YOUNG ADULT
DIARIES/ LETTERS/ JOURNALS
Bloor, Edward. Tangerine. Y FIC Bloor/ Y PB B
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero
brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near
blindness
and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.
Blos, Joan W. A Gathering of Days : A New England
Girl's
Journal, 1830-32. Y Fic Blos/Y PB B.
The journal of a 14-year-old girl, kept the last year she lived on
the family farm, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town,
her father's remarriage, and the death of her best friend.
Bunin, Sherry. Dear Great American Writers School.
Y
FIC Bunin
Fourteen-year-old Bobby Lee's letters to a correspondence school
describe
her life in a small Kentucky town during World War II and her growth as
a person and as a writer.
Cabot, Meg. The Princess Diaries. Y FIC
Cabot
Fourteen-year-old Mia, who is trying to lead a normal life as a teenage
girl in New York City, is shocked to learn that her father is the
Prince
of Genovia, a small European principality, and that she is a princess
and
the heir to the throne.
Cushman, Karen. Catherine, Called Birdy. Y FIC
Cushman
/ Y PB C
The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a
journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her
longing
for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid
being married off.
Danziger, Paula. P.S. Longer Letter Later.
Y
FIC Danziger
Twelve-year-old best friends Elizabeth and Tara-Starr continue their
friendship through letter-writing after Tara-Starr's family moves to
another
state.
Deem, James M. Three NBs of Julian Drew. Y FIC
Deem
The journals of a troubled fifteen-year-old boy who lives with his
father and emotionally and physically abusive stepmother and her
children
after the death of his own mother years ago.
Denenberg, Barry. The Journal of Ben Uchida, Citizen
#13559,
Mirror Lake Internment Camp.
(My Name is America) Y FIC Denenberg.
Twelve-year-old
Ben Uchida keeps a journal of his experiences as a prisoner in a
Japanese
internment camp in Mirror Lake, California, during World War II.
Denenberg, Barry. One Eye Laughing, The Other Weeping :
the Diary of Julie Weiss.
(Dear America) Y Fic Denenberg. During the Nazi persecution of the
Jews in Austria, twelve-year-old Julie escapes to America to live
with her relatives in New York City.
Denenberg, Barry. So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary
Driscoll,
an Irish Mill Girl.
(Dear America)Y FIC Denenberg. In the diary
account of her journey from Ireland in 1847 and of her work in a mill
in
Lowell, Massachusetts, fourteen-year-old Mary reveals a great longing
for
her family.
Denenberg, Barry. When Will This Cruel War Be Over? : The
Civil
War Diary of Emma Simpson.
(Dear America) Y FIC Denenberg. The diary of a
fictional
fourteen-year-old girl living in Virginia, in which she describes the
hardships
endured by her family and friends during one year of the Civil War.
Durbin, William. The Journal of Sean Sullivan : a
Transcontinental
Railroad worker : Nebraska and points west, 1867. (My Name is
America)
Y FIC Durbin. In 1867, fifteen-year-old Sean
experiences
both hardships and rewards when he joins his father in working on the
building
of the Transcontinental Rairoad.
Emond, Stephen. Happyface.
Y FIC Emond
After going through traumatic times, a troubled, socially awkward
teenager moves to a new school where he tries to reinvent himself.
Garland, Sherry. A Line in the Sand: The Alamo Diary of
Lucinda
Lawrence.
(Dear America) Y FIC Garland. In the journal she
receives for her twelfth birthday in 1835, Lucinda Lawrence describes
the
hardships her family and other residents of the "Texas colonies" endure
when they decide to face the Mexicans in a fight for their freedom.
Gregory, Kristiana. Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie : the Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, Booneville, Missoura, 1847. (Dear America) Y FIC Gregory. In her diary, thirteen-year-old Hattie chronicles her family's arduous 1847 journey from Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trail.
Gregory, Kristiana. Cleopatra VII, Daughter of the Nile.
(Royal Diaries) Y FIC Gregory.
While her father is in hiding after attempts on his life,
twelve-year-old
Cleopatra records in her diary how she fears for her own safety and
hopes
to survive to become Queen of Egypt some day.
