-old Melinda, finding herself
stranded in the Colorado town of Goldendale, promptly becomes involved
in the townspeople's lives and assorted problems.
Steiner, Barbara A. Oliver Dibbs and the Dinosaur Cause.J
FIC
Steiner
Immersed in studying his favorite topic, dinosaurs, Oliver involves
his fifth grade class in a campaign to make the stegosaurus the
Colorado
state fossil and runs afoul of an interfering bully.
Connecticut
Estes, Eleanor. The Moffat Museum. J FIC
Estes
Jane Moffat decides to open a family museum in the barn behind the
little grey house at Twelve Ashbellows Place in Cranbury, Connecticut.
Delaware
Guccione, Leslie D. Come Morning. J FIC Guccione
Twelve-year-old Freedom, the son of a freed slave living in Delaware
in the early 1850s, takes over his father's work in the undeground
Railroad
when his father disappears.
Florida
Brooks, Walter R. To and Again. J FIC Brooks
The barnyard animals decide to escape the cold winter by vacationing
in sunny Florida.
DiCamillo, Kate. Because of Winn-Dixie. J
FIC DiCamillo
Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town
of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because
of
her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.
Konigsburg, E. L. T-Backs, T-Shirts, Coat, and Suit.
J
FIC Konigsburg
Spending the summer in Florida with her stepfather's sister who
operates
a "meals-on-wheels" van, twelve-year-old Chlo and her aunt become
involved in a controversy surrounding the wearing of T-back bathing
suits.
Perera, Hilda. Kiki: A Cuban Boy's Adventures in
America.
J FIC Perera
In the early 1960s eight-year-old Kiki leaves Cuba to escape the Castro
regime and tries to adjust in two very different foster homes in
Florida,
first with a poor family in the Everglades and then with a wealthy
family
in Miami.
Snyder, Carol. The Great Condominium Rebellion.
J FIC Snyder
Stacy, age thirteen, and Marc, age twelve, visit their newly retired
Jewish grandparents in their Florida condominium, where the restrictive
rules stir them to rebel.
Georgia
Burch, Robert. Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain.
J
Fic Burch
Ida is an enthusiastic but eccentric young woman assigned to tend four
motherless children in Georgia during the Great Depression.
Wilkinson, Brenda Scott. Not Separate, Not Equal. J
FIC
Wilkinson
Malene, one of a group of six blacks to integrate a Georgia public
high school in the mid-sixties, experiences hatred and racism, as well
as the beginnings of the civil rights movement.
O'Connor, Barbara. Moonpie and Ivy. J FIC
O'Connor
Twelve-year-old Pearl feels hurt, confused, and unwanted when her wild,
irresponsible mother leaves her with Aunt Ivy in a little country house
in Georgia and then disappears.
Hawaii
Slepian, Jan. The Broccoli Tapes. J FIC Slepian
During a stay of several months in Hawaii with her family, Sara reports
her experiences by tape back to her sixth grade class in Boston,
detailing
her "adoption" of a wild cat, a friendship with a troubled Hawaiian
boy,
and the death of a beloved grandmother.
Warner, Gertrude Chandler. The Black Pearl Mystery. J
FIC Warner
While visiting their cousin's pineapple plantation in Hawaii, the
Aldens
hear a local legend about a black pearl with a curse on it and
investigate
mysterious incidents on and around the plantation.
Indiana
Wyman, Andrea. Red Sky at Morning. J FIC Wyman
In Indiana in 1909, Callie finds that she must grow up quickly when
death and other hardships leave her alone on the family farm with her
ailing
grandfather Opa.
Iowa
Lowry, Lois. Switcharound. J FIC Lowry
Forced to spend a summer with their father and his "new" family,
Caroline,
age eleven, and J.P., age thirteen, are given unpleasant
responsibilities
for which they are determined to get revenge.
Kansas
Constant, Alberta Wilson. Does Anybody Care About Lou Emma
Miller?
J FIC Constant
A 15-year-old makes several discoveries about human nature while
helping
the local suffragettes elect the first woman mayor of Gloriosa, Kansas.
