Juvenile Fiction
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ABBOTT, Jacob
- Marco Paul's Adventures in Pursuit of Knowledge: Forests
of Maine (1843): (RL: Juvenile) Other adventures in the series are in
New York City, on the Erie Canal, Vermont, Boston, and at the
Springfield Armory (Mass.). 191 pp.
ABBOTT, Jane Ludlow
- Aprilly (1921): (RL: Juvenile) A girl desperate to leave Boston buys a train ticket
to Blossom, Maine, where she finds both independence and romance.
ADSHEAD, Gladys Lucy
- Casco (1943; ill. Else Bostleman): (RL: Juvenile) The story of the first year of life of the little seal, Casco. Set Maine. 63 pp.
AGELL, Charlotte / [Agell Author Information]
- Welcome Home or Someplace Like It (2003): (RL: Young Adult) Spunky 13-year-old Aggie Wing keeps a journal,
recording everything about her first summer living in Ludwig, a fictional village on the
coast of Maine.
ALLEN, Willis Boyd
- Pine Cones (1886): (RL: Juvenile) 19th-century juvenile adventure stories. 224 pp.
- Kelp: A Story of the Isles of Shoals (1888): (Juvenile?) Cover title reads
'The Pine Cone Stories.' 242 pp.
ALVORD, Douglas
- Sarah's Boat: A Young Girl Learns the Art of Sailing (1994):
(RL: ages 8-12) Detailed drawings, helpful hints, 1-2-3 step guides, glossary, and
points of sailing incorporated in the story of an 11-year-old girl
learning to sail.
ANDERSON, F. Whitehouse
- Bushed (1954): (RL: Young adult) An adventure of boy on a hunting trip who became lost.
ANDLER, Kenneth
- The Stolen Spruce: A Mystery Adventure In The Maine Woods (1952):
(RL: Young adult) Mystery with Maine setting. 168 pp.
- The Signal Net (1953): (RL: Young adult) 183 pp.
ANNIXTER, Paul (aka Howard A. Struzel)
- Swiftwater (1950): (RL: older juvenile). Novel that captures
the wonder of wild places and is warm with humanity. In an isolated village
in the north woods of Maine, eccentric Cam Calloway is the last of the trappers.
The hostility of the community toward his profession intensifies the
rare and lovely relationship Cam has with his son. Basis for 1965
Walt Disney film ('Those Calloways'). 256 pp.
APPLEGATE, Katherine
Her 'Making Out' series (28 books; aka 'Boyfriends/Girlfriends') is about a group of teenagers who live on
Chatham Island, off the coast of Maine. Similar to 'Dawson's Creek' (TV show).
All are suitable for young adults (12+). Published 1994-1999.
- Zoey Fools Around: Two
years after Lucas is convicted of vehicular homicide in the
car accident that killed Zoey's boyfriend Wade McRoyan, Lucas
returns to Chatham Island, Maine and Zoey falls for him.
- Jake Finds Out
- Nina Won't Tell
- Ben's Move
- Claire Gets Caught
- What Zoey Saw: Zoey used to think her family was
perfect, that their parents were really in love. But what she
saw changed all that.
- Lucas Gets Hurt
- Aisha Goes Wild
- Zoey Plays Games: Thanksgiving vacation on Chatham Island, Maine, and the Passmore
and Geiger families are tested when they welcome a new sibling,
a possible new boyfriend, and a father's new girlfriend to the
table.
- Nina Shapes Up
- Ben Takes A Chance
- Claire Can't Lose
- Don't Tell Zoey
- Aaron Lets Go
- Who Loves Kate?
- Lara Gets Even: Lara gets even with Kate because she can't bear to watch Kate stealing Jake.
- Two-Timing Aisha
- Zoey Speaks Out : Zoey speaks out when
she dares to tell Jake the truth about his ruined evening with Kate.
- Kate Finds Love
- Never Trust Lara
- Trouble with Aaron
- Always Loving Zoey
- Lara Gets Lucky
- Now Zoey's Alone
- Don't Forget Lara
- Zoey's Broken Heart : The disaster that killed
Lara, destroyed Zoey's home, and injured her parents has left Zoey
devastated.
- Falling for Claire
- Zoey Comes Home
AUSTIN, Heather
- Visiting Aunt Sylvia's: A Maine Adventure (2002): (RL: Ages 4-8)
Heather and her brother Toby visit Aunt Sylvia in western Maine, gathering
stones, making leaf mobiles, hanging peanut butter pine cones for chickadees, picking
fiddleheads, etc.
AZEPERAK, Will
- The Proving (2003): (RL: Ages 10+). First in science fiction series The Zambinos
of Blue Hill. A story of high adventure set in the year 2063 in
the town of Blue Hill, Maine. 290 pp. (illus.) Available online through iUniverse.
BABICKI, Mo
- Island Fisherman: A Lobster Village Story (1999): (RL: Ages 4-8) Ill. Glenn Chadbourne.
Danny learns about lobstering and his grandfather learns that wire traps catch
more lobsters than wooden traps.
BAKER, Marybeth
- The Adventures of Maynard...A Maine Moose (1985): (RL: ages 4-8) Maynard always thought that
he was too big, too noisy, and clumsy, but all his forest friends knew
that he was really kind, and gentle and very special. This is the story of
Maynard, and how he came to be honored as the state animal of his native Maine.
- The Adventures of Maynard and the Loon (1985): (RL: ages 4-8) 44 pp.
- Maynard's Allagash Friends (1989): (RL: ages 4-8)
BALDWIN, Anne Norris
- The Sometimes Island (1969): (RL: Juvenile) When a young boy finds out that Pine Island
in Maine is actually a peninsula that you can sometimes walk out
to and not always an island, he must explore it.
BALDWIN, Sidney
- Ben of Old Monhegan: A Boy's Life (1933): (RL: Young adult) Story of a boy's life
among the fishermen.
- Marjorie of Monhegan (1950): (RL: Juvenile) Story of a
city child who spends a year on the island of Monhegan off the coast of Maine. 300 pp.
BARTHOLOMEW, Sandra
- Megan In Maine: Summer Surprises (1995/1999): (RL: ages 9-12) In a guesthouse
on the Maine coast, Megan Ropitsky deals with feelings of jealousy towards some of
her friends. An autistic visitor gives Megan a chance to do
something unselfish, for which she is rewarded. Independence Day setting. 49 pp.
BARTLETT, Sharon Aune
- An Adventure with Grandfather in the Maine Woods (2002, illus. Judith Fallmann): (RL: Juvenile)
A 7-year-old New York City boy reluctantly visits his grandfather in rural Maine. Once there, he
realizes there's a lot to see and do in the wintry woods -- and begins
to build a deep bond with his grandfather.
BARTLETT, Susan
- Seal Island School (1999, illus. Tricia Tusa): (RL: ages 7-10; Puffin chapter book)
On Seal Island off the coast of Maine (based on Monhegan Island), a place
aswarm with pets of all kinds, nine-year-old Pru plans to keep her
teacher from leaving by finding her a dog. 69 pp. Barlett lives in Vermont.
BATES, Betty
- Ask Me Tomorrow (1987): (RL: Ages 8-12) Although fifteen-year-old Paige thinks he is
determined to get away from home and pursue his own career goals
in the big city, thirteen-year-old Abby confuses the issue
by helping him see his Maine countryside in a more appreciative way. 135 pp.
BATES, Esther Willard
- Marilda and the Witness Tree (1957): (RL: Ages 8-12) Two young girls, Marilda and Olga, have difficulty
getting along until an old Witness Tree, a great white oak, helps solve
some mysteries and provides a comforting place for the two girls. Set
in New England. Maine? 180 pp.
BEALE, Will
- Binky (1954; ill. Vladimir Bobri): (RL: Juvenile) 125 pp. Maine setting?
- Seapiece: The Story of a Maine Boy (1966; ill. Frank Handlen): (RL: Young adult)
A novel of growing up in Machias in Maine's Washington County.
A boy with a difficult home life longs for a life of music. 147 pp.
BECKHORN, Susan Williams
- Sarey by Lantern Light (2004): (RL: ages 9+) Set in the 1970s, the story of
Sarey, who is dyslexic, and of her parents, who as a family move from Buffalo, NY
to far northern Maine potato country to make a new start. When they are threatened with
disaster, it's Sarey on whom depends the success of the family's new life.
BEIM, Lorraine
- Just Plain Maggie (1951; ill. Barbara Cooney):
(RL: ages 9-12) Set at a girls' camp in Maine.
BELLAIRS, John
- The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull (1984): (RL: ages 9-12) Mystery/Magic. When Johnny Dixon takes a
tiny skull from a haunted dollhouse, demonic forces are released, capturing Professor
Childermass and leading Johnny on a harrowing chase to a deserted island
off the coast of Maine. 170 pp.
BENNETT, Cherie
Bennett's teen series 'Sunset Island' is a coming-of-age series about three
just-graduated high school seniors who work as au pairs on a
resort island off the Maine coast. Published 1991-1997. For ages 12+.
- Sunset Island: Along with two of her new
friends (Samantha 'Sam' Bridges and Carolyn 'Carrie' Alden), eighteen-year-old
Emma Cresswell has been hired as an au pair on Sunset Island,
a tiny island off the coast of Maine where the rich and
famous like to vacation.
- Sunset Island
- Sunset Kiss
- Sunset Dreams
- Sunset Farewell
- Sunset Reunion
- Sunset Secrets
- Sunset Heat
- Sunset Promises
- Sunset Scandal
- Sunset Whispers
- Sunset Paradise
- Sunset Surf
- Sunset Deceptions
- Sunset on the Road
- Sunset Embrace
- Sunset Wishes
- Sunset Touch
- Sunset Wedding
- Sunset Glitter
- Sunset Stranger
- Sunset Heart
- Sunset Revenge
- Sunset Sensation
- Sunset Magic
- Sunset Illusions
- Sunset Fire
- Sunset Fantasy
- Sunset Passion
- Sunset Love
- Sunset Fling
- Sunset Tears
- Sunset Spirit
- Sunset Holiday
- Sunset Forever
BENNETT, Dean
- Finding a Friend in the Forest (2005): (RL: K-3) At a sporting camp in northern Maine, an aging
beagle befriends a crippled whitetail doe.
- Everybody Needs a Hideaway (2004): Somewhere in the woods of western Maine, there is
a hideaway tree, in a secret place where a boy and his dog can be. Ben and his dog share the
forest and marsh beneath Ben's treehouse with birds and beaver, red squirrels and crows and grouse and moose.
BENSEN, Rosie
- Fessic, the Eddy School Cat (1999; ill. Abby Reid):
(RL: Juvenile) Story about the Edgecomb (Maine) Eddy School cat.
BERNIER, Evariste
- Baxter Bear & Moses Moose (1990; ill. Dawn Peterson):
(RL: ages 3-7) Baxter has a peculiar hobby for a Maine bear (he collects
hats), and Moses is not your typical moose (he has cold feet), and each has
a vexing problem to solve. A humorous tale of cross-purposes.
BERRY, Erick
- Beckoning Landfall: A Novel Set In Acadia National Park (1959) (RL: Juvenile)
Novel set in Acadia National Park. Part of the 'Your Fair Land' series. 192 pp.
BESTON, Henry and Elizabeth Coatsworth / [Beston Author Information; Beston Author Information
Coatsworth Author Information]
- Chimney Farm Bedtime Stories (1966; ill. Maurice Day) (RL: Juvenile): Stories of nature's doings in
the country -- Bluebird and green umbrella, Mr. Bear reading, a
nosey chipmunk, more. 78 pp.
