Most Popular Books by James Lincoln Collier

Twelve-year-old Jesse runs away from home and tries to survive on his own in the nearby mountains.

At fourteen, Fergy is tired of his family''s life style. He''s tired of living in a van with his parents, J. P. and Gussie, and his younger sister, Ooma. He''s sick of peddling honey and pamphlets of his father''s writings. And most of all he hates stealing things, even though J. P. says it''s all right to "reclaim" necessities from society. Fergy listens to J. P. talk about the evils of "the system," and gradually Fergy realizes that he no longer believes or respects his father. In fact, Fergy longs more than anything to be a part of that system! One day, when Fergy''s father steals a motor home from an elderly couple who have befriended them, Fergy knows the time has come to act. He''s fed up, and he has to escape. Early one morning, with Ooma in tow, Fergy runs away. Gussie''s wealthy parents live in Boston, and Fergy hopes that if he can find them, he and Ooma can have the "regular and normal" life he longs for. How Fergy comes to grips with his relationship with his parents and his own expectations makes a provocative, at times painful, but always absorbing story about a boy''s determination to make a better life for himself.

To Tim Anderson, playing the guitar is as natural—and just about as important—as breathing. He''s already decided he''s going to be a musician. But his father has other career plans for him—all involving college. And now, because Tim is on the verge of flunking math, he''s been forbidden even to touch his guitar. It couldn''t have happened at a worse time. A top record company has just announced a nationwide contest for teenage rock groups—with a recording contract as first prize. Tim is sure his group, The Silver Sunshine, has a good chance of winning. Tim''s best friend, Charlie Hoving, urges him to ignore his father''s orders. But Tim just can''t do it. In spite of their disagreements, he basically likes and respects his father. So he obeys the ban (more or less)—until a crisis arises on the night of the contest ... Tim realizes his only chance to make it is to leave home and go to New York City. His decision leads to some unpleasant experience with a man named Crazy, some rude shocks from the record company executive who had given him encouragement back home, and some surprising, and confusing, discoveries while playing with a new group, The Sound System. Tim''s stubborn pursuit of his dream, and his initiation into the high-voltage world of rock music, make an exciting and absorbing story.

Young Daniel Arabus and his mother are slaves in the house of Captain Ivers of Stratford, Connecticut. By law they should be free, since Daniel’s father fought in the Revolutionary army and earned enough in soldiers’ notes to buy his family’s freedom. But now Daniel’s father is dead, and Mrs. Ivers has taken the notes from his mother. When Daniel bravely steals the notes back, a furious Captain Ivers forces him aboard a ship bound for the West Indies—and certain slavery. Even if Daniel can manage to jump ship in New York, will he be able to travel the long and dangerous road to freedom? The second book in the Arabus family saga finds young Daniel trying to retrieve the notes that ensure his and his mother’s freedom, until he is forced aboard a boat and headed for certain slavery in the West Indies.

Louis Armstrong. "Satchmo." To millions of fans, he was just a great entertainer. But to jazz aficionados, he was one of the most important musicians of our times--not only a key figure in the history of jazz but a formative influence on all of 20th-century popular music. Set against the backdrop of New Orleans, Chicago, and New York during the "jazz age", Collier re-creates the saga of an old-fashioned black man making it in a white world. He chronicles Armstrong''s rise as a musician, his scrapes with the law, his relationships with four wives, and his frequent feuds with fellow musicians Earl Hines and Zutty Singleton. He also sheds new light on Armstrong''s endless need for approval, his streak of jealousy, and perhaps most important, what some consider his betrayal of his gift as he opted for commercial success and stardom. A unique biography, knowledgeable, insightful, and packed with information, it ends with Armstrong''s death in 1971 as one of the best-known figures in American entertainment.

Fifteen-year-old Ben Buck and his family spent four years clearing the wilderness to build a new home in Pennsylvania. They fought the Indians and the British, and they made sacrifices most people wouldn''t have been strong enough to make, all so they could be independent and free. Now someone''s trying to take everything away from them—their land, their home, even Ben''s best friend, Joe. But the Bucks won''t give up without a fight, and Ben knows his family will have to win a war to stay free. But what he doesn''t know is that wars sometimes last a very long time. And even if you win in the end, you can lose almost everything along the way.

It’s 1895 in New York City. Hard times have hit, and life isn’t going to get noticeably better any time soon. Almost-thirteen-year-old Chipper Carey is running with the Midnight Rats kid gang just to survive. Chipper doesn’t normally like to think beyond the present. His past has been bad enough! Ma died of consumption when he was six. His short-lived stay with Aunt Millie and Uncle Bert consisted of endless beatings. He never even knew his father. Sure, Chipper feels badly about the gang’s stealing and fighting. He knows Ma wouldn’t have approved. He knows she wanted and expected a respectable life for him. What does it matter that even he sometimes feels he’s different, maybe even better, than the rest of the gang? What ultimately has to matter is reality, and without the Midnight Rats, Chipper would have nothing. He’d starve. He’d face thrashings more serious than those inflicted by the police. Worst of all, he’d be alone. Fortunately for Chipper, fate takes over and introduces him to the wealthy Miss Sibley. For once, it becomes possible for him to forget that the rich are the enemy. For once, like his Ma, someone else believes that he really was meant for something better.

Presents the history of the automobile, explains how an automobile works, and looks at the use of automobiles today.

Young people search for hominids on another planet similar to Earth and experience all the dangers Earth possessed in prehistoric times.

Looks at how early civilizations thought about and measured time, discusses attempts to make time visible, and examines the invention of the clock and its effects on the course of world history.

Life for indentured servants in pioneer Virginia is hard. It is doubly hard for Richard Ayre, a London orphan who had been scooped off the streets as a child and sent to the Jamestown Colony. But a chance encounter with an Indian boy his own age gives him a friend, the first real friend he has had in years—until his master''s plan to raid an Indian village for corn turns Richard''s world upside down. Soon their friendship and loyalties will be put to the test.

Fifty-five men met in Philadelphia in 1787 to write a document that would create a country and change a world: the Constitution. Here is a remarkable rendering of that fateful time, told with humanity and humor. Decision in Philadelphia is the best popular history of the Constitutional Convention; in it, the life and times of eighteenth century America not only come alive, but the very human qualities of the men who framed the document are brought provocatively into focus—casting many of the Founding Fathers in a new light. A celebration of how and why our Constitution came into being, Decision in Philadelphia is also a testament of the American spirit at its finest.

Building a New Nation chronicles the development of the new government following the signing of the Constitution. It explores the political views of the young nation''s leaders as they struggled to form a strong nation, despite the foreign and domestic dilemmas that they faced. The authors describe the beginnings of the two-party system, the administrations of the first three presidents, and key decisions by each branch of the government that shaped the future of the country.

Traces the development of electric lighting.

"A vibrant, sweeping analysis of the roots of American self-indulgence" --Kirkus Reviews "This ringing, provocative jeremiad cuts a path through a haze of self-indulgent thought and action in the "me first" society." --Publisher''s Weekly "Wonderful...a delight to read, even exciting...There are few books that inspire real enthusiasm. This is one of them." --The Philadelphia Enquirer

Young Tim Meeker is caught between his brother''s patriotism and his father''s Tory sympathies in this story of the American Revolution.