Suitable Books for the Quarterly EAL Book Analysis
These books are in the MHS LMC.
INDEPENDENT READING:
You will be reading one book each quarter and completing a brief literary analysis paper.
This book must be either written by one of the authors who wrote during the time span defined as “early American”
(1920 and older) OR a book that fits a genre/theme/topic defined or seen in early American literature.
This book can be fiction or non-fiction.
It must be at least seventy-five pages long and ok’d by me.
Once a week you will be expected to read your chosen book and sometimes complete a pre-designed reading log.
This log will ask you to summarize what you read and complete a chosen reading strategy.
Depending on how fast you read, you may finish your book before the end of the quarter. If this is the case, you will
be asked to choose another approved book.
While you will be reading every Friday, you may need to read outside of class in order to finish your book in time to
write the essay. Therefore, choose a book you think you have time to read by the end of the quarter.
1776 / David G McCullough: Based upon both American and British historical documents, the author presents a
comprehensive history of the American Revolution during 1776, George Washington, and those who followed him.
Copper Sun / Sharon M Draper: Two fifteen-year-old girls--one a slave and the other an indentured servant--escape their
Carolina plantation and try to make their way to Fort Moses, Florida, a Spanish colony that gives sanctuary to slaves.
Chains / Laurie Halse Anderson.: After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels
during the Revolutionary War.
Fortune's Bones / Marilyn Nelson, and Pamela Espeland: A series of poems on the life of Fortune, an eighteenth-century
African-American slave in New England whose skeleton came to be an exhibit at Connecticut's Mattatuck Museum; includes
notes and archival photos.
Johnny Tremain / Esther Forbes, and Lynd Ward: After injuring his hand, a silversmith's apprentice in Boston becomes a
messenger for the Sons of Liberty in the days before the American Revolution.
My brother Sam is Dead / James Lincoln Collier, and Christopher Collier: Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family
during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.
Pirates! / Celia Rees Audio Book
Redemption / Julie Chibbaro: Chronicles the arduous journey of a twelve-year-old English girl and her mother as they flee
with other religious protesters to the New World in the early 1500's, and the heartbreak and hope they find when they arrive.
Sorceress / Celia Rees: Eighteen-year-old Agnes, a Mohawk Indian who is descended from a line of shamanic healers, uses her
own newly-discovered powers to uncover the story of her ancestor, a seventeenth-century New England English healer who
fled charges of witchcraft to make her life with the local Indians.
The Pox Party / M. T Anderson: Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young
African American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and
during the Revolutionary War.
The Deerslayer / James Fenimore Cooper: Relates the adventures of woodsman Natty Bumppo in upper New York State at
the time of the Iroquois wars.
The Winter People / Joseph Bruchac: Fourteen-year-old Saxso, a member of the Abenaki tribe in Canada, embarks on a
dangerous rescue mission when his mother and two younger sisters are taken hostage during an attack by the British on their
unprotected village in 1759.
The Year of the Hangman / Gary L Blackwood: In 1777, having been kidnapped and taken forcibly from England to the
American colonies, fifteen-year-old Creighton becomes part of developments in the political unrest there that may spell
defeat for the patriots and change the course of history.
Woods Runner / Gary Paulsen: From his 1776 Pennsylvania homestead, thirteen-year-old Samuel, who is a highly-skilled
woodsman, sets out toward New York City to rescue his parents from the band of British soldiers and Native Americans who
kidnapped them after slaughtering most of their community. Includes historical notes.
The Coyote Road : Trickster Tales / edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling ; introduction by Terri Windling ; decorations by
Charles Vess: A collection of stories and poems about tricksters in all parts of the world by a variety of authors.
