Hardships
Hardships > survival
Antarctica: Journeys to the South Pole
This non-fiction, photographic picture book tells the history of the Antarctic. The pictures are all accompanied by true stories of heroism and adventure.
| Author: Myers, Walter Dean |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - writing | language arts - reading
|
Arrival, The
An amazing and complex immigration story told in a wordless format. Once you start "reading", it's hard to stop - each picture draws you to the next.
| Author: Tan, Shaun |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Arrival, The
An amazing and complex immigration story told in a wordless format. Once you start "reading", it's hard to stop - each picture draws you to the next.
| Author: Tan, Shaun |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Ashfall
Alex, fifteen, was left alone in Cedar Falls, Iowa, for the weekend while his father, mother and sister, traveled to Illinois to visit an uncle. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash and violenc
| Author: Mullin, Mike |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | science | language arts - reading
|
Black Potatoes
The causes and consequences of the Irish potato famine are examined, using individual portraits and anecdotes. Archival photographs, a map of the counties of Ireland, a bibliography, and a timeline complement the text.
| Author: Bartoletti, Susan |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Blizzard!
This book tells the story of an amazing blizzard that struck the Eastern U.S. in March, 1888. The author tells how the storm affected individuals, workers, communication, transportation, and more. The book is illustrated with vintage photographs and maps
| Author: Murphy, Jim |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | science
|
Breadwinner, The
This coming-of-age story, told from the point of view of a young Afghan girl left to fend for her family in the times of repressive Taliban influence is both moving and suspenseful.
| Author: Ellis, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Breadwinner, The
This coming-of-age story, told from the point of view of a young Afghan girl left to fend for her family in the times of repressive Taliban influence is both moving and suspenseful.
| Author: Ellis, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Brothers In Hope
The author, who worked with the International Rescue Committee, tells the story of the "lost boys" of Sudan, orphaned by war, who walked to refuge in Ethiopia, and later to Kenya. The first person narrative and vibrant illustrations add immediacy to the
| Author: Williams, Mary |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Can't Get There from Here
This fictional story of homeless teens trying to survive on NYC streets in winter recounts the perils of drugs, sex, starvation, cold, and the help of a few who try to intervene. This is a gripping story, but not for the faint of heart.
Children of the Great Depression
Freedman describes the impact of the Great Depression on the youth of that time. Topics include the struggles youth had staying in school and finding jobs and what youth did to help their families survive. Photographs by well known photographers accompany
| Author: Freedman, Russell |
HSE Descriptors:
| social studies
|
Children We Remember, The
Archive photographs and a simple text tell the story of the Nazis' attempt to starve and kill the Jews during WW II.
| Author: Abells, Chana |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Close to Shore
The author details the first shark attacks in American history along the Atlantic Coast of New Jersey in 1916. One reviewer thought the book would appeal to males especially. The suspenseful style makes the book read like a novel.
| Author: Michael Capuzzo |
HSE Descriptors:
science | social studies
|
Dakota Dugout
The book tells the story of a woman pioneer, the hardships, struggles, and pleasures of her life with her husband in a sod house on the prairie.
| Author: Turner, Ann |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Danger Along the Ohio
The Dunn family is traveling down the Ohio River in 1793. The children become separated from their father and must fend for themselves while heading toward Marietta.
| Author: Willis, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Escaping into the Night
Thirteen year old Halina escapes from a Polish ghetto to a forest community of Jews where she and her friends Batya and Reuven learn to survive despite brutality, extreme hardship, and loss of family. Although this book is fiction, there were real commu
| Author: Friedman, D. Dina |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Fish
The story of the difficult and dangerous journey a family must make out of a country hit with drought and civil unrest. The story is told from the point of view of the family's youngest member who decides to take a live fish on the journey.
| Author: Matthews, L. S. |
HSE Descriptors:
literature and arts | social studies
|
Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story
Author's memoir of the years that shaped her childhood as her Jewish family is trapped in Nazi Germany, sent to prison camps, and escapes to the United States.
| Author: Perl, Lila and Blumenthal, Marion Lazan |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Gleam and Glow
The story of a family who fled from the Bosnian-Serb forces to a refugee camp in 1990. When they returned to their home in 1995 they found everything destroyed except 2 pet fish.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Gleam and Glow
The story of a family who fled from the Bosnian-Serb forces to a refugee camp in 1990. When they returned to their home in 1995 they found everything destroyed except 2 pet fish.
