Books

Leaders and Thinkers in American History

Leaders and Thinkers in American History

Meghan's book is perfect for kids in the middle-grade level who might be curious about these individuals. It's also great for a teacher to utilize sections in the classroom. My favorite part of this book is that it was written by an actual middle school History teacher. Meghan has taught at this level for many years, and this book is written in a clever and engaging style that reflects that experience. There are many short biographies of famous Americans floating around the internet, however, Meghan's shines through the stack. The research she put into each biography and her experience teaching are reflected on every page.⁠

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A Place to Hang the Moon

A Place to Hang the Moon

I have a weakness for any story centered around British children sent to live in the countryside during WWII. I know that it's a common topic, but I just can't help myself. Bedknobs and Broomsticks anyone? The Chronicles of Narina? Unlike those fanciful tales, A Place to Hang the Moon is firmly centered in reality. Yet, this story still held a magical nostalgia and charm that I adored. The three children at the center of the story - William, Edmund, and Anna - have been recently orphaned, and they're sent to live with a family as evacuees. There is hope in this decision that they will find a family that will adopt them after the war's end.

I absolutely devoured this story. The nostalgia, the sweetness, and the character development are all there. The children are incredibly sympathetic and realistic all the same. While this story is historical fiction, the history lies very much in the background while the children's lives and experiences take center stage. Still, there is much to learn about the experiences of young evacuees during WWII and the hardships of daily life during that time. I even enjoyed the descriptions of the meals the children ate. I'm not sure this story has a place in the classroom, however, it is the perfect story to read to your children at bedtime. Like me, you might enjoy reading it all on your own!

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Copper Sun

Copper Sun

(Middle Grade Reading Level - a depiction of the reality of slavery including - violence, rape, death, and murder)

Copper Sun is a well-crafted story with impeccable research and accuracy. Amari is in her mid-teens when she is captured and sold into slavery along the African coast. She is shipped across the Atlantic ocean, sold to an enslaver, and gradually finds a place in the new reality she is forced to endure. This book is realistic in its depictions and traumatically sad as a result. One of the best aspects of this story is the awareness of the spectrum of freedom for women in this time. Amari is certainly in slavery, however, the other women she encounters - Polly, an indentured servant, or Mrs. Derby, the young wife of Amari's enslaver - aren't quite free either. Worthy of a read-aloud in any classroom, as long as students are made aware of the truth of the unflinching story that will be told.

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Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity

(YA writing level – torture, violence, some suggestions of sexual harassment)

The first of two books centering around a pair of female protagonists during WWII, Code Named Verity is a fast-paced thriller with an unreliable narrator who keeps you guessing with intricate plot twists and details. All are woven within carefully dispersed tidbits of a heart-wrenching storyline. As Verity slowly reveals British secrets for her demanding Nazi captors, she also weaves in how she and Maddie (a pilot) came to be best friends.

Code Named Verity was a slow burn for me. I basically realized about 100 pages into the book that I needed to read more carefully to understand all the details coming in my direction. Although technically labeled YA, I would only present this story to a few high school students, as the text requires a bit of deciphering and patience. I still strongly like this book. I wasn’t brought to tears (as many reviews note), but I enjoyed the creativity contained in the plot. I've heard it's even better on audio, so you might want to check it out there.

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Reading, Thinking, and Writing About History

Reading, Thinking, and Writing About History

This book appears to be geared towards teachers who are just entering the world of inquiry-based learning. There is considerable space devoted to a discussion of why inquiry-based learning is a best practice for Social Studies education. There are six specific three-day lesson examples, and each has its own chapter. Some of them remind me of the lessons from the Stanford History Education Group, and some even use the same documents.

I like the structure of the individual lessons, and the documents are reasonably modified for seventh-grade readers. The lessons each contain some background history to help teachers with historical context, and each also mentions videos that the students may watch to gain some context. I do wish that they provided historical context readings for the students in a handout form. The lessons do include student worksheets. They also provide an "IREAD" approach for students to access the documents.

The lessons are just individual lessons, and not centered within a unit. Therefore, the questions that guide each inquiry are very rather specific. I do think that they could be broadened to include more activities, but teachers would need to create those activities on their own.  Each lesson is linked to the C3 framework and common core.

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Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

This is a true story of Ona Judge, a slave of George and Martha Washington, who ran away from them while living in Philadelphia. As the title indicates, Judge was never caught, and she never returned to slavery.

This book combined several narratives in order to paint as clear a picture as possible of Ona Judge’s life. Her story is centered within the lives of the Washington family, and within the time period in general. Dunbar engaged in speculative writing in order to attempt to create a clear vision of what Judge’s life may have been like post enslavement. What I like best about this story was the agency demonstrated by Dunbar in her escape, and the help she received from the free black community.

Historians are often criticized for writing history with a narrative voice, and they are criticized for writing history with a more clinical and dispassionate voice. Dunbar combined both of those styles in this book, and I would argue that it made the story more appealing and compelling.

This book is best suited for high school students, as it deals with the issues of agency and sex more directly. Still, the writing makes the book engaging enough for a student who might also love historical fiction.

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Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children

Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children

This book focuses on the children that resulted from the relationship* between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. It most specifically tells the story of two of those children – Madison and Beverly.

I absolutely loved this book. It’s a really good story, even though it doesn’t have much of a plot. I found myself picking up the book when I had a spare moment, even though it’s really a book for middle-grade children. By focusing on the children of Sally Hemings, it tells a story of slavery that discusses the unfairness of slavery, and the sadness of slavery, without exposing the horrifying brutality that slavery was for most. The author shows how the Jefferson children were treated differently than most other slaves at Monticello. It talks about a whipping at Monticello, a friend who was sold away, and about how some of the Jefferson children could “pass,” and some couldn’t. It’s really a story about a family, and how they dealt with the situation that had been handed to them by the color of their skin and their biological father.

