These offshoots of the Dear America series offer history lessons in diary form. Two girls comment on events in history--the Jamestown settlement and the Civil War--as they affect their lives. Historical facts and fictional characters and scenerios are well integrated. Each book contains a historical note that fills in some background. My Brother's Keeper includes the text of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

Now available in paperback, Scholastic's My America series gives primary-grade readers a firsthand feel for the events that shaped the nation. Our Strange New Land: Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary by Patricia Hermes; Five Smooth Stones: Hope's Revolutionary War Diary by Kristiana Gregory; Freedom's Wings: Corey's Underground Railroad Diary by Sharon Dennis Wyeth; and My Brother's Keeper: Virginia's Civil War Diary by Mary Pope Osborne each inaugurate ongoing story lines. (May)

Gr 3-5-Resembling the "Dear America" books (Scholastic), these titles are aimed at a slightly younger audience. In the first book, nine-year-old Elizabeth records her experiences as she, her family, and other colonists adjust to the harsh weather conditions, illness, endless hard work, and nascent social strata in the new land. In the course of three months, Elizabeth meets Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, Gabriel Archer, and George Percy. This is a quick, easy read. Hermes has created a sensitive main character and readers will empathize with her fears and emotions as she adjusts to her new life. In My Brother's Keeper, nine-year-old Virginia Dickens is left in the care of Reverend and Mrs. McCully while her father and brother help her uncle hide his horses from the Confederate raiders. Her journal documents the battle at Gettysburg and the horrors of war. After the battle, she and her father find her brother in a makeshift hospital. The novel ends as the town slowly recovers and Virginia hears President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Osborne successfully creates individual characters, and she poses difficult questions about war and the waste of human life. There is a lyrical quality to several passages, and the author slowly builds suspense and release. However, this book seems more fitting for older, more experienced readers, and the intended audience may have difficulty digesting some of the material. Fans of "Dear America" will enjoy it.-Shawn Brommer, Southern Tier Library System, Painted Post, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.