Louisiana
Corcoran, Barbara. The Person in the Potting Shed.
J
FIC Corcoran
While vacationing with their mother and new stepfather in a
semi-deserted
plantation house outside New Orleans, a boy and a girl discover a
murder
and help track down the murderer.
LaFaye, A. The Year of the Sawdust Man. J
FIC LaFaye.
In 1934, when her mother leaves her and her father, eleven-year-old
Nissa tries to cope with the gossip of her small Louisiana town and the
changes in her own life.
Maine
Irwin, Hadley. The Original Freddie Ackerman. J
FIC Irwin
Twelve-year-old Trevor Frederick Ackerman refuses to spend another
summer with his extended family of divorced parents, step-parents, and
step-brothers and step-sisters, so he is sent up to Maine to stay with
two eccentric great aunts and there gets involved with some interesting
people and an unexpected mystery.
Rich, Louise Dickinson. Star Island Boy.
J
FIC Rich
An eleven-year-old orphan goes to a new foster home on an island off
the coast of Maine, wondering why the islanders want so many foster
children
at once, and determined not to like the lobstermens' way of life as he
is sure that this home, also, is one in which he will not be able to
stay
permanently.
St. George, Judith. The Chinese Puzzle of Shag Island.
J FIC St. George
What seems a harmless enough trip to the family's ancestral home on
a Maine island turns into something much more dangerous for
thirteen-year-old
Kim.
Weber, Susan Bartlett. Seal Island School.
J
FIC Weber
On Seal Island off the coast of Maine, a place as warm with pets of
all kinds, nine-year-old Pru plans to keep her teacher from leaving by
finding her a dog.
Maryland
Carbone, Elisa Lynn. Starting School With an Enemy.
J
FIC Carbone
Worried about finding friends when she moves from Maine to Maryland,
ten-year-old Sarah gets off to a bad start by making an enemy of a boy.
Hahn, Mary Downing. Anna All Year Round. J Fic
Hahn
Eight-year-old Anna experiences a series of episodes, some that are
funny, others sad, involving friends and family during a year in
Baltimore
just before World War I.
Massachusettes
Avi. Blue Heron. Y FIC Avi
While spending the month of August on the Massachusetts shore with
her father, stepmother, and their new baby, almost thirteen-year-old
Maggie
finds beauty in and draws strength from a great blue heron, even as the
family around her unravels.
Harlow, Joan Hiatt. Joshua's Song. J FIC
Harlow
Needing to earn money after his father's death during the influenza
epidemic of 1918, thirteen-year-old Joshua works as a newspaper boy in
Boston, one day finding himself in the vicinity of an explosion that
sends
tons of molasses coursing through the streets.
Minnesota
Bellairs, John. The Dark Secret of Weatherend.
J FIC Bellairs
Fourteen-year-old Anthony Monday of Hoosac, Minnesota, and his friend
Miss Eells, the Hoosac librarian, try to stop an evil wizard from
turning
the world into an icy wasteland.
Delton, Judy. Kitty in the Summer. J FIC Delton
Kitty's summer in the country is filled with new experiences, from
"purchasing" a pagan baby to exposure to real poverty.
Nixon, Joan Lowery. Land of Dreams.
Y FIC Nixon
In 1902 sixteen-year-old Kristin travels with her family from Sweden
to a new life in Minnesota, where she finds herself frustrated by the
restrictions
placed on what girls of her age are expected or allowed to do.
Paulsen, Gary. The Winter Room. J FIC Paulsen
//
J PB P
A young boy growing up on a northern Minnesota farm describes the
scenes
around him and recounts his old Norwegian uncle's tales of an almost
mythological
logging past.
Thomas, Jane Resh. Courage at Indian Deep. J
FIC
Thomas
Forced to move to northern Minnesota from a comfortable life in
Minneapolis,
a family finds the need to make some big adjustments.
