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The Jefferson Cup honors a distinguished biography,
historical fiction or American history book for young
people. The Virginia Library Association's Children's
and Young Adult Round Table has presented the award
annually since 1983. The award seeks to promote reading
about America's past, the writing of U.S. history, biography
and historical fiction for young people, and the recognition
of authors in these disciplines.
2007
Blood on the River: James Town 1607 by Elisa Carbone. School Library Journal also selected this title as Best Book of the Year for 2006.
2006
Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell. Upon
the death of their mother, Mattie and Sarah, two Mohawk
sisters, are sent to the Carlisle Industrial School
for Indians. Set at the turn of the 20th century, what
follows is the poignant, haunting story of the sisters’
experience. Founded by Richard Henry Pratt in 1879,
the purpose of the Carlisle School, as well as the
other Indian schools, was to "civilize" the Indian
by stripping the children of their language, culture,
and religion.
2005
A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff. The
time is 1879 and a war is raging between Germany and
France. In a small German town the local soldiers patrol
the streets and even use the bell tower in the cathedral
to spy on the French across the river.
Within the walls of this German town lives our heroine,
13-year-old Dina, who is a dreamer, an adventurer,
and a seamstress. She longs for a new life that would
not include a needle and thread. As the story begins,
Dina is dressing as a boy to sneak off on an early
morning visit with a French friend to trade a dress
pattern for a hat pattern. The girls trade patterns
hurriedly and Dina poles her way in the tiny skiff
toward home. As soon as she reaches the shore, German
soldiers capture her and accuse her of being a French
spy. They see the hat pattern, but only comment on
the writing in French and the arrows and drawings.
Dina claimed it was just a pattern for a hat, but
that sounded ridiculous even to her. Only a spy or
a girl like Dina would cross the river to France with
a war going on. The soldiers were already talking
about a trial. One said she would have to be shot!
Then the boom of a cannon was just enough of a distraction
for Dina to shake herself loose and run like her life
depended on it -- which it did.
When she returns home under the cover of darkness,
her family decides she must escape to America to live
with an uncle. And so Dina’s adventures in America
begin. When the dreaded smallpox epidemic hits New York,
Dina must find a way to outwit the health inspectors
to save her aunt and the new baby. A fire threatens
the life of her new family in their tenement building,
and Dina is their only chance for survival. When the
war ends, Dina plots to return home to Germany. She
is a brave young heroine who stands up to all the challenges
that appear. Her talent for sewing directs her toward
a new path for her career and a future of adventure.
2004 Grape
Thief by Kristine Franklin. Slava Petrovich is
a 12-year-old boy whose gift for cursing in various
languages has earned him the nickname “Cuss.”
The year is 1925, and Cuss and his family live in the
coal-mining town of Roslyn, Washington, where immigrants
from many countries have come to work in the mines.
In Cuss, Franklin gives the reader a rich, memorable
character who must choose between continuing his education
and supporting his widowed mother and younger brother.
Cuss’ growing sense of responsibility, his deep
loyalty to his family, and the traditions of faith
and hard work in his family create a convincing portrait
of the hardships and the hopes of an American immigrant
family in the early 1900s.
2003 Mississippi
Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe. In the summer of 1955,
16-year-old Hiram is living with his beloved
grandfather in Greenwood, Mississippi when a horrific
crime is committed. Despite a long and mysterious
estrangement between Hiram's father and grandfather,
Hiram reveres his aging grandfather, a white farmer
in a racially divided town. That summer, Hiram strikes
up an uneasy acquaintance with Emmett Till, a black
teenager from Chicago who is visiting relatives in
Greenwood. Hiram watches one of his white friends
viciously force Emmett to eat a raw fish at knifepoint
and does not intervene, foreshadowing Emmett's fate
and Hiram's. After Emmett is rumored to have whistled
at a white woman, he is dragged from his bed in the
middle of the night and brutally murdered. The grandfather's
racism becomes clear as the controversy surrounding
Emmett unfolds, and Hiram's world is rocked. As an
investigation into Emmett's murder begins, Hiram
is called as a witness and begins to realize that
he is witness to much more than the police know.
2002
Storm Warriors by Elisa Carbone. A brave African-American
lifesaving team befriends and inspires a lonely boy
on North Carolina's Outer Banks in the late 1890s.
