Skip to Main Content

6 Book Bingo 2023

Reading Suggestions From The BC Library: A Book About the Past

Nine, Ten

Setting: September 2001, USA

Relates how the lives of four children living in different parts of the country intersect and are affected by the events of September 11, 2001.

Call Number: HISTORICAL FIC BAS

Alex and Eliza

Setting: American Revolution in New York

As battle cries of the American Revolution echo in the distance, servants flutter about preparing for one of New York society's biggest events: the Schuylers' grand ball. Descended from two of the oldest and most distinguished bloodlines in New York, the Schuylers are proud to be one of their fledgling country's founding families, and even prouder still of their three daughters--Angelica, with her razor-sharp wit; Peggy, with her dazzling looks; and Eliza, whose beauty and charm rival those of both her sisters, though she'd rather be aiding the colonists' cause than dressing up for some silly ball. Still, Eliza can barely contain her excitement when she hears of the arrival of one Alexander Hamilton, a mysterious, rakish young colonel and General George Washington's right-hand man. And when Alex and Eliza meet that fateful night, so begins an epic love story that would forever change the course of American history.

Call Number: HISTORICAL FIC DE

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Setting: 1935 on Alcatraz Island

A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Call Number: HISTORICAL FIC CHO ► Find eBook in Sora 

The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963

Setting: 1960s Civil Rights Era in Alabama

The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.

Call No: HISTORICAL FIC CUR

Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge

Setting: 1790s in Washington, Pennsylvania, and New England

A narrative of Ona Judge, George and Martha Washington's runaway slave, who risked everything for freedom.

Call Number: B JUDGE

Ahimsa

Setting: 1940s in India

In 1942, when Mahatma Gandhi asks Indians to give one family member to the freedom movement, ten-year-old Anjali is devastated to think of her father risking his life for the freedom struggle. But it turns out he isn't the one joining. Anjali's mother is. And with this change comes many more adjustments designed to improve their country and use. When Anjali's mother is jailed, Anjali must step out of her comfort zone to take over her mother's work, ensuring that her little part of the independence movement is completed.

Call No: HISTORICAL FIC KEL

Planet Earth Is Blue

Setting: 1986, USA

Autistic and nearly nonverbal, twelve-year-old Nova is happy in her new foster home and school, but eagerly anticipates the 1986 Challenger launch, for which her sister, Bridget, promised to return.

Call Number: HISTORICAL FIC PAN ► Find eBook in Sora 

One Crazy Summer

Setting: 1960s in Oakland, California

In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

Call Number: HISTORICAL FIC GAR ► Find eBook in Sora 

The Book Thief

Setting: World War II in Germany

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

Call Number: YA FIC ZUS ► Find eBook in Sora 

A Long Way from Chicago

Setting: 1920s-1030s in Illinois

What happens when Joey and his sister, Mary Alice--two city slickers from Chicago--make their annual summer visits to Grandma Dowdel's seemingly sleepy Illinois town? August 1929: They see their first corpse, and he isn't resting easy. August 1930: The Cowgill boys terrorize the town, and Grandma fights back. August 1931: Joey and Mary Alice help Grandma trespass, poach, catch the sheriff in his underwear, and feed the hungry--all in one day.   And there's more, as Joey and Mary Alice make seven summer trips to Grandma's--each one funnier than the year before--in self-contained chapters that readers can enjoy as short stories or take together for a rip-roaringly good novel.

Call Number: HISTORICAL FIC PEC