Engage older readers with historical fiction

Lots of kids find history interesting. Lots of kids don't. In all likelihood, the ones who find history boring probably haven't been exposed to the kind of books that make history come alive. Stand by for a correction on that front, because today's reviewed books are historical fiction at its best.

Everything can be made interesting. You just have to find the right books and an enthusiastic teacher. The "right" kinds of books are represented below. The enthusiastic teacher — that's you.

Books to Borrow

The following book is available at many public libraries.

• "The Gold Rush Kid" by Mary Waldorf, Clarion, 232 pages

Read aloud: age 8 — 9 and older

Read yourself: age 9 — 10 and older

In 1897, 12-year-old Billy McGee and his older sister, Edna, left Skagway, Alaska, trekking north to the Klondike. The siblings are without an adult on this grueling, treacherous mountain trail, but they have no choice. Their mother died unexpectedly, and they are following their father who had previously set off to prospect for gold.

Edna feels certain that if they work hard enough, they'll find their father and together strike it rich. But Billy isn't so sure. He's heard of plenty of grownups who had all the right equipment and supplies who never even made it to the gold fields. Will they be able to make it all the way to Dawson City? Will they be able to find their father?

Brimming with nail-biting adventure, the essence of family, what is means to be afraid and finding the courage to move on, this historical fiction novel is first-rate.

Librarian's Choice

Library: Sutter County Library, 750 Forbes Ave., Yuba City

Library Director: Roxanna Parker

Children's Librarian: Chalese Valdez

Choices this week: "L is for Library" by Sonya Terry; "John, Paul, George and Ben" by Lane Smith; "Summer Reading is Killing Me" by Jon Scieszka

Books to Buy

The following books are available at your favorite bookstores.

• "Woods Runner" by Gary Paulsen, Wendy Lamb Books, 2010, 164 pages, $15.99 hardcover

Read aloud: age 11 and older

Read yourself: age 12 and older

Thirteen-year-old Samuel lives with his parents on the edge of the wilderness in the British colony of Pennsylvania. Samuel's life is peaceful, and he is more at home in the wilderness than anywhere else.

All of that changes one evening when Samuel returns home after hunting to find his few neighbors savagely murdered, all houses burned to the ground and his parents missing. The rumors had been right — American patriots had begun their battle against the English, and the war had quickly reached to the distant corner of Samuel's home. The American Revolution was in full swing.

Now, with his parents taken prisoner by the British and Iroquois, Samuel follows their trail deep into enemy territory to try and free them. Along the way, Samuel learns much about unlikely friends, war and what it is to dig deep inside himself to survive.

Alternating fiction with historical notes, Paulsen creates an outstanding, riveting novel of what it was really like to live on the frontier, the atrocities of war and the courage and strength required to endure both.

• "Lost" by Jacqueline Davies, Marshall Cavendish, 2009, 242 pages, $16.99 hardcover

Read aloud: age 12 and older

Read yourself: age 12 and older

On the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the early 1900s, Essie toils away in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Like most living in Essie's neighborhood, life is hard, money is even harder to come by and everyone works hard to make ends meet.

The day Harriet Abbot walks in as the new worker at the factory, Essie knows something is wrong. Clearly Harriet is educated and from a wealthy family, even through she tries to appear otherwise. So why is Harriet working alongside common, poor folks?

As Essie and Harriet slowly become friends, Essie learns about Harriet's past. It seems that the two girls have much in common, and in their own separate ways, are both lost. But as events unfold, Essie learns that Harriet hasn't been truthful with her. In fact, much of what Harriet had told her is a lie. And as Essie struggles to learn the truth about Harriet, she comes to discover truths about herself, the meaning of family and what it is to belong.

Author Jacqueline Davies is a beautiful writer, crafting an emotionally rich, moving novel, with characters, plot and a setting so believable that readers will be whisked away to the tenements of Manhattan during this historical time in U.S. history.

Kendal A. Rautzhan writes and lectures on children's literature. She can be reached at kendal@sunlink.net.