History Literature / DearAmerica

** In ''A Coal Miner's Bride'' Anetka mentions learning English, and thus her diary would actually be written in Polish.

* TraumaticHaircut: In ''The Winter of Red Snow'', Lucy has her hair cut short in order to sell her hair to a wigmaker (only for the money to [[AllForNothing end up being stolen]]), and when her parents find out, they shave off what's left of her hair and also forbid her from wearing a cap, meaning she has to choose between never going outside or showing her shaved head for the world to see. Lucy is so upset and humiliated that she runs away from home, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone much to her parents' distress]]. Abby, the only person who knows where Lucy is, is torn about whether she should tell or not; she eventually decides that she won't tell Lucy's parents ''where'' she is, but will tell them that she knows Lucy is safe and will come home once her hair has grown back to a respectable length. Near the end of the story, Lucy finally tells her family where she's been staying.

* TraumaticHaircut: In ''The Winter of Red Snow'', Lucy has her hair cut short in order to sell her hair to a wigmaker (only for the money to [[AllForNothing end up being stolen]]), and when her parents find out, they shave off what's left of her hair and also forbid her from wearing a cap, meaning she has to choose between never going outside or showing her shaved head for the world to see. Lucy is so upset and humiliated that she runs away from home, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone much to her parents' distress]]. Abby, the only person who knows where Lucy is, is torn about whether she should tell or not; she eventually decides that she won't tell Lucy's parents ''where'' she is, but will tell them that she knows Lucy is safe. Near the end of the story, Lucy finally tells her family where she's been staying.

* TraumaticHaircut: In ''The Winter of Red Snow'', Lucy has her hair cut short, and when her parents find out, they shave off what's left of her hair and also forbid her from wearing a cap, meaning she has to choose between never going outside or showing her shaved head for the world to see -- despite the fact that Lucy only did what she did in order to help her family, as she did it to sell her hair to a wigmaker in order to bring in money that the family needed (only for the money to [[AllForNothing end up being stolen]]). Lucy is so upset and humiliated that she runs away from home, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone much to her parents' distress]]. Abby, the only person who knows where Lucy is, is torn about whether she should tell or not; she eventually decides that she won't tell Lucy's parents ''where'' she is, but will tell them that she knows Lucy is safe. Near the end of the story, Lucy finally tells her family where she's been staying.

* TraumaticHaircut: In ''The Winter of Red Snow'', Lucy has her hair cut off in order to sell it to a wigmaker for money that her family needs (only for the money to [[AllForNothing end up being stolen]]), and when her parents find out, they shave off what's left of her hair and also forbid her from wearing a cap, meaning she has to choose between never going outside or showing her shaved head for the world to see. Lucy is so upset and humiliated that she runs away from home, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone much to her parents' distress]]. Abby, the only person who knows where Lucy is, is torn about whether she should tell or not; she eventually decides that she won't tell Lucy's parents ''where'' she is, but will tell them that she knows Lucy is safe. Near the end of the story, Lucy finally tells her family where she's been staying.

** ''Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie'' features a young child dying from sampling hemlock mistaken for root vegetables along with a few wagons getting lost in the river.

** When there’s news of a factory fire in ''Dreams in the Golden Country'', Zipporah’s mother panics, thinking it’s her older daughter Tovah’s workplace. Luckily, it isn’t. [[spoiler: But it’s Mamie’s....and she doesn’t make it out alive.]]

* IHaveNoSon: [[spoiler:The epilogue of ''A Picture of Freedom'' reveals that William was disowned by his father for becoming an abolitionist.]]

Each book is written in the form of a diary of a young woman's life during an important event or time period in American history, ranging from as early as the voyage of the ''Mayflower'' to as recent as the Vietnam War.

* EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench: The young French diplomat, Pierre, in ''The Winter of Red Snow'' is described as a PrettyBoy and Abby's older sister, Elisabeth, is so infatuated with him that she takes apart her cloak to sew it into a coat for him.

** In the epilogue of ''Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie'', it is also mentioned that Hattie and Wade adopted the twins born earlier in the book, Sarah and Blue, after their parents died off-page in a buggy crash.

** [[spoiler: The epilogue totally averts this. As an adult, Maddie gets back in touch with Johnny after high school...and yes, TheyDo.]]

** ''Voyage on the Great Titanic'' begins with the protagonist, Margaret, living in an orphanage. While Margaret notes that the situation isn't always ideal -- the orphanage is often overcrowded, and money is limited -- the orphans are never truly made to do without (i.e. they may have very basic food and clothes, but there's never a ''lack'' of food or clothes), and Margaret describes the nuns who run the place as caring, compassionate women who look out for the girls and even take the time to form personal relationships with each of them.

