Wonderful historical fiction novel!

Rinaldi, Ann (2007). Come Juneteenth. 246 pages. (Grades 5-7).


The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, but it took two and a half years for Texas slave owners to inform their slaves for fear of an uprising. Fourteen-year old Luli has grown up during the Civil War alongside Sis Goose, a slave who was raised as Luli's sister. The girls tell each other everything, but when Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, Luli is forbidden to tell Sis Goose that she is free. When Union soldiers arrive in Texas, Sis Goose learns that she has been free for over two years. Her trust in Luli is broken and she is forced to run away with a Union soldier, which results in a devastating tragedy.

Exciting historical fiction

Kathryn Lasky's The Last Girls of Pompeii.

184 p. Gr. 6-8

In the year A.D. 79, 12 year old Julia is the youngest child in the Petreius family who was born with a deformed arm, which she refers to as the “Curse of Venus.” The summer has been a busy one for Julia, because her sister Cornelia is to be wed. Both their parents are consumed by the wedding preparations and Julia gets dragged from one augur to the next. While her family is preparing for the upcoming wedding Julia and her slave Sura begin to notice strange things happening in Pompeii. First they notice that the water from the fountain is not flowing as freely as usual and then they smell sulfur, which has an odor like rotten eggs. Little do they know that beneath Mount Vesuvius there is a volcano that is ready to erupt and destroy the lives of the ones they love.