Vermont Historical Society

The Black Bonnet by Louella Bryant (1996)

Historical fiction, chapter book (149 pages), grades 5-8

Charity and Bea have escaped slavery and are travelling through Vermont to reach freedom in Canada.  Set in the 1850s.

$12.95

Available from the VHS Lending Library.

Daisy and the Doll by Michael Medearis and Angela Shelf Medearis (2000)

Historical fiction, picture book (30 pages), grades K-3

Based on the true story of Daisy Turner, an 8 year old African-American girl who lived in Grafton in 1891. Pulbished by the Vermont Folklife Center.

$14.95

Teachers & Parents: additional resources (outside link)

The Dewey Boy by Earline V. Marsh (2012)

Historical fiction, chapter book (84 pages), grades 3-6

Before George Dewey grew up to be an admiral in the US navy, he spent the summer of 1846 on his cousins' farm.

$12.95

Jip, His Story by Katherine Paterson (1996)

Historical fiction, chapter book (181 pages), grades 5-8

Jip lives on the town poor farm in Vermont in the 1850s after being abandoned by his family. 

$6.99

Available from the VHS Lending Library.

Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry (1946)

Historical fiction, chapter book (170 pages), grades 4-8

Justin Morgan's horse "Little Bub" is stronger and faster than other Vermont horses in the late 1700s.  

$5.99

Lyddie by Katherine Paterson (1991)

Historical fiction, chapter book (182 pages), grades 5-8

Lyddie leaves Vermont to work in the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts in the 1840s to earn money to support herself and her poor family.

$6.99

Available from the VHS Lending Library.

Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel by Leslie Connor (2004)

Historical fiction, picture book (32 pages), grades 1-4

Although not specifically set in Vermont, this books tells the story of Miss Bridie, an immigrant who moves first to New York City and then to a farm in the mid 1800s.

$16.99

Mr. Lincoln's Drummer by G. Clifton Wisler (1997)

Historical fiction, chapter book (131 pages), grades 5-7

Based on the story of Vermonter Willie Johnston, an 11 year old drummer boy in the Union Army during the Civil War.

$5.99

Available from the VHS Lending Library.

Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman (2002)

Non-fiction, chapter book (80 pages), grades 4-8

Phineas Gage was working to build the railroad through Cavendish in 1848 when a large tamping iron blasted through his head.  Read about his survival and his life with a brain injury.

$9.95

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (1998)

Non-fiction, picture book (30 pages), grades K-4

The biography of Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, a Vermonter who figured out how to photograph snowflakes in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

$7.99