* OrphanageOfLove: In ''Like The Willow Tree'', Lydia and her brother are sent to live with a religious order known as the Shakers that takes in orphaned children after their parents die in the Spanish Flu epidemic and their aunt and uncle don't want them. While they have a few unusual rules (related to their particular religious beliefs) that can make adjustment difficult, such as strict restrictions on personal possessions, it's clear that the Shakers care very much for the children and want them to be happy. At one point, when one of the girls asks their main caregiver Sister Jennie if she has any children, she replies that she considers ''them'' her children.

* TheGreatestHistoryNeverTold: A lot of the books take place during times and in places that people rarely hear about.
** Discussed in the epilogue of ''Love Thy Neighbor'', when the author mentions that a reason why they wrote this diary from a Tory girl’s perspective was that accounts of Tory families in the colonies are rare.

* FamilyThemeNaming: The Anderson family from ''Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie'' named their first five daughters after trees: Hazel, Holly, Laurel, Olive, and Cassia.

* TheKindnapper:The protagonist of ''Standing In The Light'' is kidnapped along with her brother, and their parents have no way of knowing what's happening to them, so one can only imagine that they're picturing scenarios much worse than the reality (that the children have been adopted by the tribe and are being treated well).

* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: Downplayed in ''My Heart Is on the Ground''; the school Nannie attends has its unpleasant aspects, mainly in the way that they try to force the children to assimilate (cutting off their hair or punishing them for not speaking English), but for the most part it's not outright abusive or truly horrific, and most of the adults are decent and even kind. This portrayal has earned the book a fair bit of criticism, since the real Carlisle school was brutal even by the standards of this trope.

* TraumaticHaircut: In ''The Winter of Red Snow'', Lucy has her hair cut off in order to sell it to a wigmaker for money that her family needs (only for the money to [[AllForNothing end up being stolen]]), and when her parents find out, they shave off what's left of her hair and also forbid her from wearing a cap, meaning she has to choose between never going outside and showing her shaved head for the world to see. Lucy is so upset and humiliated that she runs away from home, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone much to her parents' distress]]. Abby, the only person who knows where Lucy is, is torn about whether she should tell or not; she eventually decides that she won't tell Lucy's parents ''where'' she is, but will tell them that she knows Lucy is safe. Near the end of the story, Lucy finally tells her family where she's been staying.

* SerendipitousSurvival: In ''Voyage on the Great Titanic'', the wealthy woman Margaret accompanies on the eponymous voyage was originally supposed to take the trip together with her husband, but his business plans changed and he ended up having to stay behind. Had he been on the trip instead of Margaret, he almost certainly would have died, as very few men survived the sinking.

* AllForNothing: The epilogue of ''So Far From Home'' makes the entire story this with the revelation that [[spoiler:Mary died of cholera at the age of 17]]. Mary went to America hoping to find a better life for herself and to eventually bring her parents to America too, but the latter goal is brutally thwarted as she receives news of her parents' deaths partway through the story, and then it turns out [[spoiler:she never got to fully experience the better life she wanted either. In the end, all she got for her trouble and hard work was a few years of ''slightly'' less misery.]]

* AllForNothing: The epilogue of ''So Far From Home'' makes the entire story this with the revelation that [[spoiler:Mary died of cholera at the age of 17]]. Mary's goal of bringing her parents to America had already been brutally thwarted with both of them dying just months after Mary's departure, and then it turns out [[spoiler:she barely got to taste a better life for herself either]].

** Inverted in ''With the Might of Angels'', when Dawnie gains a ''white'' best friend in the form of Gertie, a new arrival at the school. Given that this is the segregated South, the race of Dawnie's new friend does not go unremarked upon. They also bond because, while Dawnie is the first black student at their school, Gertie and her brothers are the first Jewish students.

* NewParentNomenclatureProblem: In ''Journey to the New World'', the first book in the series, Mem's father remarries a recent widow named Hannah Potts shortly after his wife's death. Mem doesn't know what to call her new stepmother except for "Mistress Potts." However, she eventually starts calling her 'Hannah after Hannah nurses her through a serious illness.

* ContinuityNod: The narrator of ''Seeds of Hope'' talks about going to live in Oregon City with their aunt Augusta, uncle Charles and cousins Hattie, Bennie, and Jake Campbell who had traveled out to Oregon by wagon from Missouri. (aka the family of the narrator from ''Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie''. Both books were written by Kristiana Gregory)

** In an early scene in which Grace is sitting at the bedside of an old woman as she recalls the birth of her frail baby son, who she refers to as "baby Jimmy". Hearing the story, Grace believes that the woman is going to tell her that the baby died, only for her to instead comment that the moniker is no longer accurate, since Jimmy just celebrated his seventy-fourth birthday. Grace is so surprised she can't even figure out how to respond, and it takes an effort for her not to start giggling.