Written and illustrated by James Daugherty, this biography describes how Daniel Boone, one of America’s earliest heroes, settled Kentucky and Missouri. (MK) 

  1941  Sperry, Armstrong.  Call it Courage.  New York: Macmillan, 1940. 

Mafatu has been given the name of Stout Heart by his father, a Great Chief of the Polynesians in the South Seas.  But after a terrifying experience when his mother drowns, Mafatu is afraid of the sea.  To prove that he is not a coward, Mafatu leaves his island, where he encounters and conquers a shark, an octopus, and his own fear.  (RR) 

  1942  Edmonds, Walter.  The Matchlock Gun.  New York: Dodd, 1941. 

In 1756, ten-year-old Edward is left with his mother and younger sister, while his father goes off to stop Indian raiding parties in New York State.  Edward uses the matchlock gun to protect his family.  His courage is typical of the “can do” attitude found in pioneer families. (JHP) 

  1943  Gray, Elizabeth.  Adam of the Road.  New York: Viking, 1942. 

Adam and his father are traveling minstrels.  When Adam's dog is stolen and his father disappears, Adam searches for them along the roads and in the towns of thirteenth-century England. (SF) 

  1944  Forbes, Esther.  Johnny Tremain.  Boston: Houghton, 1943. 

At fourteen, Johnny is a proud and gifted apprentice at Mr. Lapham’s silversmith shop in Boston until a horrible accident mangles his right hand.  Homeless and unable to work, he becomes a spy for the Sons of Liberty and gets caught up in the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. (SF) 

  1945  Lawson, Robert.  Rabbit Hill.  New York: Viking, 1944. 

“New folks are coming!” sings Little Georgie Rabbit, and before long all the animals are singing the song.  Everyone hopes that the new folks are planting folks.  Deer longs for the taste of tomatoes, while Phewie the Skunk wants some good garbage.  But what will the new folks be like?  What if they have guns and poisons and dogs?  Will one of the animals get hurt?  (MK) 

  1946  Lenski, Lois.  Strawberry Girl.  New York: Lippincott, 1945. 

In the early 1900s when Florida was a wild and unsettled land, Birdie Boyer and her family move in to the old Roddenberry house.  The neighbors find them strange.  The Boyers feed their cows, put up fences, and plant strawberries. All of this brings trouble.  The author uses the dialect of the region and the times to paint a picture of early America.  “Shore do.”  (MK) 

  1947  Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin.   Miss Hickory.   New York: Viking, 1946. 

When Great-granny Brown heads to Boston for the winter and after Chipmunk moves into Miss Hickory’s little doll-house, Miss Hickory gets some help from Crow.  He finds her a robin’s nest in the apple tree that will make a fine winter home.  To most people, Miss Hickory looks like a doll.  After all, her body is an apple-wood twig, and her head is a hickory nut.  But Miss Hickory can take care of herself.  She has just one worry.  Will Squirrel want to eat her little nut head?  (MK) 

  1948  du Bois, William  Pène.  The Twenty-One Balloons.  New York: Viking, 1947. 

After forty years of teaching math to boys, Professor Sherman never wants to set foot in a classroom again.  So he does what any retired teacher does.  He travels.  He decides to see the world—by hot air balloon.  It's a wonderful trip.  He uses a fishing pole with a very long line to wash his clothes and dishes in the ocean.  But then the professor crashes on an island where his every wish is granted except his freedom. (MK) 

  1949  Henry, Marguerite.  King of the Wind.  Chicago: Rand McNally, 1948. 

He is the king of the wind.  Agba knows it as soon as he sees the colt being born. He gazes at the tiny white mark on the off hind heel... the emblem of swiftness, and the stable boy who can not speak feels pride in his heart!  But his beloved colt soon becomes a bag of bones.  How will anyone ever see that the colt is a king of the wind? (LS)