Dowry. The word sounds like something from the Middle Ages. "Mama, I don't need a dowry," I say quickly. "Nobody in Budapest has a dowry anymore." -From the book Twelve-year-old Juli wants neither a dowry nor the dancing lessons that her mother has long planned for her. Studious and smart, Juli dreams of a career, not of marriage. But her mother insists, and together they make regular trips to the countryside to check on the progress of the large lace tablecloth commissioned for her dowry. Soon Julie makes friends with the lace maker's daughter, Roza, an unschooled girl her own age who is already saddled with adult responsibilities. When progression the tablecloth slows because of unexpected difficulties in Roza's family, Juli finds herself defying her mother in order to help her new friend. Through this painful episode, Juli and her mother grow to better understand themselves, each other, and how the past has shaped them.

Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior.It is 1850, and the lives of the Ojibwe have returned to a familiar rhythm: they build their birchbark houses in the summer, go to the ricing camps in the fall to harvest and feast, and move to their cozy cedar log cabins near the town of LaPointe before the first snows.The satisfying routines of Omakayas's days are interrupted by a surprise visit from a group of desperate and mysterious people. From them, she learns that all their lives may drastically change. The chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island in Lake Superior and move farther west. Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, is in danger: Her home. Her way of life. In this captivating sequel to National Book Award nominee The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich continues the story of Omakayas and her family.

"Shenandoah Whispers And Echoes" is a historical fiction novella that is actually a story within a story. Right away the reader is drawn in with a mysterious and unexpected discovery in the present, then flashes back to the past by means of an old handwritten journal. It gives a unique, first person account of life in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the latter half of the 19th century. In the words of James Randolph Wise, this simple Southern man’s experiences are set against the backdrop of the Civil War and its aftermath and serve as the focal points of this candid and bittersweet tale. It is constructed within the framework of actual historical events as it takes great pains to stay true to history. It was a simpler, purer, less complicated era and time slows down. Through this thoroughly engrossing narrative we experience the triumphs and tragedies of this boy growing into manhood along with his family, experiencing the American Civil War and its aftermath in a whole new light. This topic as told from that perspective make the book rather fresh and unique. This story exposes some of the myths and injustices about the war in the Shenandoah Valley. Some of the revelations of that war may shock the reader with indignation, but rest assured that the fine line between fact and fiction is often indistinguishable and not often pleasant. It’s the story of gradual change in one man and in a nation. Most importantly, it’s a tale of resilience and determination of the human spirit in both the best and worst of times. Southerners can readily relate to and identify with this tale. It is a story set in a time and place that deserves revisiting. This book espouses the universal themes of family, honor, truth, faith, love, war, and tragedy. These themes all have a time-tested track record of wide appeal among people everywhere - regardless of age, religion, sex, race, education, income, or geographic region. As for a specific core target audience, this story has the definite potential to appeal in particular to Southern folks with deep family roots in the old South. "Shenandoah Whispers And Echoes" will haunt your conscience and genuinely move you.

Walter Mosley is one of the best-known writers in America. In his first book for young adults, Mosley deftly weaves historical and speculative fiction into a powerful narrative about the nature of freedom. 47 is a young slave boy living under the watchful eye of a brutal slave master. His life seems doomed until he meets a mysterious runaway slave, Tall John. Then, 47 finds himself swept up in a struggle for his own liberation.