History

PLEASE don’t skip over this section because it says “History”.  Some of these would be some of our FAVORITE picture books~with a few chapter books mixed in.  I feel it’s the best way to teach history to our children-- and they don’t even know they are learning!

I started my lists with books we had seen on Kathy Keller's list from her booklet "Turning Back the Pages of Time: An American History Library List". These are the books I have read from her lists and also ones we have found on our own. Everything is American history with only a couple of exceptions included.

Early Explorers- 900-1600's

Columbus, Leif the Lucky- D'Aulaire
The Cruise of Christopher Columbus-
The Log of Christopher Columbus-Columbus (selections by Lowe)
Viking Adventure- Bulla (Historical Fiction)
America Begins - Dalgliesh
And There was America- Duvoisin
Ferdinand Magellan- Groh
Amerigo Vespucci- Knoop

Early Indians and Pilgrims 1600-1650

The First Thanksgiving- Hayward (A reader)
Pocahontas and the Strangers- Bulla
The Pilgrims of Plimoth- Sewall
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims Man- Bulla
Squanto and the First Thanksgiving- Kessel
Three Young Pilgrims- Harness
The Thanksgiving Story- Dalgliesh
The Story of Priscilla Mullins – Leininger

Pilgrim Cat-Peacock
If You Sailed on the Mayflower- McGovern
Anne Hutchinson's Way-Atkins
Pocahontas- D'Aulaire
Across the Wide Dark Sea- The Mayflower Journey- Leeuwen
On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship's Apprentice and a Passenger Girl- Waters
Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl-Waters
Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy- Waters/Kendall
Pilgrim Children on the Mayflower- DeLage
Pilgrim Courage: From a Firsthand Accout of William Bradford- Smith, Meredith

Colonial America 1650-1700

Adventures in Colonial America Series- James Knight
Boys and Girls of the Colonial Days
Rachel and Obadiah - Turkle
The Courage of Sarah Noble- Dalgliesh
Benjamin Franklin- D'Aulaire
The Ox Cart Man- Hall
If You Lived in Colonial Times- McGovern
The Long Way to a New Land, The Long Way Westward- Sandin
The Matchlock Gun- Edmonds
Boys and Girls of Colonial Days- Bailey

American Revolution 1700-1800

The Fourth of July Story- Dalgliesh
George Washington- D'Aulaire
George the Drummer Boy, Sam the Minuteman-Benchley
Ghost Ship- Clark
Paul Revere's Ride- Longfellow
Dangerous Crossing-Krensky
When Washington Crossed the Delaware- Cheney
The Boston Coffee Party- Rappaport
Phyllis Wheatley- A Voice of Her Own
The Star Spangled Banner-Spier
Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys- Gauch
Buttons for General Washington- Roop
Pheobe the Spy- Griffin
Patience Wright: America's First Sculptor and Revolutionary Spy- Shea
American Girl Doll Felicity Series- Tripp

Westward Expansion 1780-1860

Adventures in Frontier America Series- Chambers
Sailing Home- A Story of a Childhood at Sea- Rand
Daniel Boone- Averill
Dandelions, Train to Somewhere- Bunting
Adventures in Frontier America Series- Chambers
Close to the Wind- Malone
The Josefina Quilt Story- Coerr
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter- Olson
Dakota Dugout- Himler
Sarah, Plain and Tall- MacLachlan
Fancy That- Hershenhorn
If You Lived with the Sioux Indians- McGovern
My Heart Glow- McCulley
Buffalo Bill- D'Aulaire
The Erie Canal- Spier
Trouble for Lucy- Stevens
The Cabin Faced West- Fritz
Little House Series- Wilder
American Girl Doll Kirsten Series-Shaw

Dear Benjamin Banneker- Pinkney

Civil War Era 1860-1870

Lincoln and His Boys- Wells
Wagon Wheels- Brenner
Abe Lincoln- The Boy Who Loved Books-Winters
Abraham Lincoln- D'Aulaire
Moses- Weatherford