Wosmek, Frances. A Brown Bird Singing. J FIC
Wosmek
Left by her father to be raised by his white friends in a small
Minnesota
town, a Chippewa Indian girl is afraid he will return and take her away
from the only family she remembers.
Missouri
Clements, Bruce. I Tell a Lie Every So Often.
J FIC Clements
In 1848 a fourteen-year-old Missourian, although not a habitual liar,
tells two lies that start off an unusual chain of events.
MacBride, Roger Lea. Little Farm in the Ozarks.
J
FIC MacBride
Laura and Almanzo Wilder and their eight-year-old daughter Rose
continue
to work to make Rocky Ridge farm in Missouri their new home.
MacBride, Roger Lea. Little House on Rocky Ridge.
J
FIC MacBride
In 1894 Laura Ingalls Wilder, her husband, and her seven-year-old
daughter
Rose leave the Ingalls family in Dakota and make the long and difficult
journey to Missouri to start a new life.
Montana
Beatty, Patricia. Something to Shout About. J FIC
Beatty
The women of a Montana mining town disrupt life when they try to raise
money for a new school.
Yep, Laurence. When the Circus Came to Town. J
FIC
Yep
An Asian cook and a Chinese New Year celebration help a ten-year-old
girl at a Montana stage coach station to regain her confidence after
smallpox
scars her face.
Nebraska
Conrad, Pam. My Daniel. Y FIC Conrad
Ellie and Stevie learn about a family legacy when their grandmother
tells them stories of her brother's historical quest for
dinosaur bones on their Nebraska farm.
Cross, Gillian. Great Elephant Chase. J FIC Cross
In 1881 fifteen-year-old Tad helps a girl in her attempt to get a
mighty
Indian elephant to friends in Nebraska, while pursued by two
unscrupulous
villains who wish to take the elephant from her.
New Hampshire
Miles, Betty. Sink or Swim. J FIC Miles
An eleven-year-old boy from New York City goes to New Hampshire on
a Fresh Air program for two weeks and has many new experiences in a
small
country town.
New Mexico
Williams, Barbara. Mitzi and Frederick the Great.
J
FIC Williams
Eight-year-old Mitzi finds out just how great her stepbrother Frederick
really is when they accompany her mother to New Mexico to work in an
archaeological
dig for the summer.
New Jersey
Myers, Walter Dean. Me, Mop, and the Moondance Kid.
J
FIC Myers
Although adoption has taken them out of the New Jersey institution
where they grew up, eleven-year-old T.J. and his brother Moondance
remain
involved with their friend Mop's relentless attempts to become adopted
herself and to wreak revenge on their baseball rivals the obnoxious
Eagles.
Robertson, Keith. Henry Reed's Baby-Sitting Service.
J FIC Robertson
Back in Grover's Corners, N.J., for the summer, Henry and his partner
Midge establish a baby sitting service and find a disappearing child
and
a peacock among their charges.
New Mexico
Hulme, Joy N. Through the Open Door. J FIC Hulme
Nine-year-old Dora, who has been kept out of school because of her
speech impediment, dreams of learning to speak normally as her family
joins
a group of other Mormons journeying from Utah to New Mexico in 1910.
New York
Avi. Don't You Know There's A War On? Y FIC Avi
In wartime Brooklyn in 1943, eleven-year-old Howie Crispers mounts
a campaign to save his favorite teacher from being fired.
Blume, Judy. Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great. J
FIC
Blume/ JPB B
A summer in Tarrytown, N.Y., is a lot of fun for ten-year-old Sheila
even though her friends make her face up to some self-truths she
doesn't
want to admit.
Brenner, Barbara. A Year in the Life of Rosie Bernard.
J Fic Brenner
Rosie�s father, a traveling actor, leaves her in Brooklyn to live with
her grandparents and cousins. Rosie, a 10-year-old, manages her new
life
skillfully.
Fox, Paula. Monkey Island. J FIC Fox
Forced to live on the streets of New York after his mother disappears
from their hotel room, eleven-year-old Clay is befriended by two men
who
help him survive.
