Showing results by author "James Collier" in All Categories

The Revolutionary War comes alive in this contemporary classic for young adults, a stirring, probing tale full of action and suspense, putting readers right into the heart of the war for independence.

Gene Richards is haunted by a voice, and he doesn’t like what it’s saying. He’s trying to ignore it - pretend it’s not real - but the voice has plans for Gene. A long time ago, something bad happened in the town of Magnolia - something that Gene’s grandfather and his friends want to keep quiet. The voice has started hurting those who were responsible, and it won’t give up until Gene uncovers the town’s eerie past. Determined to clear his grandfather’s name, Gene and his friends start reading old newspapers and digging for the truth.

It’s 1895 in New York City. Hard times have hit, and life isn’t going to get noticeably better any time soon. Almost-13-year-old Chipper Carey is running with the Midnight Rats kid gang just to survive. Ma died of consumption when he was six. He knows Ma wouldn’t have approved. But what ultimately has to matter is reality, and without the Midnight Rats, Chipper would have nothing. He’d starve. Fortunately for Chipper, fate takes over and introduces him to the wealthy Miss Sibley.

Fifteen-year-old Ben Buck and his family spent four years clearing the wilderness to build a new home in Pennsylvania. They fought the Indians and the British, and made sacrifices most people wouldn't have been strong enough to make. All so they could be independent and free. Now someone's trying to take everything away from them...their land, their home, even Ben's best friend, Joe. But the Bucks won't give up without a fight, and Ben knows his family will have to win a war to stay free. But what he doesn't know is that wars sometimes last a very long time. And even if you win in the end, you can lose almost everything along the way.

Fourteen-year-old Chris Winchester is torn between two worlds. By birth, he’s part of the indomitable Winchester clan, owners of the enormous electronics factory that employs nearly everyone in town. Yet Chris’ father gave up his stake in the business to work for the Peace Corp. When he died, Chris, his mother, and his twin sisters moved into a tiny gatehouse on the Winchester estate - poor relations living on family goodwill. While his cousin Ernest is groomed to take over the family fortune, Chris attends public school and makes friends with the kids in town.

Progressivism, the Great Depression, and the New Deal emphasizes economic trends and the role of the government in regard to the economy from the beginning of the twentieth century to America's entry into World War II. The authors discuss the boom of the 1920s, the crash of 1929, the ensuing Depression, and the country's response. Franklin D. Roosevelt's "hundred days" and programs such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) are examined in detail.

Life for indentured servants in pioneer Virginia is hard. It is doubly hard for Richard Ayre, a London orphan who had been scooped off the streets as a child and sent to the Jamestown Colony. But a chance encounter with an Indian boy his own age gives him a friend, the first real friend he has had in years - until his master’s plan to raid an Indian village for corn turns Richard’s world upside down.

Tim has lost both his father and his brother, Sam, to the Revolutionary War. And for what? The war continues, with fighting and bloodshed all around him, no closer to peace. As the violence grows, Tim and his mother struggle to stay neutral, but Tim's anger is unrelenting. Haunted by memories of his brother's final moments, Tim is starting to realize that eventually, everyone must take a side. But which side should pay the price for his brother's death: the British or the Rebels who led Sam into the line of fire?