A Man for All Seasons: The Life of George Washington Carver- Krensky
If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad-Levine
Friend on Freedom River- Whelan
The Drinking Gourd-Monjo
Runaway Slave: The Story of Harriet Tubman- McGovern
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie-Roop

River Boy: The Story of Mark Twain- Anderson
Henry’s Freedom Box- Levine
Minty: The Story of Young Harriet Tubman- Schroder
Thee, Hannah!- de Angeli
Cassie’s Journey: Going West in the 1860’s- Harvey
Apple to Oregon- Hopkinson and Carpenter
A Picture Book of Sojourner Truth- Adler
The Blue and the Gray- Bunting

Progressive Era 1870’s- Early 1900’s

The Princess and the Peacock- Merrill and Ridley
Sailing Home:  A Story of a Childhood at Sea- Rand
Julia Morgan Built a Castle- Mannis
The Real McCoy - Towle
The Town that Moved-Finsand
The Heroine of the Titanic- Blos
The Pig on the Titanic- Crew
At Ellis Island- Peacock
Journey to Ellis Island: How my father came to America- Bierman
Helen Keller- Davidson

Helen Keller- Adler (a reader)

Helen Keller: The World in Her Heart-Cline-Ransom

Click, A Story of George Eastman- Mitchell
The Story of Nan Harper- Leininger
One Bad Thing About Father- Monjo
Naming Liberty- Yolen
Shoes for Everyone (Jan Matzeliger)- Mitchell
The Story of the Statue of Liberty-Maestro
Lady Liberty: A Biography- Rappaport
We'll Race You, Henry- Mitchell
All Stations Distress! : April 15, 1912, The Day the Titanic Sank - Brown
The Wright Brothers
Nobody Owns the Sky: The story of "Brave Bessie" Coleman- Lindbergh
Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express- Wetterer
Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder- Anderson
Laura's Album- Anderson
House in the Mail- Wells
What To Do About Alice?- Kerley
Ride on the Wind (Charles Lindberg)- Dalgliesh
The Wizard of Sound: Thomas Edison- Mitchell
The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot- Provenson
Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy-Pinkney
American Girl Doll Samantha Series- Tripp
Books by Louisa May Alcott
All of Kind Family Series - Sydney Taylor
Grandma's Attic Series- Arleta Richardson

Marvelous Mattie- McCulley

The Memory Coat- Woodruff
(There are boo-koodles of wonderful books in this time period!!! I only list the ones we have read so I hope this list gets MUCH longer in the next couple of years!)

Depression:
When Jessie Came Across the Sea- Hest
The Gardener- Stewart
Leah’s Pony- Friedrich
Pictures for Miss Josie- Belton
Saving Strawberry Farm- Hopkinson

World War II- 1939-1945

Butterfly- Polacco
Secret Seder- Rappaport
The Story of Anne Frank - Lewis (a DK Reader)
The Bicycle Man- Say
One Thousand Tracings- Judge
A New Coat for Anna- Ziefert
Grandfather’s Journey- Say
Across the Blue Pacific- Borden
My Daddy was a Soldier- Ray
American Girl Doll Molly Series
Eleanor- Cooney
Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride- Munoz Ryan
One Thousand Tracings:  Healing the Wounds of World War II- Judge

Other issues during this time and beyond:
The Hallelujah Flight- Bildner
Satchel Paige: Don' t Look Back- Adler

When Marian Sang- Ryan
A Bus of Our Own- Evans
Champions on the Bench- Weatherford
Across the Alley- Michelson
The School is Not White- Rappaport
Testing the Ice- A True Story About Jackie Robinson- Robinson
Rachel Carson- Preserving a Sense of Wonder- Bruchac- illustrated by Thomas Locker
Jack’s Path of Courage:  The Life of John F. Kennedy- Rappaport