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Early American History – Favorite Living Books?
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We will be heading into early American History next fall and I’m trying to work out book lists for my varied ages. We are doing a living books approach and there are just So Many Good Books. Help me out here. What are ‘don’t miss’ books for the time period and what ages are they for? We will stop around 1850, pre-Civil War.
A reminder – I need family read alouds, books I can read to the 3rd grade and under crowd (3rd, 2nd, K, PreK, PreK, and 2 younger ones), and chapter books for Makayla to read independently (she’ll be 7th grade and a strong reader).
Events I may cover, in case it helps you remember a favorite book:
Explorers
Pilgrims
Colonists
French and Indian War
American Revolution, causes, people of the time, the war itself. (LOTS in this area)
The New Nation, Constitution, etc
Lewis and Clark expedition
Pioneers
California Gold Rush
Thanks everyone! I’ll be comparing your ideas to my lists and marking those you recommend!
My DC enjoyed Ben and Me, Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims, Pedro’s Journal, and Sarah Morton/Samuel Eaton’s Day.
The Little House books would fit nicely too! We also read Guns for General Washington, but they didn’t really enjoy it.
We are studying American History this year and have really liked the following books so far:
Sign of the Beaver
Amos Fortune
Calico Captive
Brady
We are getting ready to start “Bound for Oregon” I will let you know about that one when we are done.
FYI…My boys are in 6th and 8th grade who have read these books. (I have read them too…Great books!)
My younger son (8 years old) is also studying American History. He has really enjoyed the following books:
D’aulaire’s Leif the Lucky, Pocahontas, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Columbus and Benjamin Franklin books
Sarah Witcher Story
The Courage of Sarah Noble
George Washington by Stewart Graff
Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia – Landmark Book
The Vikings – Janeway
Squanto Friend of the Pilgrams
The Matchlock Gun
Paddle to the Sea
Those are the ones I can remember. Reflecting on all those books made me want to read them again…lol!
Tammy
My daughter loved and still remembers Phyllis Wheatley – Young Revolutionary Poet (Young Patriots Series) from 4 years ago!
I am loving these lists so far, they’re very helpful!
Also, I plan to cover Phyllis Wheatley for poetry (thanks for a book to go along Heather!), John James Audubon for an artist, the Star Spangled Banner and Francis Scott Key, and hymns sang during the time period for hymn study. Are there any other American poets, artists, composers from the time? I know many european ones, but am hoping to find at least 2 American for each.
Books for youngers:
Any of the David Adler Picture Book biographies (for the time period I know there are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John and Abigail Adams, James and Dolley Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Davy Crockett).
Sam the Minuteman and George the Drummer Boy
Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys
Tattered Sails by Verla Kay
Papa and the Pioneer Quilt, The Josefina Story Quilt, Fourth of July on the Plains, Diary of a Pioneer (Oregon Trail)
Araminta’s Paintbox by Karen Ackerman (traces the route from Boston to California)
Clipper Ship (can’t remember author right off hand; early chapter book)
Poets: Anne Bradstreet comes to mind, but I don’t know of any specific resources
Artists: Benjamin West. Gilbert Stuart (wasn’t he the one who painted the portrait of Washington that Dolley Madison saved when the British burned Washington, DC)?
I have not read it yet but when we were in Yorktown, VA this book was HIGHLY recomended. Joseph Plumb Martin wea a young soldier in the war and and wrote the book as an 85 year old. I can not wait to read it!
Yankee Doodle Boy: A Young Soldier’s Adventures in the American Revolution Told by Himself Joseph Plumb Martin (Author)
For the young ones:
Paul Revere’s Ride – illustrated by Ted Rand
For reading aloud with the younger set:
Homes in the Wilderness: A Pilgrim’s Journal of Plymouth Plantation in 1620 – This is a modern translation (Margaret Wise Brown) of parts of William Bradford’s “Of Plymoth Plantation” , written in a shorter chapter book form with illustrations.
Eating the Plates: A Pilgrim Book of Food and Manners – Lucille Penner
Abraham Lincoln: Man of Courage by Bernadine Bailey, Abigail Adams: The President’s Lady by Regina Zimmerman Kelley, and others from the out-of-print Piper biography series. You can find them at the library, though! These biographies are very easy to understand, yet very interesting. I like them better than the Childhood of Famous American series.
For your 7th grader:
First Ladies: Stories of the Presidents’ Wives – Kathleen Prindiville – I got this at a library book sale and it looks good. I plan to use it next year.
~Anna
Here’s a site with a brief listing of early American artists:
http://www.brightring.com/americanartists.html
Here’s one for poetry:
http://www.poetseers.org/early-american-poets/
and here’s one for composers:
http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/Americanmusictimeline.htm – this one tells about the song and who wrote it. You can get a list from that. 😉
This link would have to be read and dates looked at to get a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_composers
I second the D’aulaire’s books! 🙂 And we loved Childhood of Famous American’s books..so far we have read Thomas Jefferson..awesome…Noah Webster…wonderful!..and Daniel Boone…great! Can you tell we enjoy them?? LOL!
Also loving Little House books at this moment! And for your oldest Seaman..about Lewis and Clark’s dog. There are these books from GeoMatters http://www.home-school-curriculum.com/product/munford-meets-lewis-clark
The Adventures of Munford Series…I thought was a little slow..but the boys liked it and they did learn a lot about Lewis and Clark! Short Chapters!
Have Fun! We have! 🙂
Both my kids loved Benjiman west and his cat gramalkin and Robert Fulton Boy craftsman both by Marguarette Henry.
We actually read Benjiman West twice!!
Story of the Pilgrims was also very enjoyable.
For books from the library, the author Conrad Stein had some good historical bios. My daughter really seemed to like Marquette and Joliet. He has written many others.
hth
Tristin, there is also a Young Patriots book for John Audubon which we loved. It is called John Audubon: Young Naturalist. And Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin was a good one too!
Hi Tristin,
I see where you used Early Modern and I’m curious about your 7th grader than. My son is doing Early Modern this year ad he is 7th grade. I am not sure about the book titled Famous Men of the 16th Century will be a good fit for him. Do you have any other suggestions? We are new CMers.
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