It’s hard to find good books for young children in that era. You could check websites for literature rich curriculums to see what they are recommending. Some I might check are Sonlight, Heart of Dakota, My Father’s World. You’ll often find that many companies recommend the same books. You could also purchase All Through the Ages, which is a book that lists book selections for various time periods and various ages if you need lots of ideas. Since your children are quite young I think it will be difficult to find many books for independent reading that will tie in with your history reading. As they get older, it will be easier.
I’ve had the same problem balancing a voracious reader and a reluctant reader. In my situation, the younger one could never find enough to read. I think trying to keep them together will be discouraging for your younger one. In fact, for an 8 yo who was a reluctant reader I probably wouldn’t even assign independent reading. Several of my boys didn’t really take off on independent reading until they were 10-12 years old.
