Stories about America’s Past
Picture Books at the Elmhurst Public Library

Araminta’s Paint Box   by Karen Ackerman
When her family moves from Boston to California in 1847, Araminta and her paint box become separated, but through a series of new owners, the paint box finds it way to California.

The Tin Heart   by Karen Ackerman
As the onset of the Civil War causes a rift between their fathers, Mahaley and Flora find a way to preserve their friendship.

Mama Played Baseball   by David A. Adler
Young Amy helps her mother to get a job as a player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League while Amy's father is serving in the Army during World War II.

Peppe the Lamplighter   by Elisa Bartone
Peppe’s father is upset when he learns that Peppe has taken a job lighting the gas street lamps in his New York City neighborhood.

Li’l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story   by Romare Bearden
When a company of black Union soldiers tells L'il Dan that he is no longer a slave, he follows them, and uses his beloved drum to save them from attack.

Emily   by Michael Bedard
When a mother and child pay a visit to their reclusive neighbor Emily Dickinson, who stays in her house writing poems, there is an exchange of special gifts.

Only Opal: The Diary of A Young Girl   by Jane Boulton
A lyrical adaptation of the writings of Opal Whiteley, in which she describes her love of nature and her life in an Oregon lumber camp at the turn of the century.

The Blue and the Gray   by Eve Bunting
As a black boy and his white friend watch the constructin of a house which will make them neighbors on the site of a Civil War battlefield, they agree that their homes are monuments to that war.

Hold the Flag High   by Catherine Clinton
Describes the Civil War battle of Morris Island, South Carolina, during which Sargeant William H. Carney became the first African American to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor by preserving the flag.

Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel   by Leslie Connor
Miss Bridie emigrates to America in 1856 and chooses to bring a shovel, which proves to be a useful tool throughout her life.

Tanya’s Reunion   by Valerie Flournoy
When she and her grandmother go to help with preparations for a big family reunion, Tanya learns about the history of the farm in Virginia where Grandma grew up. This is the sequel to: The Patchwork Quilt.

Ride Like the Wind: Tale of the Pony Express   by Bernie Fuchs
In Nevada in 1861, a young Pony Express rider races for his life, pursued by seven Paiute warriors who are determined to drive white settlers out of their territory.

Wagons West!   by Roy Gerrard
A story in rhyme, telling about a two thousand mile wagon train trip to Oregon in 1850.

Old Home Day   by Donald Hall
The story of the growth of a fictional New Hampshire village from prehistory to the bicentennial celebration of its founding.

Ox-Cart Man   by Donald Hall
Describes the day-to-day life throughout the seasons of an early 19th-century New England family. Also by this author: The Milkman’s Boy.

Cassie’s Journey: Going West in the 1860s   by Brett Harvey
A young girl retells the hardships and dangers of traveling with her family in a covered wagon from Illinois to California.

The Girl on the High-Diving Horse   by Linda Oatman High
Eight-year-old Ivy Cordelia spends the summer of 1936 in Atlantic City with her photographer father, and dreams of being the girl who perches on a horse as it dives into a tank of water.

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt   by Deborah Hopkinson
A young slave stitches a quilt with a map pattern which guides her to freedom in the North.

But No Candy   by Gloria Houston
While her Uncle Ted is off fighting in World War II, Lee watches the candy gradually disappear from the shelves of her family’s store and realizes that her entire world had changed.

The Log Cabin Quilt   by Ellen Howard
When Elvirey and her family move to a log cabin in the Michigan woods, something even more important than Granny’s quilt pieces makes the new dwelling a home.

Tattered Sails   by Verla Kay
Illustrations and simple rhyming text depict the journey of a family from London to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635.

The Bear That Heard Crying   by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
A fictionalized retelling of the true story of three-year-old Sarah Whitcher, who, in 1783, became lost in the woods of New Hampshire and was protected by a bear until her rescue four days later.

Nora’s Ark   by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
During the Vermont flood of 1927, a girl and her grandparents share their new hilltop house with neighbors and animals.

Dangerous Crossing: The Revolutionary Voyage of John and John Quincy Adams  
by Stephen Krensky
In 1778, ten-year-old Johnny Adams and his father make a dangerous mid-winter voyage from Massachusetts to Paris in hopes of gaining support for the colonies during the American Revolution.

Watch the Stars Come Out   by Riki Levinson
Grandma tells about her mama’s journey to America by boat, years ago.

Nine for California   by Sonia Levitin
Amanda travels by stagecoach with her four siblings and her mother from Missouri to California to join her father.

On the Day Peter Stuyvesant Sailed Into Town   by Arnold Lobel
Finding the appearance of New Amsterdam a total disgrace, Peter Stuyvesant begins issuing no-nonsense proclamations to rectify the situation.

Cecil’s Story   by George Ella Lyon
A boy thinks about the possible scenarios that exist for him at home if his father goes off to fight in the Civil War.

Who Came Down That Road?   by George Ella Lyon
Mother and child ponder the past in discussing who might have traveled down an old, old road, looking backwards from pioneer settlers all the way to prehistoric animals.

Three Names   by Patricia MacLachlan
Great-Grandfather reminisces about going to school on the prairie with his dog Three Names.

Farm Boy’s Year   by David M. McPhail
Diary entries and illustrations evoke a boy’s life on a New England farm in the 1800s.

Almost to Freedom   by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Tells the story of a young girl's dramatic escape from slavery via the Underground Railroad, from the perspective of her beloved rag doll.

My Daddy Was a Soldier: A World War II Story   by Deborah Kogan Ray
While Daddy’s away fighting in the Pacific, Jeannie plants a Victory garden, collects scrap and sends letters to her father as she anxiously awaits his return.

Mailing May   by Michael O. Tunnell
In 1914, because her family cannot afford a train ticket to her grandmother’s town, May gets mailed, and rides the mail car on the train to see her grandmother.

Katie’s Trunk   by Ann Warren Turner
Katie, whose family is not sympathetic to the rebel soldiers during the American Revolution, hides under the clothes in her mother’s wedding trunk when soldiers invade her home.  Also by this author: Dakota Dugout.

The Bracelet   by Yoshiko Uchida
A Japanese girl is sent with her family to an internment camp during World War II, but the loss of the bracelet her best friend has given her proves that she does not need a physical reminder of that friendship.

Across the Wide Dark Sea: The Mayflower Journey   by Jean Van Leeuwen
A boy and his family endure a difficult nine-week journey across the ocean and survive the first winter at Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts.

Grandma Essie’s Covered Wagon   by David Williams
Grandma Essie describes how her family left Missouri by covered wagon looking for a better life and lived in Kansas and Oklahoma before returning to Missouri.