BEYER, Audrey White / [Beyer Author Information]
- Katharine Leslie (1963) (RL: Young adult) Historical
fiction. Novel about an innocent sixteen-year-old English girl sentenced
to prison for theft. She escapes to pre-Revolutionary Maine and gets
caught up in the struggle for American independence. Based on actual incidents. 279 pp.
BLAIN, John
- The Lost City: A Rick Brant Electronic Adventure (1947): (RL: Young Adult)
Rick Brant and his pal, Scotty, have the kind of adventure all boys would like
to have. They live on Spindrift Island where Rick's father heads a
group of scientists working in the field of electronics. Here and abroad,
the boys encounter thrilling adventures and solve baffling mysteries.
Second book in the series. 209 pp.
BLUME, Judy
- Fudge-A-Mania (1990): Five-year-old Fudge Hatcher is back for more antics as
he makes sure there is never a dull moment at the family's
summer rental house in Maine. His latest plan is to marry his brother
Peter's sworn enemy, Sheila Tubman.
BOOTH, Zilpha
- Finding a Friend (1996): (RL: ages 5-9) Illustrated by Pam DeVito. The story of the friendship that grows
between two very different boys during a summer in Maine. A
handicap proves no barrier to love, trust and adventure.
BRADBURY, Bianca
- Say Hello, Candy (1961): (RL: Juvenile) Candy initially resents her parents
decision to move to Maine and open an antique store, but she soon
makes friends and grows to love her new home. 190 pp.
- Two On an Island (1965): (RL: Juvenile) On an uninhabited Maine island from which
their rowboat has drifted away, nine-year-old Trudy and twelve-year-old
Jeff endure a three-day trial of survival, fighting hunger, sunburn,
and nighttime cold. 139 pp.
BRAGDON, Elspeth
- Fairing Weather (1955): (RL: ages 6-9) Story of a young girl who lives in a lighthouse
on a small island off the coast of Maine.
- One To Make Ready (1959): (RL: Young adult) Setting: Cranberry Cove, Maine. Historical data
based on lost Gloucester fishing schooner.
- There is a Tide (1964): (RL: Young adult) Set in Maine.
- That Jud! (1967): (RL: ages 6-9) When a troubled young boy named Jud goes to live with old
Captain Ben in a village on the coast of Maine, things start to
happen and Jud is blamed. Also features Jud's terrier-mix dog.
BRODEUR, Ruth Wallace
- Steps in Time (1986): (RL: Juvenile) Evan (16) is spending the summer with
Gram in her home on an island off the coast of Maine. The grandmother is cool to Evan,
and Evan is forced to discover the island people on her own. One afternoon she
poke around the attic of the island home looking for things to
make her room homey. The memories she stirs up in Gram from the
articles she brings downstairs starts Gram on the road to a better time.
BROWN, Todd
- Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook (1995): (RL: Young adult)
A gay teenager in Tranten Township -- rural Maine -- contends with
his dysfunctional family, his serious crush on a teacher, and his
first love.
BRYANT, Sally Smith
- Here's Juggins (1997): (RL: ages 9-12) Mystery. Juggins and
her father, both lobster fishermen, live in a small fishing village on the coast of Maine.
When her father is accused of stealing lobsters from other fishermen's
traps, Juggins and her summer friend Jimmy set out to clear her father's name.
BUZZEO, Toni / [Buzzeo Author Information]
- The Sea Chest (2002) (RL: ages 5+): A tale of both adoption and of Maine historical fiction,
this book is set on a fictional midcoast Maine island and based on the
Maine Hendricks Head Light baby-in-the-sea chest legend.
CAREY, Janet Lee
- Molly's Fire (2000) (RL: ages 8-12) Historical fiction. The telegram says that her father died when his Thunderbolt
aircraft was shot down by the Germans over Holland. But for Molly,
that's impossible. She feels certain that her father has found a
way to survive. As her small fishing town of Keenan, Maine, struggles with
the deprivations of wartime, Molly awaits a sign from her father.
CARLSON, Dale and Danny
- The Shining Pool (1979) (RL: Young adult)
Science fiction. Teenaged Ben is the only person to realize the dangerous meaning
of the underwater light which has affected the minds of the
other young people in his small town in Maine.
CARLSTROM, Nancy White
- Grandpappy (1990; ill. Laurel Molk): (RL: ages 4-8) Nate's visit to
Grandpappy's house in Maine is filled with such everyday adventures as finding a four-leaf
clover, watching a gray heron, and shopping for supplies. 32 pp.
CHANDLER, Ruth Forbes
- Middle Island Mystery (1961): (RL: ) Twelve-year-old Sarah
spends the summer on an island in Maine, baby-sitting to earn
enough money for a new dog for her brother. Though her job isn't
easy, she has a few thrilling experiences, including exploring the secret
of Middle Island's spooky old house. 160 pp.
CHASE, Mary Ellen / [Chase Author Information]
- The Silver Shell (1930): (RL: ages 10-14) Story of a fisherman's daughter on a Maine island.
- Richard Mansfield, the Prince of Donkeys (1964): (RL: Juvenile?) Sweet little story set in the
author's childhood home area in rural Maine.
CHETKOWSKI, Emily
- Mabel Takes the Ferry (1995): (RL: ages 5-8) A mixed-breed dog's
day of adventure while searching for her family, who left her behind to go
sailing on Penobscot Bay, as she makes new friends on a ferry, at the beach,
and in a restaurant.
CLARK, Catherine
- Maine Squeeze (2004): (RL: Young adult) When her parents go to Europe
for the summer, Colleen lives on her own in their Maine island home, working a
summer job and coping with her friends.
CLARK, Margaret Goff
- Mystery of Sebastian Island (1976): (RL: ages 9-12) Mystery. A teenage girl discovers that
the sinister forces at work on a Maine island center around an old
lobsterman. 159 pp.
CLAYTON, Barbara
- Second Best (1963): (RL: ages 9-12) Lucy has always felt
she was second best until a summer in Maine and a mystery surrounding a lighthouse
provides her with the confidence she needs. 184 pp.
- Ditto (1968; ill. Sandra Willcox): (RL: ages 9-12) A girl visiting her grandfather
in a tiny town in Maine does her best to be accepted by the three boys her age,
but they are uninterested in having a girl join their club until some strange events
begin to draw them together. 123 pp.
CLIFFORD, Harold B. / [Clifford Author Information]
- Sea Horse: A Shetland Pony Comes to Monhegan (1987):
(RL ) When a steamer carrying animals for the
Barnum and Bailey Circus sinks, a Shetland pony swims to the Maine
island of Monhegan where he is adopted by a young boy. 68 pp.
CLYMER, Eleanor
- Engine Number Seven (1975; ill. Robert Quackenbush): (RL: ages 4-8) In a little
town in Maine the old narrow gauge railroad is gradually replaced by
cars, trucks, and buses that do the same job just as well -- or
can they? 46 pp.
COATSWORTH, Elizabeth / [Coatsworth Author Information]
- Away Goes Sally (1934): (RL: ages 9-12) Sally and her aunts and uncles make a journey to a new
home in Maine, in a little house on sled runners, pulled by oxen.
- Sword of the Wilderness (1936): (RL: Young adult) Tale of a Maine boy captured by Indians during the early days.
- Alice-All-By-Herself (1937): (RL: ages 9-13) About a ten-year-old girl who lives in Damariscotta.
- Five Bushel Farm (1939): (RL: ages 9-12) Maine pioneer story, companion story to Away Goes Sally.
- Houseboat Summer (1942): (RL: ages 9-12) Two children, living on a houseboat, explore
the Damariscotta area.
- Thief Island (1943): (RL: ages 10-14) Dave Little and his two children live on a deserted
island off the Maine coast. Lobstering, storms and even a friendly
ghost enliven the tale.
- The Wonderful Day (1946): (RL: ages 9-12) More about Sally and her life in Maine.
- The Little Haymakers (1949): (RL: ages 7-11) Story of a boy and his pair of oxen.
- The Captain's Daughter (1950): (RL: Young adult) Thomaston in the days when ships sailed from Maine to the Orient.
- The Enchanted: An Incredible Tale (1951): (RL: Young adult) Magical fantasy.
The moving story of a young man's strange romance in the "Enchanted,"
an actual, magical place in the northern Maine woods. Novel of a young man
starting a wilderness farm, the encroaching forest, adjustment to marriage, etc.
- Dollar for Luck (1951): (RL: ages 8-12) An adventure in the summer of 1882 of a boy from the land trading places with a girl from the sea.
- Silky: An Incredible Tale (1953): (RL: Young adult) The second in her series of Incredible Tales. Set in the haunting
countryside of Maine. When Cephas Hewes calls out in despair, a young stranger with
grace and silken beauty appears.
- Mountain Bride: An Incredible Tale (1954): (RL: Young adult) Modern version of an old Abenaki Indian legend, in the shadow of Katahdin.
Set in the wilderness of Maine, this is the story of a man with mixed Indian blood
and his family.
- The White Room: An Incredible Tale (1958): (RL: Young adult) The real and the imagined become
indistinguishable. Novel set on a hilltop on the Maine coast. A woman
fights for control of herself her family from the loneliness
of the land and the strong will of her husband's sister.
- The Sailing Hatrack (1972): (RL: Juvenile) Fictitious account of life on a store-boat off the coast of Maine.
- Marra's World (1975): (RL: Juvenile) Spellbinding adventure, set in the haunting landscape of a Maine island.
Raised by a harsh grandmother and an indifferent father, Marra
comes to understand her world with the help of a seal mother.
COONEY, Barbara / [Cooney Author Information]
- King of Wreck Island (1941): (RL: ages 10-12) A shipwreck story.
- The Kelleyhorns (1942): (RL: ages 10-14) Penny and Pam, the Kellyhorn twins, who were
separated after their mother's death, meet again at age 12 and
launch their campaign to bring the family back together again.
- Captain Pottle's House (1943): (RL: ages 8-12) Mystery and fun.
- Miss Rumphius (1982): (RL: ages 4-8) Alice Rumphius grows from a little girl to
a retired and well-travelled librarian in this story about how to live a good life by
spreading beauty and sharing happiness. Miss Rumphius loves flowers, especially lupines, and
shares her joy by scattering lupine seeds everywhere she goes,
including the rocky landscape around her Maine home.
- Island Boy (1988): (RL: ages 4-8) Matthias is the youngest son
in a family of 12 children who live with their parents on Tibbetts Island,
Maine. This is the story of how he grows from a little boy to
a grandfather on this small island.
COONEY, Caroline
The Point Horror Trilogy (also called the Losing Christina series) is
set in Maine. (RL: Young adult)
- The Fog (1989): Point Horror Trilogy #1. Christina comes from her island home
to the mainland of Maine to go to school, never guessing at
the evil waiting for her.
- The Snow (1990): 2nd in the series. Winter has come, and the Shevvingtons have nearly
succeeded in destroying Anya, the dreamy senior who boards with
Christina at the Shevvington¹s house. Now the Shevvingtons have set
their sights on Christina and her friend, sweet, trusting Dolly. While Christina
tries to protect Dolly and bring Anya out of her desperate isolation, the Shevvingtons work
to destroy Christina's reputation.
