Books with author Donella Brown

Dolley was a farm girl who became a fine first lady when she married James Madison. She wore beautiful dresses, decorated her home, and threw lavish parties. Everyone talked about Dolley, and everyone loved her, too. Then war arrived at her doorstep, and Dolley had to meet challenges greater than she’d ever known. So Dolley did one thing she thought might make a difference: she saved George Washington. Not the man himself, but a portrait of him, which would surely have been destroyed by English soldiers. Don Brown once again deftly tells a little known story about a woman who made a significant contribution to American history.

In this Conclusion to The Siren Song Quartet, Sealah Loveridge is left alone to run the kingdom while her parents are off dealing with a medical emergency. The King and Queen believe that social friction is the only crisis she's going to have to deal with in their absence, but in actuality, Sealah's been left to battle not only her personal demons, but everyone else's, while trying to save the boy she loves from a curse, find and subdue a human psychopath, battle two ancient demons, break an ancient curse, batten the hatches against an incoming summer cyclone and keep the boardwalk midway up and running. Oh, and just in case that weren't enough, her parents want her to make sure that the Summer Solstice celebration goes ahead as smoothly as it always does, just to keep a sense of normalcy alive in a community that unbeknowst to them, is in absolute chaos. Sealah's been prepping herself her whole life to pass these kinds of tests, but when she realises that most of her community assumes that she's going to fail them all without her parents help, she can't help but wonder if it's time to give up the ill-fitting crown already, and look to the horizon for an alternate path to take in life instead; trading in her dreams of living happily ever after for the sake of merely living.

Sealah Loveridge has grown up knowing that she has some awfully big wakes to navigate a path through if she wants to measure up to the kingdom’s expectations of what Ivyanne Court and Tristan Loveridge’s firstborn heir should be like. Her parents’ looks, strength, intelligence and epic love has raised the bar for happily ever after’s so high that Sealah imagines that it will take a tsunami of personal successes to vault her over it, so that she lands in their future as the true crowned jewel of the kingdom- with a legacy that will never be overshadowed.But that never seemed like much of a problem to her- just a challenge; and there’s nothing Sealah Loveridge likes more than a challenge. Headstrong, driven and used to getting her way, this mermaid princess has never questioned the likelihood of everything falling into place for her, and imagines that securing the crown and the kingdom’s adoration is just a breath away.But when Sealah learns that her name means ‘Sea Monster’ and that people are whispering about her and her imperfections behind her back- in a way that nobody speculated about her perfect ancestors- everything changes and by her seventeenth birthday, Sealah is a shadow of her former self and without glory. She knows that the only chance that she has left to secure a fairytale ending for herself is to get through the unveiling of the Ko Huna boardwalk, and then find a true love within the Marked… but how is she going to do that when it feels like at every turn, her rival Mariah Grey is not only attempting to usurp her- but succeeding?The amusement park was supposed to be Sealah’s greatest accomplishment, but unfortunately, with the influx of visitors to the Seaview area comes a dark evil, and Sealah quickly works out that if she is going to get through the opening weekend, she might just have to give up on the idea of being everybody’s perfect mermaid princess, and embrace the sea-monster siren that still dwells within, and the loneliness that comes with it.But one thing is for certain- this is going to be a summer that she will never forget, if she manages to survive it.

The most famous duel in American history dramatized by leading nonfiction picture book illustrator, Don Brown.Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton were both fierce patriots during the Revolutionary War, but the politics of the young United States of America put them in constant conflict. Their extraordinary story of bitter fighting and resentment culminates in their famous duel. For young patriots who may not yet know the shocking and tragic story, Aaron and Alexander captures the spirit of these two great men who so valiantly served their country and ultimately allowed their pride and ego to cause their demise.

