Girls Who Rocked the World 2: From Harriet Tubman to Mia Hamm by Michelle Roehm McCann, Jerry McCann (Illustrator), mic Roehm, Michelle Roehm
Reading level: Ages 9-12

This sequel volume features black-and-white photos and drawings to complement the inspiring stories of Golda Meir, Israeli prime minister, ambassador, and U.N. delegate; Rigoberta Menchu, Guatemalan activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize; Italian physicist Laura Bassi, one of the first women scientists in western history; Lauryn Hill, American singer and winner of multiple Grammy awards who produced her first album at age 17; Alexandra Nechita, internationally acclaimed Romanian artist; and others.

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Don't Know Much About the Presidents by Kenneth C. Davis, Pedro Martin (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4-8

Ready for some quirky facts about the presidents of the United States? Andrew Jackson had to sneak out of his own inauguration party and sleep in a hotel because his fans got so wild. Poker-playing Warren G. Harding once gambled away a set of White House china. Lyndon B. Johnson was an auto mechanic, a grape picker, and a high-school teacher before becoming president.

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Glory's Freedom: A Story of the Underground Railroad (Doll Hospital #3) by Joan Holub, Cheryl Kirk Noll (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 9-12

Sisters Rose and Lila, ages 10 and 7, are spending the year with their grandmother (who runs a doll hospital) while their parents are working out of the country. Their grandmother has a special power to communicate with dolls, and to tell their stories. In this book we meet Glory, a doll who is given to a slave girl named May by Arabella, the daughter of a plantation owner. Glory then accompanies May on her journey to freedom. Years later, Glory is discovered by the new owners of an old house that, unbeknownst to them, was used as a stop along the Underground Railroad.

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The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe by Robert S. Gottfried, Phyllis Corzine

A fascinating work of detective history, The Black Death traces the causes and far-reaching consequences of this infamous outbreak of plague that spread across the continent of Europe from 1347 to 1351. Drawing on sources as diverse as monastic manuscripts and dendrochronological studies (which measure growth rings in trees), historian Robert S. Gottfried demonstrates how a bacillus transmitted by rat fleas brought on an ecological reign of terror -- killing one European in three, wiping out entire villages and towns, and rocking the foundation of medieval society and civilization.

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Fields of Fury: The American Civil War by James M. McPherson
Reading level: Ages 9-12

The well-organized, well-executed, kid-friendly history of the Civil War was a brilliant idea if there ever was one. It's difficult to imagine anyone doing a better job than McPherson at breaking down this complex, interrelated series of events into such compelling and easily digestible chunks.

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