- The Fire (2001): Last of the trilogy. Christina knows the Shevvingtons have
left a trail of hollowed-out, lost girls in mental hospitals across the
country, and she has seen the secret files that prove it. But the Shevvingtons are
determined to destroy the evidence, and Christina. This time, they'll
use fire. They stuff her pocketbook full of matchbooks, scribble flames
over her class notes - anything they can do to make it look like Christina is
obsessed with fire and a danger to herself and others.
COPELAND, Cynthia L.
- Elin's Island (2002) (RL: YA) Thirteen-year-old Elin can't
imagine living anywhere but the island off the coast of
Maine where her father is lightkeeper, until the night
in 1941 when she awakes to the sound of German torpedoes while her parents are on the mainland.
CORCORAN, Barbara (AKA Paige Dixon)
- Cabin in the Sky (1976): (RL: Young adult) Story of the transitions as young Tommy Fortier leaves
his cabin home deep in the Maine woods to find work on Broadway
in New York City.
- Annie's Monster (1990): Delighted when her prayers for an Irish wolfhound are answered,
thirteen-year-old Annie, living in a small Maine town where her father
is an Episcopal minister, soon finds herself in trouble when she tries to
deal with the consequences of the large dog's playful curiosity.
COWAN, James and Lois
- Trouble at Moosehead Lake (1993): (RL: ages 8-12) One of the Emergency Rescue! series.
Five stories of emergency rescues. Davey Mountain and Matt Rich are trained
to know how to react in emergency situations. If disaster strikes, they will
be there, managing the scene until the 911 professionals arrive. Because
in an emergency, there are only moments between life and death. 128 pp.
- Nightmare at Norton's Mills (1993): (RL: ages 8-12) Matt Rich and Davey Mountain are
no strangers to emergencies, like the drowning victim at Norton's
Mills, or the tobogganing accident. 109 pp.
CROSSMAN, David A. / [Crossman Author Information]
- The Secret of the Missing Grave (1999): (RL: ages 10+) Summering on a Maine
Island, 13 year old Ab joins her friend Bean in investigating the
odd noises in her boarding house and solving the mystery of a missing treasure
and stolen paintings.
- The Mystery of the Black Moriah: A Bean and Ab Mystery (2002): (RL: age 10+)
Set on Maine's Penobscot Island (modeled on Vinalhaven Island, east of Rockland).
The two boys' adventures take them from 18th century pirate ships to
21st century mini-submarines.
CROWLEY, Michael
- New Kid on Spurwink Avenue (1992): (RL: ages 4-8) Set
in Cape Elizabeth.
- Shack and Back (1993): (RL: ages 4-8) Takes place in
Cape Elizabeth, Maine. When Tim "Crater" Creighton insults
the girls, the Spurwink Gang splits up, boys one way, girls the other --
until the boys are challenged to a bike race by the Broad Cove
Bullies. Then, the Spurwink boys need the girls back in their gang,
and they plead with T-Ball, the girl champion cyclist, to ride for them.
CURRY, Jane
- Parsley Sage, Rosemary & Time (1975; ill.
Charles Robinson): (RL: ages 9-12) Time-travel. When young Rosemary
goes to stay with her Aunt Sibby in Maine, the elderly cat, Parsley
Sage, takes her to a hidden herb garden and shows her the
stones marked Sage, Rosemary and Time (not thyme). When she picks a
sprig of the time, time stops for her and she soon ends up back in 1700s.
CURTIS, Alice Turner
- The Little Maid of Old Maine: A Novel About Colonial Times (1920/1999) :
(RL: ages 7-12) These delightful stories are based on the history of actual heroines
of colonial America.
DALY, Brian
- Big and Hairy (1994): (RL: ages 9-12) Set on fictitious Spruce Island in
Maine. Twelve-year-old Picasso Dewlap has just moved with his
parents from Chicago, and longs to makes friends and fit in.
When he and his middle school basketball coach, also from away,
find a Bigfoot who can play like a pro, they put him on their
losing team in hopes of making it a winning team. 133 pp.
DEAN, Carol Shorey / [Dean Author Information]
- The Henhouse: A True Story of Growing Up on a Maine Farm (2003; ill. Sandra Dunn): (RL: ages 4-8)
True story in the form of a picture book. Experiences of a girl, Carol, growing
up on a chicken farm in central Maine. 32 pp.
- The Live Bale of Hay: A Real Maine Advnture (2005; ill. Sandra Dunn): One night, chasing
fireflies, a bale of hay starts to move. A story of an obstinate bear, a brave dog in a
portrait of rural Maine 50 years ago. 32 p.
DEANS, Sis Boulos / [Deans Author Information]
- Blazing Bear (1992; ill. Nantz Comyns): (RL: ages 6-11)
Dramatic tale of a Norridgewock boy coming of age in the wilds of Maine.
- Racing the Past (2001): (RL: ages 8-12). About fifth grader
Ricky Gordon whose struggle with bullies and beatings brings him self-confidence,
self-knowledge, and self-control. Set in rural Maine. Some themes are long-distance
running, family struggles, and drunk-driving.
DIETZ, Lew / [">Dietz Author Information]
The Jeff White series are absorbing action/adventure tales of the Maine woods.
- Jeff White, Young Woodsman (1949/1979): (RL: Young adult): Jeff returns to the North Woods
where he learns more of the lore of the woods and tracks down clues to his father's death.
- Jeff White, Young Guide (1951): (RL: Young adult)
- Jeff White, Young Trapper (1951): (RL: Young adult): Adventures of a young trapper
in the Maine Woods.
- Jeff White, Young Lumberjack (1952): (RL: Young adult)
- Jeff White, Forest Fire Fighter (1954): (RL: Young adult)
- The Year Of The Big Cat (1970): (RL: Juvenile) A fifteen-year-old boy living
in the Maine North Woods becomes obsessed with hunting down a mountain lion.
DIXON, Paige (AKA Barbara Corcoran)
- Walk My Way (1980): (RL: ages 10-14) Attempting to flee from her
problems, 14-year-old Kitty sets off into the wilderness determine to hike
50 miles from her New Hampshire home to the Maine village
where her Aunt Lee lives.
DODD, Anne Wescott / [Dodd Author Information]
- The Story of the Sea Glass (1999; illus. Mary Beth Owens):
(RL: ages 4-8) Takes place on a crowded city beach, then on a Maine island,
and then back in time 70 years to Nicole's grandmother's childhood home,
where Nana describes hiding the evidence of a broken vase in the ocean.
DORIAN, Edith
- No Moon on Graveyard Head (1953): (RL: Young adult) In a small Maine seacost town,
Steve graduates, goes to work for Marine Biological Laboratory, and
becomes involved in a dangerous adventure.
- Mystery on Graveyard Head (1958): (RL: Young adult)
ENSOR, Robert
- Nellie: The Flying Instructor: As Narrated by Nellie(1995): (RL: ages 4-7) A
Maine lighthouse director's fox terrier teaches a little seagull to fly. (See also Scarpino/Ensor's Nellie The Lighthouse Dog)
FAULKNER, Georgene
- Melindy's Happy Summer (1949; ill. Elton C. Fax): (RL: ages 9-12) A young
African-American girl from Boston spends part of her summer on
a farm in Maine. 182 pp.
FIELD, Rachel / [Field Author Information]
- Calico Bush (1931): (RL: Juvenile) Book, set in 1743, concerns a French girl and an English family
who travel to Maine to a new life. Beginning with the trip aboard the Isabella
B. and continuing through the first year in their new home, season by season.
- Hitty, Her First Hundred Years (1929): (RL: ages 8-12) Hitty is a real doll,
made over a hundred years ago , of stout ash wood, in the state of Maine. Newbery winner, 1930.
FOSTER, Elizabeth / [Foster Author Information]
- Gigi in America (1946): (RL: ages 8-12) Fiction about a merry-go-round horse at Old Orchard Beach.
- The House at Noddy Cove (1949): (RL: ages 8-12) Story of a 10-year-old girl in 1896 who
visits her grandfather in Maine and the adventures she has.
FOX, Genevieve
- Bonnie, Island Girl (1954): (RL: Young adult) Problems, adjustments, and friendships
at a high school on the mainland. The author was born and raised in Connecticut,
and credited a summer in a Maine island fishing village as
the inspiration for this book.
FOX, J.N.
- Young Indiana Jones and the Pirates' Loot (1994):
Young Indiana Jones series. In 1912 on the coast of Maine, the ghost of a young girl begs Indy
to help find her father, who disappeared years before along with
a map to some buried treasure. 130 pp.
FOX, Paula
- Western Wind (1993): (RL: ages 10-14) Packed off to spend the summer with
her artist grandmother on a lonely island, 12-year-old Elizabeth is determined
not to enjoy herself. She meets a strange small boy, but just when things were getting
exciting, the boy disappears and she is forced to face her grandmother's death alone.
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book.
FRAUSTINO, Lisa Rowe
- Grass and Sky (1994): (RL: ages 8-12) Set at a camp on a lake in northern
Maine, deals with environmental issues as well as family communication
between generations. Eleven-year old Timmi misses a big baseball
tournament to spend his summer in the Maine woods with her grandfather
and discovers another side of this seemingly aloof man.
- Ash: A Novel (1995): (Young adult) Using colloquial language 15-year-old
Wes recalls in diary form his older brother's slide into schizophrenia. The boys'
hardworking, small-town Maine family is an integral part of the novel. Set in Calvin Cove,
fictional town near Machias. An American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.
FRITZHAND, James
- Life is a Lonely Place (1975): (RL: Young adult?) Fifteen-year-old Tink's
friendship with a writer temporarily staying in a house on the Maine beach
contributes to anguishing problems at home and at school, but also gives him the
sustenance for surmounting them. 204 pp.
FROST, Frances M.
- Then Came Timothy (1950): (RL: ages 7-11) Mystery at
Singing Cow Island. Kathy helps her friend Philip and a leprechaun
named Timothy Sweetfern who has traveled from Ireland.
GARDEN, Nancy
- My Sister the Vampire (1992): (RL: ages 8-12) A beautiful summer
alone and unsupervised at their family's summer cabin in Maine turns deadly
for Sarah, Tim, Jenny, and their neighbors as they discover the
horrifying truth about the strange new owners of Spool Island.
- Meeting Melanie (2002) : (RL: YA) Eleven year old Allie Ward's summer
isn't looking especially fun filled until she makes friends with the
daughter of a well-to-do family who are spending their
first summer on Seal Island.
GARFIELD, Henry / [Garfield Author Information]
- Tartabull's Throw (2001): (RL: ages 9-12) Mystery/suspense thriller
set during the 1967 baseball season, when the Boston Red Sox
battled three other teams for the American League pennant. In this
book, Cyrus meets up with Cassandra, who lives on Deer Isle, Maine.
GEORGE, Jean Craighead
- The Firebug Connection: An Ecological
Mystery (1993/1999): (RL: ages 9-12) Maggie and Mitch team
up to discover why her magnificent European fire bugs fail to metamorphose
into adults and are instead dying.
GOLDREICH, Gloria and Esther
- What Can She Be?: A Farmer (1976; photos by Robert Ipcar) (RL: Juvenile)
Introduces the varied aspects of a career in dairy farming through a description
of the daily lives of two sisters who run a dairy farm in Maine.
GOODALE, Rebecca
- Island Dog (1999): (RL: any age) This wordless book you on a visual tour of the simple joys
of life on a Maine island as you follow an adventurous dog
on a lovely summer day.
