JOURNALS AND DIARIES
Contemporary Fiction:
Absolutely Normal Chaos
by Sharon Creech
Thirteen-year-old Mary Lou keeps a summer journal which chronicles her first experiences with romance, homesickness, and death.
Heads or Tails: Stories from the Sixth Grade
by Jack Gantos
Jack's life is a crazy roller-coaster ride, but writing in his diary about his good days and bad days is one way he survives his up-and-down year.
The Music of Dolphins
by Karen Hesse
After rescuing an adolescent girl from the sea, researchers learn she has been raised by dolphins and attempt to rehabilitate her to the human world.
Ellen Anderson on her Own
by Karen Hirsch
Eleven-year-old Ellen gains insight into her changing friendships after reading her deceased mother's girlhood diary.
Eenie, Meanie Murphy, NO!
by Colleen O'Shaughnessy McKenna
While at camp, Collette is desperate to retrieve her secret diary, which has been stolen and read out loud.
Amelia's Notebook
by Marissa Moss
The hand-lettered contents of a nine-year-old girl's notebook, in which she records her thoughts and feelings about moving, starting school, an dealing with her older sister, as well as keeping her old best friend and making a new one. (Other Amelia titles include: Luv, Amelia Luv, Nadia, Amelia Hits the Road, and Amelia Takes Command.)
Fat Chance
by Leslea Newman
In a series of diary entries, thirteen-year-old Judi recounts her struggle to lose weight, hide her bulimia from her mother, find a boyfriend, an decide on a profession.
For Your Eyes Only!
by Joanne Rocklin
The entries in the journals of several sixth grade students reveal much about their personal feelings, family lives, and a growing interest in poetry sparked by their new substitute teacher.
Mostly Michael
by Robert Kimmel Smith
When Michael receives a diary for his eleventh birthday he's angry and disappointed. But when he starts writing in it, he discovers that it is the one place where he can put down his private feelings.
Historic Fiction:
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
by Avi
Traveling as the only "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte finds herself caught in the middle between a murderous captain and his rebellious crew.
A Gathering of Days: a New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32
by Joan W. Blos
The journal of a fourteen-year-old girl, kept the last year she lived on the family farm, records the daily events in her small New Hampshire town as well as the larger events that shaped her life.
Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she recalls the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventure beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.
Out of the Dust
by Karen Hesse
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.
The Private Notebook of Katie Roberts, Age 11
by Amy Hest
In a series of journal entries and letters to a pen pal, Katie relates her feelings about her father's death in World War II, her mother's remarriage, and the family's move from New York City to Texas.
A Picture of Freedom: the Diary of Clotee, Slave Girl
by Patricia McKissack
In 1859 twelve-year-old Clotee, a house slave who must conceal the fact that she can read and write, records in her diary her experiences and her struggle to decide whether to escape to freedom. (A Dear America book)
Emma's Journal: the Story of a Colonial Girl
by Marissa Moss
Emma describes in her journal her stay in Boston from 1774 to 1776, where she witnesses the British blockade and spies for the American militia. Features hand-printed text, drawings, and margin notes. (Author's notes inside back cover discuss the research process.)
Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl
by Marissa Moss
In her journal, Rachel chronicles her family's adventures traveling by covered wagon on the Oregon Trail in 1850. Features hand-printed text, drawings, margin notes, and notes on the research process.
Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan
by Mary Pope Osborne
A Quaker girl's diary reflects her experiences growing up in the Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania and her capture by Lanape Indians in 1763. (A Dear America book)
Non-Fiction:
We are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust
by Jacob Boas
This book features passages from the diaries of David Rubinowicz, Vitzhak Rudashevski, Moshe Flinker, Eva Heyman, and Anne Frank. Each chapter is on voice, one teenager coping with the impossible. These stark accounts bear witness to the strength of the human spirit.
Journal of a Revolutionary War Woman
by Judith E. Greenberg & Helen Carey McKeever
The authors supplement entries from the journal of Mary Titus Post with background information to help explain their historical context.
A Pioneer Woman's Memoir: Based on the Journal of Arabella Clemens Fulton
by Judith E. Greenberg & Helen Carey McKeever
Authors Greenberg and McKeever provide background information for Arabella Clemens' personal account of her westward journey along the Oregon Trail in 1864, a colorful account of the wagon-train migration and life on the frontier.
The Diary of Lotoya Hunter: My First Year in Junior High
by Lotoya Hunter
12-year-old Latoya's diary presents her first year of junior high in the Bronx.
The Way West: Journal of a Pioneer Woman
by Amelia Stewart Knight
An adaptation of Mrs. Knights diary written while she, her husband, and seven children journeyed from Iowa to the Oregon Territory in 1853.
Keeping Secrets: The Girlhood Diaries of Seven Women Writers
by Mary E. Lyons
Lyons draws from the diaries of Louisa May Alcott, Kate Chopin, Sarah Jane Foster, and other women writers, tracing their journeys of self discovery. This book gives insight into the power diaries have to transform the lives of writers who are willing to explore their secret selves.
My Season With Penguins
by Sophie Webb
This journal follows the author's two-month stay in Antarctica to study and draw penguins.
|
