Discover Earth’s Special Places in the Continental U.S.
Reading List for Ages 10 to 13
United States Series
State Shapesseries
Black Dog &Leventhal Publishers, 2000-2010
From Sea to Shining Seasecond series
Scholastic, 2008-2009
Stories from Where We Live
Essays and poetry bring the regions of the United States to life. Each anthology features an appendix, which includes information about the region’s habitats, animals and plants, and parks and preserves.
The Great Lakes
Sara St. Antoine and Trudy Nicholson (Editor), 2003, Milkweed Editions, ISBN: 1571316396
The Great North American Prairie
Sara St. Antoine (Editor), 2001, Milkweed Editions, ISBN: 1571316302
The South Atlantic Coast and Piedmont
Sara St. Antoine and Trudy Nicholson, 2006, Milkweed Editions, ISBN: 1571316647
The California Coast
Sara St. Antoine, 2005, Milkweed Editions, ISBN: 1571316531
The North Atlantic Coast
Sara St. Antoine, 2004, Milkweed Editions, ISBN: 1571316434
The Gulf Coast
Trudy Nicholson, Paul Mirocha, Katrinka Moore, and Sara St. Antoine (Editor), 2002, Milkweed Editions, ISBN: 1571316361
New England/Mid-Atlantic
CT, DE, DC, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VA, VT, WV
Nonfiction
District of Columbia: Past and Present [District of Columbia]
Liz Sonneborn, Rosen Publishing Group, 2011, ISBN: 1435895282
Let the River Run Silver Again!How One School Helped Return the American Shad to the Potomac River –And HowYou Too Can Help Protect and Restore Our Living Waters[Maryland]
Sandy Burk, McDonald and Woodward Publishing Company, 2005, ISBN: 0939923955
Fire! My Parents’ Story [Vermont]
Jessie Haas, Greenwillow Books, 1998, ISBN: 0688152031
Fiction
A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-32 [New Hampshire]
Joan Blos, Atheneum, 1990, ISBN: 068971419X
The Adventures of Henry Reed Collection [New Jersey]
Keith Robertson, Dell, 1980, ISBN: 0440435587
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler[New York]
E. L. Koningsburg, Atheneum, 2007, ISBN: 1416949755
Dear America: The Winter of Red Snow [Pennsylvania]
Kristiana Gregory, Scholastic Press, 2010, ISBN: 0545238021
Fritter’s Spring: A Pocono Rabbit’s Tale [Pennsylvania]
Lisa Bauman Wispe, Infinity Press, 2010, ISBN: 0741457962
Finding Providence: The Story of Roger Williams [Rhode Island]
Avi, HarperCollins, 1997, ISBN: 0064442160
Shades of Gray [Virginia]
Carolyn Reeder, Aladdin, 1999, ISBN: 0689826966
A Blue-Eyed Daisy[West Virginia]
Cynthia Rylant, Atheneum, 2001, ISBN: 0689844956
The Witch of Blackbird Pond [Connecticut]
Elizabeth Speare, Sandpiper, 2011, ISBN: 0547550294
26 Fairmount Avenue
Tomie dePaola, Putnam Juvenile, 1999, ISBN: 039923246X
Maggie Valley Novels (Gentle's Holler, Louisiana's Song; Jessie's Mountain)
KerryMadden, 2007-8
The Legend of Buddy Bush
Shelia P. Moses, Simon Pulse, 2005, ISBN: 1416907165
Christy
Catherine Marshall, Avon, 2006, ISBN: 0380001411
Southeast
AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN
Nonfiction
All Over Alabama [Alabama]
Laurie Parker, Quail Ridge Press, 1997, 0937552895
Mary on Horseback: Three Mountain Stories [Kentucky]
Rosemary Wells, Puffin, 2000, 014130815X
Fiction
Blown Away! [Florida]
Joan Hiatt Harlow, Margaret K. McElderry Publishing, 2007, 1416907823
Cole Family Christmas[Kentucky]
Jennifer Liu Bryan, Next Chapter Press, 2008, 0981626505
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry[Mississippi]