GOODRICH, Beatrice
- Happy Hollow Stories by Judge Tortoise (1987, 1988, 1989): (RL: Juvenile) Three
volumes of tales of wildlife on an old saltwater farm in Maine.
GOSSELION, Shirley A.
- The Tales of Fabian and Gilead-Brown (1986): (RL: Juvenile) Animal story
set in the adjoining towns of Shelbourne, New Hampshire, and
Gilead, Maine. 80 pp.
GRAMATSKY-SMITH, Linda
- Little Toot and the Lighthouse (1999; ill. Mark Weber):
(RL: Juvenile) Little Toot (a tugboat) and his father take a trip to Maine, where
Little Toot gets lost exploring with his friend Bob.
GREENE, Constance C.
- Ask Anybody (1983): (RL: Older Juvenile) Her parents divorced, living in Maine,
winter approaching, Schuyler and her pals plan a yard sale to benefit their
favorite charity, but an outside sophisticate draws them in to her misadventures. 150 pp.
GUTMAN, Dan
- The Get Rich Quick Club (2004): (RL: grades 3-6) Summer vacation in their small Maine
town (near Farmington) doesn't look promising until twelve-year-old Gina
and four of her friends make a pact to become millionaires before school
starts in September.
HADLER, Berta and Elmer
- Rainbow's End (1945): (RL: ages 8-14) Ship's carpenter at Snug Harbor with his cat.
- Tommy Thatcher Goes To Sea (1937): (RL: ages 8-12) Small boy at Welcome Cove, Maine.
HAHN, Mary Downing
- Look for Me by Moonlight (1995) : (RL: Young adult) Suspense.
While her mother and stepfather travel, sixteen-year-old Cynda comes to
stay with her father and his second wife, Susan, at their remote bed-
and-breakfast inn on the Maine coast. At first, everything goes well:
Cynda likes her five-year-old half-brother Todd; she can study at
home; and she meets an attractive boy, Will. But Susan's pregnancy
confirms that Dad's found a new life in which Cynda is just a
visitor. Spooky legends about ghosts and a murder at the inn only
increase her sense of isolation. WPL-Adult.
- Deep and Dark and Dangerous: A Ghost Story (2007) (RL: young adult).
Thirteen-year-old Ali encounters old secrets during her summer trip to her
family’s Maine cottage.
HANCOCK, H. Irving
- The Motor Boat Club of the Kennebec, or: The Secret of Smugglers' Island (1909):
(RL: ages 8-12) Vintage boys' adventure story, takes place in Maine. First in a series
of seven titles. Others, which don't take place in Maine, are: The Motor Boat Club at Nantucket; Or,
The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir (1909; #2); The Motor Boat Club Off Long
Island; Or, A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed (1909; #3); The Motor Boat Club and the Wireless;
Or, the Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise (1909; #4); The Motor Boat Club In Florida; Or, Laying
The Ghost Of Alligator Swamp (1909; #5); The Motor Boat Club at the Golden Gate; Or,
A Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog (1909; #6, set in San Francisco); and The Motor Boat Club
on the Great Lakes; Or, the Flying Dutchman Of the Big Fresh Water (1912; #7).
HARLOW, Joan Hiatt
- Shadows on the Sea (2003): (RL: grades 6-8) In the summer of 1942, Jill Winters, 14, has been sent
to stay with her grandmother in Maine while her father, a famous singer, is on
a U.S. tour and her mother is visiting her dying brother in Newfoundland.
Jill is terrified that the German U-boats that patrol the shores of the North Atlantic will
torpedo her mother's boat. Adding to her worries are the mysterious goings-on in
Winter Haven. Even her grandmother is secretive about the Sunday night meetings she has
with her friends. When Jill intercepts a carrier pigeon with a message in German, she begins
to suspect that someone in the community is guilty of treason, and she has no idea
whom to trust.
HATCHER, Maynard R.
- The Liberty Pole (1980): (Children's) Set in Machias, 1775, historical novel.
Tale of love and adventure based on the first naval battle of
the American Revolution when the tiny sloop Unity captured the
British frigate Margaretta off the coast of Maine.
HAYWOOD, Carolyn
- Taffy and Melissa Molasses (1969):
(RL: ages 7-10) Story of three young children and a typical summer in Maine.
HETLEY, James A.
- Dragon's Eye (2005): (RL: YA) In a small Maine town, two families with magical powers must
overcome their differences to combat an evil sorcerer.
HIGHTOWER, Florence
- Mrs. Wappinger's Secret (1956): (RL: ages 8-11)
Digging for buried treasure on a Maine island.
HOFFMAN, Elizabeth Stokes
- Miss Renee's Mice (2001; ill. Dawn Peterson): (RL: ages 4-8) Set in Maine.
Miss Renee lives in an oceanside home where she builds dollhouses. After her barn is blown
down, a family of mice takes up residence in her dollhouses. 32 pp.
- Miss Renee's Mice Go To An Exhibition (2003; ill. Dawn Peterson): (RL: ages 4-8) Set in Maine.
Miss Renee's mice go along with her to a miniatures show and exhibition,
attracting more attention than do her miniatures. 32 pp.
HOLBROOK, Ruth
- Katy's Quilt (1940): (RL: ages 8-12) Set in Maine in the late 1860s,
the story of a little girl who disliked sewing patchwork.
HOLLAND, Isabelle
- The Man Without A Face (1972/1987): (RL: Young adult) Explores relationship between a 12-year-old and his facially
scarred ex-teacher, who is gay and lives alone in a big house on a Maine island.
- Now Is Not Too Late (1980): (RL: Young adult) While spending the summer with her grandmother
on a Maine island, 11-year-old Cathy learns a great many things about herself and
her relationship with other people.
HOLLENBECK, Kathleen M.
- Lobster's Secret (1996; ill. Jon Weiman): (RL: ages 4-8) Lobster emerges from his
rocky hiding place off the Maine coast and prowls for dinner
while watching for predators, a task made even more difficult after he molts.
31 pp.
HOLMES, Barbara Ware / [Holmes Author Information]
- Following Fake Man (2001): (RL: ages 9-12) Homer Winthrop's father
is a mystery to him: he died when Homer was two, and Homer's
mother won't talk about him. But when twelve-year-old Homer and his mother travel to the
Maine coast, to a house the family lived in when Homer was
a baby, he decides to unravel the mystery.
HOPKINS, Trish and Aaron
- By the Sea - Brunswick, Maine (2006) (RL: 4-8). Picture book that follows the
Winters family as they embark on a dreamy adventure following childhood dreams. From California
to Maine, Nick, Annie, and their folks journey to a new home, discovering new people
and places that their father left behind from his childhood in Brunswick, Maine. 48 pages.
HOPKINSON, Deborah / [Hopkinson Author Information]
- Birdie's Lighthouse (1997/2000): (RL: ages 4-9)
A young girl in the 1850s keeps the lamps burning bright and steady when her father falls ill
during a storm. Ten-year-old Birdie tells the story in the form of her
diary: how her father becomes lighthouse keeper and the
family moves to lonely Turtle Island off the coast of Maine,
her role as assistant keeper, etc.
HORVATH, Polly
- The Canning Season (2003): (RL: ages 5-9) 13-year-old Ratchet spends a summer in
Maine with her eccentric great-aunts.
HOTZE, Sollace
- Acquainted with the Night (1992): (RL: Young adult) During a summer on a
Maine island, seventeen-year-old Molly and her older cousin become
very close, as she helps him deal with his father's suicide and his experiences
in the Vietnam War, and as together they share encounters with a troubled ghost.
HOWLAND, Ethan
- Lobster War (2001): (RL: Young adult): Teenage brothers cross
the threshold into adulthood but take different paths in this atmospheric
first novel, set on the Maine coast. Although he fears being in the water,
sixteen-year-old Dan is determined to be a professional lobsterman, despite
pressure from his older brother Eddie and widowed mother that he
attend college instead and despite the fact that someone is sabotaging his lobster traps.
IPCAR, Dahlov Zorach / [Ipcar Author Information]
- Brown Cow Farm: A Counting Book (1959; 2003): (RL: ages 3+) Welcome to Brown Cow
Farm, an old Maine farm where the animals seem to appear faster than they can be counted. Counts
to 100. 48 pp.
- Lobsterman (1962): (RL: ages 4-8) A boy in a Maine fishing village helps
his father overhaul his gear, makes a trap and buoy of his own, sets
out the traps, and hauls the traps. 36 pp.
IRWIN, Hadley (actually, Annabelle Irwin and Lee Hadley)
- The Original Freddie Ackerman (1992): (RL: ages 9-13) Twelve-year-old
Trevor Frederick Ackerman resigns himself to spending a boring
summer with two elderly aunts on a Down-East island. Initially he depends on
fantasizing military escapades with himself (Freddie Ackerman) as hero. Reality
gradually becomes more exciting as he explores local legends with Ariel,
a girl even lonelier than he. She too has an unhappy, fractured family life, and
each of them learns to deal better with that reality as well as with each other.
JAHN-CLOUGH, Lisa / [Jahn-Clough Author Information]
- Country girl, City Girl (2004): (RL: YA) When thirteen-year-old Melita, sophisticated daughter of a
New York actress, comes to visit Phoebe, who has been raised by her father on a farm in Maine, Phoebe
discovers she has confusing feelings about their developing friendship. 185 pp.
JANE, Mary C. / [Jane Author Information]
Probably others of hers set in Maine as well, but not verified. See list on Author Info page.
- The Ghost Rock Mystery (1956): (RL: ages 9-12) Mystery. When Janice and Tommy visit their Aunt Annabelle's
guest house in Maine, they begin wonder if it's haunted.
- Mystery at Pemaquid Point (1957; ill. Raymond Abel): (RL: ages 9-12) While staying in a mostly deserted town in
Maine, Elizabeth and her new friend Henry try to solve the mystery of the burnings
and thefts, during a raging hurricane.
- Mystery at Shadow Pond (1958; ill Raymond Abel): (RL: ages 9-12) Mystery set in Maine.
- Mystery in Longfellow Square (1964): (RL: ages 9-12) Set in Portland, Maine
- Indian Island Mystery (1965): (RL: ages 9-12) Suspense novel set in Maine involving an old cabin on an island
and a Native American bear's-tooth necklace.
JANOVER, Caroline
- How Many Days Until Tomorrow? (2000; ill. Charlotte Fremaux):
(RL: ages 9-12) Sequel to Josh, a boy with dyslexia. Josh, who
has dyslexia, spends the summer on an island off the coast of
Maine and finds that he has much to prove to his gruff
grandfather and his older brother. 173 pp.
JOHNSON, Eleanor Noyes / [Johnson Author Information]
- Mrs. Perley's People (1970): (RL: Juvenile) An amusing story of an eccentric woman,
Helen Mewer Perley, who operates an unusual animal farm in Maine.
JONES, Dorothy Holder
- Abbie Burgess, Lighthouse Heroine (1969; with Ruth Sexton
Sargent): (RL: ages 8-12)
Fictionalized biography of teen-age lighthouse heroine Abbie Burgess (1839-1892)
who became a legend to sailors for her vigil on Matinicus Rock, an island
off the coast of Maine. 190 pp.
JONES, Kimberly K.
- Sand Dollar Summer (2006): (RL: ages 10-14). Debut novel by author from Vermont.
Book set in Maine. A girl's story told with affection, grace, tension and suspense.