| Author: Bunting, Eve |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Good Women of a Well-Blessed Land
This is a topical history of women in early America (1600s to beginning of American Revolution). Primary source material is used to the extent possible. Lives of White, Black and Native American women are featured. An index, bibliography, and a website b
| Author: Miller, Brandon Marie |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Grab Hands and Run
Based on a true story, this 165-page book tells of twelve-year-old Felipe, his sister, and his mother as they flee El Salvador when his father disappears. The family escapes, hides, and runs until, caught, they are finally placed in a new home in Canada.
| Author: Temple, Frances |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Henry's Freedom Box
This simply written picture book tells the true story of Henry Brown, a runaway slave who escaped to freedom by mailing himself in a crate.
| Author: Levine, Ellen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Hidden Child
A survivor of the Holocaust describes with illustrations and text his hiding in France during World War II and his search for his family and friends after the war.
| Author: Millman, Isaac |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
In Nueva York
This collection of short, interlocking stories depicts life in one of New York City's Puerto Rican communities.
| Author: Mohr, Nicholasa |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
January's Sparrow
After a fellow slave is beaten to death, Sadie and her family flee the plantation for freedom through the Underground Railroad. As they make a new life in Michigan, they must remain alert for the slave catchers.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
January's Sparrow
After a fellow slave is beaten to death, Sadie and her family flee the plantation for freedom through the Underground Railroad. As they make a new life in Michigan, they must remain alert for the slave catchers.
| Author: Polacco, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Long Walk to Water, A
When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven. Based on the life of Salva D
| Author: Park, Linda Sue |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Lost: A Story in String
Using string figures, a grandmother tells a story of the uses of imagination and resourcefulness. Beautiful black-and-white clayboard and ink illustrations and clear diagrams and resources encourage readers to try the string figures.
Lugalbanda
This retelling of the oldest recorded story ever found from Sumer (now Iraq) recounts the journey of a young prince as he crosses the mountains to join a war and find his brothers, overcoming obstacles on his way. The book includes interesting historical
| Author: Henderson, Kathy |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Ma Dear's Aprons
The life of the author's great grandmother, a single parent who was a domestic worker in Alabama, is celebrated.
| Author: McKissack, Patricia C. |
|
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
This is the first of two volumes about the experiences of the author's parents in the Nazi concentration camps during WWII. The author depicts Jews as mice and Nazis as cats in his illustrations.
| Author: Spiegelman, Art |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale
A powerful graphic novel about a father who survived the Nazi concentration camps and his son in which Jews are depicted as mice and Nazis as cats. The story jumps back and forth between the present life in the Catskills and the past life in the camps.
| Author: Spiegelman, Art |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot
During the occupation of Germany after WW II, a young girl writes a letter to an American airlift pilot who drops chocolates to children. The author includes a biography of Col. Halvorsen, "the chocolate pilot" of the title.
Midwife's Apprentice, The
This award-winning novel, set in 14th century England, tells the story of Brat/Beetle/Alyce, a "homeless waif who became the midwife's apprentice-a person with a name and a place in the world" (book jacket).
| Author: Cushman, Karen |
HSE Descriptors:
science | social studies
|
Mud City
Shauzia, with her dog, has fled Afghanistan and survives on the streets of Peshawar, Pakistan, and in a refugee camp. This is the second part of a trilogy.
| Author: Ellis, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
My Grandmother's Journey
The narrator tells the story of the grandmother's life and of the many wars and troubles she experienced in Eastern Europe, until she came to the U.S.
| Author: Cech, John |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
My Secret Camera
As a young man in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland, Mendel Grossman, secretly took hundreds of photographs to document the miserable life of the people in the ghetto and their struggles for survival. Simple text accompanies the photographs.
| Author: Smith, Frank Dabba |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
On Board the Titanic
An account of the sinking of the Titanic told through the eyes of two of the survivors. Tanaka includes photographs, diagrams, and accurate facts.
| Author: Tanaka, Shelley |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
On Board the Titanic
An account of the sinking of the Titanic told through the eyes of two of the survivors. Tanaka includes photographs, diagrams, and accurate facts.
| Author: Tanaka, Shelley |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
One More Border
Illustrated with paintings, documents, and photos, this is the true story of a family's escape from war-torn Europe during WW II.