Mildred Taylor, Puffin, 2004, 0142401129
Return to Bitter Creek [North Carolina]
Doris Buchanan Smith, Puffin, 1988, 014032223X
Where the Lilies Bloom [North Carolina]
Bill and Vera Cleaver, HarperTeen, 1989, 0064470059
The Secret of Gumbo Grove[South Carolina]
Eleanora Tate, Perfection Learning, 2001, 0812470796
The Granny Curse and Other Ghosts and Legends from East Tennessee[Tennessee]
Randy Russell and Janet Barnett, John F.Blair Publishers, 2011, 0895871858
Alabama Moon
Watt Key, Square Fish, 2010, ISBN: 0312644809
Hoot
Carl Hiaasen, Yearling, 2005, ISBN: 0440419395
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain, Simon & Brown, 2011, ISBN: 1613821050
Chasing Redbird
Sharon Creech, HarperCollins, 1998, ISBN: 0064406962
Walk Two Moons
Sharon Creech, HarperTeen, 2003, ISBN: 0060560134
South
AR, LA, OK, TX
Nonfiction
Buried Treasures of the Ozarks [Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma]
W. C. Jameson, August House, 2006, 0874831067
Fiction
Beautiful Land: A Story of the Oklahoma Land Rush[Oklahoma]
Nancy Antle, Puffin, 1997, 0140368086
Devil Storm[Texas]
Theresa Nelson, iUniverse, 2000, 0595144136
A Paradise Called Texas[Texas]
Janice Shefelman, Eakin Press, 1987, 0890155062
Spooky Texas Tales[Texas]
Tim Tingle and Doc Moore, Texas Tech University Press, 2005, 0896725650
More Spooky Texas Tales[Texas]
Tim Tingle and Doc Moore, Texas Tech University Press, 2010, 0896727009
Midwest/Ohio Valley
IL, IN, IO, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, SD, WI
Nonfiction
Log Cabin in the Woods: A True Story about a Pioneer Boy [Indiana]
Joanne Lander Henry, Clerisy Press, 2002, 157860107X
Superstorms: Extreme Weather in the Heart of the Heartland [Iowa]
Terry Swails, Farcountry Press, 2005, 1560373326
Dinomummy: The Life, Death and Discovery of Dakota, a Dinosaur from Hell Creek [North Dakota]
Phillip Manning, Kingfisher, 2007, 0753460475
Under Ohio: The Story of Ohio’s Rocks and Fossils [Ohio]
Charles Ferguson Barker, Ohio University Press, 2007, 082141755X
This Tender Place: The Story of a Wetland Year [Wisconsin]
Laurie Lawlor, University of Wisconsin Press, 2007, 0299214648
Fiction
A Long Way from Chicago[Illinois]
Richard Peck, Puffin, 2004, 0142401102
The School at Crooked Creek[Indiana]
Laurie Lawlor, Holiday House, 2004, 082341812X
Rose’s Journal: The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression [Kansas]
Marissa Moss, Sandpiper, 2003, 0152046054
Magical Adventures in Michigan [Michigan]
Leigh Arrathoon, Paint Creek Press, 2003, 1893047105
Popcorn Days and Buttermilk Nights[Minnesota]
Gary Paulsen, Puffin, 1989, 0140342044
The Legend of Zoey[Missouri]
Candy Moonshower, Yearling, 2007, 0440239249
Prairie Songs[Nebraska]
Pam Conrad, Peter Smith Publishing, 1995, 0844668125
Addie Across the Prairie[North and South Dakota]
Laurie Lawlor, Aladdin, 1991, 0671701479
The Jumping-Off Place [South Dakota]
Marian Hurd McNeely, South Dakota State Historical Society, 2008, 0979894042
Dust of the Earth [South Dakota]
Vera and Bill Cleaver, Harper, 1975, 0451076583
The Island [Wisconsin]
Gary Paulsen, Scholastic Paperbacks, 2006, 0439786622
High Plains
Eastern CO, Western KS, Western NE, Eastern NM, Western OK, Southwest SD, NW TX, Southeast WY
Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at the Weedpatch Camp [High Plains]
