William Durbin is an author and teacher who lives at the edge of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Wilderness.

The winner of both the Great Lakes Book Award and the Minnesota Book award, Mr. Durbin has published eight books for young readers,including The Broken Blade, Wintering, Song of Sampo Lake, and three books in Scholastic's My Name Is America series: The Journal of Sean Sullivan, The Journal of Otto Peltonen, and The Journal of C.J. Jackson.

Mr. Durbin has also supervised writing research projects for the NCTE, Middlebury College, and the Bingham Trust for Charity.

Winter War
Wendy Lamb, 2008
ages 9 to 12, ISBN 978-0-385746526

When the Soviet Union invades its tiny neighbor Finland in November 1939, Marko volunteers to help the war effort. Even though his leg was weakened by polio, he can ski well, and he becomes a messenger on the front line, skiing in white camouflage through the forests at night. Marko teams up with another messenger, Karl. Gradually Marko learns that Karl’s whole family was killed by the Russians. And he learns Karl's enormous secret.

El Lector
Wendy Lamb, 2006
ages 9 to 12, ISBN 978-0-385-74651-9

Thirteen-year-old Bella wants to be a lector just like her grandfather. All day long he sits on a special platform in the cigar factory in Ybor City, Florida, reading books, newspapers, and current events to workers as they roll the cigars. Lectors have always been highly respected members of their Cuban American community.

But now times are changing. When the factory workers clash with the owners, violence erupts and the lectors start losing their jobs. And then there’s the radio. Could this small device replace the lector? It’s up to Bella to determine her future and help her people preserve their history.

Darkest Evening
Orchard/Scholastic, November 2004
Ages 9 and up, ISBN 978-0-439-37307-4

Jake's life is turned upside down when his father gets caught up in the Socialist fervor washing over their Finnish mining community in Minnesota. His father decides to move their family to a new, Finnish state inside the Soviet Union, a change that fills Jake with dread. His father dreams of creating a worker's paradise, but Jake and his family find disappointment and hardship. The story culminates with a thrilling, mid-winter attempt to escape—on skis—from Russia to Finland.

Awards
2005 Minnesota Book Award

Song of Sampo Lake
publ. by Wendy Lamb Books / Random House
November 2002
Ages 9-12, ISBN 978-0-385-32731-2

For Matti Ojala and his family, Finnish immigrants in Minnesota, starting a new life in America is both a hardship and an opportunity. When their beloved Uncle Wilho is killed in a tragic mining accident, the family decides they must realize their dream of owning a homestead in the wilderness. This means constant hard work and new challenges for the entire family. But it also means that Matti, the "in-between" child, has his chance to shine. Whether he's looking after his younger sisters, clerking in a general store, teaching English, or clearing the land with Father, Matti strives to prove himself to Father and escape his older brother's shadow

The Journal of C. J. Jackson:
a Dust Bowl Migrant, Oklahoma to California, 1935
(My Name Is America series)
publ. by Scholastic, April 2002
Ages 9-12, ISBN 978-0-439-15306-5

C.J. Jackson is a young man living in the Oklahoma panhandle during the Dust Bowl, one of the most tragic times in American history. The entire country is fraught with political, economic, and environmental problems. Desperate to survive, C.J. and his family leave the panhandle and head West to California, where they hope to make a better life for themselves.

The Journal of Otto Peltonen: A Finnish Immigrant
(My Name is America series)
Scholastic, September 2000
Ages 9-12, ISBN 978-0-439-09254-8

Teenager Otto Peltonen uses his journal to describe life in a Minnesota mining town at the start of the last century. Accompanied by his mother and two sisters, Otto survives a horrendous journey across the Atlantic to join his father in America, where he anticipates idyllic opulence. Instead he is faced with life in a shantytown where the division by wealth looms ominously before him. As Otto changes from a dedicated student to a labor-worn miner, his parents go through their own fascinating battles.

The Journal of Sean Sullivan: 
A Transcontinental Railroad Worker
(My Name is America series)
Scholastic Trade, September 1999
Ages 9-12, ISBN 978-0-439-04994-8

The author of the award winning The Broken Blade tells the story of a fifteen-year-old who goes to Nebraska to work on the Transcontinental Railroad with his father.

Wintering
Delacorte Press, February 1999
Ages 9-12, ISBN 978-0-385-32598-1

Pierre, the 14-year-old hero of The Broken Blade, spends a winter with the North West Company in the wilderness of French Canada. The canoe-men build a camp beside an Ojibwa village, and Pierre learns the deep-winter survival skills and secrets of the fur traders and trappers. Surviving in close quarters with the repulsive bowman Beloit is a challenge, but friendship with an Ojibwa brave opens up a rich new world to Pierre.

The Broken Blade
Delacorte Press, March 1997
Ages 9-12, ISBN 978-0-613-07407-0

In 1800, 13-year-old Pierre La Page never imagined he'd be leaving Montreal to paddle 2,400 miles. It was something older men, like his father, did. But when Pierre's father has an accident, Pierre quits school to become a voyageur for the North West Company, so his family can survive the winter. It's hard for Pierre as the youngest in the brigade. From the treacherous waters and cruel teasing to his aching and bloodied hands, Pierre is miserable. Still he has no choice but to endure the trip to Grand Portage and back.

Awards
Minnesota Book Award 1998; Great Lakes Booksellers Association Award 1998; Bank Street College Children's Book of the Year

Tiger Woods
Chelsea House, January 1998
Ages 9-12, ISBN 978-0-7910-4651-7

Examines the life and golf career of the young man who racked up numerous tournament victories and became celebrated in the media.