Cold Sassy Tree/ Olive Ann Barno: When the preacher of Cold Sassy, Georgia, elopes with a woman half his age (not to
mention, a Yankee) the sleepy little town comes alive.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee/ Dee Brown: Presents the Native American side to the battles, massacres, and broken
treaties in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Death comes for the Archbishop/Willa Cather
O Pioneers/Willa Cather
My Antonia/Willa Cather
Novels about Westward Expansion/Native American Response
The Last of the Mohicans/ James Fennimore Cooper: a Mohican brave struggles to protect two English girls from an evil
Huron during the French and Indian War in upstate New York.
The Pathfinder/ James Fennimore Cooper
The Pioneers/ James Fennimore Cooper Colonial Period/Revolutionary War/Early 1800’s period
The Prairie/ James Fennimore Cooper
The Spy/ James Fennimore Cooper
A Northern Light/ Jennifer Donnelly: Sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes
of her father and boyfriend, takes a job at a hotel in 1906 where the death of a guest renews her determination to live her
own life.
Cold Mountain/ Charles Frazier: The story of a soldier's perilous journey back to his beloved at the end of the Civil War.
On the Occasion of my Last Afternoon/ Kaye Gibbons: …Emma Garnet Tate Lowell, a young woman born to privilege on a
James River plantation, finds herself at odds with her father's practice of slavery, and in defiance of her domineering parent,
marries a Boston surgeon with whom she works through the Civil War.
Riders of the Purple Sage/ Zane Grey: Novel about Westward Expansion/Native American Response
Roots: the saga of an American Family/ Alex Haley: Novel dealing with the issue of slavery
The House of the Seven Gables/Nathaniel Hawthorne: A prominent New England family suffering under a two-hundred-year-
old curse is plagued by greed, vengeful acts, and violent death.
Jacob’s Ladder: a story of Virginia During the War/ Donald McCaig: A story of the interlocked lives of masters and slaves
before and after the Civil War, based on the recollections of Maggie, a light-skinned slave, whose love affair with Gatewood
Plantation heir Duncan Gatewood resulted in much heartache, as well as a son.
Moby Dick/ Herman Melville: Captain Ahab's determination to find and kill the great white whale becomes an obsession
driving him to disaster.
Gone with the Wind/Margaret Mitchell: Novel dealing with the Civil War/Reconstruction
Beloved/ Toni Morrison: After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter, a
strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved. Sethe and Denver take her in and then things start to happen.
The River Between Us/ Richard Peck: During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young
ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin/ Harriet Beecher Stowe: Presents Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel about an elderly slave who
maintains his human dignity in the face of cruelty, suffering, and death.
The Massacre at Fall Creek/Jessamyn West
Ethan Frome/Edith Wharton: Ethan Frome, a poor farmer in nineteenth-century Starkfield, Massachusetts, sets off a
devastating chain of events when he falls in love with the vivacious Mattie, cousin of his sickly, demanding wife.
The House of Mirth/Edit Wharton
The Winter People/ Joseph Bruchac: Fourteen-year-old Saxso, a member of the Abenaki tribe in Canada, embarks on a
dangerous rescue mission when his mother and two younger sisters are taken hostage during an attack by the British on their
unprotected village in 1759.
The Crimson Cap/ Ellen Howard: In 1684, wearing his father's faded cap, eleven-year-old Pierre Talon joins explorer Rene-
Robert Cavelier on an ill-fated expedition to seek the Mississippi River, but after the expedition falls apart Pierre, deathly ill, is
taken in by Hasinai Indians. Includes historical facts.
The Minister’s Daughter/ Julie Hearn: In 1645 in England, the daughters of the town minister successfully accuse a local healer
and her granddaughter of witchcraft to conceal an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, but years later during the 1692 Salem trials
their lie has unexpected repercussions.
Witch Child/ Cynthia Rees In 1659, fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New
World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans near Salem, Massachusetts.
The Secret of Sarah Revere/ Ann Rinaldi: Paul Revere's daughter describes her father's "rides" and the intelligence network of
the patriot community prior to the American Revolution.