The lives of 12-year-old Lise and her 5-year-old brother Free (who is intelligent but selectively mute)
are changed when their mother is seriously injured in a car accident and decides to move
with the kids to a shack on a beach in her hometown of Spindle Beach, Maine. Lise is afraid of the
ocean and is bored and lonely, until she meets Ben, an elderly Passamaquoddy man, from whom she
begins to learn a kind of eternal wisdom.
KANDOIAN, Ellen
- Molly's Seasons (1992): (RL: ages 5-8) Molly observes
the changing seasons in Maine and wonders what they're like in other places.
KEENE, Carolyn
- Natural Enemies (1997): (RL: Young adult) Nancy Drew mystery. Nancy joins Ned at the Rocky
Isle Marine Institute in Maine as a volunteer at the facilities aquarium
and has to deal with a threat to destroy the entire institute. 150 pp.
KELLOGG, Elijah / [Kellogg Author Information]
The Elm Island series is set on the Maine Coast. These books are for young adults.
- The Ark of Elm Island (1868)
- Charlie Bell: The Waif of Elm Island (1868/1896)
- Lion Ben of Elm Island (1868)
- The Boy Farmers of Elm Island (1869)
- The Hard-Scrabble of Elm Island (1870)
- The Young Ship-Builders of Elm Island (1870): Story of a youngster
who, in love with boats of all kinds, teaches himself the art of building
them. In spite of an early set-back with his first effort (a sailing
log canoe) he finally masters the difficulties and succeeds in
becoming a much sought-after young boat-builder and shipwright.
The Whispering Pines series is set at Bowdoin College, Brunswick.
These books are for young adults.
- The Spark of Genius; or, The College Life of James Trafton (1871)
- The Sophomores of Radcliffe; or, James Trafton and His Bosom Friends (1871)
- The Whispering Pine; or, the Graduates of Radcliffe Hall (1872)
- Winning His Spurs; or, Henry Morton's First Trial (1872)
- The Turning of the Tide; or, Radcliffe Rich and His Patients (1873)
- A Stout Heart; or, the Student From Over the Sea (1873)
KETCHUM [Murrow], Liza
- The Ghost of Lost Island (1991): (RL: ages 9-12) Mystery. While helping his
grandfather herd and shear his flock of sheep on a small island
off the coast of Maine, twelve-year-old Gabe encounters a mysterious
woman who may be the ghost of a drowned milkmaid. 165 pp.
KINSEY-WARNOCK, Natalie
- Gifts from the Sea (2003): (RL: ages 5-9) Living alone in a Maine lighthouse in the
1850s, Quila and her father find their lives changed when they rescue
a baby from the waves.
KOLLER, Jackie French
- The Last Voyage of Misty Day (1992): (RL: Young adult) Having reluctantly moved to Maine after her
father's death in Manhattan, fourteen-year-old Denise forges a healing friendship
with a boat owner surrounded by considerable mystery. 154 p.
KROLL, Steven
- Multiple Choice (1987): (RL: Young adult) Mystery. In a small town in Maine,
a sex-obsessed teenager named Jason gets involved with a mystery and learns
that humor and intelligence are as important as physical attributes. 149 pp.
- Patrick's Tree House (1994; ill. Roberta Wilson): (RL: ages 7-11) When nine-year-
old Patrick visits his grandparents in Maine, he finds a surprise, his own tree house, but
he soon has to find a way to deal with two troubled boys who have taken it over. 64 pp.
LADD, Elizabeth
- The Enchanted Island (1953): (RL: ages 8-12) Ten-year-old girl finds home and happiness
on Maine island.
- Janie (1955): (RL: ages 8-12) Mystery story with background laid in Isleboro.
- The Night of the Hurricane (1956): (RL: ages 8-12) Story of how the big blow changed Judy's life, as well as turning the
peaceful Maine seacoast into a wild and alarming place.
- A Mystery for Meg (1962; ill. Mary Stevens): (RL: ages 8-12) Mystery. Meg's stay with
her older brother on an island off the Maine coast is punctuated by mystery and suspicion. 189 pp.
- Meg's Mysterious Island (1963): (RL: ages 8-12) A young
man and his spunky little sister hope to escape the gossips of a
small town in Maine by agreeing to spend the winter in an isolated cabin on a
remote island in West Penobscot Bay. 218 pp.
- Meg and Melissa (1964): (RL: ages 8-12). 189 pp.
- Ironbound Island (1965)
- Trouble on Heron's Neck (1966): (RL: Juvenile) 187 pp.
- The Indians on the Bonnet (1971; ill. Richard Cuffari):
(RL: ages 8-12) Thirteen-year-old Jess learns many things about the
differences in people through his friendship with an Indian family
near his home. 190 pp.
LAFAYE, A[lexandria]
- Strawberry Hill (1999): (RL: ages 11-13) Raleia doesn't feel like she belongs in the modern world of
1976. And she doesn't feel she belongs with her hippie parents, either. When her
family moves to Tidal, Maine, Raleia forges a friendship with
eighty-eight-year-old recluse Ian, and an unlikely and combative but ultimately
rejuvenating friendship results.
LASKY, Kathryn
- My Island Grandma (1979) : (RL: ages 5-8) Abbey spends every summer with her parents and her grandmother on a
Maine island, where the leisure activities include swimming in
the ocean, picking blueberries, and finding the constellations.
- Jem's Island (1982, illus. Ronald Himler): (RL: ages 7-10) Jem
goes on his first overnight kayak trip with his father to an island in Penobscot Bay.
- Fourth of July Bear (1991, illus. Helen Cogancherry): (RL: ages 5-8) Rebecca spends the summer
on a Maine island and is invited to participate in a parade.
LAUBER, Patricia
- Adventure at Black Rock Cave (1959): (RL: ages 6-9) Mystery. Addie and Chris try to solve the
mystery of two strange men on Black Rock Island off the coast of Maine.
LEONARD, Constance
- Aground (1984): (RL: Young adult) Mystery. Tracy James leaves her
contented life in Florida to become involved in a mind-controlling cult in Maine
and to learn why an old family friend's lobster business is being sabotaged. 172 pp.
LEVIN, Betty / [Levin Author Information]
- Brother Moose (1990): (RL: ages 10-13) Two orphan girls are helped by an Indian family when they make
- Fire in the Wind (1995): (RL: ages 9-13) Complex family relationships undergo
many changes as Meg -- who lives in Maine with her family, her grandmother,
and her uncle's family -- and her relatives struggle with the aftermath of
the devastating wildfires that in 1947 burned great portions of the Maine woods.
a perilous trip from Canada to Maine. Set in late 1800s.
- Island Bound (1997): (RL: ages 9-12) Story of a boy accepting a dare to stay one week
on deserted Fowler's Island off the coast of Maine and of the old
tale of a ghost girl living there who seeks revenge against his family.
- The Trouble with Gramary (1998): (RL: ages 9-12) Merkka's longing for a solid conventional existence is
threatened by the art projects of her stubborn sculptor grandmother, whose scrap metal
collection offends the other citizens in their small Maine village. 198 pp.
- Shadow-Catcher (2000) : (RL: ages 10+) Although he often fancied himself a detective, Jonathan
must become a real sleuth when he attempts to solve a mystery while accompanying his
grandfather, a Civil War veteran and traveling photographer in Maine.
Takes place 1890s.
- Shoddy Cove (2003): (RL: ages 5-9) While Clare, 12, is spending
the summer at Maine's Cossit Island Village, a living-history museum,
she discovers two runaway children who are hiding at
the museum and she solves a local mystery involving the underground railroad.
LIBHART, Virginia
- Carrie's Dream (2005): (RL: Grades 3-7) Carrie, a 12-year-old girl living on
a Maine Island in 1869, wants more than anything else to go to school.
LINCOLN, Nan
- The Summer of Cecily (2004): (RL: Juvenile) NON-FICTION but tells a good story.
On a cold, rainy spring day in Maine, Nan Lincoln awakens to life as usual on
Mount Desert Island, Maine: a home to care for, a garden to tend, and children
to raise. But by day's end, her world will be turned upside down. A baby
harbor seal has been abandoned on the rocks. The tide is coming in, and
the seal's mother is nowhere to be seen. The Lincolns must make a decision: step
in and save the pup, or let nature take its course.
LINDBERGH, Anne Morrow
- The Worry Week (1985, ill. Kathryn Hewitt; 2003, ill. Kevin Hawkes): (RL: ages 9-12) Left alone for
a week in their family's summer house on a Maine island, Allegra and her
two sisters scrounge for food and search for the treasure supposedly hidden somewhere on the premises.
LIPP, Frederick
- Bread Song (2004): (RL: grades 1-4). With the help of his grandfather and
a kindly baker, an 8-year-old Thai boy begins to lose his shyness and starts
speaking English. Story set in Portland, Maine.
LORD, Cynthia
- Rules (2006): (RL: ages 9-12). Twelve-year-old Catherine has a brother with autism,
and because he loves rules, she tries to break the world down into statements and rules - some funny and some
poignant -- about how people behave to help him understand, and stop embarrassing her! Won the Newbery Honor award.
LOVE, Pamela
- A Loon Alone (2002) : Separated from his parents while swimming
on a lake in the Maine woods, a loon chick must experience life's hard realities
as he confronts a moose, a raccoon, and an otter. Part life lesson, part nature guide.
- Lighthouse Seeds (2004): (RL: grades 3-5) Based on true story about the light at Mount Desert Rock around the
turn of the 19th century. When Sarah's father, a lighthouse keeper, is transferred to a station on
a barren island offshore, her mother misses her mainland garden; Sarah plants seeds in
the crevices and cracks of the rock ledge, which bloom to her mother's delight and that of local
fishermen.
LOWRY, Lois
- Find A Stranger, Say Goodbye (1978): (RL: Young adult) Before Natalie,
adopted as an infant, goes to college, she investigates her
parentage, in a journey that takes her to a New York City and to a small Maine town.
LUTTERS, Valerie
- The Haunting of Julie Unger (1977): (RL: Young adult?) Julie and her family spent
many happy vacations in Maine. Now they are living there permanently,
and Julie finds she is living with the ghost of her beloved father, a ghost
she has built out of love and guilt. The wild geese, an old neighbor and a
boy with a dog help her back from the brink of madness. 193 pp.
MABEE, Andrea
- Dory Glory (2005): (RL: Grades 5-9) At the Landing Boat School in Arundel, 10-year-old
Matt learns how to build a dory.
MACDONALD, Evelyn W.
- The Turning Tide (1955): (RL: Young adult) Four generations of
a Maine shipbuilding family.
MACKINNON, Bernie
- Song for a Shadow (1991): (RL: Young adult) Tired of being compared to his
rock star father and frustrated by his mother's mental illness,
18-year-old Aaron Webb attempts to sever ties with his dysfunctional family
by settling, anonymously, in a small Maine town.
MARICONDA, Barbara
- Turn the Cup Around (1997): (RL: Young adult?) Mysterious paintings in a cave near her
grandmother's inn on the Maine coast and an unusual cat that
her younger brothers want to adopt lead twelve-year-old Evie
to face her suppressed memories of her mother's death and
her father's breakdown six years before. 148 pp.
MARTIN, Ann
- Baby-sitters' Haunted House (1995): (RL: ages 8-12) The Baby-sitters Club Super Mystery #1.
Kristy and the other three BSC members have to take care of six
kids for ten days in one of the most spooky houses they've ever seen.
Set in fictional seaside town of Reese, Maine.
