My America is a series of fictional diaries of children that take place during significant moments in American history. Created by Scholastic, it is a spin-off of the series, Dear America , geared toward younger children (ages 7-10 [1] ). The series covers: Jamestown, the American Revolution, the American Civil War, Westward Expansion, Underground Railroad, and slavery. Each topic has three books and is authored by a different writer. Writers include well respected and popular children's authors, such as Mary Pope Osborne of Magic Tree House fame. The series was discontinued in 2004, but the books continue to be a popular teaching device for introducing American history to elementary school age children.
My America Series:
Elizabeth "Lizzy" Mary Barker's Jamestown Colony Diaries (1609) by Patricia Hermes:
(1) Our Strange New Land
(2) The Starving Time
(3) Season of Promise
Hope Penny Potter's Revolutionary War Diaries (1776) by Kristiana Gregory:
(1) Five Smooth Stones
(2) We Are Patriots
(3) When Freedom Comes
Joshua Martin McCullough's Oregon Trail Diaries (1848) by Patricia Hermes:
(1) Westward To Home
(2) A Perfect Place
(3) The Wild Year
Margaret "Meg" Cora Wells' Prairie Diaries (1856) by Kate McMullan:
(1) As Far As I Can See
(2) For This Land
(3) A Fine Start
Corey Birdsong's Underground Railroad Diaries (1857) by Sharon Dennis Wyeth:
(1) Freedom's Wings
(2) Flying Free
(3) Message In The Sky
Virginia "Ginny" B. Dickens' Civil War Diaries (1863) by Mary Pope Osborne & Will Osborne:
(1) My Brother's Keeper
(2) After The Rain
(3) A Time To Dance
Sofia Monari's Immigrant Diaries (1903) by Kathryn Lasky:
(1) Hope In My Heart
(2) Home At Last
(3) An American Spring
The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and from there to Canada. The network, primarily the work of free African Americans, was assisted by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause of the escapees. The slaves who risked capture and those who aided them are also collectively referred to as the passengers and conductors of the "Underground Railroad". Various other routes led to Mexico, where slavery had been abolished, and to islands in the Caribbean that were not part of the slave trade. An earlier escape route running south toward Florida, then a Spanish possession, existed from the late 17th century until approximately 1790. However, the network generally known as the Underground Railroad began in the late 18th century. It ran north and grew steadily until the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. One estimate suggests that, by 1850, approximately 100,000 slaves had escaped to freedom via the network.
Magic Tree House is an American children's series written by American author Mary Pope Osborne. The original American series was illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca until 2016, after which AG Ford took over. Other illustrators have been used for foreign-language editions.
Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, including for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, and her first book was published in 1982. She went on to write a variety of other children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will.
Carol Matas is a Canadian writer. She has had more than forty-three books for young people published over several decades, including science fiction, fantasy, historical, contemporary, realistic fiction, historical fiction and foods science. Her novels often reflect a Jewish perspective, and her best-known are set during the Holocaust. Her books have been highly honored, including having been shortlisted for the Governor General's Awards twice.
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a museum in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, based on the history of the Underground Railroad. Opened in 2004, the center also pays tribute to all efforts to "abolish human enslavement and secure freedom for all people."
Dear Dumb Diary is a series of children's novels by Jim Benton. Each book is written in the first person view of a middle school girl named Jamie Kelly. The series is published by Scholastic in English and Random House in Korean. Film rights to the series have been optioned by the Gotham Group.
Dear America is a series of historical fiction novels for children published by Scholastic starting in 1996. By 1998, the series had 12 titles with 3.5 million copies in print. The series was canceled in 2004 with its final release, Hear My Sorrow. However, it was relaunched in the fall of 2010. Each book is written in the form of a diary of a young woman's life during important events or time periods in American history. The Dear America series covers a wide range of topics, including: the Pilgrims' journey to the New World, the Salem Witch Trials, the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, western expansion, slavery, immigration, nineteenth-century prairie life, the California Gold Rush of 1849, the Great Depression, Native Americans' experiences, racism, coal mining, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the fight for women's suffrage, the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the Battle of the Alamo, the Vietnam War, and more. The breadth of historical topics covered in these books through fiction makes the Dear America series a favorite teaching device of history schoolteachers around the country. The re-launch series and releases contain a new cover style and different pictures of the main characters than those of the original releases. Originally all the books had a ribbon inserted as a bookmark for the books but were removed in the later releases. Several of the stories were filmed and released on videotape.
Dear Canada is a series of historical novels marketed at kids first published in 2001 and continuing to the present. The books are published by Scholastic Canada Ltd. They are similar to the Dear America series, with each book written in the form of the diary of a fictional young woman living during an important event in Canadian history. The series covers both familiar and little-known topics such as Home Children, North-West Rebellion, and the 1837 Rebellion.
Walter Dean Myers was an American writer of children's books best known for young adult literature. He was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but was raised in Harlem. A tough childhood led him to writing and his school teachers would encourage him in this habit as a way to express himself. He wrote more than one hundred books including picture books and nonfiction. He won the Coretta Scott King Award for African-American authors five times. His 1988 novel Fallen Angels is one of the books most frequently challenged in the U.S. because of its adult language and its realistic depiction of the Vietnam War.
The Royal Diaries is a series of 20 books published by Scholastic Press from 1999 to 2005. In each of the books, a fictional diary of a real female figure of royalty as a child throughout world history was written by the author. The Royal Diaries was a spin-off of Scholastic's popular Dear America series. While Dear America, My Name Is America, and My America were all cancelled in 2004, The Royal Diaries continued until 2005.
Patricia C. McKissack was a prolific African American children's writer. She was the author of over 100 books, including Dear America books A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl;Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North; and Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl. She also wrote a novel for The Royal Diaries series: Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba. Notable standalone works include Flossie & the Fox (1986), The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural (1992), and Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? (1992). What is Given from the Heart was published posthumously in 2019.
Quilts of the Underground Railroad describes a controversial belief that quilts were used to communicate information to African slaves about how to escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad. It has been disputed by a number of historians.
Kristiana Gregory is an American children's author.
Catherine Clinton is the Denman Professor of American History at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She specializes in American History, with an emphasis on the history of the South, the American Civil War, American women, and African American history.
My Australian Story is a series of historical novels for older children published by Scholastic Australia which was inspired by Dear America. Each book is written in the form of a fictional diary of a young person living during an important event or time period in Australian history.
My Story is a series of historical novels for children published by Scholastic UK. They are similar to the Dear America series, each book is written in the form of the diary of a fictional young woman or man living during an important event in history. Most of the books feature British characters and history, but some are about non-British characters during important events and times in world history.
My Story is a series of historical novels for older children published by Scholastic New Zealand which was inspired by Dear America. Each book is written in the form of a fictional diary of a young person living during an important event or time period in New Zealand history. The series was renamed My New Zealand Story around 2010 when the style of the covers also changed.
A Picture of Freedom is a children's historical novel written by Patricia C. McKissack and published by Scholastic in 1997 as part of their Dear America series.
Joyce Viola Hansen is an American writer and retired schoolteacher. She has earned recognition for her books for children and youth, particularly her historical fiction and non-fiction works about African-American history. Four of her books have been named to the honor list of the Coretta Scott King Awards, presented by the American Library Association.
I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl is a 1997 historical fiction children's book by American author Joyce Hansen, published by Scholastic. The book is part of the Dear America series for young readers. It was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book in 1998.
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