Giff, Patricia Reilly. All the Way Home. J Fic Giff
In 1941, circumstances bring together Brick, a boy from New York's
apple country, and Mariel, a young girl made shy by her bout with
polio,
and the two make a journey from Brooklyn back to help Brick's elderly
neighbors
save their apple crop and to help Mariel learn about her past.
Hurwitz, Johanna. Dear Emma. J Fic
Hurwitz
In her letters to a Vermont friend, eighth grader Dossi, a Russian,
Jewish immigrant living in the Lower East Side of New York City in
1910,
shares her thoughts about her new brother-in-law, the diphtheria
epidemic,
and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs.
Basil
E. Frankweiler. J Fic Konigsburg/J PB K
Two runaway children make their home in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York City.
Levoy, Myron. Alan and Naomi. J PB L
In New York of the 1940's a boy tries to befriend a girl traumatized
by Nazi brutality in France.
Sawyer, Ruth. Roller Skates. J FIC Sawyer
Liberated for a year from her parents' restrictions, ten-year-old
Lucinda
discovers true freedom in the care of her temporary guardians as she
roller
skates around the streets of turn-of-the-century New York.
Taylor, Sydney. All-Of-A-Kind Family. J Fic Taylor
The adventures of five sisters growing up in a Jewish family in New
York in the early twentieth century.
North Carolina
Todd, Leonard. The Best Kept Secret of the War. J FIC
Todd
During the summer of 1944, ten-year-old Cam Reed fights a few important
battles of his own in Pinehill, North Carolina while his daddy is in
Europe
fighting the Germans.
White, Ruth. Buttermilk Hill. J Fic White
When Lindy's parents divorce and gradually begin to make new lives
for themselves she finds all the changes difficult, but in time she
starts
to find her own way.
Ohio
Zinnen, Linda. The Truth About Rats, Rules, and Seventh Grade.
J
FIC Zinnen
Eleven-year-old Larch has depended on her own rules to help her cope
with the life she and her mother share in a trailer in a small Ohio
town,
but her rules do not help her deal with a rat-catching dog, her best
friend's
crush, and the truth she learns about her father's death.
Oklahoma
Myers, Anna. Red-Dirt Jessie. J FIC Myers
Jessie, a young girl living in the Oklahoma dust bowl during the
Depression,
tries to tame a wild dog and help her father recover from a nervous
breakdown.
Porter, Tracey. Treasures in the Dust. J FIC
Porter
Eleven-year-old Annie and her friend Violet tell of the hardships
endured
by their families when dust storms, drought, and the Great Depression
hit
rural Oklahoma.
Oregon
Avi. The Barn. J Fic Avi // J PB A
In an effort to fulfill their dying father's last request,
nine-year-old
Ben and his brother and sister construct a barn on their land in the
Oregon
Territory.
Pennsylvania
Fritz, Jean. The Cabin Faced West. J FIC Fritz
Ten-year-old Ann overcomes loneliness and learns to appreciate the
importance of her role in settling the wilderness of western
Pennsylvania.
Moore, Robin. The Bread Sister of Sinking Creek. J
FIC
Moore
Fourteen-year-old Maggie Callahan, who has a special talent for making
bread, struggles to survive on the Pennsylvania frontier in the late
1700s.
Moore, Ruth Nulton. Mystery of the Lost Heirloom. J
PB
M
While accompanying their father to Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, to do
research
on a French refugee settlement of 200 years ago, twins Sam and Sara
become
involved in a search for the valuable stolen pendant of an Indian
princess.
Skurzynski, Gloria. Goodbye, Billy Radish. J FIC
Skurzynski
In 1917, as the United States enters World War I, ten-year-old Hank
sees change all around him in his western Pennsylvania steel mill town
and feels his older Ukrainian friend Billy drifting apart from him.
Sorensen, Virginia Eggertsen. Miracles on Maple Hill. J
FIC
Sorensen
Marly and her family share many adventures when they move from the
city to a farmhouse on Maple Hill.
Puerto Rico
Mohr, Nicholasa. Felita. J FIC Mohr
The everyday experiences of an eight-year-old Puerto Rican girl growing
up in a close-knit, urban community.
