by Cathy Marie HakeConditional Recommendation: After the death of her mother, bumbling and intelligent Ruth Caldwell travels to California to find her father but instead finds an unexpected inheritance hanging in the balance and a whole cast of characters to go with it.
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
by Kirby LarsonConditional Recommendation: 16-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks travels to Montana to try her hand at homesteading and prove up a claim of land so that she can have a place to call home.
Awards: Newbery Medal (2007), Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (2008), Montana Book Award (2006), California Young Readers Medal for Middle School/Junior High (2009), Missouri Gateway Readers Award (2009)
by Kate DiCamilloUnconditional Recommendation: With the help of a funny stray dog, Opal makes friends in her new town.
Awards: Newbery Honor (2001)
by Kate DiCamilloConditional Recommendation: An emotional tale of a self-centered china rabbit who learns to love despite experiencing a harsh world.
Awards: Zilveren Griffel (2007), Grand Canyon Reader Award for Intermediate Book (2008), Sunshine State Young Readers Award for Grades 3-5 (2007), Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader’s Choice Award for Junior (2009), Charlie May Simon Children’s Book Award (2009), Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry (2006), The Magnolia Award (2010), Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award Nominee (2008), Hea Lasteraamat (2019)
by Kate DiCamilloConditional Recommendation: With the help of a feisty friend and a caged tiger, a 12-year-old boy learns how to process his bottled-up grief.
Awards: Charlie May Simon Children’s Book Award Nominee (2004), National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature (2001)
by Janette Oke & T. Davis BunnUnconditional Recommendation: In Acadia, a chance meeting creates a strong bond of friendship and faith between an Englishwoman and a Frenchwoman during a time of hostilities and impending war between their homelands.
Awards: Christy Award for North American Historical (2000)
by Pam Muñoz RyanUnconditional Recommendation: When 13-year-old Esperanza moves from a ranch in Mexico to a farm labor camp in California, she learns to rise above her circumstances.
Awards: Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for Older Children (2001), California Young Readers Medal for Middle School/Junior High (2003), Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children’s Literature (2001), Pura Belpré Award for Narrative (2002)
by Janette OkeUnconditional Recommendation: When Marty’s husband dies suddenly and she’s forced to marry a stranger to survive in the West, she comes to learn that love between neighbors, man and woman, and even God sometimes comes softly.
Genre: Historical Christian Romance