The books listed below may be available through publishers, distributors such as bookstores or online retailers, or library systems.
Independent Reading
EASY- Ghost Stories of Old Texas, Volume III
- by Zanita Fowler. Eakin Press, 1995
- Latest volume in this popular series of “exciting but not too scary tales” from Texas legend.
- Hats Are For Watering Horses: Why the Cowboy Dressed That Way
- by Mary Blount Christian. Hendrick-Long, 1993
- New illustrations enhance this children's guide to cowboy clothing and the origins of western dress.
- Holt and the Cowboys
- by Jim McCafferty. Pelican, 1993
- A newly-freed African American leaves Mississippi to work on a Texas ranch after the Civil War.
- Jalapeno Hal
- by Jo Harper. Four Winds Press, 1992
- Amusing tale of a Big Bend cowboy who helps a town recover from a drought.
- Quanah Parker: Comanche Warrior
- by William R. Sanford. Enslow, 1994
- Stirring biography of the Indian warrior who led the attack on buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls in Texas in 1874.
- Trail Fever: The Life of a Texas Cowboy
- by D. J. Lightfoot. Lothrop, 1992
- Easy-reading biography of the famed Texas cowboy George Saunders.
- Camels for Uncle Sam
- by Diane Yancey. Hendrick-Long, 1995
- Intriguing look at the U.S. Army's experiment to use camels as draft animals in the Southwest in the 1850s.
- Charles Goodnight, Pioneer Cowman
- by Sybil J. O'Read. Eakin Press, 1990
- Biography of the Texan who created the first ranch in the Panhandle.
- Ghost Flyers
- by Tom Townsend. Eakin Press, 1993
- Historical mystery based on secret plans to develop a flying machine in Texas in the 1890s.
- The Haunted Tunnel
- by Jacqueline Stem. Eakin Press, 1994
- Historical mystery set in 1868 in which a Texas boy discovers a tunnel that had been used to transport enslaved people.
- The Lone Star State Divided: Texans and the Civil War
- by Merle Durham. Hendrick-Long, 1994
- Battles, biographies, statistics, and more on Texans in the Civil War and Reconstruction.
- Ronald Slidell Mackenzie: Brave Cavalry Colonel
- by J'Nell L. Pate. Eakin Press, 1993
- Life of the West Point graduate who led cavalry men in Indian wars in Texas.
- Canyons
- by Gary Paulsen. Delacorte, 1990
- A boy finds a skull in the canyons outside El Paso and enters the world of a young Apache who lived a century earlier.
- Cezanne Pinto: A Memoir
- by Mary Stolz. Knopf, 1994
- Historical novel about a young African American who builds a new life as a cowboy in Texas after the Civil War.
- A House Divided
- by Marj Gurasich. Chaparral Books/Texas Christian University Press, 1994
- Sequel to “Letters from Oma,” continuing the story of a German family in Texas into the Civil War.
- Juneteenth
- by Anna P. Barren. Larksdale, 1993
- Chronicles the events surrounding Juneteenth (June 19, 1865) when the enslaved people of Texas were freed by Union General Granger.
- Switching Well
- by Peni R. Griffin. McElderry Books, 1993
- Two twelve-year-old girls in San Antonio -- one from 1891 and one from 1991 -- switch places and meet each other's times.
- A Taste of Texas Ranching: Cooks and Cowboys
- by Joel Bernstein & Tom Bryant. Texas Tech University Press, 1995
- More than a cookbook -- a fun -- filled visit to 30 Texas ranches and their cooks, stories, and tales.
Read Aloud and Reference Books
READ ALOUD BOOKS- Buried Treasures of Texas: Legends of Outlaw Loot, Pirate Hoards, Buried Mines, Ingots in Lakes, and Santa Anna's Packtrain Gold
- by W. C. Jameson. August House, 1991
- A “treasure trove” of amusing and puzzling tales for young Texans.
- Oldtimers: Their Own Stories
- by Florence Fenley. State House Press, 1991
- Recollections of pioneer life by fifty-three Texans; originally published in 1939.
- Tex's Tales
- by Rita Kerr. Panda Books, 1990
- Exciting adventures of a dog in pioneer Texas who is swept away by a tornado and must find his way back home through the wilderness.
- Black Texas Women: 150 Years of Trial and Triumph
- by Ruthe Winegarten. University of Texas Press, 1995
- A valuable chronicle of the history of African American women in Texas from the days of slavery to the present.
- Historic Ranches of Texas
- by Lawrence Clayton; paintings by J. U. Salvant. University of Texas Press, 1993.
- Dramatically illustrated profiles of twelve famous Texas ranches, including the King, XIT, and Four Sixes.
- Lone Star Blue and Gray: Essays on Texas in the Civil War
- Edited by Ralph Wooster. Texas State Historical Association, 1995.
- Sixteen essays by leading scholars on the Texas experience in the Civil War.
- Rebel Brothers: The Civil War Letters of the Truehearts
- Edited by Edward B. Williams. Texas A&M University Press, 1995
- Correspondence of two Galveston brothers -- one an infantryman, the other a cavalryman -- who fought in major Civil War battles.
- The Slave Narratives of Texas
- Edited by Ron C. Tyler and Lawrence R. Murphy. State House Press, 1996 [Encino Press, 1974]
- Newly re-published interviews, originally conducted in the 1930s, with over one hundred people who had been enslaved in Texas.