Travel through time to meet the people and visit the places that have given Downers Grove its rich, unique heritage. On a May evening in 1832, a solitary 50-year-old man on horseback rode toward an oak grove that rose majestically from the quiet Illinois prairie. Stopping at this beautiful site, the man bent a sapling to mark his claim to the rich Illinois farmland that would be his for the settling. In that singular act, Pierce Downer founded the town that would bear his name: Downers Gro...

“Halie” Jackson grew up in poverty on the levees of New Orleans, hunting for alligators for food along the Mississippi River with her brother, Peter. But every Sunday young Mahalia sang proudly in the church choir, the youngest member at age five. She left school after eighth grade and worked as a maid to help support her family. However, her passion for singing her special brand of music known as “gospel” never waned.Praised by parents, teachers, and historians, the Young Patriots...

This is an exciting story of 11 year old Mark's adventures when he inadvertendly steps into a hole and ends up in the first century A.D. in Pompeii!Mark was stunned when he was invited by his grandparents to join them on a sightseeing trip to Italy, but he would never have dreamed how amazing the trip would be. The trip to Italy aboard a large airplane was awesome and it was unbelievable when they deboarded in Milan! It was a different world as they travelled to Venice and then on ...

Abigail's Strange Unusual Summer is a sequel to Abigail's Secrets, however they are both stand-alone stories. This book is a continuing of the Graham family. In the difficult Depression years, Uncle George was out of work and his family still lived with Abby's family. It was hard at first for Abby to share her room with Gloria, Uncle George and aunt Hester's daughter, but she didn't mind so much anymore. The house was pretty full, but it was kind of fun. Of course, there was mother and fat...

Vain and petty big city girl Alexandra Palmer is not thrilled with her family's move to Greenville, Indiana, no matter how exciting the small town's gas boom is to her industry-minded father. Once there, she finds that things are not as boring as she'd imagined, especially after she meets handsome Jim Whittaker at an otherwise dull Sunday afternoon tea.The town's gossips are kept busy talking about the antics of the Palmer and Whittaker families — from Alexandra and Jim's budding r...

ABIGAIL'S SECRET is an historical novel for young readers set in the Great Depression. The story turns on the experiences of ten-year-old Abigail. Her whole world seemed to change when all their relatives moved into their house. Well, not quite all of their relatives, but almost. These were the people who used to come for dinner and then went home. Only now, nobody went home!Uncle Mike was the first one to come to stay when he lost his job. And that was kind of fun because Uncle Mi...

Travel back in time to the boyhood of one of the most popular poets of the early twentieth century. Author of "Little Orphan Annie," "The Old Swimmin' Hole," and hundreds more poems, "Bud" Riley spent his childhood in mid-nineteenth century Indiana, where stagecoaches were a common sight, rope swings were the only thrill rides, and telling spooky stories by firelight was the best entertainment of all.Praised by parents, teachers, and historians, the Young Patriots Series is an idea...