Judy Dodge Cummings: 12 books

Life as a teenager can be tough. Pressures from school, expectations from parents, fitting in with peers, and facing self-doubt are just a few things that can weigh heavily on a teen’s shoulders. While some young adults seem to thrive on adversity, others wilt under the strain and opt for less productive...

Slavery or freedom? The question of whether to make the United States a slave country or to make all people free was the question that pitted the states against each other in a brutal battle. In The Civil War: The Struggle that Divided America, readers ages 12-15 explore this conflict through the...

Imagine leaving everything you've ever known—your friends, family, and home—to travel along roads you've never seen before, getting help from people you've never met before, with the constant threat of capture hovering over your every move. Would you risk your life on the Underground Railroad...

About 200,000 years ago, humans arose as a species on the continent of Africa. How did they get to the rest of the world? When did they leave, why, and what did they use for transportation? Whether by bamboo raft or Boeing 747, whether to escape political persecution or because of climate change,...

Feel a tickle in your throat? Do you still have that headache? Could you be falling victim to a deadly virus? From history’s earliest days, bacteria and viruses have stalked humans. Stowing on wagons, ships, and airplanes, these diseases traversed the globe, infecting people in city streets...

Kids love stories about underdogs, and the American Revolution is among the most famous of these tales. Desperate to be an independent country free from Britain, the rebel colonists relied on their cunning wit and visionary leadership to win an impossible war. And then they faced the real hardship—creating...

What do you do when you see injustice unfolding? Do you stand and fight? People who do are often called traitors, agitators or rabble-rousers. These are the people who are often the driving force toward change. Throughout American history, people who worked to radically change society have...

The dead do not always rest easy. Armed with shovels and crowbars, thieves throughout history have unearthed graves for greed, hunger, and knowledge. Tomb Raiders: Real Tales of Grave Robberies recounts little-known stories of body snatchers and crooks of the crypt. For example, when colonists...

The energy released when volcanoes erupt, engines combust, or bombs explode both thrills and fascinates people. But this power also kills. Eruptions and Explosions: Real Tales of Violent Outbursts recounts the history of five blowups that continued to rattle the world long after the smoke had...

Sometimes, an intolerable situation calls for a drastic measure—fleeing for freedom. Whether you’re a slave seeking freedom in the North or a convict swimming for your life in a shark-infested canal, the urge to be free drives your every move. In Great Escapes: Real Tales of Harrowing Getaways,...

We might think humans have control over our environment, but Mother Nature has proven us wrong again and again. Earth, Wind, Fire, and Rain: Real Tales of Temperamental Elements tells the story of five of America’s deadliest natural disasters that were made worse by human error, ignorance,...

What does it mean to be an immigrant today? Has the immigrant experience changed since the last century? Immigration Nation: The American Identity in the Twenty-First Century invites middle and high schoolers to explore the history of immigration in the United States, along with immigration...