Ten-year-old Willie Hatton was excited to visit his father at the Avondale Mine on the morning of September 6, 1869. Sadly, Willie would die in his father's arms that day, and so would 108 other miners, all victims of a horrific fire that tore through the shaft, trapping the men and boys and blocking the only exit. The communities of the Wyoming Valley know firsthand the human cost of the anthracite industry. From a cave-in at Twin Shaft to an explosion at the Baltimore Tunnel to the Susqu...

Although history records the hurricane that struck northeastern Pennsylvania in June 1972 as "Agnes," residents of the Wyoming Valley affected by the storm and the resulting damage simply refer to it as "the flood." As the Susquehanna River rose to over 40 feet and left her banks, citizens could do nothing but watch as their lives were forever changed. A raging torrent unearthed dozens of previously resting bodies in the Forty Fort Cemetery, houses were knocked off their foundations or swe...

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel plus three other classic picture book favorites, in one collection.The four complete and unabridged picture books by Virginia Lee Burton in this volume are:Mike Mulligan and His Steam ShovelThe Little House (a Caldecott Medal winner)Katy and the Big SnowMaybelle the Cable CarVirginia Lee Burton wrote and illustrated stories that...

In this Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year, Paula Young Shelton, daughter of Civil Rights activist Andrew Young, brings a child’s unique perspective to an important chapter in America’s history. Paula grew up in the deep south, in a world where whites had and blacks did not. With an activist father and a community of leaders surrounding her, including Uncle Martin (Martin Luther King), Paula watched and listened to the struggles, eventually joining with her f...

In Bus Stop, Ruby Fay Burford, a Black domestic worker employed in the homes of wealthy white Texas families, shares her amazing life story. She vividly recounts her early family life as an African American woman growing up in rural East Texas, one of the more staunchly segregated areas of the US. She begins her story with the accidental meeting at a bus stop of the man she would marry, Frank Burford. She knew from that day that he was going to be her husbandher l...

Graceful Lives summarizes the family history and descendents of William and Grace Lassey--parents of the authors. Th ey were both born and raised in western North Dakota, where their parents homesteaded in the early 20th Century. Th eir younger married years were a major challenge, as they tried to make a living on a farm in the depths of the Great Depression, while raising their children. Th ey overcame great odds to eventually prosper, while contributing mightily to their family, communi...

Open a copy of the Information Please Almanac and turn to the chapter on famous people. 4000 names and you won't know hardly any. But what about names everyone knows? Pillsbury, Kellogg, Gerber. Nowhere to be found. How many names are more famous than Howard Johnson or Oscar Mayer? But who were these folks? Let's take a look at the men behind the names we see keeping up the house.

In the northwestern United States, the summer of 1910 was the driest anyone had seen in a long time. The weather was extremely hot and windy. Crops everywhere were drying up. Then in August the region faced one of the biggest forest fires in U.S. history. Will you lead the fight to battle the fires and save your hometown? Can you save others and escape before the town is consumed by flames? Will you flee with your mother to find safety on a train? With dozens of possible choices, YOU will ...

This Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book and ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book provides a riveting brick-by-brick account of how one of the most amazing accomplishments in American architecture came to be. It’s 1930 and times are tough for Pop and his son. But look! On the corner of 34th Street and 5th Avenue, a building straight and simple as a pencil is being built in record time. Hundreds of men are leveling, shoveling, hauling. They’re hoisting 60,000 tons of steal, stacking 10 m...

FAMILY SECRETS & LIESBy DJ EveretteLocal Author discovers murder, mystery and achievement in family tree Before Bonnie & Clyde in 1934-35, there was Gramma & Glenn during Prohibition from 1928-31. Gramma, also called The Blonde Menace, the Gungirl and Iron Irene, stole autos in Ohio, robbed fuel stations in West Virginia, Indiana and Illinois, stuck up banks in Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas and stole from retail stores and individuals across the west, kidnapping and murderi...

This book is about those relatives that immigrated from Norway, Denmark and Germany, their history, culture and the difficulties they encountered living in their respective countries. It ranged from economic recessions, depressions, unemployment and lack of opportunity. Some experienced the ravages of World War II. They told horrific circumstances of parents and how it was seen through the eyes of young children. In all cases immigration seemed like a solution to the problems with a hope f...

The Tragedy at the Loomis Street Crossing After five years of intense research, Author Chuck Spinner has written the definitive story of the Naperville Train Wreck of April 25, 1946. He has uncovered the histories of the 45 victims of the tragedy, interviewed two surviving eye witnesses of the event, and talked with survivors and helpers at the scene. His family lived just a block from the crossing where the accident occurred. Spinner was born at St. Charles Hospital in Aurora, Illinois on...