“The detailed, authentic touches of history and adventure are a good combination for readers who might resist straight nonfiction.” —Booklist
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- Hard Gold
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By Avi
Read by Alston Brown
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Release Date: 10/01/12
Formats: Digital Audy
Early Whitcomb's family needs a miracle. Their Iowa farm has been in the family for generations, but a long drought has withered their savings and left them in debt. Meanwhile, the great Chicago and Northwestern Railroad wants their land, and if the Whitcombs can't pay their loans, the local banker, Judge Fuslin, will foreclose and sell the farm as his own. Early's uncle (though he's more like a brother), Jesse, thinks he has the solution—to head West and dig for gold.
Fueled by reports of prospectors striking it rich in the Rocky Mountains, Jesse can't think about anything but gold, and his determination to get to the western territories grows stronger by the day. Early is wild to go with him, as much for the adventure as for the gold. But the journey costs money—more than the boys can afford—and when Jesse flees during the night, after being accused of a robbery, Early doesn't know what to believe. Then Jesse sends an electrifying message—that he has found gold, but his life is in danger—and Early knows he must do whatever it takes to find him, even if it means running away and joining a wagon train with a strange family.
The journey is dangerous and full of hardships, and the closer the travelers get to their destination, the more ruined lives they encounter—lives consumed by the hunt for gold. Then to his horror, Early learns that Jesse has been accused of another, much bigger crime and has fled to a secret place in the mountains. Somehow, Early must get to him without leading Jesse's pursuers right to his door. And even if he succeeds, Early will still have to make the hardest choice of his life.
- Hard Gold
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By Avi
Read by Alston Brown
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Release Date: 10/01/12
Formats: Digital Audy
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- The Man Who Was Poe
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By Avi
Read by David Case
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Release Date: 8/01/11
Formats: Digital Audy
A mystery of uncertainties and distrust envelops young Edmund as he desperately searches for his missing mother in the murky streets of Providence, Rhode Island in 1848. His aunt, who went in search of her, is now dead. And now his sister has disappeared! How can he find them when facts are woven into fiction, when people are not who they say they are? Acclaimed author Avi has penned a novel of great intrigue, bringing alive this New England seacoast town in the mid-1800s, haunting the listener with a tale of things which are not what they seem to be. Or are they?- The Man Who Was Poe
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By Avi
Read by David Case
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Release Date: 8/01/11
Formats: Digital Audy
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- Iron Thunder
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By Avi
Read by Tyler Greenlaw
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Release Date: 10/01/10
Formats: Digital Audy
After his father is killed fighting for the Union, thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll takes a job at a Brooklyn ironworks to support his family. He quickly learns that they are building an ironclad "unsinkable" ship to be called the Monitor to finally sink the Confederates' "unsinkable" ship, the Merrimac.
This is a brilliantly written description of a major sea battle through the eyes of a teenaged boy who both helped build the Monitor and fought on it.
- Iron Thunder
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By Avi
Read by Tyler Greenlaw
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Release Date: 10/01/10
Formats: Digital Audy