Books with author Kathleen Tracy

The war was looking bleak for the American colonists. General George Washington and his army had just barely escaped destruction at the Battle of Brooklyn, and now the mighty British fleet was preparing another attack. Washington desperately needed to figure out the enemy s plan. The only way to get the information he needed was to send a spy behind British lines. The soldier who volunteered to take the assignment was a twenty-one-year-old former schoolteacher named Nathan Hale. He became the first American spy executed in the line of duty, and his last words, I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country, became a rallying cry for the Revolution. Nathan Hale s courage in the face of death has become an enduring symbol of American patriotism. His willingness to sacrifice his life for the greater good stands as a powerful testament to the selflessness that turns ordinary men into heroes.

Considered one of today s most talented young actors, Zac Efron took Hollywood and the world by storm with his performance in High School Musical. For as long as he can remember, Zac wanted to perform. He could sing and dance as well as act. Encouraged by his parents, he began doing community theater and eventually got an agent in Los Angeles. Twice a week, Zac and his mother made the hours-long drive from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles for auditions. TV guest spots and a role on the series Summerland followed, but his life would forever change when he was cast in Disney s High School Musical. His professionalism and joy of acting have earned Zac the respect of his peers. And fans around the world are drawn to his outgoing personality and natural charm. Here is the life story of a young man who proves that by pushing your boundaries, you really can go far.

He was a grade school dropout who grew up in a small country town. But Henry Bessemer would become one of the richest men in London and would help lay the foundation for the Industrial Revolution. As a youth, Henry discovered a natural talent for making things out of metal, including machines of all kinds. In all, Bessemer was credited with over 100 inventions. None was as important as the Bessemer process, a method to cheaply produce steel out of iron. Steel's light weight and strength made it the perfect building material for everything from buildings to railroad tracks. This is the story of how a quiet, unschooled young man became one of the greatest inventors of the 19th century.

When a young African-American seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus to a white passenger, she turned the smoldering civil rights movement into a firestorm. For years, blacks in the South had seen their civil liberties stolen through segregation laws that demanded the races be kept separate but equal except there was no equality about it. Parks s arrest was chosen to challenge the constitutionality of Montgomery s bus segregation laws. Soft-spoken and unassuming, Rosa Parks was an unlikely activist. But her sense of justice inspired her to speak out against racism and injustice, regardless of the personal price it exacted. In the process, she became an enduring symbol of the power of an individual to change the course of history.

In 1620, one hundred two Puritans boarded the Mayflower on a dangerous adventure. For them, the promise of religious freedom was worth risking their lives. They never made it to their destination in Virginia but landed much farther north. After surviving unsanitary and cramped conditions on the Mayflower, the settlers founded Plymouth Colony, where they faced starvation, brutal winter weather, and the ever-present scourge of disease. During the first year, more than half the settlers died. These survivors, many of them teenagers who had lost their parents, refused to leave. With the help of Native Americans who showed the settlers how to farm and introduced them to maize, Plymouth Colony survived and flourished. The success of the Puritans encouraged other young Europeans to settle in the British colonies and paved the way for a new nation. Although Plymouth Colony was annexed to Massachusetts in 1691, the Puritan legacy has remained strong in the United States of America.

Life wasn’t always easy for Mario Barrett. He grew up in the mean streets of Baltimore and saw friends and neighbors drift into a life of gangs and drugs. But music would be Mario’s passion—and salvation. When he was just four years old, his mom heard him singing in the basement and knew then her son had a special talent. With her encouragement, he joined local singing competitions and school talent shows, which led to his first album deal and his first hit single when he was just fourteen. But instead of dropping out of school to pursue music full time, Mario put his career on hold to graduate and to grow up—not just personally but as a singer. Now back and better than ever, Mario is poised to be the next superstar R&B singer of his generation.

Carrie Underwood is the small town girl who has taken America by storm. But the road to success from her home town of Checotah, Oklahoma, to her emergence as 2005s American Idol wasn't a smooth one. As a young girl, music was her life, and Underwood dreamed of becoming a professional singer. But her early attempts to establish a career were met with disappointment and Carrie left music behind—until friends and family encouraged her to audition for American Idol. The story of how Carrie Underwood made her dreams come true while winning the hearts of fans everywhere is not only uplifting but an inspiring reminder of how you should always follow your dreams.

Under the cover of darkness, a team of burglars broke into the Democratic National Committees headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. By a fluke, they were discovered by an observant security guard and arrested. At first glance it appeared nothing more than a random break-in. But when two Washington Post reporters began digging deeper into the background of the burglars, the trail led higher and higher and eventually straight to the White Houseand into the Oval Office.As the Watergate scandal unraveled, it turned into one of the United States greatest Constitutional crises, pitting the judicial system against a paranoid President who believed he was above the law. When secret tapes of conversations between President Richard Nixon and his top aides were discovered, it proved that the White House was running a shadow government, leaving Nixon no choice but to resign or face certain impeachment. The Watergate scandal is a story of the dangers of unchecked power and the importance of a free press to be the publics eyes and ears.