Independence Day

Celebrate Independence Day by diving into these historical reads!

Kids

• Abraham Lincoln: Defender of the Union! by Mark Shulman; illustrated by Tom Martin
• Alamo All-Stars by Nathan Hale (Read now on OverDrive)
• The American Bison: The Buffalo’s Survival Tale by Andy Hirsch
• Betty Before X by Renée Watson and Ilyasah Shabazz (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Big Bad Ironclad! A Civil War Steamship Showdown by Nathan Hale (Read now on OverDrive)
• Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (Listen now on OverDrive)
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Fight for Freedom: Cartoon Chronicles of America by Stan Mack and Susan Champlin
• Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• The Great Chicago Fire: Rising from the Ashes by Kate Hannigan; art by Alex Graudins
• Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Listen now on OverDrive or watch on DVD)
• Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff (Read now on OverDrive)
• The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine (Read now on OverDrive)
• Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• The National Parks: Preserving America’s Wild Places by Falynn Koch
• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• One Dead Spy: The Life, Times, and Last Words of Nathan Hale, America’s Most Famous Spy by Nathan Hale
• Orphan Train Girl: The Young Readers’ Edition by Christina Baker Kline, with Sarah Thomson
• Rad American Women A-Z by Kate Schatz; illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl
• Red Scare by Liam Francis Walsh
• Road to Revolution: Cartoon Chronicles of America by Stan Mack and Susan Champlin
• The Roanoke Colony: America’s First Mystery by Chris Schweizer
• Sacagawea: Courageous Trailblazer! by James Buckley, Jr.; illustrated by Cassie Anderson
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (Read now on OverDrive)
• Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper (Read now on OverDrive)
• The Story Collector by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb
• The Transcontinental Railroad: Crossing the Divide by Andy Hirsch
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and the Fight for Workers’ Rights by Julie Gilbert; illustrated by János Orbán
• Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm (Read now on OverDrive)
• The Wild Mustang: Horses of the American West by Chris Duffy; art by Falynn Koch
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Read now on OverDrive)

Teens

• Butterfly Yellow by Thanhhà Lai (Read now on OverDrive)
• Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines in World War Two by Joseph Bruchac (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Displacement by Kiku Hughes (Read now on OverDrive)
• The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Drawing the Vote: The Illustrated Guide to Voting in America by Tommy Jenkins; illustrated by Kati Lacker
• Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans by Don Brown (Read now on OverDrive)
• Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith (Read now on OverDrive)
• In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor
• Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis (Listen now on OverDrive)
• A Million to One by Adiba Jaigirdar (Read now on OverDrive)
• Rad American History A-Z: Movements & Moments that Demonstrate the Power of the People by Kate Schatz; illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl
• Superman Smashes the Klan: The Graphic Novel by Gene Luen Yang; art by Gurihiru (Read now on OverDrive)
• These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• We Are Not Free by Traci Chee (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Why the People: The Case for Democracy by Beka Feathers; art by Ally Shwed

Fiction

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (Read now on OverDrive)
• Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (Listen now on OverDrive)
• Balm by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
• Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Listen on CD audiobook or read now on OverDrive)
• Beloved by Toni Morrison (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín (Listen now or read now on OverDrive or watch on DVD)
• Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Cane River by Lalita Tademy
• Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns (Read now on OverDrive)
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Read now on OverDrive or watch on DVD)
• The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
• Dances With Wolves by Michael Blake (Listen now on OverDrive or watch on DVD)
• Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (Read now on OverDrive)
• Doc by Mary Doria Russell (Read now on OverDrive)
• Forever by Pete Hamill
• A Good American by Alex George
• The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride (Listen now or read now on OverDrive or watch on DVD)
• Hawaii by James A. Michener (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• The Hours Count by Jillian Cantor (Read now on OverDrive)
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (Listen now or read now on OverDrive or watch on DVD)
• The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Kindred by Octavia Butler (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Listen on CD audiobook or read now on OverDrive)
• The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Lazaretto by Diane McKinney-Whetstone (Read now on OverDrive)
• The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon (Listen now on OverDrive)
• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (Listen on CD audiobook or read now on OverDrive)
• The Maid’s Version by Daniel Woodrell
• The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• My Ántonia by Willa Cather (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira (Read now on OverDrive)
• Neverhome by Laird Hunt
• Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (Listen on CD audiobook or read now on OverDrive)
• A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Listen now or read now on OverDrive or watch on DVD)
• The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt (Listen now or read now on OverDrive or watch on DVD)
• A Slant of Light by Jeffrey Lent (Read now on OverDrive)
• The Son by Philipp Meyer (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Stoner by John Williams (Read now on OverDrive)
• The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Listen now or read now on OverDrive or watch on DVD)
• When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)

Graphic Novels

• Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father by Jonathan Hennessey; art by Justin Greenwood
• The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David F. Walker; art, colors, and letters by Marcus Kwame Anderson
• Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America by David H.T. Wong (Read now on OverDrive)
• Gone to Amerikay by Derek McCulloch; art by Colleen Doran
• Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia Butler
• The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave’s Journey from Bondage to Freedom by David F. Walker; art by Damon Smyth
• Long May She Wave: A Graphic History of the American Flag by Kit Hinrichs & Delphine Hirasuna; photography by Terry Heffernan (Read now on OverDrive)
• March by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin; art by Nate Powell
• Paying the Land by Joe Sacco
• Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler & Sonia Paoloni; art by Thibault Balahy
• They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott; art by Harmony Becker
• Turtle in Paradise: The Graphic Novel by Jennifer L. Holm

And more!

• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Watch on DVD)
• Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (Read now on OverDrive)
• Bill Nye’s Comic History of the United States by Bill Nye & Frederick Burr Opper (Read now on Project Gutenberg)
• The Crucible by Arthur Miller (Read now on OverDrive)
• Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States by Dave Barry (Request a copy through interlibrary loan)
• Don’t Know Much about the American Presidents by Kenneth C. Davis (Listen now on OverDrive)
• Don’t Know Much about History: Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis
• The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present edited by Phillip Lopate
• Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell (Listen now on OverDrive)
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (Listen now or read now on OverDrive)
• Stephen Fry in America: Fifty States and the Man Who Set Out to See Them All by Stephen Fry; photographs by Vanda Vucicevic
• Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell