Sheila Cole

Have you ever looked at photographs of young people taken a hundred years ago and wondered what their lives were like? What were their stories? Did they go to school? To work? What happened to them when they grew up? This nonfiction book shows readers what life was like for children in times past.

"...This is a fascinating book, and also a beautiful one...." School Library Journal

Dear Diary:
My hand was shaking so badly I could hardly read it, but it was pink, pink for positive.
I can’t be pregnant.
I’m only fifteen.

In a flash, Valerie’s world comes tumbling down. She and Peter were sharing their dream. Now she and Peter share a problem...Except it turn’s out to be her problem. She lives each day with the reality Peter wants to forget - and it is she who must make the impossible choices.

Mary Anning was a real person. At the age of thirteen she discovered the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton.

“Cole... brings to life England in the early 1800s. Mary shines though as a spunky and believable heroine who, even after her historic discovery of the first complete dinosaur fossil, never really received the recognition she deserved.”

Lisa means well. She doesn't want to hurt Peggy, a quiet outsider in her sixth grade class. Too late, Lisa realizes that meaning well is not enough. It's the doing that counts.

"Will be used for classroom discussions."
Association for Childhood Education, International

Eleven-year-old Zach Barnes is determined to keep the bulldozers from rolling in a canyon that the community uses for recreation. But time is running out and he must decide how far he is willing to go to save the canyon.