Given that the author had to rely on a topic that was covered very little by official historical documents, the book really needs to be considered historical fiction. Still, I think the author created a very plausible narrative and an engaging story.

*(I recognize that many struggle with the idea of Hemings and Jefferson as a relationship. For the purposes of the term here, Jefferson did father her children. We don’t know what form that relationship took, and the book makes the assumption that Hemings had some agency. I think the book acceptably covers the topic at a middle-grade level.)

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In the Shadow of Liberty

In the Shadow of Liberty

This book traces the stories of the enslaved Africans who were owned by four of our founding fathers – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Andrew Jackson. I really enjoyed the stories in this book. Davis brings humanity to the people who surrounded our founding fathers. He includes fantastic details within those stories that really remove the barriers surrounding those men. Did you know that Dolly Madison didn’t really save George Washington’s painting (which was a replica anyway)? A White House slave named Paul Jennings is that forgotten hero of that story.  He would go on to be a co-conspirator in an attempted slave rebellion in the nation’s capital.

There are dozens of stories like this in Davis’s book. They really caused me to reframe my understanding of the United States at that moment in history. Each story could be combined with any general discussion of the founding fathers.

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History Is Inventive

History Is Inventive

Have you seen Honest History pop up on your Instagram feed? Their tagline is, "a magazine for young historians." I know that if this had existed when I was a kid, I would have read every issue cover to cover!

When I saw that a book had been released by Honest History I immediately requested a preview. History is Inventive does a deeper dive into the stories of several of the famous inventors and really lays out the complexity of that invention. (Spoiler ______ invented the _______ is never the whole story.) Knight pulls from a wide breadth of history and picks topics that will interest a wide variety of children. Surgery? Makeup? The telescope? Alternating current? All are discussed and each passage includes unique details that I've not seen elsewhere. If anything, this book will make kids want to know more about many of the topics, and do some more investigation on their own!

I'm also a sucker for well done graphic design and the layout of this book is quite appealing also. This book is perfect for a curious kid.

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Libertie: A Novel

Libertie: A Novel

Adult Historical Fiction

This book takes place in the post-Civil War era. Libertie is born in Brooklyn, and she is raised by her mother, who is a physician. (This portion of the story is based on actual history. There was a black woman doctor practicing in Brooklyn during this time, and she did have a daughter.) Libertie is trained by her mother to become a doctor also, although her enthusiasm towards the practice is lacking. The darkness off Libertie's skin compared with the lightness of her mother's complicates the story also, as Libertie questions whether she also wants to practice medicine.

Although the topics of Reconstruction and the issues surrounding that era are a part of the story, they don't take center stage. Really, this book is more about the trauma of the boundaries that surround those who are legally free, and how it can manifest itself in many forms. The end of slavery didn't mean automatic happiness and "liberty" for Black people. Colorism, race, feminism... all these ideas push and pull the characters. I really enjoyed reading a book from the perspective of free Black people immediately after the Civil War, as it is not one that is commonly written. The way that language is used in this text renders it almost surreal and dreamlike. An imaginative, distinct, and absorbing read sure to land on many best books of the year list.

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A Woman of Intelligence

A Woman of Intelligence

Spies, Communists, the FBI, the McCarthy era, New York City, and an unhappy marriage... The main character is Katharina Edgeworth. She worked for the UN during WWII as a translator, and now she has settled down as a wife and mother. She is miserable in that role and wallowing in self-pity when she is recruited by the FBI to spy on a Communist organization centered in NYC.

This story is much more so about a woman that feels trapped in her marriage and motherhood. The history is there, however, it often reads like background noise to her personal story. She doesn’t really question the role she’s playing for the FBI, or whether Communism is really a threat. Really, she’s just excited to have a life outside of her apartment and away from her boys. I really wish the author had focused more on the history, as the setup for that history was really engaging. Instead, much of the book focuses on Katharina’s internal monologue.

If you’re looking for a book about motherhood and all of its trials, this is definitely a book for you. However, don’t pick up this book expecting to learn more about the McCarthy era.

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Blood on the River: James Town 1607

Blood on the River: James Town 1607

(Middle Grade writing level – realistic violence, otherwise no content concerns)

This story centers on the founding of Jamestown and the struggles the first colonists faced trying to establish the colony. The main character is Samuel Collier, a real figure who traveled to the first settlement as a boy. Not much is known of his actual story, so that part of the story is a fictional account that surrounds the history of Jamestown. This book was excellent. It is a model of how historical fiction should be written. It really made me see the history between the early colonizers and the Native Americans as a relationship between real humans, and not two-dimensional archetypes. The historical information is well researched and incorporated into the novel in a way that reads naturally.

This book could be utilized as a full class reading, as a text with a series of historical texts for literature circles, or I could even see a teacher reading sections of the book to the class each day. There’s a lot of history to investigate surrounding this text, and it could center as a basis for an inquiry unit also.

The only issue I have is not really an issue with the book at all. Rather, it was that this book told a story that has been told many times before. I do hope to read more stories about Native American life that doesn’t center around their interactions with English colonizers. I’d love to see more stories that are written independently of that interaction. Still, that is not a criticism of this book, but more of the publishing industry in general. (If you have a suggestion, please let me know, and I’ll add it to my list!)

There is a sequel to this book (Poison in the Colony: Jamestown 1622) that I will definitely check out soon.

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