Individual Liberties

Chapter and Young Adult Books: Fiction

A Heart Divided, by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld (New York: Delacorte Books, 2004). This book deals with a high school in Tennessee whose teams are called the Rebels and play under a Confederate flag. The controversy that erupts around the issue draws in the main character, a girl who has just moved to Tennessee from New Jersey. The book is a love story, as well as the story of what happens at the school. The book deals with symbols, freedom of speech, tradition, civil rights, and more.

The Last Safe Place on Earth, by Richard Peck (New York: Delacorte, 1995). An examination of what happens when rights collide. Freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press all come into play in a gripping story featuring a group of junior high students, their families, a local church, and the local paper.

Radical Red, by James Duffy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993). A young girl and her mother become involved in the fight for women’s suffrage, even though the men in their family do not approve.

The Rifle, by Gary Paulsen (San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1995). Paulsen presents a disturbing story highlighting the conflict between the right to bear arms and the right to life.

A Small Civil War, by John Neufeld (New York: Atheneum, 1996). A small town is embroiled in controversy when parents ask that The Grapes of Wrath be removed from the high school curriculum. The members of one family struggle when their conflicting positions on the issue.

There’s an Owl in the Shower, by Jean Craighead George (New York: HarperCollins, 1995). This story of a family in conflict because the child wants to protect an owl while the father’s livelihood is threatened by environmental legislation could serve as a stimulant for discussing the costs and benefits of various kinds of laws.

Yankee Girl, by Mary Ann Rodman (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004). This book tells the story of a sixth-grade girl who moves from Chicago to Mississippi in 1964, as schools are being integrated in the South. As the city of Jackson experiences integration and Klan violence, young Alice faces conflicts in her efforts to be accepted by her peers while being the good person she wants to be.