MARTIN, Charles E.
- Island Rescue (1985): (RL: ages 5-8) Takes place Monhegan Island.
Mae breaks her leg and is taken to the hospital so her leg can be put in a cast.
MARTIN, Jacqueline Briggs
- The Finest Horse in Town (1992; ill. Susan Gaber):
(RL: ages 4-8) Long ago, two sisters in Maine owned a remarkable gray horse named Prince,
who became a legend in their family. 32 pp.
- Grandmother Bryant's Pocket (1996): (RL: ages 5-8) This
story is set in rural Maine in 1787. After her dog dies in a barn
fire, Sarah is beset by nightmares. Her parents send her to visit
her grandmother, an herbalist with remedies for many ailments.
Grandmother Bryant gives Sarah a 'pocket' -- a cloth bag worn at
the waist -- stuffed with healing herbs and embroidered with the
words 'Fear Not.' Comforted by the pocket and the companionship of a
stray cat, Sarah slowly overcomes her grief and fear.
MCCLOSKEY, Robert / [McCloskey Author Information]
- Blueberries for Sal (1948): (RL: ages 4-8) Little Sal and Little Bear both lose their
mothers while eating blueberries and almost end up with the other's mother.
- Time of Wonder (1957): (RL: ages 4-8) Follows the activities of two children spending their summer vacation on an island off the coast of Maine. 62 pp.
- One Morning in Maine (1976): (RL: ages 4-8) It's a big day for a little girl when she discovers
her first loose tooth and makes a trip to the grocery store on the
mainland.
MCMILLAN, Bruce / [McMillan Author Information]
- Finest Kind O' Day: Lobstering in Maine (1977): (RL: ages 3-8) A boy's first
lobstering trip is captured in photographs and a brief text.
MEAD, Alice / [Mead Author Information]
- Crossing the Starlight Bridge (1994): (RL: ages 8-11)
Rayanne's life turns upside down when her father leaves and she has
to move off the Penobscot reservation and go to live with
her grandmother.
- Walking the Edge (1995): (RL: ages 9-12) To escape the
realities of his near poverty and his abusive, drunken, drug-smuggling father,
13-year-old Scott Easton throws himself into a 4-H science project raising clams
to restock the bay of his coastal Maine village.
- Soldier Mom (2001): (RL: ages 9-12) When her single-parent mother
is called up from the army reserves to go to Saudi Arabia for the opening
phase of the 1990 Persian Gulf War, seventh-grader Jasmyn must adjust to a newly
chaotic life in her small Maine seacoast town. Mead paints an entirely convincing and
involving picture of a realistically prickly heroine as she balances worry about her mom
with resentment at being left behind.
MEADER, Stephen W.
- Bulldozer (1951; ill. Edwin Schmidt): (RL: Young adult) When Bill Crane, just
out of high school, reconditioned an abandoned bulldozer, things began to hum in the Maine community
where he lived. The fascination of modern machinery is combined with plenty of action and
fine characterization in this absorbing tale.
MILLS, Claudia
- All the Living (1983): (RL: ages 9-12) Karla's preoccupation with
death and her brother's concern over being a loser threaten to
ruin their summer in Maine. 130 pp.
MOLLOY, Anne Stearns Baker
- Uncle Andy's Island (1950; ill. Joshua Tolford): (RL: Juvenile) A vivid
story of real boys in a Maine seacoast village, with an exciting background of rocky
coasts, clanging buoy bells, and treacherous fogs.
- Blanche of the Blueberry Barrens (1959; ill. Arline K. Thomson): (RL: Young adult)
Story of a young girl who goes to Maine every summer with her family to pick blueberries.
- Three-Part Island, a Maine Mystery (1960): (RL: ages 9-11)
- The Girl from Two Miles High (1967): (RL: ages 9-11) After her father's death
in Peru, a girl must adjust to life with her grandparents on the coast of Maine.
- The Mystery of the Pilgrim Trading Post (1964, illus. Floyd James Torbert): (RL:
ages 9-11) Juvenile mystery set in a small town in Maine near Canadian border.
Twins Will and Lettie Dennis spend a summer with their cousin and aunt
at their home in Maine and solve a mystery.
MONROE, Judith W.
- Summerweek (2003): (RL: ages 3+) Full-page illustrations accompany
this story in verse about a family's summertime visit to
the Maine coast. Illustrated by Mimi Gregoire Carpenter.
MOORE, Ruth / [Ruth Moore Author Information]
- Jeb Ellis of Candlemas Bay (1952): (RL: Juvenile)
- The Dinosaur Bite (1976) : (RL: Juvenile) Set on an Island off the coast of Maine,
a man and his six now motherless children settle in to escape
the confusion of the city. They challenge both nature and the "little foxes" of
a region fully capable of guile.
MORRIS, ANN
- Grandma Susan Remembers (2002): (RL: K-3) Three Woolwich children
travel to Southwest Harbor where their grandmother tells them about family
history and traditions.
MURPHY, Catherine Frey
- Songs in the Silence (1994): (RL: ages 9-12) Having found a mental link with the two whales
that have entered the harbor of her Maine island, eleven-year-old Hallie hopes both to save them and
to use their healing power to help her hospitalized younger brother. 188 pp.
NICHOLS, Helen
- Healing Love (1994): (RL: Young adult) Love story set during the
early years of a nurse's training school, now part
of the Eastern Maine Medical Center at Bangor, Maine.
OGILVIE, Elisabeth / [Ogilvie Author Information]
- Whistle For A Wind (1954): (RL: Young adult) About Jamie Bennett and life in Maine,
in early 1800s.
- The Pigeon Pair (1967): (RL: Young adult) An eighteen-year-old girl's
account of nine important years of growing up on the back road camp outside a small
fishing village in Maine, from her first recognition and shame of their poverty, to the loss of her mother,
the struggle to remain a family, and the hope shared with her twin brother to regain their old family home.
OLIVER, Stephen Ryan
- Phantom by the Sea (1983): (RL: ages 8-14) Also published as The Gitter, the Googer & the Ghost
Ten-year-old best friends and ghost hunters, known to each other as Gitter and Googer, think
they have a chance to find a real ghost when Gitter's family inherits an old house in
Maine.
OLSON, Arielle North
- The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter (1987): Takes
place Matinicus Rock Lighthouse, 1850s. When her father's return
to a Maine lighthouse is delayed by a severe storm, Miranda must keep the
light going despite brutal weather and her own illness.
PACKIE, Robert M.
- Storm Treasure (1981; ill. Sherry Streeter): (RL: Juvenile) Fiction set in Maine. 154 pp.
PAGE, Katherine Hall
- Down East (1998): (RL: ages 8-12) Mystery. Boarding school classmates Christie, Maggie
and Vicky are spending their summer vacation at Maine's Blue Heron
Inn, owned by Maggie's parents, when strange things start happening -- all
designed to frighten the guests. The girls suspect sabotage and get
on the case to catch the culprit before the inn is put out of business. 160 pages.
PARNALL, Peter
- Winter Barn (1986): (RL: ages 4-8) A dilapidated old barn
shelters a wide variety of animals, including snakes, porcupines, cats,
and a skunk, during the sub-zero winter temperature of Maine,
while they wait for the first signs of spring.
PARSONS, Elizabeth
- The Upside-Down Cat (1983): (RL: ages 8-11) A young boy learns a difficult but important
lesson about life when he discovers his cat, missing since the
previous summer, living happily with an old fisherman. Set in Maine.
PECK, Sylvia
- Seal Child (1989): (RL: ages 9-12) While entranced by the seals that
swim off the shore of the Maine island she visits during holidays, sixth
grader Molly befriends an interesting girl her age who seems different
from other humans.
PERROW, Angeli
- Captain's Castaway (1998): (RL: ages 4-8) Sarah, a lighthouse keeper's daughter, finds a dog that survived a shipwreck off the Maine
coast, and she patiently nurses him back to health. Two years later the ship's captain returns,
wanting his dog, but the dog chooses Sarah. Based on a true story.
- Sirius, the Dog Star (2002): (RL: ages 5-8) Ill. Emily Harris. Nathan, a young black
crewmember on a coastal schooner, forms a friendship with a Newfoundland dog named Sirius. When
Nathan's schooner is wrecked near Maine's Boon Island Light, the dog's bravery and
loyalty are put to the test.
PETERS, Lisa Westberg
- Good Morning, River! (1990, illus. Deborah Kogan Ray):
Childhood summers spent on the St Croix River provided much of the inspiration for this story.
PHILLIPS, Ethel Calvert
- The Saucy Betsy (1936): (Ages 9-12) About a lighthouse on
Bayberry Island. [Maine setting not confirmed.]
PICKFORD, Susan Bassler
- The Fairy Houses of Monhegan Island (1995; ill. Jennifer Briggs):
(RL: ages 4-8) The magical fable of the fairy houses that have been marveled at for years. Based on
the past practice of building fairy houses out of twigs, bark, and
acorns in the woods on Monhegan Island. It is now discouraged due to ecological concerns. About 10 pp.
POCHOCKI, Ethel / [Pochocki Author Information]
- A Penny for a Hundred: A Story of Friendship (1996; ill. Mary Beth Owens):
This is a story of the Depression-era childhood of a Aroostook County girl.
- The Gazebo (2002; ill. Mary Beth Owens): Beginning and
ending set in Maine, 1930s. A little girl becomes intrigued with gazebos when she finds
an old book about them in her father's library; through the book, she travels
the world, enchanted by miniature buildings in far-away lands. In the summer, she
plays in the gazebo her parents built adjacent to their seacoast cottage in Maine.
When she grows up, she actually travels the world, as an ambassador, and
she builds her own gazebo in Maine.
- Maine Marmalade (2004; ill. Norman Chartier), a tale of resourcefulness, in which Anthony tries to make jam from berries and other fruit that aren't
in season
PRIEST, Robert
- The Town That Got Out of Town (1989): (RL: ages 4-9)
When the residents of Boston leave town over Labor Day weekend, the city's
buildings and landmarks pull themselves out of the ground and head for Portland, Maine.
RANKIN, Laura
- Swan Harbor (2003): (RL: Pre-K) Youngsters learn to count from one to twenty all the way through
four busy seasons in Swan Harbor, Maine.
RICE, Bebe Faas
- Music From the Dead (1997): (RL: Young adult) When Marnie's father rented
Stoneycraig, an old house on the rocky coast of Maine, he didn't
know it would be haunted by the eerie sobbing of a dead woman. What
is the mystery that surrounds her death? And will it cost Marnie
and Peter their lives? 193 pp.
RICH, Louise Dickinson / [Rich Author Information]
- Start of the Trail (1949): (RL: Young adult) Fictional tale of an 18-yr-old guide.
- Trail To the North (1952): (RL: Young adult) A Bill Gordon story.
- Only Parent (1953; illus. Euclid Shook): (RL: Juvenile) Tale of a single
mother living in a cabin in the Maine woods.
- Mindy (1959): (RL: Young adult) Set in Maine. A young girl looks ahead and makes a courageous choice
- Star Island Boy (1968; illus. Elinor Jaeger): (RL: Young adult)
- Three of A Kind (1970): (RL: Young adult) An 11-yr-old girl in foster care interacts
with emotionally disturbed 4-yr-old boy, in Maine.
- Summer at High Kingdom (1975) : (RL: Young adult?) The members
of a hippie commune established on a nearby farm have a marked effect on
the attitudes of a young Maine boy and his family. 112 pp.