The headline that shocked the nation: President Lincoln Shot by Assassin John Wilkes Booth! One of the most exciting stories in American history told with full color illustrations. The fifth installment in Don Brown's Actual Times series featuring significant days in American history covers the Lincoln assassination and the ensuing manhunt. In He Has Shot the President! both Lincoln and Booth emerge as vivid characters, defined by the long and brutal Civil War, and set on a collision course toward tragedy. With his characteristic straightforward storytelling voice and dynamic water color illustration, Don Brown gives readers a chronological account of the events and also captures the emotion of the death of America's greatest president.

Before the word dinosaur was even invented, an English girl discovered a remarkable skeleton on the rocky beach at Lyme Regis. Thus began a lifelong passion for the woman who became one of the first commercial fossil collectors.Mary Anning (1799–1847) spent her lifetime teaching herself about fossils and combing the rugged shore for ancient treasures. Her collection thrilled the public, excited the scientific community, and proved that a woman could overcome danger and social limitations to accomplish great things.

Sam Glodsky lives among the rough-and-tumble gangs on the streets of New York's Lower East Side. When 13-year-old Sam falls in with fearsome gangster Monk Eastman, he joins an outrageous scheme to rescue Eastman's prize racing-pigeon from a cholera-ridden steamship quarantined in the harbor. The caper Monk hatches to snatch the bird pairs Sam with his archenemy, the notorious Izzy Fink. Widely acclaimed for his picture book histories, Don Brown's first historical novel is a fast-paced tale of immigrant life at the turn of the twentieth century.

"It was all for a penny.They left their cramped and crowded tenement apartments for a penny.They scurried beside the pushcart peddlers for a penny.They dodged street trolleys and horse drawn wagons for a penny.And in the summer of 1899, Kid Blink, Race Track Higgins, Tiny Tim, Crutch Morris, and Crazy Arborn battled the world for a penny."The story of the newsboys (and girls) who took on the world's most powerful press barons - and won.In the summer of 1899, the hundreds of newsboys who sold Randolph Hearst's Journal and Pulitzer's World on the streets of New York and surrounding cities went on strike. The issue was a penny-the extra penny that the press owners wanted to charge the newsboys to buy the papers. To the press owners it didn't seem like much, but to the newsboys it was a living, and they fought. Led by kids with colorful names like Kid Blink, Race Track Higgins, Tiny Tim, and Crutch Morris, they refused to sell the papers, staged rallies-and finally brought the newspapers to the negotiating table.

Lieutenant Commander “Gunner” McCormick is assigned as an intelligence officer to Carrier Strike Force 10, being deployed to the Yellow Sea at the invitation of South Korea for joint exercises with the US Navy. During his pre-deployment briefing, he discovers a TOP-SECRET MEMO revealing rumors that the North Koreans may still be holding a handful of elderly Americans from the Korean War in secret prison camps.As it happens, Gunner’s grandfather, who was a young marine officer in the Korean War, disappeared at Chosin Reservoir over 60 years ago and is still listed as MIA in North Korea. Sworn to silence about what he has read, the top-secret memo eats at him. Gunner decides to spend all his inheritance and break every military regulation in the book to finance his own three-man commando squad on a suicide mission north of the DMZ to search for clues about the fate of his grandfather. Risking his career, his fortune, and his life, Gunner will get his answers, or he will die trying. Don Brown is building a loyal fan base by writing what he knows best: thrillers with heart. A former Navy JAG officer and action officer in the Pentagon, Brown pens action-packed plots and finely-drawn characters that are credible and compelling. Thunder in the Morning Calm is a novel of bravery, duty, and family love that will keep readers of all ages reading straight through to the last page.

As a young boy, Neil Armstrong had a recurring dream in which he held his breath and floated high in the sky. He spent his free time reading stacks of flying magazines, building model airplanes, and staring through a homemade telescope. As a teenager, Neil worked odd jobs to pay for flying lessons at a nearby airport. He earned his student pilot’s license on his sixteenth birthday. But who was to know that this shy boy, who also loved books and music, would become the first person to set foot on the moon, on July 20, 1969.