all from NetGalley.

Trials of the earth: The true story of a pioneer woman by Mary Mann Hamilton.  This is a good readalike for people who liked Letters of a woman homesteader (still one of my favorite audiobooks).  Most people would be surprised at the timeline for settlement in many out-of-the-way places-- in this book, it's the rural South, but the situation is very similar to settlement in the couple counties out here: stump farming and homesteading a la Little house on the prairie lasted into the 1900s and WWI happened before electricity.

The writing isn't superb, and the memoirist contradicts herself a couple times, but we're reading it for her life experience, not necessarily the literary quality.  Not a required purchase, but suggested.  3.5 stars.

Turtle island: The story of North America's first people by Eldon Yellowhorn and Kathy Lowinger.  It's clear from the variety of fonts in the eBook that this will have sort of a text-book-y layout.  It does work as a read-it-cover-to-cover book, but my guess is more students will use it for a chapter or two, for a citation/assignment.  It covers a very wide geographic area and time frame and doesn't go into very much depth.  Maybe it's intended as sort of a starter book; it's a very general introduction to the history, with not very much detail.  I've been trying to guess the age of the intended audience, but I recognize my impression of what's typical for any age group is colored.  Maybe 2nd-6th grades?  Not really recommended.

Surviving the Angel of Death: The true story of a Mengele twin in Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri.  This is not a great book.  The author relates a sequence of events but it's not very compelling.  Most young readers will probably be bored.  The coauthor could have really stepped up.  The author mentioned she has several other books and articles, so I'm not sure if her writing just doesn't translate well to trying to write for a younger audience, or if they're all like this.  Not recommended.