ROBERTS, Willo Davis
- Invitation to Evil (1970): (RL: Young adult) Vonna went to the old
Bracy house in Maine, ready to do anything for the sake of Robby,
but the conflicts and hatreds that filled that house were almost
too much for her sacrifice. And then Vonna found herself in terrifying
danger, asking herself if even Robby was worth the price she was being asked to pay.
270 pp.
ROBINSON, Gertrude
- Sign of the Golden Fish, a Story of the Cornish Fisherman
in Maine (1949): Adventures of a teenaged boy who jumped ship to
bring to the colonies the Old World skill of fish-curing that
had been the pride of the Tobey family for generations. Part
of The Land of The Free series. 207 pp.
ROBINSON, Mabel Louise
- Bright Island (1937): (RL: ages 9-12) Island-born girl has to go away to school in a sophisticated
world, but always goes home to the island. Newbery Honor book. 268 pp.
- Strong Winds (1951): (RL: ages 9-12) Story about a Maine coast girl.
ROBINSON, Tom
- Trigger John's Son (1949): (Young adult) An orphan from
Calais who does not want to be adopted.
ROCKWELL, Anne
- Ferryboard Ride! (1999, illus. Maggie Smith): (RL: ages 4-8) A young girl describes her ferryboat ride as
she travels to her summer island home.
ROLERSON, Darrell A.
- A Boy and a Deer (1970): (RL: ages 9-12) A young boy living on a Maine island
finds a motherless deer and decides to raise him as a pet.
- Mr. Big Britches (1971): (RL: ages 9-12) After shooting a mother fox, a
young boy finds her cub and decides to keep it despite his aunt's anger.
Takes place in Maine.
- A Boy Called Plum (1974; ill. Ted Lewin):
(RL: ages 9-12) A lonely boy living on a small island steals a blue heron from its nest and decides to raise it. 147 pp.
ROOP, Peter and Connie
- Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (1987): (RL: ages 4-8) In the winter
of 1856, a storm delays the lighthouse keeper's return to an island
off the coast of Maine, and his daughter Abbie must keep the lights
burning by herself.
ROSSNER, Judith
- Emmeline (1980): (RL: age 12+) The story of
Emmeline Mosher, who, before her fourteenth birthday, was sent from her home on a
farm in Maine to support her family by working in a
cotton mill in Massachusetts. 331 pp.
ROY, Ron
- Nightmare Island (1981; ill. Robert MacLean): (RL: ages 8-12) On their first solo
camping trip to Little Island off the coast of Maine, Harley and
his younger brother are engulfed by a fire that starts on an
oil slick in the water and moves onto the island. 69 pp.
- Someone is Following Pip Ramsey (1996; ill. Elizabeth Wolf): (RL: ages 6-9)
At the start of his family's vacation on the coast of Maine, nine-
year-old Pip Ramsey buys an old Russian nesting doll at a yard
sale and is soon certain that someone is extremely interested in getting
the doll from him.
RUPP, Rebecca
- Dragon of Lonely Island (1998, illus. Wendell Minor): (RL: ages 9-12) Hannah, Zachary,
and Sarah Emily are spending the summer on Lonely Island off the
coast of Maine, where they learn from a glittering, three-headed dragon
with a kind heart, an unpredictable temper, and a memory that spans 20,000
years. Old-fashioned tone.
ST. GEORGE, Judith
- The Chinese Puzzle Of Shag Island (1976): (RL: ages 9-12) Mystery.
What seems a harmless enough trip to the family's ancestral home on a Maine island turns
into something much more dangerous for thirteen-year-old Kim, as
she finds her grandfather controlled by Chinese music from his past. 157 pp.
SARGENT, Ruth Sexton / [Sargent Author Information]
- The Island Merry-Go-Round (1988; illus. Pam DeVito): Takes place on Maine island.
- Tunnel Beneath the Sea (1993; illus. Peter Gorski and Pam DeVito) : (RL: ages 8-12) A young boy and
his sister discover a Civil War tunnel connecting to island forts off the coast of Maine.
Facing danger and death, they uncover a mystery and save their father's career.
SAWYER, Ruth / [Sawyer Author Information]
- Year of Jubilo (1940): (RL: ages 12+) Sequel to Roller Skates.
Lucinda is almost grown up. Her family had to go to Maine to spend a year in the summer cottage
which was all that was left to them after her father died.
- Maggie Rose -- Her Birthday Christmas (1952, illus. Maurice Sendak):
(RL: ages 8-12) An industrious little Maine girl and her less industrious family.
- Daddles, the Story of a Plain Hound-Dog (1964; ill. Robert Frankenberg):
(RL: ages 9-12) Daddles, a joyful hunting dog, is the seasonal pet of a brother and sister who spend their summers in Maine. 99 pp.
SCARPINO, Jane
- Nellie the Lighthouse Dog (1993, illus. Robert Ensor):
(RL: ages 4-8) A quick-witted wire-haired fox terrier saves the day at Maine's
Marshall Point Lighthouse. Port Clyde, Maine. (See also Ensor's Nellie: The Flying Instructor.)
SCHNEIDER, Jack
- Allagash River Towboat: A Maine Logging Adventure (2003):
(RL: ages 12+) A glimpse of the life of Maine rivermen of the 1930s.
Eleven-year-old Ben accompanies his Uncle Horace on a trip upriver and has an
adventure. Black-and-white illustrations by the author. 72 pp.
SHEPARD, Steven
- Fogbound (1993): (RL: ages 5-9) When twelve-year-old Jason rows his boat
to the Maine island where he has accidentally left his father's knife,
he must face threatening fog, treacherous currents, and a sinister lobsterman. 29 pp.
SHETTERLY, Susan Hand
- The Tinker of Salt Cove (1990, illus. Siri Beckman): (RL: ages 11+).
Romantic tale takes place at the end of the 19th century, based on the life of an itinerant
English tinker, as recorded in the annals of Sullivan, Maine. Inevitable changes
are altering the lives of the inhabitants of this seacoast town. Their orderly ways,
set by nature, are disturbed by the arrival of the mysterious and solitary tinker.
SIMPSON, Dorothy
- Island in the Bay (1956): (RL: Young adult) Story of a boy's
struggle to win a place for himself in a Maine lobstering village.
SKURZYNSKI, Gloria, and Alane Ferguson
- Out of the Deep (2002): (RL: ages 3-7) Part of the "Mysteries in Our National
Parks" series. The Landon kids try to discover why dead sea mammals are washing
up on the shores of Acadia National Park. Bindy, the family's foster
child, knows who's responsible, but is afraid to tell.
SMITH, Harry
- Michael and the Mary Day (1979): (RL: Juvenile) Michael is taken on by the captain of
the schooner Mary Day and has a fine adventure on Penobscot Bay
while learning to be a sailor. 59 pp.
SMITH, Maggie
- Counting Our Way to Maine (1995): (RL: ages 2-6) Playful counting
book that introduces the numbers one to twenty and takes the
readers on an unforgettable summer vacation to Maine. The trip is full
of things that make summer, and Maine, so special: building sand castles,
picking blueberries, chasing fireflies, and more.
SMITH, Ruel Perley
- The Rival Campers Ashore, or The Mystery of the Mill (1907):
(RL: ages 8-12) 297 pp.
SMITH, Susan
- Christmas Tree in the Woods (1932): (RL: ages 9-12) Christmas holidays in Maine.
SONNENMARK, Laura A.
- A Summer For Always (1995): (RL: Young adult) Spending her sixteenth summer on
the beautiful Maine coast and enjoying the attentions of a local boy
named Michael, Marty hides the truth about her mother's
alcoholism from her new friend, a secret that nearly drives
him away. 150 pp.
SPEARE, Elizabeth George
- Sign of the Beaver (1983): (RL: ages 9-12) Until the day his father returns to
their cabin in the Maine wilderness, twelve-year-old Matt must try to
survive on his own. Although Matt is brave, he's not prepared for an attack by
swarming bees, and he's astonished when he's rescued by an Indian chief
and his grandson, Attean. As the boys come to know each other Attean learns to speak
English while Matt becomes a skilled hunter. Though many months have passed,
there's no sign of Matt's family. Then Attean asks Matt to join the Beaver tribe and
move north. Should Matt abandon his hopes of ever seeing his family again and move on to a new life?
STEELE, William
- Daniel Boone's Echo (1957): (RL: ages 7-12) Funny tale of a boy's survival,
takes place in Maine.
STENGEL, Joyce A.
- Mystery at Kittiwake Bay (2002): (RL: ages 10-14) With help from her
new friend Ryan, thirteen-year-old Cassie explores the mysteries
surrounding a mansion in Maine that was once an Underground Railroad stop
and is now a retirement home.
STEPHENS, C. A. / [Stephens Author Information]
- The Knockabout Club in the Woods (1881): (RL: Young adult)
The adventures of six young men in the wilds of Maine and Canada. Other
Knockabout tales had other settings, including the tropics.
The Old Squire books are appropriate for young adults, although adults may also enjoy them.
- When Life was Young at the Old Farm in Maine (1912)
- Haps and Mishaps at the Old Farm (1912)
- A Great Year of Our Lives at the Old Squire's (1912)
- A Busy Year at the Old Squire's (1922)
- Stories from the Old Squire's Farm (1995; ed. Charles
G. Waugh and Eric-Jon Waugh): A collection of 36 tales that transcend time
about six young children orphaned by the Civil War who come to live with their grandparents in rural Maine.
These stories were originally published in the late 1800s and
early 1900's in the children's magazine The Youth's Companion.
- Sailing on Ice: and Other Stories From Old Squire's Farm (1996; ed. Charles Waugh and Larry
S. Glatz): Stories of life in rural Maine following the Civil War. WPL-Adult
STOLZ, Mary
- The Sea Gulls Woke Me (1967): (RL: Young adult) Jean, with
hair long enough to sit on, is convinced she is the world's worst social
misfit. Then she accepts a summer job at her uncle's hotel at St. Kethley, Maine,
she cuts her hair and her whole life changes. Coming-of-age story. Stolz's 3rd novel.
STONE, Bruce
- Autumn of the Royal Tar (1995): (RL: ages 10-14) Historical fiction. When a ship sinks off the coast of Maine,
12-year-old Nora tries to help the survivors, which include
an orphaned boy and an elephant. 168 pp.
TESTA, Maria [Testa Author Information]
- Some Kind of Pride (2001): (RL: ages 9-12) Ruth DiMarco is already on her way to
achieving her dream of becoming a major-league baseball player. Eleven-year-
old Ruth is the star shortstop in her small Maine town, and now a
reporter is coming to interview her for Sports Illustrated magazine.
But after she overhears her father comment that it's a shame
that with her talent, she's a girl, she begins to doubt herself
and wonder who she is.
THOMAS, Ken
- Marooned (1990): (RL: ages 5-8) While spending the summer on the Maine coast
in the 1920s, two young brothers become marooned on tiny Long Island and try to find a way to get home.
TRACY, Ann Blaisdell
- What Do Cowboys Like? (1994): (RL: Young adult) Growing up in a small
Maine town in the 1950s, Fish longs to be transported out of
her bookish world into the realm of real-life experience. Her wish comes
true with a vengeance when she falls in love with a boy she has been friends
with for years. Her sheltered existence is shaken by a calamity that catapults
her into the adult world and affects her so profoundly that she can no
longer escape into her writing. Author is Colby College alumna (1962).