| Author: Kaplan, William |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Out of the Dump: Writings and Photogrpahs by Children from Guatemala
Approximately 1500 people, most children, live in a dump at the center of Guatemala City. In 1991 Nancy McGirr began a photography project with about 2 dozen children. She provided cameras; the children photographed their world. In 1993 Kris Franklin bega
| Author: Franklin, Kristine, & McGirr, Nancy (Eds.) |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Parvana's Journey
Disguised as a boy, Parvana rescues a baby and joins with a young boy as she travels through war-torn Afghanistan searching for her family. The telling of the story through the child's perspective allows the reader to approach a sensitive current event an
| Author: Ellis, Deborah |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Poet Slave of Cuba, The: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano
This true story of 19th Century Cuban poet Juan Francisco Manzano, who was born a slave, is told in free verse from various points of view--the boy, his mother, his father, and his owners.
| Author: Engle, Margarita |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading | social studies
|
Pride of Baghdad
This graphic novel of a family of lions liberated from the Baghdad zoo by U.S. bombing raids provides a symbolic understanding of the war from the dangers they encounter.
| Author: Vaughan, Brian K. |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Real Time
A gripping story told in real time (hence the title)from the viewpoints of several characters involved in the bombing of an Israeli bus.
| Author: Kass, Pnina Moed |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Rite of Passage
The book is set in Harlem in the late 1940s. Protagonist Johnny Gibbs, 15, is a model child and student until he learns that he is a foster child who must go to live with another family. Johnny feels betrayed and reacts by running away. What follows pu
| Author: Wright, Richard |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Roses in My Carpet, The
This story of a young refugee boy from Afghanistan was inspired by a real child. The boy lives in a refugee camp and weaves rugs.
| Author: Khan, Rukhsana |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Run Far, Run Fast
When a mother tells a young girl in 14th C Europe to "run far, run fast" to escape the pestilence, the girl discovers that she cannot outrun the plague but is helped by a friendly man. The exquisite pen and ink drawings are integral to the story. The on
| Author: Decker, Timothy |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Run Far, Run Fast
When a mother tells a young girl in 14th C Europe to "run far, run fast" to escape the pestilence, the girl discovers that she cannot outrun the plague but is helped by a friendly man. The exquisite pen and ink drawings are integral to the story. The on
| Author: Decker, Timothy |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Safekeeping
Radley returns home to Vermont from a volunteer stay in Haiti to complete chaos. She begins a long trek to try to find her parents and some sense of normalcy in a country becoming completely dysfunctional.The underling message is articulated, as a vision
| Author: Hesse, Karen |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading | language arts - writing
|
Sarah's Key
The story of the roundup of the Jews in France during WWII. A heart-wrenching look at the infamous collaboration of French officials with the Nazis It is told through two people: a 10-year-old Jewish girl and an American journalist 60 years later.
| Author: de Rosnay, Tatiana |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Selvakumar Knew Better
Based on a true story, the book tells of a dog named Selvakumar who saved a South Indian boy from drowning during the tsunami of 2004.
| Author: Kroll, Virginia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | science
|
Shattered
This collection contains twelve stories about the impact of war on children and teenagers, some fictional, some personal experiences. A trailer with historical background crawls across the bottom of the page. Biographies of the authors are included.
| Author: Armstrong, Jennifer (ed.) |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World
On an expedition to cross Antarctica, Ernest Shackleton and his crew lost their ship in the ice flow. Shackleton and five others left in small boats to get help. This is a higher reading level version of Spirit of Endurance by the same author.
| Author: Armstrong, Jennifer |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Slavery Time: When I Was Chillun
Excerpts from 12 oral histories from former slaves, gathered during the Depression by WPA workers, provide several perspectives about slave life as remembered by the people interviewed, who were in their 80s and 90s at the time of the interviews.
| Author: Hurmence, Belinda |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Sold
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a village in Nepal. Her stepfather sells her into sexual slavery and her life of prostitution begins in a large city in India. The book is written in short paragraphs, sentences, and phrases
| Author: McCormick, Patricia |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Spirit of Endurance
The book employs maps, archival photographs, blueprints, and paintings to tell the exciting story of Ernest Shackleton's rescue of his men on his expedition in Antarctica when their boat, The Endurance, was destroyed in an ice floe. The author includes a
| Author: Armstrong, Jennifer |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Story in String, A
When their apartment loses power, Grandma tells the story of a little girl who gets lost in the snow looking for her dog. To illustrate the story, Grandma uses a piece of her knitting yarn to make string figures.
