Grade 5: Women's Rights

Winner of the YALSA Best Book AwardNot quite five years old in 1911 -- a time of revolution and transformation in China -- Third Sister Ailin rebels against the torturous tradition of foot binding. She feels no remorse when this causes the family of her intended husband to break the marriage agreement. But as she enters adolescence, Ailin realizes for the first time how powerless a girl of good family with no prospect of marriage is in Chinese society.For ages 12 and up.

A reissue of Pam Munoz Ryan's bestselling backlist with a distinctive new author treatment. In this fast-paced, courageous, and inspiring story, readers adventure with Charlotte Parkhurst as she first finds work as a stable hand, becomes a famous stage-coach driver (performing brave feats and outwitting bandits), finds love as a woman but later resumes her identity as a man after the loss of a baby and the tragic death of her husband, and ultimately settles out west on the farm she'd dreamed of having since childhood. It wasn't until after her death that anyone discovered she was a woman.

Jade never ventures beyond the walls of her family's Inner Court; in seventeenth-century Korea, a girl of good family does not leave home until she marries. She is enthralled by her older brother's stories about trips to the market and to the ancestral grave sites in the mountains, about reading and painting, about his conversations with their father about business and politics and adventures only boys can have. Jade accepts her destiny, and yet she is endlessly curious about what lies beyond the walls. A lively story with a vividly realized historical setting, "Seesaw Girl" recounts Jade Blossom's daring attempts to enlarge her world.

Pura Belpré Award Winner IRA Notable Book for a Global Society New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing Esperanza thought she'd always live with her family on their ranch in Mexico--she'd always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home, and servants. But a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California during the Great Depression, and to settle in a camp for Mexican farm workers. Esperanza isn't ready for the hard labor, financial struggles, or lack of acceptance she now faces. When their new life is threatened, Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances--Mama's life, and her own, depend on it.

Experience the sumptuous wealth and the unforgettable drama within the Moghul Dynasty of seventeenth-century India through Newbery Honor- author Kathryn Lasky's diary of Princess Jahanara. In the 1600s, the Moghul emperors of India were among the greatest and most superb rulers of the East. Jahanara is the daughter of one of these powerful figures, Shah Jahan, The Magnificent. A lover of refinement, his courts are of the finest architecture, priceless painting, unbelievable gardens, and ultra-fabulous wealth. Jahanara, the oldest and favorite of his children, is showered with emeralds and diamonds and rubies. She is attended by numerous servants and learned tutors. But her world is not one of complete