Okay, I did my best but am coming up short for good living books for California. I do have a few titles from a while back but I’m hoping you experienced ladies will have some nuggets for me.
TIA…btw, reading level is about 9, 10, 11, and 12 (maybe a little older than that, boy).
I would also add “The Mission Bell” by Leo Politi about Father Serra and the CA missions. Beautiful Feet has another book by him that I haven’t read, but he might be a good author to check out at the library as most of his books (maybe even all) are about California. His books are picture books, not chapter books, but don’t rule him out because of this.