Books like Up before daybreak by Deborah Hopkinson

In 1943 Copenhagen, ten‑year‑old Annemarie Johansen helps her Jewish friend Ellen Rosen escape Nazi persecution, learning courage and resilience while navigating war‑time hardships.

A verse novel that follows a ten‑year‑old Vietnamese girl’s first year in the United States in 1975, as she navigates language, culture, bullying, and family change while yearning for home.

Sarah, Plain and Tall Saga

A war novel that follows Union private Henry Fleming as he confronts fear and shame after fleeing battle, seeking a symbolic "red badge of courage" and ultimately taking on the role of standard-bearer.

A true‑story chronicle of the University of Washington’s 1936 eight‑oar crew, whose perseverance and teamwork led them to Olympic gold amid the Great Depression and the rise of Nazi Germany.

Leon Tillage’s memoir, drawn from interviews, recounts his childhood in segregated North Carolina and his later fight in the civil‑rights movement.

A stormy tale of 1888's deadliest blizzard, with personal perspectives and historical context

A comprehensive chronicle of American history from colonization to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, viewed through a multicultural lens.

Chicago, 1871: The Great Fire

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town is a juvenile fiction set in the World War I era, exploring friendship, family and the challenges of living in a small Texas town.

A child‑friendly biography that recounts Anne Frank’s life, her diary, and the two years she spent hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, highlighting her courage and literary talent.

Jerry Spinelli shares a candid, humor‑laden memoir of his youth, charting the awkward milestones from first romance to schoolyard mishaps and his early writing ambitions.

After the Civil War, two orphaned teenage girls—one former slave, the other a plantation owner's daughter—must forge a fragile bond and navigate danger in post‑Reconstruction North Carolina.

A true‑story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis’s tragic sinking in WWII, the Navy’s cover‑up, and the unjust court‑martial of its captain—revelated decades later by a young boy who helped survivors set the record straight.

Gary Paulsen, a Minnesota dog musher, chronicles the growth of his sled dogs as they explore the northern wilderness and learn about life together.

Twelve‑year‑old Sarny endures a harsh life in slavery until a new fellow servant offers to teach her literacy, placing her in a perilous but hopeful path.

Diary of eleven‑year‑old Zlata Filipović as Sarajevo falls into war, witnessing shortages, loss and survival amid bombardments.

A young black girl shares the rhythms of her family's migrant life as they harvest cotton in central California, exploring family bonds, daily hardships, and cultural heritage.

A nonfiction account of U.S. child laborers who, from the early 19th century to the early 20th, organized strikes demanding better wages, safer work, and improved housing—highlighting both successes and struggles in industrial America.

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is best known for designing New York City's Central Park, and parks in Brooklyn, Chicago, Boston, and Washington. But before he embarked upon his career as the nation's foremost landscape architect, he was a correspondent for The New York Times, and it was under its auspices that he journeyed through the slave states in the 1850s. His day-by-day observations - including intimate accounts of the daily lives of masters and slaves, the operation of the plantation system, and the pernicious effects of slaves on all classes of society, black and white - were largely collected in the Cotton Kingdom. Published in 1861, just as the Southern states were storming out of the Union, it has been hailed ever since as singularly fair and authentic, an unparalleled account of America's "peculiar institution."

A twelve‑year‑old slave, Ann Maria Weems, escapes from her Maryland plantation with the help of a daring white man and travels the Underground Railroad to Canada, discovering independence and love along the way.