TWOMEY, Dennis
- Patch the Pup: A Maine Adventure (1990; ill. David Theriault):
(RL: ages 4-8) During a winter vacation in Maine a snobbish Boston terrier learns how
to get along with others and make friends. 47 pp.
VAN WOERKOM, Dorothy
- Becky and the Bear (1975; ill. Margot Tomes): (RL: Juvenile) Story of young girl Becky who
catches a bear! Set in colonial Maine.
VANCE, Marguerite
- Jeptha and the New People (1960; ill. Robert MacLean): (RL: ages 4-8 ) Story of a young boy, Jeptha Brewster, who
lives above a restaurant near Penobscot Bay, along the Maine coast, and about the people
who move in next door (including a boy his own age, John) and the relationships that develop. Tragedy and prejudice are
overcome during the course of a summer. Other elements: father lost at sea; Indian servants; a chained cheetah. 113 pp.
VAUGHAN, Marcia K.
- Abbie Against the Storm: The True Story of a Young Heroine and a
Lighthouse (1999; ill. Bill Farnsworth): (RL: ages 4-8)
Fictionalized account of an incident in the life of a fourteen-year-
old girl who tends her family's lighthouse during a fierce storm
on the coast of Maine in the winter of 1856.
VOIGHT, Virginia Frances
- Black Elephant (1959; ill. William A. McCaffery): (RL: ages 8-12) A
young boy named Dilly joins the Hathaway Rolling Show circus and becomes involved
with the care of elephants. When an abused young black elephant named Ebony
escapes into the Maine woods, Dilly must find the elephant and regain its trust. 182 pp.
- Treasure of Hemlock Mountain (1961): (RL: Young adult) Mystery, takes place in Maine.
- Red Blade and the Black Bear (1973): (RL: ages 8-12) An Indian boy befriends an orphaned bear cub, and eventually the
bond between them grows stronger as each has a chance to save
the life of the other. Takes place in the Saco River Valley. 157 pp.
VOIGT, Cynthia [Voigt Author Information]
- Angus and Sadie (2005): (RL: ages 8-12) Two border collie puppies are adopted by a Maine farm couple.
- Tree by Leaf (1988): (RL: Young adult) Twelve-year-old Chlothilde struggles to accept her father's
war disfigurement and opposes her mother's desire to sell Clothilde's
land, a peninsula off the coast of Maine, to help pay family expenses.
Set in 1921.
WAIT, Lea [Wait Author Information]
- Stopping to Home (2001) (RL: ages 8-12) Historical fiction.
A strong and memorable heroine narrates this compelling debut novel, which
effectively evokes life in 1806 Wiscasset, Maine (then part of Massachusetts).
After the death of her young mother during a pox epidemic and the prolonged
absence of her mariner father, 11-year-old Abigail must work for young Widow Chase
to earn room and board and to keep her four-year-old brother, Seth, from being sent
to the orphanage. Practical and observant Abbie ascertains Widow Chase's dire financial situation,
notices that the woman is expecting a baby and schemes a plan using
the widow's millinery talents to support and keep them all.
- Seaward Born (2003) : (RL: ages 8-12) Historical fiction. Begins in Charleston, then
moves to Boston, and then the major character (and plot) shift to Wiscasset, Maine.
- Wintering Well (2004): (RL: ages 8-12) Historical fiction.
Story of a boy who loses a leg in a farm accident, set in 1820's Wiscasset Maine.
- Finest Kind (2005), historical fiction set in 1830s Wiscasset, depicting a Boston family's
assimilation into small town Maine life.
WALKER, Holly Beth
- Mystery of the Black-Magic Cave (1971): (RL: ages 8-12) Mystery.
The 5th book in the Meg Mystery series (of 6 total). Meg Duncan and her
best friend, Kerry, visit her Uncle Hal in Merrybones, Maine. They stumble
upon a mystery involving local women pretending to be witches in
a cave up on a mountain.
WALLACE-BRODEUR, Ruth
- Heron Cove (2005): (RL: ages 9-12) Old-fashioned story. While her flighty single mother
attends a six-week herb institute in Vermont, daughter Sage is sent to Maine to stay with
two great-aunts whom she barely knows. At first feeling abandoned and dismissed, the 12-year-old
eventually grows to love the seaside house, her great-aunts, and her new friends.
WATERS, John F.
- Summer of the Seals (1978; ill. Mike Eagle): (RL: ages 9-12) A teenage boy and girl
befriend an old hermit and attempt to discover
who is shooting the seals along their stretch of Maine coast. 94 pp.
WEAVER, Rhonda Hanson
- On the Edge (1994): (RL: ages 9-12) Adventure tale
about a pair of young teen girls who find themselves lost in
Maine's North Woods.
WEINBERGER, Jane
- Wee Peter Puffin: (RL: ages 4-8) The adventure of Peter Puffin,
who lives on Matinicus Rock off the coast of Maine.
WEISS, Harvey
- Twenty-Four and Stanley (1956): (RL: ages 6-10)
Twenty-five children on a Maine beach find a derelict sloop.
WHITE, E. B. / [White Author Information]
- Charlotte's Web (1952): Set in Blue Hill, Maine, and at the Brooklin Fair.
A spider saves a pig from slaughter.
WHITEHEAD, Roberta
- Wish I May (1953): (RL: ages 6-9) Set on the Maine coast.
WIGGIN, Eric E.
Maggie's World series, Christian trilogy set in the northwoods of Maine in 1875
and featuring a high-spirited girl. (RL: ages 10 to 14)
- Maggie: Life at the Elms: After her mother remarries, twelve-year-old Maggie
decides to go live with her grandfather in the woods of northern Maine.
- Maggie's Homecoming
- Maggie's Secret Longing (1995): Seventeen-year-old Maggie asks God for guidance during her
first year as teacher of a one-room school in rural Maine in 1879.
The Hannah's Island series features mystery-solving by Christian homeschoolers in rural Maine. (RL: ages 8 to 12)
- A Hound for Hannah (1995) : Hannah Parmenter and her new dog, Hunter,
live on an island in northern Maine where Hannah's family runs a small tourist lodge. Hannah and
her older brother, Walt, are homeschooled. 144 pp.
- The Mystery of the Sunken Steamboat (1995): Hannah learns a lesson about pride when she discovers
a steamboat under the surface of Moosehead Lake that could bring her fame and riches. 144 pp.
- The Mysterious Stranger (1995): Hannah spots a light in the old abandoned
Sampson place, the only other house on the island. The mystery she
unravels is serious stuff. 144 pp.
- The Lesson of the Ancient Bones (1996) : When 12-year-old Hannah accidentally stumbles upon what
looks like a very old piece of Native American pottery, what she uncovers
is an archaeological mystery that teaches her a life-changing lesson about
the power of love and respect. 144 pp.
- The Secret of the Old Well (1996): The Parmenter family dog falls
into a dry, abandoned well, and, as Hannah and her brother become involved in
the rescue and then in their further exploration of the well and its adjoining tunnel,
they learn more about their island home and discover some Ice Age fossils that have
been buried beneath it. 144 pp.
- The Texas Rodeo Showdown (1998): Hannah Parmenter, 13, of Beaver's Island, Maine, learns that the Texas Mesquite Rodeo
is coming to the nearby Skowhegan Maine State Fair. She decides to enter herself and her black stallion,
Ebony, in the barrel-riding contest. Much to Hannah's surprise, they win first prize and a
chance at the national championship in Dallas, Texas. God teaches Hannah many things
about herself during the trials that bring her to Dallas and back to Maine. 144 pp.
WIGGIN, Kate Douglas / [Kate Wiggin Author Information]
- Timothy's Quest (1892): (RL: Juvenile) Set in Buxton, Maine.
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903): (RL: ages 9-12) The irrepressible 10-year-
old Rebecca Rowena Randall burst into the world of children's
book characters, and her new life in Maine, at a time when storybook
girls were gentle and proper. She wins over her prim Aunt Miranda,
the whole town, and thousands of readers everywhere with her energetic,
indomitable spirit.
- The New Chronicles of Rebecca (1907) (RL: Juvenile).
- Susanna and Sue (1909): (RL: Young adult) Story of a little girl and her mother
who find refuge in a Shaker settletment.
- Mother Carey's Chickens (1911): (RL: ages 9-12) When the widow Mrs. Carey is
forced to put up the family's new house in Maine for sale, her
daughters try to scare off potential buyers by claiming that the
domicile is haunted. Made into a movie of
the same name (1938), and remade as Summer Magic in 1963.
WILD, Elizabeth
- Along Came a Black Bird (1988): (RL: ages 9-12) Three young sisters and
their pet crow befriend a lonely boy from a neighboring farm and discover some
of the harsher realities of life. Set in Maine. 184 pp.
WILGUS, Asa
- Just One Cat (1950/1952): (RL: Juvenile?) Story of an adopted cat and a Maine Island family
who deal with tragedy together. 160 pp. Fiction?
WILLIAMS, Maiya
- The Golden Hour (2004) (RL: ages 9-12) When Rowan and Nina Popplewell's father
sends them for the summer to their deceased mother's aunt's house in Maine, they
explore the secrets of the town and the abandoned Owatannauk resort with new friends Xanthe and Xavier.
The resort comes to life and offers time-travel opportunity during the
magical evening 'golden hour' (adapted from School Library Journal review).
WILLIAMSON, Penelope
- A Wild Yearning (1990): Romance. Trapped in a life of poverty in the
slums of Boston, young Delia McQuaid dreamed of becoming a lady.
Answering an advertisement for a mail-order bride, she headed north,
toward a remote Maine settlement, an uncertain destiny and a
wedding with a stranger. 440 pp
WILSON, Hazel / [Hazel Wilson Author Information]
- The Red Dory (1939): (RL: Juvenile) 239 pp.
- The Owen Boys (1947): (RL: ages 10+) Escapades of two boys in the 1880s. Set in Maine. 192 pp.
- Island Summer (1949): (RL: ages 8-12) Takes place on an island in Casco Bay.
- Thad Owen (1950): (RL: ages 10+) Sequel to The Owen Boys.
- His Indian Brother (1955; ill. Robert Henneberger): Left alone in a Maine cabin,
young Brad Porter is befriended and saved by the young Indian, Sabattis.
- The Surprise of Their Lives (1957): (RL: Juvenile) Set
on Munjoy Hill, in Portland, Maine.
WILSON, Susan
- Hawke's Cove (2000): (RL: ) 282 pp.
WOODRUFF, Elvira
- The Ghost of Lizard Light (1999): (RL: ages 9-12) Moving from Iowa
to a lighthouse cottage in Maine, Jack struggles to live up
to his father's high standards and encounters a ghost with a 150-year-old
unsolved mystery.
WOSMEK, Frances
- Mystery of The Eagle's Claw (1979): (RL: Juvenile)
When her adoptive parents die, a young girl is sent to live with an old
aunt who owns an inn in Maine and finds herself in a dangerous situation when she discovers a conspiracy
to defraud her aunt.
WYMAN, Levi Parker
- Donald Price's Victory (1930): (RL: Older Juvenile) Exciting
story of the Maine lumbering industry. 246 pp.
YAKOWICZ, Susie
- Saving the Schooner (2001): (RL: Young adult) Historical novel
set at turn of century Kennebec, Maine. Isabel is a brave and resourceful 10-year old,
convinced that reopening the family shipyard and completing the schooner
abandoned when her brother died will help everyone overcome their grief.