A Land To Call Home

First the Land, Then Fire Nearly Destroys Them. Will They Still Hold to their Dream? It had taken four long, difficult years to tame the virgin prairie of Dakota Territory. Looking back through all the heartache and the body-breaking labor, Ingeborg Bjorkland knew that God had been with them every step of the way. Dreams that had turned into veritable nightmares had been reshaped with the promise of a new day rising, and her marriage to Haaken had been its sure sign.Hjelmer travels west to work on the railroad, and after sending only one letter to Penny, who has agreed to wait for him, he is not heard from again. As the months pass, Penny is pursued by other eligible suitors, and her love for Hjelmer is sorely tried. Will he ever return to keep his promise? America's westward expansion continues, bringing the railroad to their area. Before them lies the challenge of proving up their homesteads, developing a sense of community, building wooden barns and houses, a schoolhouse and a church, a grain elevator and store.

Proud of Their Heritage and Sustained by Their Faith, They Came to Tame a New Land She had promised herself that once they left the fjords of Norway, she would not look back. After three long years of scrimping and saving to buy tickets for their passage to America, Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund, along with their son, Thorliff, finally arrive at the docks of New York City. It was the promise of free land that fed their dream and lured them from their beloved home high above the fjords of Norway in 1880. Together with Roald's brother Carl and his family, they will build a good life in a new land that promises untold wealth and vast farmsteads for their children. As they join the throngs of countless immigrants passing through Castle Garden, they soon discover that nothing is as they had envisioned it. Appalled by the horrid stories of fellow immigrants bilked of all their money and forced to live in squalid living conditions, the Bjorklunds continue their long journey by train as far as Grand Forks. From there a covered wagon takes them into Dakota Territory, where they settle on the banks of the Red River. But there was no way for them to foresee the price they will have to pay to wrest a living from the indomitable land. The virgin prairie refuses to yield its treasure without a struggle. Will they be strong enough to overcome the hardships of that first winter?

Successive events challenge the Bjorklund family as Kaaren delivers a baby who is deaf, Solveig, Kaaren's younger sister, is injured in a train wreck, and Penny despairs over whether Hjelmer will ever return for her.

The people of the Dakota Territory suffer from back-breaking work and heart-breaking trials while opening their homesteads and developing a sense of community.

In 1933, what's left of the Turner family--twelve-year-old Hallie and her two brothers--finds itself driving the back roads of rural America. The children have been swept up into a new migratory way of life. America is facing two devastating crises: the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Hundreds of thousands of people in cities across the country have lost jobs. In rural America it isn't any better as crops suffer from the never-ending drought. Driven by severe economic hardship, thousands of people take to the road to seek whatever work they can find, often splintering fragile families in the process. As the Turner children move from town to town, searching for work and trying to cobble together the basic necessities of life, they are met with suspicion and hostility. They are viewed as outsiders in their own country. Will they ever find a place to call home? New York Times-bestselling author Sandra Dallas gives middle-grade readers a timely story of young people searching for a home and a better way of life.

It is 1941 in rual California. Paula Harmon and Ken Nishimura have been friends and neighbours for as long as they can remember. But around them racial tension mounts as World War II intensifies and Pearl Harbor is bombed. Suddenly, Ken and his family are considered enemies in their own country and Paula and Ken's friendship is tested by the horrifying events that follow. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary.

Nendela, an African princess of rare beauty lives by the rhythms and perfumes of Mother Africa, her home. One night the rhythms of Mother Africa changed. Her people were attacked by white men with guns. Beaten and bound by chains she is captured by slave traders and torn from the bosom of Mother Africa. Nendela tells her story from a child's perspective; her journey and hardships in fulfilling her destiny and-The Prophecy. From the moment of her capture; to the birth of her twins aboard a slave ship during a storm, Nendela must be strong and believe she is the chosen one. Antar the quiet protector and warrior will risk his life to keep Nendela safe. In the midst of violence and turbulence they come together as husband and wife-thus the prophecy is set in motion. They will carry the seeds of Africa to a distant, unknown land, passing through The Door of No Return. Wise beyond her years she uses the advice given to her by her ancestors to survive. The Ancestors and Ancient Ones knew this day would come, but a child is never prepared. This is Nendela's story....

John Creedon has always been fascinated by place names, from growing up in Cork City as a young boy to travelling around Ireland making his popular television show. In this brilliant new book, he peels back the layers of meaning of familiar place names to reveal stories about the land of Erin and the people who walked it before us. Travel the highways, byways and boreens of Ireland with John and become absorbed in the place names, such as 'The Cave of the Cats', 'Artichoke Road', 'The Eagle's Nest' and 'Crazy Corner'. All hold clues that help to uncover our past and make sense of that place we call home, feeding both mind and soul along the way.