Blood Gold by Michael Cadnum            210 pages

• After an arduous journey, Will Dwinelle and his friend Ben finally reach California in 1849 intending to bring home the man who betrayed the honor of a girl back home in Philadelphia, but find themselves tempted by the riches of the Gold Rush.  Check our catalog

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko         317 pages

• A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.  Check our catalog

Purely Rosie Pearl by Patricia A. Cochrane              135 pages

• In 1936 twelve-year-old Rosie Pearl Bush and her family of migrants endure the hardships of the Great Depression as they find work picking fruit in the California Valley.  Check our catalog

Quake! : a novel by Joe Cottonwood                   146 pages

• With their parents away at the 1989 World Series, fourteen-year-old Franny, her younger brother, and their cousin try to cope with the frightening events following an earthquake that destroys their home on Loma Prieta mountain. Check our catalog

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman.             195 pages

• In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.  Check our catalog

The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman         225 pages

• In 1949, thirteen-year-old Francine goes to Catholic school in Los Angeles where she becomes best friends with a girl who questions authority and is frequently punished by the nuns, causing Francine to question her own values.  Check our catalog

The Journal of Ben Uchida, Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp by Barry Denenberg  159 pages

• Series: My Name is America
• Twelve-year-old Ben Uchida keeps a journal of his experiences as a prisoner in a Japanese internment camp in Mirror Lake, California, during World War II.  Check our catalog

Death Valley, California, 1849 by Kathleen Duey and K.A. Bale.          168 pages

• Series: Survival ; #6
• A brother and sister struggle to survive the rigors of Death Valley after their wagon breaks an axle and they set out alone to find help for their stranded family and injured father.  Check our catalog

Earthquake, San Francisco, 1906 by Kathleen Duey and K. A. Bale         174 pages

• Series: Survival! ; #2
• When two young strangers meet by chance on the day of the San Francisco earthquake, they struggle to survive the terror of crumbling buildings, fire, looting, and chaos.  Check our catalog

The Journal of C.J. Jackson : a Dust Bowl Migrant by William Durbin 

• Series: My name is America
• Thirteen-year-old C.J. records in a journal the conditions of the Dust Bowl that cause the Jackson family to leave their farm in Oklahoma and make the difficult journey to California, where they find a harsh life as migrant workers.  Check our catalog

Bandit’s Moon by Sid Fleischman                            136 pages

• Twelve-year-old Annyrose relates her adventures with Joaquí® Murieta and his band of outlaws in the California gold-mining region during the mid-1800s.  Check our catalog

By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman            193 pages

• Aunt Arabella's butler, Praiseworthy, and her nephew stowaway on a ship to win a fortune for her in California during the Gold Rush of 1849.  Check our catalog

The Giant Rat of Sumatra or Pirates Galore by Sid Fleischman          194 pages

• A cabin boy on a pirate ship finds himself in San Diego in 1846 as war breaks out between the United States and Mexico.  Check our catalog

Walk Across the Sea by Susan Fletcher                     214 pages

• In late nineteenth-century California, when Chinese immigrants are being driven out or even killed for fear they will take jobs from whites, fifteen-year-old Eliza Jane McCully defies the townspeople and her lighthouse-keeper father to help a Chinese boy who has been kind to her.  Check our catalog

The Valley of the Moon, the Journal of Maria Rosalia de Milagros by Sherry Garland  218 pages

• Series: Dear America
• The 1845-1846 diary of thirteen-year-old Maria, servant to the wealthy Spanish family which took her in when her Indian mother died. Includes a historical note about the settlement and early history of California.  Check our catalog

Earthquake at Dawn by Kristiana Gregory                   192 pages

• A novelization of twenty-two-year-old photographer Edith Irvine's experiences in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, as seen through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Daisy, a fictitious traveling companion.  Check our catalog

Orphan Runaways by Kristiana Gregory                    151 pages

• Harrowing adventures accompany twelve-year-old Danny and his younger brother Judd when they run away from a San Francisco orphanage and search for their uncle in a gold rush boom town.  Check our catalog

Seeds of Hope; the Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild by Kristiana Gregory  186 pages

• A diary account of fourteen-year-old Susanna Fairchild's life in 1849, when her father succumbs to gold fever on the way to establish his medical practice in Oregon after losing his wife and money on their steamship journey from New York.  Check our catalog

Into the Firestorm by Deborah Hopkinson                   200 pages

• Days after arriving in San Francisco from Texas, eleven-year-old orphan Nicholas Dray tries to help his new neighbors survive the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the subsequent fires.  Check our catalog

The Iron Dragon Never Sleeps by Stephen Krensky 

• In 1867, while staying with her father in a small California mining town, ten-year-old Winnie meets a Chinese boy close to her age and discovers the role of his people in completing the transcontinental railroad.  Check our catalog

