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On July 29, 1914, the world's peace was shattered as the artillery of the Austro-Hungarian Empire began shelling the troops of the country to its south. What followed was like a row of falling dominoes as one European country after another rushed to war. Soon most of Europe was fighting in this cala... More

Jimmy Murphy’s sixth grade teacher, Sister Angelica Rose, is out to get him. She humiliates him in class and punishes him when he hasn’t done anything wrong. She even forces him to perform onstage with second-graders, wearing a giant green banana costume. A classic underachiever with a talent for tr... More

On June 3, 1863, 19-year-old Confederate Lieutenant John Dooley prepared to march on Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Thomas Galway, a 17-year-old corporal in the Union army, waited for the battle to begin. Drawing on the written accounts of these young soldiers, Murphy traces the circumstances leading to ... More

First-hand accounts that include diary entries and personal letters describe the experiences of boys, sixteen years old or younger, who fought in the Civil War.... More

Snow began falling over New York City on March 12, 1888. All around town, people struggled along slippery streets and sidewalks -- some seeking the warmth of their homes, some to get to work or to care for the less fortunate, and some to experience what they assumed would be the last little snowfall... More

In this inspiring biography, critically acclaimed author Jim Murphy tells the unique story of Pascal D'Angelo, who came to America in 1910 at the age of sixteen. Like so many immigrants from southern Italy and other parts of Europe, he took on the only job available to him, that of a manual laborer ... More

In the mid-1800s, with both her father and her uncle in jail on an assault charge, Maggie, her brother, and her ailing mother rush their barge along the Erie Canal to deliver their heavy cargo or lose everything.... More

Every account of the American Revolution mentions Benedict Arnold and brands him--correctly--as a traitor. There's no question that Arnold, an American army officer, switched his loyalty to the British side. Over the years, however, historians, partisans, and gossips have added to Arnold's unsavory ... More

In the summer of 1776, Joseph Plumb Martin was a fifteen-year-old Connecticut farm boy who considered himself "as warm a patriot as the best of them." He enlisted that July and stayed in the revolutionary army until hostilities ended in 1783. Martin fought under Washington, Lafayette, and Steuben. H... More

An account of Robert Louis Stevenson's twelve day journey from New York to California in 1879, interwoven with a history of the building of the transcontinental railroad and the settling of the West.... More

By the flow of the inland river, when the fleets of iron have fled, Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver, Asleep are the ranks of the dead: Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the Judgment Day: Under the one, the Blue, Under the other, the Gray.... More

Sarah Jane Price keeps a diary as a promise to her late father, the former school teacher in Broken Bow Nebraska. She accounts her struggle to gain acceptance as the new teacher even though she is so young. She tells of the harshness of the weather, her trials at balancing relationships between he... More

Two-time Newbery Honor Book author has written an amazing account of one of America's most famous hoaxes!<P><P> When a 10-foot tall purported "petrified man" is unearthed from a backyard in upstate New York in 1869, the discovery immediately turns into a spectacle of epic proportions. News of the... More

<P>Ignorant to the bitter realities of military life, 16-year-old James enlists in the Union Army at the dawn of the Civil War. <P>When his lieutenant assigns him to be the company historian of the G Company of the 122nd Regiment, New York Volunteers, he is initially at a loss as to what exactly h... More

An account of the Great Chicago Fire combines archival photographs and drawings with personal accounts by its survivors and historical documents.... More

This book follows a typical day in the life of a family of Hypsilophodon, a smaller, lesser-known dinosaur whose great speed aided its survival.... More

In 1944 a groundbreaking operation repaired the congenital heart defect known as blue baby syndrome. The operation's success brought the surgeon Alfred Blalock international fame and paved the way for open-heart surgery. But the technique had been painstakingly developed by Vivien Thomas, Blalock's ... More

1793, Philadelphia. The nation's capital and the largest city in North America is devastated by an apparently incurable disease, cause unknown...<P><P> In a powerful, dramatic narrative, critically acclaimed author Jim Murphy describes the illness known as yellow fever and the toll it took on the... More

First-hand accounts that include diary entries and personal letters describe the experiences of boys, sixteen years old or younger, who fought in the Civil War.... More

Philadelphia is known as the home of vibrant colonial history: the Liberty Bell, the Betsy Ross House, and Independence Hall. But the City of Brotherly Love is also home to—and less well known for—its quirky history. The country’s first quarantine station was located here. One of Philly’s clocks has... More

A hair-cutting machine, a used gum receptacle, jumping shoes, and more of the strangest inventions ever! A hat that can tip itself. A suitcase that turns into a bathtub. A pair of protective eyeglasses for chickens. These are just three of the hundreds of unusual inventions that people have dreamed... More

A talking watch. An overcoat for two. A pair of pants for poodles. In his companion to Weird & Wacky Inventions, Jim Murphy shows kids some additional baffling and utterly silly inventions in the form of a guessing game that is both challenging and fun. What is a finger-supporting device used for? C... More

In the early days of whaling, whales were plentiful and it seemed that they would always fill the sea. When people realized how much money could be made from whales in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, entire species were wiped out in the rush to hunt these gentle and magnificent creatures. Th... More

The first humorous book in the Dear America series, "West to a Land of Plenty" follows an Italian girl's immigrant family as they move from New York City to a utopian community in the frontier West.... More

In 1874, Brian Doyle records in his diary how he ran away from his home in San Francisco, joined the crew of a whaling ship, and endured storms, hostile shipmates, and being stranded in the Arctic.... More