Dear America

Dear America is a series of historical fiction novels for children published by Scholastic starting in 1996. By 1998, the series had 12 titles with 3.5 million copies in print.^[1] Each book is written in the form of a diary of a young woman's life during important events or time periods in American history, such as the establishment of Plymouth Colony, the Salem Witch Trials, slavery, the California gold rush, the Great Depression, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the sinking of the RMS Titanic, and most major wars. Originally all the books had a ribbon inserted as a bookmark, furthering the concept of the book as a diary, but this was later discontinued.

Nine books in the series were adapted as half-hour television episodes for HBO in 1999 and 2000, followed by three volumes of the spin-off series The Royal Diaries.

List of books

There are thirty-six books in the original Dear America series, which was published between 1996 and 2004.

The series was relaunched in September 2010 with its first new title since 2004, The Fences Between Us by Kirby Larson, as well as re-releases of earlier books. 2011 saw the publication of the first sequel in the series: Cannons at Dawn, a sequel to The Winter of Red Snow.

Spin-offs

Three similar series were also published by Scholastic:

• My Name is America, a series of fictional journals of young men during American history
• My America, a series of fictional diaries of young children during American history
• The Royal Diaries, a series of fictional journals about the teenage years of famous royal women throughout world history

In addition, several of Scholastic's international divisions have published series inspired by the Dear America series:

• Dear Canada and I Am Canada, published by Scholastic Canada
• My Story, published by Scholastic UK. This series republishes at least three of the Dear America books: A Journey to the New World (as Mayflower), A Picture of Freedom (as Slave Girl), and Voyage on the Great Titanic.
• My Australian Story, published by Scholastic Australia
• My New Zealand Story, published by Scholastic New Zealand
• Dear India and The Teenage Diary of..., published by Scholastic India

Similar series from other publishers include:

• Diarios Mexicanos, published by Planeta (Spain)
• Mon Histoire, published by Gallimard Jeunesse (France)
• Fy Hanes I, published by Gamer Press (Wales)

Television adaptation

Half-hour dramatizations of nine books from the series aired on HBO between March 1999 and July 2000. They were also played on FX in the 2000s. As of November 2025, all nine episodes are available for streaming on Tubi and The Roku Channel, split into two "volumes"^[11] of six and three episodes.^[12][13]

References

1. ^ "PW: Breaking Out of Format Formulas". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
2. ^ "Children's Book Review: A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple". Publishers Weekly. Archived October 14, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
3. ^ Reese, Debbie. "Authenticity and Sensitivity: Goals for writing and reviewing books with Native American themes". School Library Journal. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
4. ^ "Children's Book Review: Dear America: Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift". Publishers Weekly. Archived October 14, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
5. ^ "THE FENCES BETWEEN US | Kirkus Reviews"
6. ^ "The Fences Between Us". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
7. ^ LIKE THE WILLOW TREE | Kirkus Reviews
8. ^ "BEHIND THE MASKS | Kirkus Reviews"
9. ^ "A CITY TOSSED AND BROKEN | Kirkus Reviews"
10. ^ "DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE | Kirkus Reviews"
11. ^ "Dear America". Fandango at Home. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
12. ^ "Dear America". Tubi. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
13. ^ "Dear America (1999)". The Roku Channel. Retrieved November 7, 2025.

External links

• Official website January 29, 2018 at the Wayback Machine