Swan Song
The poet and artist collaborated to create poetic, humorous post-mortems for extinct creatures. A timeline crawls across the bottom margin and back matter provides more information about the creatures and their habitats.
| Author: Lewis, J. Patrick |
HSE Descriptors:
science
|
Talking with Tebe
Editor Lyons collected these excerpts about Clementine Hunter, considered one of America's finest folk artists, from magazine and newspaper articles and tape-recorded interviews. The artist's work illustrates the book.
| Author: Lyons, Mary E. (Ed.) |
HSE Descriptors:
language arts - reading
|
Taste of Salt
This gripping novel tells the story of two teenagers in Haiti, Djo, one of Aristides' orphaned boys who is hospitalized with terrible injuries, and Jeremie, a convent-educated girl who visits Djo to hear his stories and who begins to fall in love with him
This Our Dark Country: The American Settlers of Liberia
This is a history of Liberia which was established on the west coast of Africa in 1822 as a haven for free African Americans. Some U.S. history is also included as background context. End matter includes photos, maps, endnotes, bibliography, and index. Th
| Author: Reef, Catherine |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Tibet Through the Red Box
The author-illustrator returns to his father's home as an adult to learn the contents of a mysterious red box that his father had brought back from Tibet years before. The past is revealed through a diary, memories, and extraordinary illustrations.
Touching Spirit Bear
Cole, a juvenile "delinquent," is offered jail or "circle justice," a system based on Native American traditions that attempts to provide healing for the criminal, his victim, and the community. Cole's time at a remote Alaskan island and his interactions
Tree Girl
Based on true experiences that were shared with the author, Gabriela, a Guatemalan girl who loves to climb trees, escapes a massacre, eventually reaching a refugee camp where she is reunited with her little sister, both of whom must overcome the trauma an
Trial By Ice
Illustrated by archival photographs, this biography recounts the life and expeditions of Ernest Shackleton in his attempts to reach the South Pole (he never did). He is nonetheless revered for his leadership, optimism, and courage. Teachers will find th
| Author: Kostyal, K. M. |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Truce
Ostensibly writing about the real "Christmas truce" of Dec. 25, 1914, the author provides excellent historical material about the origins and maneuvers of this period of World War I. Photographs give immediacy to the text and back pages and maps provide
| Author: Murphy, Jim |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Truce
Ostensibly writing about the real "Christmas truce" of Dec. 25, 1914, the author provides excellent historical material about the origins and maneuvers of this period of World War I. Photographs give immediacy to the text and back pages and maps provide
| Author: Murphy, Jim |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Under the Sun
After his father sends him and his mother to relatives outside Sarajevo to escape the perils of the war in the former Yugoslavia, 13-year-old Ehmet must find the way through land mines, burned villages, and hostile bands of armed men to his grandparents i
| Author: Dorros, Arthur |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Voices from the Fields
Photographs, poems, and interviews capture glimpses of life for today's migrant children.
| Author: Atkin, S. Beth |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Washington at Valley Forge
In Freedman's inimitable style, he captures the grit and triumphs over the lack of provisions for General Washington's winter encampment at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War. Excellent and unfamiliar paintings of Washington accompany the text. Th
| Author: Freedman, Russell |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Why War Is Never A Good Idea
This beautifully illustrated poetic essay uses images of water and earth to communicate the destructiveness of war. Dscribes war as a "something which has grown old, but not wise as it destroys beautiful things and nice people."
| Author: Walker, Alice |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass
Born a slave with little hope of ever learning to read, this story of Frederick Douglas, a man determined to read despite huge hurdles, provides an inspiring story for people of all ages.
| Author: Cline-Ransome, Lisa |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies | language arts - reading
|
Words West: Voices of Young Pioneers
Diary and journal excerpts and archival photographs enliven a well-written text about the Westward Movement as seen from the perspective of children. The book includes short biographies of the children who are quoted often as well as a chronology, furthe
| Author: Wadsworth, Ginger |
HSE Descriptors:
social studies
|
Wreck of the Zanzibar, The
When Laura Perryman dies, her great-nephew Michael gets her diary. The diary reveals remarkable stories about a time when people lived off the bounty (and at the mercy) of the ocean. This story "of a family bound by respect for nature seamlessly blends
| Author: Morpurgo, Michael |
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