Gregory, Kristiana. The Great Railroad Race : The Diary of
Libby
West. (Dear America)
Y Fic Gregory. As the daughter of a newspaper reporter,
fourteen-year-old
Libby keeps a diary account of the exciting events surrounding her
during
the building of the railroad in the West in 1868.
Gregory, Kristiana. The Winter of Red Snow : The
Revolutionary
War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart.
(Dear America) Y FIC Gregory. Eleven-year-old Abigail presents
a diary account of life in Valley Forge from December 1777 to July 1778
as General Washington prepares his troops to fight the British.
Griffith, Helen V. Journal of a Teenage Genius. Y FIC
Griffith
In a series of journal entries, a young scientist describes his
less-than-successful
experiments and trips into the past using his neighbor's time machine.
Grimes, Nikki. Jazmin's Notebook. Y FIC Grimes
Jazmin, an Afro-American teenager who lives with her older sister in
a small Harlem apartment in the 1960s, finds strength in writing poetry
and keeping a record of the events in her sometimes difficult life.
Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs.
Dunphrey.
YPB H
In the journal she is keeping for English class, sixteen-year-old Tish
chronicles the changes in her life when her abusive father returns home
after a two-year absence.
Hansen, Joyce. I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly :
The
Diary of Patsy, A Freed Girl.
(Dear America) Y FIC Hansen. Twelve-year-old Patsy keeps a diary
of the ripe but confusing time following the end of the Civil War and
the
granting of freedom to former slaves.
Hesse, Karen. A Light in the Storm : the Civil War Diary of
Amelia
Martin.
(Dear America) Y FIC Hesse. In 1860 and 1861, while working in
her father's lighthouse on an island off the coast of Delaware,
fifteen-year-old
Amelia records in her diary how the Civil War is beginning to devastate
her divided state.
Hesse, Karen. The Music of Dolphins. Y FIC Hesse
After rescuing an adolescent girl from the sea, researchers learn she
has been raised by dolphins and attempt to rehabilitate her to the
human
world.
Jones, Robin D. The Beginning of Unbelief. Y
FIC
Jones
While keeping a journal to record some upheavals in his life,
fifteen-year-old
Hal creates within its pages a science fiction story starring his alter
ego, Zach.
Lasky, Kathryn. Dreams in the Golden Country : The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl. (Dear America) Y FIC Lasky. Twelve-year-old Zippy, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, keeps a diary account of the first eighteen months of her family's life on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1903-1904.
Lasky, Kathryn. Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of
Tudor.
(Royal Diaries) Y FIC Lasky
In a series of diary entries, Princess Elizabeth, the eleven-year-old
daughter of King Henry VIII, celebrates holidays and birthdays, relives
her mother's execution, revels in her studies, and agonizes over her
father's
health.
Lasky, Kathryn. A Journey to the New World : the diary of
Remember
Patience Whipple.
(Dear America) Y FIC Lasky. Twelve-year-old Mem
presents
a diary account of the trip she and her family made on the Mayflower in
1620 and their first year in the New World.
Lyons, Mary E. Letters From A Slave Girl : The Story of
Harriet Jacobs. Y FIC Lyons
A fictionalized version of the life of Harriet Jacobs, told in the
form of letters that she might have written during her slavery in North
Carolina and as she prepared for escape to the North in 1842.
McKissack, Pat. Color Me Dark : The Diary of Nellie Lee
Love, the Great Migration North
(Dear America) Y Fic McKissak. Eleven-year-old Nellie
Lee Love records in her diary the events of 1919, when her family moves
from Tennessee to Chicago, hoping to leave the racism and hatred of the
South behind.
McKissack, Pat. A Picture of Freedom : The Diary of Clotee, a
Slave Girl. (Dear America)
Y Fic McKissack. In 1859 twelve-year-old Clotee,
a house slave who must conceal the fact that she can read and write,
records
in her diary her experiences and her struggle to decide whether to
escape
to freedom.
