Books with author Will Kirkpatrick

In 1844, two years before the Donner Party, the Stevens-Murphy company left Missouri to be the first wagons into California through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mostly Irish Catholics, the party sought religious freedom and education in the mission-dominated land and enjoyed a safe journey--until October, when a heavy snowstorm forced difficult decisions. The first of many for young Mary Sullivan, newlywed Sarah Montgomery, the widow Ellen Murphy, and her pregnant sister-in-law Maolisa.When the party separates in three directions, each risks losing those they loved and faces the prospect of learning that adversity can destroy or redefine. Two women and four men go overland around Lake Tahoe, three men stay to guard the heaviest wagons--and the rest of the party, including eight women and seventeen children, huddle in a makeshift cabin at the headwaters of the Yuba River waiting for rescue . . . or their deaths.Award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick plunges you deep into a landscape of challenge where fear and courage go hand in hand for a story of friendship, family, and hope that will remind you of what truly matters in times of trial.

A year they'll never forget Ten-year-old Frederika (Fred for short) doesn't have much faith that the new teacher in town will last very long. After all, they never do. Most teachers who come to their one-room schoolhouse in remote, Alaska leave at the first smell of fish, claiming that life there is just too hard. But Miss Agnes is different -- she doesn't get frustrated with her students, and she throws away old textbooks and reads Robin Hood instead! For the first time, Fred and her classmates begin to enjoy their lessons and learn to read and write -- but will Miss Agnes be like all the rest and leave as quickly as she came?

Woodstock, the moon landing, Charles Manson, Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War, and more. A must-read for baby boomers and the generations that came after!Here is a rich, comprehensive narrative, chronicling an unparalleled year in American society in all its explosive ups and downs. 1969. The very mention of this year summons indelible memories.Woodstock and Altamont.Charles Manson and the Zodiac Killer.The televised moon landingTed Kennedy’s address after Chappaquiddick.The Amazin’ Mets and Broadway Joe’s Jets.The Stonewall Riots and the Days of Rage.The first punk and metal albums hit the airwaves.Swinger culture became chic.The Santa Barbara oil slick and Cuyahoga River fireThe My Lai massacre inspired impassioned debate on the Vietnam War.Richard Nixon spoke of “The Silent Majority” while John and Yoko urged us to “Give Peace a Chance.”And more!In this rich and comprehensive narrative, Rob Kirkpatrick chronicles an unparalleled year in American society in all its explosive ups and downs.

A year they'll never forgetTen-year-old Frederika (Fred for short) doesn't have much faith that the new teacher in town will last very long. After all, they never do. Most teachers who come to their one-room schoolhouse in remote, Alaska leave at the first smell of fish, claiming that life there is just too hard.But Miss Agnes is different -- she doesn't get frustrated with her students, and she throws away old textbooks and reads Robin Hood instead! For the first time, Fred and her classmates begin to enjoy their lessons and learn to read and write -- but will Miss Agnes be like all the rest and leave as quickly as she came?

A Smithsonian Notable Book for Children A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year “Genius.” —The New York Times Book Review A beautiful repackage marking the twentieth anniversary of the beloved, award-winning novel that celebrates teachers and learning.Ten-year-old Frederika (Fred for short) doesn’t have much faith that the new teacher in town will last very long. After all, they never do. Most teachers who come to their one-room schoolhouse in remote Alaska leave at the first smell of fish, claiming that life there is just too hard. But Miss Agnes is different: she doesn’t get frustrated with her students, and finds new ways to teach them to read and write. She even takes a special interest in Fred’s sister, Bokko, who has never come to school before because she is deaf. For the first time, Fred, Bokko, and their classmates begin to enjoy their lessons—but will Miss Agnes be like all the rest and leave as quickly as she came?

In the previous book, The Year of Miss Agnes, it’s 1948 and a new teacher comes to teach in the tiny Athabascan village on the Koyukuk River in Alaska. Ten-year-old Fred tells why Miss Agnes is the best teacher they’ve ever had in their one-room school, and different in every way. ln the sequel, Miss Agnes and the Ginger Tom, their wonderful teacher is back. And she’s brought a cat, the first they’ve ever seen. But how long will she stay? Miss Agnes has arranged for her extraordinarily gifted student, Jimmy Sam, to go away to a college prep school “outside.” If he can pass the test. Miss Agnes starts Jimmy on a rigorous program of study for the test and Fred and the others learn right along with him. The whole village is part of Miss Agnes’ school. She’s brought boxes of books and soon everyone in town is reading something from the school bookshelves. And she’s brought a movie projector so the village people can see movies for the first time. The village’s anxiety increases as the school year goes on, waiting for Jimmy’s test. Grandma says it’s hutlaanee, bad luck, to talk about the test, but they can’t help it. If Jimmy doesn’t pass it he will have to leave school next year to do a man’s work with his father and brother, all his dreams of being a scientist come to nothing.