Jerry Stanley, Crown Books for Young Readers, 1993, 0517880946
Ages 9 - 12
Nonfiction
Thunder & Mud: A Pioneer Childhood on the Prairie [High Plains]
Julia Brown Tobias, High Plains Press, 1996, 0931271290
Young adult
Nonfiction
One Day in the Prairie [High Plains]
Jean Craighead George, HarperCollins, 1996, 0064420396
Ages 9 - 12
Nonfiction
Geology of the Great Plains and Mountain West: Investigate How the Earth Was Formed With 15Projects [GreatPlains]
Cynthia Light Brown, Nomad Press, 2011, 1936313839
Ages 9 – 12
Nonfiction
The Little HouseBooks
Laura Ingalls Wilder, HarperCollins, 2008
Southwest
AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, UT
Nonfiction
Katie of the Sonoran Desert [Arizona]
Kate Jackson, Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum Press, 2009, 1886679150
Saguaro Moon: A Desert Journal [Arizona]
Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini, Dawn Publications, 2002, 1584690364
Native Ways: California Indian Stories and Memories [California]
Malcolm Margolin and Yolanda Montijo, Heyday Books, 1995, 0930588738
Tarnished Legacy: The Story of the Comstock Lode [Nevada]
Ellen Hopkins, Perfection Learning, 2001, 0780797027
Springs in the Desert: A Kid’s History of Las Vegas [Nevada]
Jonathan Peters, Stephens Press, 2010, 1932173536
Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age [Utah]
Deborah Kogan Ray, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010, 0374317895
Geology of the Desert Southwest: Investigate How the Earth Was Formed With 15 Projects
Cynthia Light Brown, Nomad Press, 2011, 1936313405
Fiction
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O'Dell, Sandpiper, 2010, ISBN: 0547328613
Weedflower
Cynthia Kadohata, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009, ISBN: 1416975667
Gaia Girlsbooks
Lee Wells, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007
The Far Side of the Moon [California]
Jonathan Pearce, Balona Books, 2004, 1594110115
Bearstone[Colorado]
Will Hobbs, Aladdin, 2004, 068987071X
Crossing the Colorado Rockies, 1864[Colorado]
Laurie Lawlor, Aladdin, 2001, 0671775723
The Boy Who Made Dragonfly: A Zuni Myth [New Mexico]
Tony Hillerman, University of New Mexico Press, 1993, 0826309100
The Day It Snowed Tortillas[New Mexico]
Joe Hayes, CincoPuntos Press, 2003, 0938317768
Northwest
ID, MT, OR, WA, WY
Nonfiction
Geology of the Pacific Northwest: Investigate How the Earth Was Formed With 15 Projects
Cynthia Light Brown, Nomad Press, 2011, ISBN: 1936313383
Fiction
Hattie Big Sky
Kirby Larson, Yearling, 2008, ISBN: 0385735952
West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi, New York to Idaho Territory, 1883[Idaho]
JimMurphy, Scholastic, 1998, 0590738887
Billy Blackfeet in the Rockies: A Story from History [Montana]
Marc Simmons, University of New MexicoPress, 2006, 0826341055
Facing West: A Story of the Oregon Trail[Oregon]
Kathleen Kudlinski, Puffin, 1996, 0590673017
Sarah and Me and the Lady from the Sea[Washington]
Patricia Beatty, Beech Tree, 1994, 0688136265
Stone Fox[Wyoming]
John Gardiner, HarperCollins, 1992, 0064401324
Alaska and Hawaii
AK, HI
Nonfiction
Hawaii is a Rainbow [Hawaii]
Stephanie Feeney, University of Hawaii Press, 1980, 0824810074
Natural Hawai’i: An Inquisitive Kid’s Guide [Hawaii]
Dana Rozier, Dot Dot Books, 2011, 0967075017
Fiction
Julie of the Wolves [Alaska]
Jean Craighead George, Harper Teen, 2003, 0060540958