Karen Schwabach – författare

A perfect Common Core tie-in, The Hope Chest includes nonfiction backmatter with period photographs, historical notes about the suffrage movement, and a Voting in America timeline. It''s also a New York State Curriculum title for fourth grade.Eleven-year-old Violet has one goal in mind when she runs away from home: to find her sister, Chloe. Violet’s parents said Chloe had turned into the Wrong Sort of Person, but Violet knew better. The only problem is that Chloe’s not in New York anymore. She''s moved on to Tennesee where she''s fighting for the right of women to vote. As Violet''s journey grows longer, her single-minded pursuit of reuniting with her sister changes. Before long she is standing side-by-side with her new friends—suffragists, socialists, and colored people—the type of people whom her parents would not approve. But if Violet’s becoming the Wrong Sort of Person, why does it feel just right? This stirring depiction of the very end of the women''s suffrage battle in America is sure to please readers who like their historical fiction fast-paced and action-packed. American Girls fans will fall hard for Violet and her less-than-proper friends.From the Hardcover edition.

A perfect Common Core tie-in, A Pickpocket''s Tale includes nonfiction backmatter with a historical map of New York City in 1730, a glossary of period vocabulary words, and an explanatory note titled "How Much of This Story Is True?"Molly Abraham is a kinchin mort: a ten-year-old thief trying not to starve on the London streets. But everything changes for Molly when she is sentenced to be transported to the American colonies. She becomes an indentured servant to a kind Jewish family in New York City, and Molly has it good. So why is it that all she wants to do is go back to London? Karen Schwabach uses richly detailed descriptions and authentic period language to bring history to life. She skillfully explores the subjects of Jewish culture in Colonial America and London street culture in this gritty yet heartwarming debut novel.From the Hardcover edition.

A perfect Common Core tie-in, Storm Before Atlanta includes backmatter with historical notes on slavery and underage soldiers in the Civil War, as well as a list of selected sources.At a time when most people have grown weary of the war between the states, two young children are desperate to find their way to the battlefields. Jeremy DeGroot wants nothing more than to join a troop as a drummer boy. For Dulcie, a runaway slave, freedom means she must head directly toward the fighting in the hopes that she''ll become "contraband," that is, property of the Union troops. Both Jeremy and Dulcie find a place with the 107th New York Volunteer Regiment and even start to forge a friendship. But all that is threatened when they keep crossing paths with the mysterious Charlie, a young Confederate soldier, who may look like the enemy but feels more like a friend. Young readers who like their fiction filled with exciting historical details, rich characters, and action-packed adventures will be drawn to The Storm Before Atlanta.From the Hardcover edition.