Enslaved African Americans longed for freedom, and that longing took many forms including music. Drawing on biblical imagery, slave songs both expressed the sorrow of life in bondage and offered a rallying cry for the spirit. Like a Bird brings together text, music, and illustrations by Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator Michele Wood to convey the rich meaning behind thirteen of these powerful songs.

"Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania-- derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever. Now laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. But it's not a life Jane wants. When families...

"The life of Abraham Lincoln, America's greatest president, in a new, illustrated edition of the Newbery Honor classic. Clara Ingram Judson's Newbery Honor Book is a richly drawn biography of Abraham Lincoln from his backwoods boyhood, to his days as a shopkeeper and lawyer, his entry into politics, and finally through his extraordinary presidency and tragic assassination. Judson presents Lincoln as he was--the plain-spoken and practical man, often...

In 1865, while helping her family keep their Virginia farm going through the end of the Civil War, twelve-year-old Cassie meets a Confederate deserter and a Yankee prisoner of war and tries to discover who has been stealing from the farm.

In 1854 in Eastern Maryland twelve-year-old Ann is a slave, grateful that her family is still all together; but when their master, in need of money, decides to sell Ann and her younger brother, their parents decide to take the dangerous step of running away north to freedom--a journey filled with danger, especially since they are not sure how to find the first station on the Underground Railroad.

Discusses attitudes and events that led up to the Civil War, particularly the institution of slavery.

A picture book biography of Sarah Emma Edmonds, a Canadian-born woman who served as a spy in the Union Army during the Civil War.

"Juneteenth is the celebration of the day enslaved people in Texas were were told they were freed. This book explores Juneteenth's little-told history, from the first Jubilee to the making of a national holiday"--

"Betsy Ross made many flags during the American Revolution, but did she sew the first flag? Infographics, leveled text, and primary sources help readers follow the fact and fiction found in this tale of stars and stripes."--

"Every November, the United States celebrates Thanksgiving Day. But what actually happened at the first Thanksgiving? And when did it happen? Discover the facts and find out the fiction surrounding one of America's favorite holidays"--