Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library
Youth Services Department

YOUNG ADULT
DIARIES/ LETTERS/ JOURNALS


Ayres, Katherine.  North by Night : A Story of the Underground Railroad. Y FIC Ayres
Presents the journal of a sixteen-year-old girl whose family operates a stop on the Underground Railroad.

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, LeslĂ©a. 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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