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Ben Bruce: Scenes in the Life of a Bowery Newsboy

Fifteen-year-old Ben runs away from the farm home of his stepfather and heads to New York City, but he later returns to save his stepfather from a swindler.

Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth

Susanna Rowson?s work is the story of an innocent British schoolgirl who takes the advice of her depraved French teacher? with tragic consequences. Seduced by the dashing Lieutenant Montraville, who persuades her to move to America with him, the fifteen-year-old Charlotte leaves her adoring parents and makes the treacherous sea voyage to New York. In the land of opportunity, Charlotte is callously abandoned by Montraville. Alone and pregnant with an illegitimate child, she valiantly fights to stave off poverty and ruin.

Dorothy Dale’s Great Secret

In this volume of the popular Dorothy Dale series, Dorothy and her beloved pal Tavia have completed their first term at a new boarding school. But instead of being able to enjoy her break with a carefree attitude, Dorothy's conscience is weighed down with private worry. Will she able to solve her problem and get on with her life before school begins again?

Paul Prescott’s Charge

According to Wikipedia: "Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 ? July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author whose principal output was formulaic juvenile novels that followed the adventures of bootblacks, newsboys, peddlers, buskers, and other impoverished children in their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of respectable middle-class security and comfort. His novels were hugely popular in their day. Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of a Unitarian minister, Alger entered Harvard at the age of 16. Following graduation, he briefly worked in education before touring Europe for almost a year. He then entered the Harvard Divinity School, and, in 1864, took a position at a Unitarian church in Brewster, Massachusetts. Two years later, he resigned following a pederastic scandal involving two teenage boys. He subsequently retired from the ministry entirely and moved to New York City where he formed an association with the Newsboys Lodging House and other agencies offering aid to impoverished children. His empathy for the working boys of the city, coupled with the moral values learned at home, were the basis of his many juvenile "[rags to riches]" novels. He died in 1899. The first Alger biography was published in 1928, and later proved to be heavily fictionalized. Other biographies followed, sometimes citing the 1928 hoax as fact. In the last decades of the twentieth century however, a few reliable biographies were published that corrected the errors and fictionalizations of the past. Many of Alger's works have been described as rags to riches stories, illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others. This widely held view involves Alger's characters achieving extreme wealth and the subsequent remediation of their "old ghosts." Alger is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals."

The Windy Hill

A pair of teens visiting their wealthy cousin in a sleepy seaside town stumble upon a family mystery in this suspenseful Newbery Honor Book. Oliver and Janet sense immediately that something's wrong with Cousin Jasper, who barely acknowledges their arrival and remains strangely nervous and preoccupied. The brother and sister soon realize that the trouble is not confined to their cousin's house; conflict is brewing all over the hills and farms of Medford Valley. Oliver and Janet form a friendship with a mysterious local beekeeper and his daughter. The beekeeper tells the children tales of the region's past as well as incidents from the lives of their ancestors ? stories that help them piece together the scattered clues to the secret behind their cousin's depression and the discord that plagues the community. Armed with their new discoveries, Oliver and Janet attempt to overcome three generations of jealousy and greed with honor and integrity.

Tony, the Hero, or a Brave Boy’s Adventures With a Tramp (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Tony, the Hero, or a Brave Boy’s Adventures With a Tramp It was five o’clock in the afternoon,