Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 57 items
The great fire
By Jim Murphy. 1995
An account of the conflagration that levelled much of Chicago in 1871. Chronicles events from the fire's outbreak and rapid…
spread to its extinguishment by rain, as reported by survivors and in documents of the period. Examines the origins, circumstances, and official failures that contributed to the disaster. Grades 5-8. A 1996 Newbery Honor Book. c1995.The glass castle: A Memoir
By Jeannette Walls. 2006
Reporter for MSNBC.com looks back on her unsettled life. Describes growing up in a dysfunctional family, which was always on…
the move. She recalls her father's dream of building a "glass castle," and relates how she and her siblings escaped to make lives of their own. Bestseller. 2006.The boys in the boat: nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Olympics
By Daniel Brown. 2013
Traces the story of an American rowing team from the University of Washington that defeated elite rivals at Hitler's 1936…
Berlin Olympics, sharing the experiences of their enigmatic coach, a visionary boat builder, and a homeless teen rower. Bestseller. 2013.The century
By Peter Jennings, Todd Brewster. 1998
Researched and compiled by the staff of ABC News, this chronicle of the twentieth century charts changes in popular attitudes…
in the United States and describes key events in other countries as they affected the American worldview. Personal interviews and a series of story-filled essays provide a "coherent picture of a remarkable time." Bestseller. 1998.Ten green bottles: the true story of one family's journey from war-torn Austria to the ghettos of Shanghai
By Vivian Jeanette Kaplan. 2002
For a brief period between 1938 and 1941, roughly 20,000 Jews found refuge from the Nazis in the one place…
not requiring visas, police certificates or proofs of financial independence: Shanghai. In 1939, the author's family made a month-long, 7,000-mile journey to Shanghai, struggling with heat, disease, poverty, and fear. With the war's end came the shock of learning what became of family and friends left behind in Europe. Descriptions of violence. 2002.Team of rivals: the political genius of Abraham Lincoln
By Doris Kearns Goodwin. 2009
In this monumental multiple biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin studies Abraham Lincoln's mastery of men. She shows how…
he saved Civil War-torn America by appointing his fiercest rivals to key cabinet positions, making them help achieve his vision for peace. As well as a thrilling piece of narrative history, it's an inspiring study of one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. Bestseller. 2009.Survivors!: true death-defying escapes
By Larry Verstraete. 2003
Think about your worst fears - being attacked by a wild animal, swept away by a killer storm, trapped in…
a wrecked car or a burning building. Here are 29 stories of real people who survived life-threatening situations. Each section includes Survival Tips that give readers essential information about what to do in dangerous circumstances. Some descriptions of violence. Winner of the 2004 Silver Birch Award. Grades 4-7. Bestseller 2005. 2003.Interweaves an account of the 1857 sinking of the SS Central America that carried a cargo of gold bullion and…
minted coins with the story of the shipwreck's discovery in 1988 by Tommy Thompson. Describes Thompson's feat of developing technology to locate and retrieve artifacts from a wooden-hulled ship in eight thousand feet of water. Winner of the 2000 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award. 1998.Saving capitalism: for the many, not the few
By Robert B Reich. 2015
Reich outlines how the American economic system is failing, with increasing income inequality and a shrinking middle class, and reveals…
how a market designed for broad prosperity can reverse the trend toward diminished opportunity. Bestseller. 2015.Philomena: the true story of a mother and the son she had to give away
By Martin Sixsmith. 2013
Journalist chronicles the life of Philomena Lee, an Irish unwed mother who was forced to give her young son up…
for adoption in 1955, then spent fifty years trying to find him. 2013. Uniform title: Lost child of Philomena LeeOn board the Titanic: what it was like when the great liner sank (I was there book)
By Shelley Tanaka, Ken Marschall. 1996
The story of the Titanic, once the world's largest ocean liner, as told through the experiences of two of its…
survivors. Detailed explanations about the ship, passengers, and crew are interwoven with an account of its tragic sinking in 1912. Grades 4-7. Winner of the 1997 Silver Birch Award. c1996.Marley and me: life and love with the world's worst dog
By John Grogan. 2005
A columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer reminisces about the untrainable Labrador retriever that he and his wife acquired as Florida…
newlyweds. Recalls Marley's hilarious escapades and his capacity for love as the Grogans become the parents of three kids. Bestseller. 2005.In the heart of the sea: the epic true story that inspired Moby Dick
By Nathaniel Philbrick. 2000
The epic true-life story of one of the most notorious maritime disasters of the nineteenth century which was the inspiration…
for Herman Melville's classic novel "Moby Dick". The author uses a hitherto unknown diary of one of the survivors discovered in an attic in Connecticut in 1998 to tell the tale. 2000.Hidden figures: the American dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race
By Margot Lee Shetterly. 2016
Before John Glenn orbited Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as…
“human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. The book follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. Bestseller. 2016.Heaven is for real: a little boy's astounding story of his trip to heaven and back
By Lynn Vincent, Todd Burpo. 2010
Burpo, a pastor in Nebraska, relates the 2003 experiences reported by his three-year-old son Colton, who believes that during an…
emergency appendectomy he died, went to heaven, and returned to life. Colton describes seeing Jesus, angels, and deceased relatives. c2010.I am Malala: the girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban
By Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb. 2013
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and…
fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday October 9, 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price. Bestseller. 2013.Highest duty: my search for what really matters
By Jeffrey Zaslow, Chesley Sullenberger. 2009
On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed one of the most remarkable emergency landings in aviation history when Captain Chesley…
"Sully" Sullenberger skillfully glided US Airways Flight 1549 onto the surface of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. His cool actions not only averted tragedy but made him a hero and an inspiration worldwide. To Sullenberger, a calm, steady pilot with forty years of flying experience who is also a safety consulting expert, the landing was not a miracle but rather the result of years of practice and training - wisdom he gained in the cockpit of U.S. Air Force jets and in his Texas boyhood. Bestseller. c2009.At the edge: daring acts in desperate times
By Larry Verstraete. 2009
A young man in Nunavut fights off a polar bear to save his friend, a Canadian peacekeeper in the Congo…
risks his own life to save those of stranded tourists, and ordinary people show extraordinary character during the Halifax Explosion, the Holocaust, Hurricane Katrina, the Tiananmen Square protests, and September 11, 2001. Over twenty true-life stories about life-threatening situations and the wrenching choices made by the people facing them. Winner of the 2010 Silver Birch Award for Non-fiction. Grades 5-8. Some descriptions of violence. 2009.All the President's men
By Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein. 1974
A walk in the woods: rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
By Bill Bryson. 1997
Bryson relates the adventures and misadventures of two totally unfit hikers as he and longtime friend Stephen Katz traverse the…
2,100-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. Returning from more than twenty years in Britain, he set out to rediscover his homeland, but the two men find themselves awed by the terrain and stymied by the unfamiliar local culture. His gruelling yet fascinating trek gave him a rare perspective on American life. Some strong language. Bestseller. 1997.