Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Enter a wonderland of mesmerizing tales. It's a place that's neither here nor there, where things are never quite as they seem. Inspired by Lewis Carroll's whimsical masterpiece, ranging from the impossible to the mad to the curiouser, these stories will have you absolutely off your head.

Here in lyrical prose is the story of the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words that became the national anthem of the United States. This flag, which came to be known as the Star-Spangled Banner, also inspired author Susan Campbell Bartoletti, who, upon seeing it at the Smithsonian Institution, became curious about the hands that had sewn it. Here is her story of the early days of this flag as seen through the eyes of young Caroline Pickersgill, the daughter of an important flag maker, Mary Pickersgill, and the granddaughter of a flag maker for General George Washington’s Continental Army. It is also a story about how a symbol motivates action and emotion, brings people together, and inspires courage and hope. (from Amazon)

Nineteen sixty-eight was a pivotal year that grew more intense with each day. As thousands of Vietnamese and Americans were killed in war, students across four continents took over colleges and city streets. Assassins murdered Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy. Demonstrators turned out in Prague and Chicago, and in Mexico City, young people and Olympic athletes protested.

Describes the conditions and treatment that drove workers, including many children, to various strikes, from the mill workers strikes in 1828 and 1836 and the coal strikes at the turn of the century to the work of Mother Jones on behalf of child workers. By the early 1900s, nearly two million children were working in the United States. From the coal mines of Pennsylvania to the cotton mills of New England, children worked long hours every day under stunningly inhumane conditions. After years and years of oppression, children began to organize and make demands for better wages, fairer housing costs, and safer working environments. Some strikes led by young people were successful; some were not. Some strike stories are shocking, some are heartbreaking, and many are inspiring — but all are a testimony to the strength of mind and spirit of the children who helped build American industry.

A young girl shares her ballet dancing with her dying grandmother and the grandmother shares memories of her family's immigration from Poland and of dancing with the girl's grandfather.

Describes what life was like, especially for children, in coal mines and mining towns in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

"They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a historical nonfiction book aimed at young adults. It explores the origins and rise of the Ku Klux Klan after the American Civil War in 1865. The book provides a detailed account of the social and political climate of the time, highlighting the fear and racism that fueled the Klan's actions. It also examines the broader impact of the Klan on American society and the ongoing struggle for civil rights. " "We promise to: protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenseless from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal; to relieve the injured and oppresed; to succor the suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers." -Vow of the Ku Klux Klansmen " - back cover

Annetka Kaminska is a thirteen-year-old girl living in Russian-controlled Poland in 1896. She bitterly resents the Russians that have taken over her country and are forcing her people to give up their language and customs. But she is even more angry when her father, living in America, arranges a marriage for her, with a Pennsylvania coal miner twice her age. A widower with three little girls, Stanley mounrs for his wife and does not love Annetka, treating her almost like a servant. Yet when he dies in a mining accident, things become even more difficult, as she must care for the children and pay the rent. Yet in spite of her bleak life, she finds some hope in the children, and in the possibly of true love.

Day 264. It's morning. Soft gray light slips over the tall redbrick wall. It stretches across the exercise yard and reaches through the high, barred windows. In a cell on the ground floor, the light shifts dark shapes into a small stool, a scrawny table, and a bed made of wooden boards with no mattress or blanket. On that bed, a thin, huddled figure, Helmuth, a boy of seventeen, lies awake. Shivering. Trembling. It's a Tuesday. The executioner works on Tuesday. In October, 1942, seventeen-year-old Helmuth Hübener, imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, recalls his past life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth about Hitler and the war to the German people. - Publisher.

Naamah is the wife of Noah, and her name means "great singer." For forty days and forty nights, as the ark tosses on storm-wracked seas, Naamah sings. She sings to the animals, two by two. She sings to her husband, her sons, and their wives. She sings, and they all sleep, finally at peace. Acclaimed author Susan Campbell Bartoletti's rhythmic, lyrical text pairs with Caldecott Honor winner Holly Meade's luminous collage for a cozy, tender lullaby, and an ode to the power of song. As Noah's wife sings the animals to sleep, an age-old tale is told afresh in a soothing poetic form brought to life with beautiful collage illustrations. - Publisher.

Massimino emigrates from Italy to work in the coal mines of turn-of-the-century America and slowly saves enough silver to pay the passage of his fiancée.

With archival photographs and text among other primary sources, provides a biography of Mary Mallon that goes beyond the typhoid scandal of her controversial life, and explores issues such as her treatment by medical and legal officials, human and constitutional rights, and the science of pathology. Discusses her later years, and her death in 1938.

A young girl and her out-of-work father ride the rails looking for a place to call home, but with Christmas approaching and no job, Poppa leaves her in a foster home, promising to return as soon as he can.

Finn Reardon, a thirteen-year-old Irish-American newspaper carrier who hopes to be a journalist someday, keeps a journal of his experiences living in New York City in 1899. Includes historical notes.

The two-time Coretta Scott King Honor Book recipient offers a poignant narrative about a freed slave girl during the Reconstruction Era in the South.

Rhyming text describes the characteristics of a pet cat.