2001Blizzard:
The Storm That Changed America by Jim Murphy. Presents
a history, based on personal accounts and newspaper
articles, of the massive snow storm that hit the Northeast
in 1888, focusing on the events in New York City.
2000 Preacher's
Boy by Katherine Paterson. In 1899, 10-year-old
Robbie, son of a preacher in a small Vermont town,
gets himself into all kinds of trouble when he decides
to give up being Christian in order to make the most
of his life before the end of the world.
1999 Soldier's
Heart: A Novel of the Civil War by Gary Paulsen.
Fifteen-year-old Charley Goddard is swept up in
the excitement of the Civil War and eagerly enlists
in the Union Army. The horrors of war do their damage
to both Charley's body and mind; he returns from
the war with soldier's heart.
1998 Leon's
Story by Leon Walter Tillage. Born in 1936, Leon
Walter Tillage reflects on his life as the son of a
North Carolinian sharecropper. Tillage describes his
experiences with the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow Laws, and
the Civil Rights Movement.
1997 The
Ornament Tree by Jean Thesman. Fourteen-year-old
Bonnie Shaster moves to Seattle in 1918 to live with
her genteel, elderly cousins. The cousins' reduced
financial circumstances have forced them to take
in an eclectic group of boarders. The conflicts between
the boarders are interspersed with historical events,
including the devastating flu epidemic, women's rights,
labor strikes, class distinctions, and physical disabilities.
1996 The
Great Fire by Jim Murphy. The magnitude of the Great
Chicago Fire of 1871 is described through personal accounts,
fascinating details, and period illustrations.
1995 Pink
and Say by Patricia Polacco. A 15-year-old white
Union soldier meets a young black Union soldier who
nurses him back to health. The two young men are
later captured by the Confederate Army.
1994 Across
America on an Emigrant Train by Jim Murphy. An absorbing
history of the building of the transcontinental railroad
is presented with recollections by Robert Louis Stevenson,
who traveled from New York to Monterey. Period photographs
and engravings capture the hardships and excitement
of railroad travel in 1879.
1993 Children
of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at
Weedpatch
by Jerry Stanley. During the Great Depression, families
left Oklahoma and traveled to California in anticipation
of finding work. Some of these families settled in "Weedpatch
Camp," where they established a school for their
children, complete with a swimming pool.
1992 The
Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane
by Russell Freedman. An entertaining account of the
Wrights' invention of the airplane. Their early attempts
are captured in their own words and illustrated with
numerous photographs.
1991 Franklin
Delano Roosevelt by Russell Freedman. A lively account
of Roosevelt's life, complete with extensive research,
numerous photographs, and interesting anecdotes.
1990 Shades
of Gray by Carolyn Reeder. Twelve-year-old Will
has lost his entire immediate family in the Civil
War and must move to Virginia. He will be living
with an uncle who refused to fight in the war.
1989 Anthony
Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave
by Virginia Hamilton. A biography of Anthony Burns,
who escaped from slavery and was recaptured back into
slavery. The biography combines fact and fiction, with
an afterward by the author to assist the reader in distinguishing
between the two. Also included are selections from the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
1988 Lincoln:
A Photobiography by Russell Freedman. Awarded the
Newbery Medal in 1988, this biography of Lincoln includes
numerous photographs and fascinating facts about his
life.
1987 After
the Dancing Days by Margaret Rostkowski. Set in
rural Kansas in World War I, a 13-year-old girl
visits wounded soldiers in a veterans' hospital.
Against her mother's wishes, Annie continues her
visits and befriends a young soldier who is badly
burned.
1986 Sarah,
Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. Two young
prairie children await the arrival of their father's
mail-order bride. This Newbery Medal book is a sensitive
story about loss and acceptance.
1985 In
the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette
Bao Lord. Shirley Temple Wong arrives in America in
the Year of the Boar (1947) and discovers the delights
of baseball. A humorous look at a young immigrant's
acclimation to America.
1984 Who Speaks
for Wolf? by Paula Underwood Spencer. A Native-American
oral tradition is captured in verse and illustrated
with paintings and drawings. A grandfather instructs
his grandson in how their people came to understand
the value of living in harmony with each other and nature.
1983 Jewish
Americans: A History in Their Words by Milton
Meltzer. The story of Jewish Americans is conveyed
in their own words through letters, speeches, interviews
and various other means. Each section is introduced
with historical information which provides the framework
for the personal narratives.
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