Books with

Rural Appeal
Ages 10-13

J ANGLE
Angle, Kimberly Green. Hummingbird: In spite of a busy life on the family pumpkin and
watermelon farm in Jubilee, Georgia, twelve-year-old March Anne Tanner feels that something is
missing, and when Grenna, the grandmother who has helped raise her since her mother died when
she was three, also passes on, March Anne finds that she must act on her feelings of loss.
J ARMSTRO
Armstrong, William Howard. Sounder: Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed
for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to
read and through his relationship with his devoted dog Sounder.

J BAUER
Baur Marion. A Taste of Smoke: Thirteen-year-old Caitlan looks forward to the camping trip with
her older sister in the woods of northern Minnesota, but she doesn't count on the intrusion of her
sister's boyfriend or the ghost of a boy who died in the fire that destroyed the forest a century before.

J BIRDSEY
Birdseye, Tom. A Tough Nut to Crack: Raised in Portland, Oregon, Cassie adapts quickly when an
emergency brings her family to her grandfather's Kentucky farm, where she feels the spirits of her
mother and grandmother as she tries to heal the rift between her father and grandfather.
J COTTREL
Boyce, Frank Cottrell. Millions: After their mother dies, two brothers find a huge amount of money
which they must spend quickly before England switches to the new European currency, but they
disagree on what to do with it.
J CHAN
Chan, Gillian. The Carved Box: Fifteen-year-old Callum, recently arrived from Scotland, finds
comfort in the friendship of a half-starved dog and gains the courage to face life in the New World.

J CLARK
Clark, Clara Gillow. Hill Hawk Hattie: Angry and lonely after her mother dies, eleven-year-old
Hattie pretends to be a boy and joins her father on an adventure-filled rafting trip down the Delaware
River in the late 1800s to transport logs from New York to Philadelphia. (Sequel to Hattie on Her
Way)
J CLEMENTS
Clements, Andrew. Room One: A Mystery or Two: Ted Hammond, the only sixth grader in his
small Nebraska town's one-room schoolhouse, searches for clues to the disappearance of a
homeless family.

J CREECH
Creech, Sharon. Ruby Holler: Thirteen-year-old fraternal twins Dallas and Florida have grown up in
a terrible orphanage but their lives change forever when an eccentric but sweet older couple invites
them each on an adventure, beginning in an almost magical place called Ruby Holler.

J DICAMIL
DiCamillo, Kate. Because of Winn-Dixie: Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first
summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big
ugly dog Winn-Dixie.

J FRAZIER
Frazier, Neta Lohnes. The Stout-Hearted Seven: Orphaned on the Oregon Trail: In 1844 the
Sager family journeyed west; after their parents died on the Oregon Trail, the children had to fend for
themselves.
J GAIMAN
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book: Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place - he's the
only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other
cemetery residents, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their
timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade. Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and
terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead?

J HAHN
Hahn, Mary Downing. Time for Andrew: When he goes to spend the summer with his great-aunt in
the family's old house, eleven-year-old Drew is drawn eighty years into the past to trade places with
his great-great-uncle who is dying of diphtheria.

YA HOBBS
Hobbs, Will. Far North: After the destruction of their floatplane, sixteen-year-old Gabe and his friend,
Raymond, struggle to survive a winter in the wilderness of the Northwest Territories. (If you liked
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, try other books by Will Hobbs.)

J KUIJER
Kuijer, Guus. The Book of Everything: Nine-year-old Thomas receives encouragement from many
sources, including candid talks with Jesus, to help him tolerate the strict family life dictated by his
deeply-religious father.

J MEEHL
Meehl, Brian. Out of Patience: Twelve-year-old Jake Waters cannot wait to escape the small town
of Patience, Kansas, until the arrival of a cursed toilet plunger causes him to reevaluate his feelings
toward his family and its history.

J921 MOODY
Moody, Ralph. Little Britches: Ralph Moody was eight years old in 1906 when his family moved
from New Hampshire to a Colorado ranch. Through his eyes we experience the pleasures and perils
of ranching there early in the twentieth century. Auctions and roundups, family picnics, irrigation wars,
tornadoes and wind storms give authentic color to Little Britches.
J ODELL
O’Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins: The story of an Indian girl who lived alone for 18 years.
on an island.

J PARRY
Parry, Rosanne. Heart of a Shepherd. Ignatius "Brother" Alderman, nearly twelve, promises to
help his grandparents keep the family's Oregon ranch the same while his brothers are away and his
father is deployed to Iraq, but as he comes to accept the inevitability of change, he also sees the man
he is meant to be.

J PAULSEN
Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet: After a plane crash, 13-year-old Brian spends 54 days in the Canadian
wilderness, surviving with only the aid of a hatchet, and learning also to deal with his parents' divorce.
(Sequels: Brian’s Winter & The River)
J RAWLING
Rawlings, Marjorie. The Yearling: A young boy living in the Florida backwoods is forced to decide
the fate of a fawn he has lovingly raised as a pet.
YA SACHAR
Sachar, Louis. Holes: As further evidence of his family's bad fortune, which they attribute to a curse
on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where
he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.