My Name Is America is a series of historical novels published by Scholastic Press. Each book is written in the form of a journal of a fictional young man's life during an important event or time period in American history. Seen as a companion to Scholastic's Dear America series, it was primarily aimed at boys 9–12 years old. The series was discontinued in 2004.[citation needed]
There are nineteen books in the original My Name is America series, which was published between 1998 and 2004. Scholastic launched the Dear America series in Fall 1996 as a series of "diaries of fictitious girls writing from various points in American history." After the initial success of the Dear America series, Scholastic introduced the My Name is America series, using the same formatting, "in an attempt to reach out to boy readers."
In March 2012, alongside the relaunch and re-release of several books in the Dear America series, ten books in the My Name is America series were also re-released. While the text of the books did not change, the titles of the re-releases were updated to include an additional phrase before the original titles.
| Date (original) | Date (reprint) | Author | Reprint Title Addition | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 1998 | December 2012 | Barry Denenberg | A True Patriot: | The Journal of William Thomas Emerson: A Revolutionary War Patriot, Boston, Massachusetts, 1774 |
| September 1998 | September 2012 | Jim Murphy | On Enemy Soil: | The Journal of James Edmond Pease: A Civil War Union Soldier, Virginia, 1863 |
| April 1999 | Walter Dean Myers | The Journal of Joshua Loper: A Black Cowboy, The Chisholm Trail, 1871 | ||
| June 1999 | March 2012 | Walter Dean Myers | We Were Heroes: | The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier, Normandy, France, 1944 |
| September 1999 | September 2013 | William Durbin | Until the Last Spike: | The Journal of Sean Sullivan: A Transcontinental Railroad Worker, Nebraska and Points West, 1867 |
| September 1999 | Barry Denenberg | The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp, California, 1942 | ||
| April 2000 | November 2013 | Laurence Yep | Staking a Claim: | The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: A Chinese Miner, California, 1852 |
| July 2000 | Ann Rinaldi | The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce: A Pilgrim boy, Plymouth, 1620 | ||
| September 2000 | February 2014 | Kathryn Lasky | Blazing West: | The Journal of Augustus Pelletier: Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804 |
| September 2000 | William Durbin | The Journal of Otto Peltonen: A Finnish Immigrant, Hibbing, Minnesota, 1905 | ||
| April 2001 | January 2013 | Walter Dean Myers | Down to the Last Out: | The Journal of Biddy Owens: The Negro Leagues, Birmingham, Alabama, 1948 |
| June 2001 | January 2014 | Joseph Bruchac | On This Long Journey: | The Journal of Jesse Smoke: A Cherokee Boy, The Trail of Tears, 1838 |
| November 2001 | December 2021 | Rodman Philbrick | Stay Alive: | The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds: The Donner Party Expedition, 1846 |
| April 2002 | William Durbin | The Journal of C.J. Jackson: A Dust Bowl Migrant, Oklahoma to California, 1935 | ||
| June 2002 | June 2012 | Ellen Emerson White | Into No Man's Land: | The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty: United States Marine Corps, Khe Sanh, Vietnam, 1968 |
| September 2002 | Ellen Levine | The Journal of Jedediah Barstow: An Emigrant on the Oregon Trail, Overland, 1845 | ||
| May 2003 | Susan Campbell Bartoletti | The Journal of Finn Reardon: A Newsie, New York City, 1899 | ||
| October 2003 | Sid Hite | The Journal of Rufus Rowe: A Witness to the Battle of Fredericksburg, Bowling Green, Virginia, 1862 | ||
| April 2004 | Jim Murphy | The Journal of Brian Doyle: A Greenhorn on an Alaskan Whaling Ship, The Florence, 1874 |
The series was generally well received by libraries, educators, and parents, for its accessible and engaging historical fiction. However some critics, such as Melissa Kay Thompson, felt the series reinforced national myths and whitewashed the nation's treatment of native communities.
In fall 1996, the publisher brought out the first three installments of its Dear America series, diaries of fictitious girls writing from various points in American history. Currently, 12 Dear America books are available, with a total of 3.5 million copies of them in print. In an attempt to reach out to boy readers, Scholastic this fall introduced My Name Is America, an identically formatted companion series viewing historical periods through the journals of young men.