Earthquake! A Story of Old San Francisco by Kathleen Kudlinski      56 pages

• In 1906, after the devastating earthquake hits San Francisco, twelve-year-old Phillip struggles to save the horses in his family's livery stable.  Check our catalog

Patty Reed’s Doll by Rachel K. Laurgaard                 143 pages

• In the winter of 1846, the Donner Party was stranded by heavy snows in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The pioneers endured bitter hardships, and many of them died. But some survived, including 8-year-old Patty Reed, a girl filled with dignity and determination in the face of mortal danger. This is her story, as told by Dolly, the wooden doll she kept hidden in her dress. Check our catalog

The Balloon Boy of San Francisco by Dorothy Kapcha Leland       121 pages

• In 1853, a San Francisco newspaper boy struggles to support his family. An encounter with a hot-air balloon brings adventure and opportunity.  Check our catalog

Sallie Fox: The Story of a Pioneer Girl by Dorothy Kapcha Leland      114 pages

• A fictionalized account of the true story of 12-year-old Sallie Fox and her family's wagon train journey from Iowa to Vacaville, California.  Check our catalog

Clem’s Chances by Sonia Levitin            199 pages

• In 1860, fourteen-year-old Clem Fontayne learns from fellow travelers about important topics of the day, including the Mormon migration, slavery, and the Pony express, as he journeys from Missouri to California in search of his father.  Check our catalog

Summer Soldiers by Susan Hart Lindquist               178 pages

• After his father goes off to war during the summer of 1918, eleven-year-old Joe, along with his friends, contends with the town bullies and tries to figure out the meaning of courage.    Check our catalog

Bellboy: A Mule Train Journey by Margaret McClain         152 pages

• A young man's trip by mule train through the California mountains proves too exciting.  Check our catalog

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell             181 pages

• Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life.  Check our catalog

Zia by Scott O'Dell.                        179 pages

• Sequel to: Island of the Blue Dolphins.
• A young Indian girl, Zia, caught between the traditional world of her mother and the present world of the Mission, is helped by her aunt Karana whose story was told in the Island of the Blue Dolphins.   Check our catalog

The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds : the Donner Party Expedition by Rodman Philbrick   155 pages 

• Series: My name is America
• Douglas Deeds, a fifteen-year-old orphan, keeps a journal of his travels by wagon train as a member of the ill-fated Donner Party, which became stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 1846-47.   Check our catalog

Treasures in the Dust by Tracey Porter                148 pages

• Eleven-year-old Annie and her friend Violet tell of the hardships endured by their families when dust storms, drought, and the Great Depression hit rural Oklahoma.  Check our catalog

Foster’s War by Carolyn Reeder                  267 pages

• When his older brother joins the army during World War II in order to escape the rages of an authoritarian father, eleven-year-old Foster fights his battles on the homefront.  Check our catalog

The Strange Case of Baby H by Kathryn Reiss.             155 pages

• In the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, twelve-year-old Clara finds a baby left on the doorstep of her family's boarding house, and sets out to unravel the surrounding mysteries. Check our catalog

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

• Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.   Check our catalog

Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan                 138 pages

• A fictionalized account of Charley (Charlotte) Parkhurst who ran away from an orphanage, posed as a boy, moved to California, and fooled everyone by her appearance.    Check our catalog

Cat Running by Zilpha Keatley Synder             168 pages

• When eleven-year-old Cat Kinsey builds a secret hideout to escape her unhappy homelife, she slowly gets to know a poor family who have come to California after losing their Texas home to the dust storms of the 1930s.   Check our catalog

Mother’s Blessing by Penina Keen Spinka               217 pages

• Around the year 1000 an intelligent Chumash Indian girl, rejected by her father, follows the call of her spirit guide and seeks to fulfill an old seer's prophecy that she will become an important leader of her people.   Check our catalog

Black Storm Coming by Diane Lee Wilson               295 pages

• Twelve-year-old Colton, son of a black mother and a white father, takes a job with the Pony Express in 1860 after his father abandons the family on their California-bound wagon train, and risks his life to deliver an important letter that may affect the growing conflict between the North and South.   Check our catalog

Dragon’s Gate by Laurence Yep                     273 pages

• When he accidentally kills a Manchu, a fifteen-year-old Chinese boy is sent to America to join his father, an uncle, and other Chinese working to build a tunnel for the transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1867.   Check our catalog

The Earth Dragon Awakes by Laurence Yep              117 pages

• Eight-year-old Henry and nine-year-old Chin love to read about heroes in popular "penny dreadful" novels, until they both witness real courage while trying to survive the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.   Check our catalog

The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung : a Chinese Miner by Laurence Yep         219 pages

• Series: My name is America
• A young Chinese boy nicknamed Runt records his experiences in a journal as he travels from southern China to California in 1852 to join his uncle during the Gold Rush.   Check our catalog