Marsden, John. Letters From the Inside. Y
FIC Marsden
The relationship between two teenage girls who become acquainted
through
letters intensifies as their correspondence reveals some of the
terrible
problems of their lives.
Marsden, John. So Much To Tell You. Y FIC
Marsden
Sent to a hospital by her mother, Marina, a disfigured Australian girl
who refuses to speak, reveals her thoughts and feelings in a
diary.
Meyer, Carolyn. Anastasia, the Last Grand Duchess.
(Royal Diaries) Y FIC Meyer
A novel in diary form in which the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas
II describes the privileged life her family led up until the time of
World
War I and the tragic events that befell them.
Murphy, Jim. West to a Land of Plenty : the Diary of Teresa
Angelino
Viscardi.
(Dear America) Y FIC Murphy. While traveling in 1883
with her Italian American family (including a meddlesome little sister)
and other immigrant pioneers to a utopian community in Idaho,
fourteen-year-old
Teresa keeps a diary of her experiences along the way.
Myers, Walter Dean. The Journal of Joshua Loper : A Black
Cowboy.
(My Name is America)
Y FIC Myers. In 1871 Joshua Loper, a sixteen-year-old black cowboy,
records in his journal his experiences while making his first cattle
drive
under an unsympathetic trail boss.
Myers, Walter Dean. The Journal of Scott Pendleton
Collins
: A World War II soldier.
(My Name is America) Y FIC Myers. A seventeen-year-old
soldier from central Virginia records his experiences in a journal as
his
regiment takes part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and subsequent
battles
to liberate France.
Newman, Lesléa. Fat Chance. Y FIC Newman
In a series of diary entries, thirteen-year-old Judi recounts her
struggles
to lose weight, hide her bulimia from her mother, find a boy friend,
and
decide on a profession.
Osborne, Mary Pope. My Secret War : the World War II Diary of
Madeline Beck.
(Dear America) Y Fic Osborne. Thirteen-year-old Madeline's
diaries
for 1941 and 1942 reveal her experiences living on Long Island during
World
War II while her father is away in the Navy.
Osborne, Mary Pope. Standing in the Light : The Captive Diary
of Catharine Carey Logan.
(Dear America) Y FIC Osborne. A Quaker girl's diary
reflects
her experiences growing up in the Delaware River Valley of Pennsylvania
and her capture by Lenape Indians in 1763.
Perl, Lila. The Secret Diary of Katie Dinkerhoff. Y
FIC
Perl
Fourteen-year-old Katie lies to her secret diary, writing what she
wished would happen, rather than what did happen--and in so doing, she
learns how to make wishful thinking a reality.
Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Family of Strangers.
Y
FIC Pfeffer
Through letters and essays, emotionally disturbed sixteen-year-old
Abby chronicles her growing desperation in a family consisting of
parents
who seem devoid of love, one older sister bent on self-destruction, and
another older sister who has always seemed perfect.
Rinaldi, Ann. The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce, A
Pilgrim
Boy, Plymouth Plantation, 1620
(My Name is America) Y Fic Rinaldi. A fourteen-year-old
indentured
servant keeps a journal of his experiences on the Mayflower and during
the building of Plimoth Plantation in 1620 and 1621.
Sappey, Maureen Stack. Letters From Vinnie.
Y
FIC Sappey
A fictionalized account of the Washington, D.C., Civil War years
experienced
by Vinnie Ream the sculptress, best known for the statue of Abraham
Lincoln
that is in the Capitol building.
White, Ellen Emerson. Kaiulani: The People's Princess. (
The
royal diaries). Y FIC White
Follows the life of Victoria Kaiulani Cleghorn from 1889 to 1893 as
she studies to be a better princess, even as Hawaii's monarchy, and her
throne, are being undermined by American businessmen.
White, Ellen Emerson. Voyage on the Great Titanic : The Diary
of Margaret Ann Brady, R.M.S. Titanic, 1912. (Dear America) Y
FIC
White. In her diary in 1912, thirteen-year-old Margaret Ann describes
how
she leaves her lonely life in a London orphanage to become a companion
to a wealthy American woman, sails on the Titanic, and experiences its
sinking.
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