Thomas Jefferson: Letters from a Philadelphia Bookworm

Amelia Hornsby is a twelve-year-old schoolgirl living in Philadelphia in 1803. She soon plans to join her widowed father on the frontier in Pittsburgh, but in the meantime she's living with his friend, Dr. Rush. When she suspects a visitor of being a foreign spy, she writes to President Thomas Jefferson, who, to her surprise writes back, telling her that the visitor is his secretary Meriwether Lewis, who will soon lead an expedition to the Pacific coast with the help of William Clark. Even after Amelia goes to live in Pittsburgh, she continues to correspond with the President. This was a fascinating book, written in the form of letters between Amelia and President Jefferson, that reveals what life might have been like for an educated, inquisitive young girl in the early 1800s.