On my own books

"In Revolutionary times, spies sent secret messages in clever ways. In this true story, John Darragh, a teenaged spy from a Quaker family, carries a message to General Washington sewn inside his coat buttons..Young historians will appreciate the accompanying book's simple but evocative watercolor illustrations and the production's background music, including the fifes and drums of a revolutionary band. They'll enjoy the story's plentiful dialogue...

Eight-year-old Andrew is starting his first day of work in a coal mine. With bloody knuckles and an aching back, Andrew quickly learns that life in the mines is dirty, dark, and difficult. Before his first day at the breaker is through, he will find out that it can be dangerous too.

Helga and Erik could not believe their eyes. There were grasshoppers everywhere, and they were eating the crops! In the 1870's, when grasshoppers destroyed farms in Minnesota and other Midwestern states, many families gave up and moved away. This is the story of how two Swedish immigrant children help their parents save their home on the prairie.

When Arly's friend Floyd Collins is trapped by falling rocks in Sand Cave, Arly rushes to help. Arly runs errands for the workers, but he feels that he should be doing more. It is a race against time, so Arly decides to try to make his way through the collapsed cave to help his friend--but he ends up in danger himself.