In My Father’s House/ Ann Rinaldi: For two sisters growing up surrounded by the Civil War, there is conflict both outside and
inside their home.
Or Give Me Death : a novel of Patrick Henry's family / Ann Rinaldi: With their father away most of the time advocating
independence for the American colonies, the children of Patrick Henry try to raise themselves, manage the family plantation,
and care for their mentally ill mother.
Sarah’s Ground/ Ann Rinaldi: In 1861, eighteen-year-old Sarah Tracy, from New York state, comes to work at Mount Vernon,
the historic Virginia home of George Washington, where she tries to protect the safety and neutrality of the site during the
Civil War, and where she encounters her future husband, Upton Herbert. Includes historical notes.
The Second Bend in the River/ Ann Rinaldi: In 1798 Rebecca, a young settler in the Ohio territory, meets the Shawnee called
Tecumseh and later develops a deep friendship with him.
Echohawk/ Durrant, Lynn: Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-181). A twelve-year-old white boy , adopted and raised
by Mochicans in the Hudson River Valley during the 1730's, is sent with his younger brother to an English settlement for
schooling.
The Sacrafice/ Matcheck, Diane: When her father's death leaves her orphaned and an outcast among her Apsaalooka (Crow)
people, a fifteen-year-old sets out to avenge his death and prove that she, not her dead twin brother, is destined to be the
Great One.
Sign of the Beaver/ Elizabeth George Speare: Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in eighteenth-century Maine, a
boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.
Witch of Blackbird Pond/Elizabeth George Speare: A young girl's rebellion against bigotry culminates in a terrifying witch
hunt and trial.
The Red Badge of Courage/Stephen Crane: During his service in the Civil War, a young Union soldier matures to manhood
and finds peace of mind as he comes to grips with his conflicting emotions about war.
The Amistad Mutiny/ Bernice Kohn Hunt: Using contemporary documents, traces the 1839 revolt of Africans aboard the slave
ship Amistad, their subsequent apprehension, and long trial which ended in their acquital by the Supreme Court.
47/ Walter Mosley: Number 47, a fourteen-year-old slave boy growing up under the watchful eye of a brutal master in 1832,
meets the mysterious Tall John, who introduces him to a magical science and also teaches him the meaning of freedom.
The Kingdom on the Waves/ M.T. Anderson: After escaping a death sentence in the summer of 1775, Octavian and his tutor
find shelter but no safe harbor in British-occupied Boston and, persuaded by Lord Dunmore's proclamation offering freedom
to slaves who join his counterrevolutionary Royal Ethiopian Regiment, Octavian and his friends soon find themselves engaged
in naval raids on the Virginia coastline as the Revolutionary War breaks out in full force.
Calico Captive/ Elizabeth George Speare: An Englishwoman, Miriam Willard, becomes a captive during the French and Indian
War in 1754. After a harrowing march north to Montreal she discovers a city filled with the intrigue of war.
Fever, 1793/ Laurie Halse Anderson: In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother,
learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic.
American Plague/ Jim Murphy: Provides an account of the yellow fever epidemic that swept through Philadelphia in 1793,
discussing the chaos that erupted when people began evacuating in droves, leaving the city without government, goods, or
services, and examining efforts by physicians, the Free African Society, and others to cure and care for the sick.
Time Enough For Drums/ Ann Rinaldi: Sixteen-year-old Jem and her servant struggle to keep things going at home in Trenton,
New Jersey, when the family men join the war for independence from the British king.
Use these websites to help you find a possible book not on this list.
http://nancykeane.com/rl/default.htm If you scroll down, it will have a section called “Read a-likes.” This is a reference for
“If you like this book, you’ll like this…”
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/append/axn.html#novels
http://www.litgothic.com/index_html.html These two sites will show you gothic literature examples.
You DON’T have to choose a book from this list. You could also go to the public libraries in
the area and find a book there. Many of the authors on this list have written other early-
American styled books, but our library doesn’t have them.