Mohr, Nicholasa. Going Home. J FIC Mohr
Feeling like an outsider when she visits her relatives in Puerto Rico
for the first time, eleven-year-old Felita tries to come to terms with
the heritage she always took for granted.
Rhode Island
Manes, Stephen. Some of the Adventures of Rhode Island Red.
J FIC Manes
A diminutive red-haired man no bigger than a hen's egg, Rhode Island
Red leaves his home among the chickens and travels throughout Rhode
Island,
becoming a legendary figure through his many heroic exploits.
South Carolina
Tate, Eleanora E. The Secret of Gumbo Grove.
J FIC Tate
While helping restore the cemetery of the old Baptist church,
eleven-year-old
Raisin solves the mystery surrounding the founding of her home town and
gains pride in her family's past.
South Dakota
Armstrong, Jennifer. Black-Eyed Susan. J FIC
Armstrong
Ten-year-old Susie and her father love living on the South Dakota
prairie
with its vast, uninterrupted views of land and sky, but Susie's mother
greatly misses their old life in Ohio.
Love, D. Anne. A Year Without Rain. J FIC Love
Her mother's death and a year-long drought has made life difficult
for twelve-year-old Rachel and her family on their farm in the Dakotas,
but when she learns that her father plans to get married again, it is
almost
more than Rachel can bear.
Turner, Ann Warren. Grasshopper Summer. J FIC Turner
In 1874 eleven-year-old Sam and his family move from Kentucky to the
southern Dakota Territory, where harsh conditions and a plague of
hungry
grasshoppers threaten their chances for survival.
Tennessee
Steele, William O. The Lone Hunt. J FIC Steele
A young Tennessee boy in the early 1800's goes on a buffalo hunt to
prove his manhood.
Texas
Alter, Judy. After Pa Was Shot. J FIC Alter
A thirteen-year-old girl's life in turn-of-the-century Texas is
drastically
altered when her father is killed.
Beatty, Patricia. Behave Yourself, Bethany Brant. J
FIC
Beatty
A preacher's daughter with lots of curiosity and a penchant for getting
into trouble has an eventful year and a half, as all the predictions of
a fortune-teller at a Texas county fair in 1898 come true.
Gipson, Fred. Old Yeller. Y Fic Gipson/ Y
PB G
The narrator looks back to his boyhood in Texas and the time when an
ugly stray dog came to stay. The ending is sad, but the values are
enduring
and the impact unforgettable.
Saunders, Susan. Lucky Lady. J FIC Saunders
On a summer visit to her grandfather's ranch in Texas, twelve-year-old
Jamie impulsively spends all her money on a wild filly and tries to
figure
out how to train her.
Vermont
Hurwitz, Johanna. Yellow Blue Jay. J FIC Hurwitz
Happy to spend his summer vacation at home in the city, eight-year-old
Jay is horrified by his parent's plan to spend two weeks in the Vermont
woods sharing a house with another family.
Peck, Robert Newton. Soup 1776. J FIC Peck
Rob is caught up in his friend Soup's plan to help their town of
Learning,
Vermont, celebrate the Fourth of July with a suitable pageant that sets
the record straight about several of the town's citizens.
Virginia
Paterson, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. J FIC
Paterson
// J PB P
The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he
becomes
friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying
to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.
Wisconsin
Brink, Carol Ryrie. Caddie Woodlawn. Y FIC Brink
// J PB B
The adventures of an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin
frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House in the Big Woods.
J FIC Wilder
A year in the life of two young girls growing up on the Wisconsin
frontier,
as they help their mother with the daily chores, enjoy their father's
stories
and singing, and share special occasions when they get together with
relatives
or neighbors.
Wyoming
Ehrlich, Gretel. A Blizzard Year. J FIC Ehrlich
For one year, thirteen-year-old Timmy records in her journal the
changes
she sees in the natural world and her family's activities on their
Wyoming
ranch as they fight to save it from financial ruin.