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AMERIKIDS^® Books   

AMERIKIDS^® is a series of historical action adventure novels depicting the important roles played by young people in American history. Here is a collection of novels about children who met the challenges of hardship and danger with true courage. History is more enduring when celebrated through the eyes of children, and after all what is history about, if not but for its enduring stories? Each book is based on actual historical characters and events in history, filled with fictionalized characters and atmospheres that make stories come alive. Where possible, the novels relate actual historical events as closely as possible.

Each 140 page book, approximately 35,000 words, tells about a hero or heroine's story during a specific point in history. Each story and character is chosen for its importance in forming and illustrating the unique identity of the United States and its heritage. Each historical novel is an action packed adventure story with real-life heroes and heroines who, much like children today, find themselves able to draw on their inner resources and behave maturely during turbulent times.   Times that would be confusing for adults, let alone children.

The first four books in the AMERIKIDS series dramatize the lives of teenagers who contributed to four important turning points in American history:

During these times, independent and responsible youngsters often contributed as much as any grown man or woman to the historical events that shaped our country. In history and legend, these children are often mentioned in a casual way. This series of  novels dramatizes the lives of these heroic kids who contributed to our nation's history, and for the first time, identifies their important contributions to history.

AMERIKIDS is a series with appeal to both trade and educational markets. Eight to eighteen year-olds like to read adventure stories with real-life heroes. Parents and teachers will value the sense of history this will give their readers. Thus, we see the great potential for both hardcover and paperback editions.

AMERIKIDS is a series about kids who made a difference.  These books will give kids a sense of self-worth, empowerment, and knowledge, that they too, can make a difference in our world.

During the last decade, Americans have come to a renewed appreciation of American history. Since the celebration of our 200th birthday in 1976, America continues to mark the bicentennials of major achievements in the nation's early development. Kids will be studying this and the media attention that focused on the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights (1991), George Washington's Inauguration (1990), and the up and coming Lewis and Clark Expedition( 2004). We are finally a people with a sense of time and purpose. Yet what does the average eight to eighteen year old really know about the underlying forces that shaped our nation?

AMERIKIDS will give them an entertaining way to learn, reliving the lives of protagonists much like themselves. These books will give their readers a sense of what it means to be a young person making American history.

There is no trade series currently on the market documenting the contribution of America's adolescents. Single titles like JOHNNY TREMAIN, THE YEARLING, and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE prove that, with good stories and excellent writing, children willingly enter into the excitement of the history that formed this Country. The TIME TRAVELER series has demonstrated that history can be packaged as popular exciting stories. Instead of focusing on the well-known adult historical figures kids already know, our series will introduce them to young unsung heroes they can relate to, thereby giving history that same kind of immediacy. In this regard, AMERIKIDS is first.

PLOT SYNOPSES

The children of the American Revolution fought hard for the independence of their brand-new country. Their lives were difficult and sometimes frightening ,but this gave them a rare opportunity for adventure, as they helped to battle the British, German mercenaries, and Indians.  SIBYL AND THE SPY, is based on the screenplay, of the early years of  Sibyl Ludington and Enoch Crosby, local heroes of Dutchess and Putnam Counties in New York State. At the time the novel opens, Sibyl is the 16 year old daughter of a colonel in the County Militia. She is remembered for a ride she made on April 26, 1777, venturing through darkness and unimaginable danger in order to warn her father's troops that the British were marching on the countryside. Her forty mile ride, much longer and more difficult than Paul Revere's ride, was commemorated on a Bicentennial stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

While SIBYL AND THE SPY takes place in the wild revolutionary countryside, THE RISING SONS is set in the sophisticated city of Philadelphia and its environs. During the time the U.S. Constitution freed the country's young by outlawing the apprentice system, a holdover from old British customs, others continued to indenture young people as servants for as long as seven years.

THE RISING SONS is the story of a group of male and female apprentices who grew up during the days of the nation's first real independence and were able to make use of the newly created judicial system to free themselves and other youngsters from their former oppressive system. Each young person was apprenticed or indentured to a master of a different craft. In our story they, nonetheless, form a fun-loving, prank-playing group of youngsters who are viewed by their masters as intractable rebels. Frequently, the masters feel they have no alternative but to answer their apprentice's wild energy with brutality under the guise of discipline.

William Cody was one of a wild breed of  youngsters. Legend has it that his mother was told by a fortune teller, even before he was born, that he would be famous. His mother even hoped he would grow up to be President. Yet, not even his mother suspected that Bill Cody would become a beloved American legend. After all, William (Buffalo Bill Cody), missed the first buffalo he ever tried to shoot! Yet, despite a few false starts, it wasn't long before young Bill Cody joined a wagon train from Iowa to Kansas and gained early celebrity status as the youngest Indian fighter in the country. After the death of his father, young Bill was forced to help support his mother and went on to make his mark in the world. At just fourteen, he became the youngest rider ever for the newly established Pony Express.

The rise of the trade unions, most of them in the garment industry, during the early decades of this century, is the story of heroism and stumbling, partial victories and major setbacks, as well as great personal sacrifice through labor strikes.

Eighteen year old Claire Lemlich came from a large impoverished family, all of whose members worked in the garment trade. Her parents had arrived from Poland with nothing in their pockets and found themselves a small cramped apartment on New York's lower East Side. As soon as young Claire was able, she started working in cold, cramped, dark factories. Her work day was 12 hours long and the little girl rarely saw the sun.

During a labor strike's end on February 10, 1910, important concessions had been negotiated for the garment workers. Supplies were allocated without charge, and the work week was cut to 52 hours. Claire Lemlich had become a working class hero, standing up for what she believed despite the protests of her family.