They’ve never faced danger before. Now they’re alone—and they have no choice. Every summer, Toughboy and his younger sister stay at their isolated family fish camp on the Yukon River. There, away from their Alaskan village, they help their parents catch and smoke salmon. But that was before their mother died and everything changed. This year, their father brings them back to the camp, but before he can set things up, he vanishes. No one knows that Toughboy and Sister have been left alone in the wilderness to fend for themselves. Days and then weeks pass. Their food runs out, and their radio stops working. What are they going to do now? “This quiet, simply told story speaks in a distinctive voice about stoic courage, dignity, and survival.”—The Horn Review “Sure to satisfy survival-story fans.”—Kirkus Reviews

It's the 1920s, and Bo was headed for an Alaska orphanage when she won the hearts of two tough gold miners who set out to raise her, enthusiastically helped by all the kind people of the nearby Eskimo village.Bo learns Eskimo along with English, helps in the cookshack, learns to polka, and rides along with Big Annie and her dog team. There's always some kind of excitement: Bo sees her first airplane, has a run-in with a bear, and meets a mysterious lost little boy.Bo at Ballard Creek by Kirkpatrick Hill is an unforgettable story of a little girl growing up in the exhilarating time after the big Alaska gold rushes.

7th grader, Trevor Davis, has a secret. He wants to be an actor. When an opportunity comes to audition for a school play, Trevor shies away. He doesn’t believe he has what it takes to get a part, because when Trevor looks into a mirror, he doesn’t like what he sees. But, will the discovery of a magic diamond change Trevor’s perspective and push him to chase after his dream?

It's 1948 and ten-year-old Fred has just watched her teacher leave -- another in a long line of teachers who have left the village because the smell of fish was too strong, the way of life too hard. Will another teacher come to the small Athabascan village on the Koyukuk River to teach Fred and her friends in the one-room schoolhouse? Will she stay, or will she hate the smell of fish, too? Fred doesn't know what to make of Miss Agnes Sutterfield. She sure is a strange one. No other teacher throws away old textbooks and reads Greek myths and Robin Hood. No other teacher plays opera recordings, talks about "hairy os," and Athabascan kids becoming doctors or scientists. No other teacher ever said Fred's deaf older sister should come to school, too. And no other teacher ever, ever told the kids they were each good at something. Maybe it's because Miss Agnes can't smell anything, let alone fish, that things seem to be all right. But then Miss Agnes says she's homesick and will go back to England at the end of the year. Fred knows what this is about: Just when things seem to be good, things go back to being the same. How Fred and her friends grow with Miss Agnes is the heart of this story, told with much humor and warmth by Fred herself This is a story about Alaska, about the old ways and the new, about pride. And it's a story about a great teacher who opens a door to the world -- where, once you go through, nothing is ever the same again.

In the previous book, The Year of Miss Agnes, it’s 1948 and a new teacher comes to teach in the tiny Athabascan village on the Koyukuk River in Alaska. Ten-year-old Fred tells why Miss Agnes is the best teacher they’ve ever had in their one-room school, and different in every way. ln the sequel, Miss Agnes and the Ginger Tom, their wonderful teacher is back. And she’s brought a cat, the first they’ve ever seen. But how long will she stay? Miss Agnes has arranged for her extraordinarily gifted student, Jimmy Sam, to go away to a college prep school “outside.” If he can pass the test. Miss Agnes starts Jimmy on a rigorous program of study for the test and Fred and the others learn right along with him. The whole village is part of Miss Agnes’ school. She’s brought boxes of books and soon everyone in town is reading something from the school bookshelves. And she’s brought a movie projector so the village people can see movies for the first time. The village’s anxiety increases as the school year goes on, waiting for Jimmy’s test. Grandma says it’s hutlaanee, bad luck, to talk about the test, but they can’t help it. If Jimmy doesn’t pass it he will have to leave school next year to do a man’s work with his father and brother, all his dreams of being a scientist come to nothing.

Ever since five-year-old Bo can remember, she and her papas have lived in the little Alaskan mining town of Ballard Creek. Now the family must move upriver to Iditarod Creek for work at a new mine, and Bo is losing the only home she's ever known. Initially homesick, she soon realizes that there is warmth and friendship to be found everywhere . . . and what's more, her new town may hold an unexpected addition to her already unconventional family.As with Bo at Ballard Creek, this stand-alone sequel from Kirkpatrick Hill is a story about love, inclusion, and day-to-day living in the rugged Alaskan bush of the late 1920s. Full of fascinating details, it is an unforgettable story.