American History Reading List

UPDATE:  On the "Booklist" page above I have put the books we have read and enjoyed.  The "Booklist" list is organized by historical time period and is constantly being updated.

I'm listing these book/selections by Cycle 3 week, for the Classical Conversation crowd.  However, for everyone else this is just my list of age appropriate  (1st - 4th grade) books to supplement a study of American History.  The first is/are actual book(s), the ones in parentheses is/are a selection(s) found in the "Children's Treasury of Virtues" by William Bennett.  This is the expanded version of the one I mentioned in my History Plan.  Which resources I will actually use will probably be a matter of time, circumstances and what I can find at used curriculum sales this summer.

Week 1: 

• Columbus by d'Aulaire
• or Pedro's Journal by Conrad
• "Sail On! Sail On!" by Joaquin Miller (pg 148)
• "America the Beautiful" by Katherine Lee Bates (pg. 233)

Week 2:

• Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness
• Samuel Eaton's Day by Waters
• My First Book of Indians by Brewster (older living book)
• or Squanto: Friend of Pilgrims by Bulla
• "The Legend of the Grand Canyon" (pg. 235)

Week 3:

• Sign of the Beaver by Speare or
• Minute Boys of Lexington by Stratemeyer
• Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (J 811.3 LON)
• "The Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving" (pg. 240)

Week 4: 

• If you were in 1776 by Brenner or
• The Hatmakers Sign: A Story by Benjamin Franklin by Fleming
• Memorize the Preamble to the Constitution - Original **
• "Father Junipero Serra" (pg. 246)

Week 5: 

• Phoebe the Spy by Griffin or
• The Cabin Faced West by Fritz
• "George Washington and the Cherry Tree" (pg. 84)
• "A Prayer at Valley Forge" (pg. 128)
• "Bravery of Abagail Adams" (pg. 252)

Week 6:

• You Wouldn't Want to be with Lewis & Clark
• DVD - Technology of Lewis and Clark
• "Westward with Lewis & Clark" (pg. 260)

Week 7:

• A Picture Book of Davy Crockett by Adler
• Once on This Island by Whelan
• "Yankee Doodle" (pg. 258)
• "Margaret of New Orleans" (pg. 302)

Week 8:

• Susanna of the Alamo by Jovanovich or
• The Amazing Impossible Erie Canal by  Harness
• "Paul Bunyan" (pg. 268)
• "The Erie Canal" (pg. 290)
• "Remember the Alamo" (pg. 291)

Week 9:

• If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon by Levine or
• Trail of Tears by Bruchac
• "The Story of "The Star Spangled Banner"" (pg. 278)
• "Home on the Range" (pg. 306)

Week 10:

• "Home on the Range (pg. 306)
• "Johnny Appleseed" (pg. 282)

Week 11:

• Just a Few Words Mr. Lincoln by Fritz
• "Honest Abe" (pg. 158)
• "Abe Lincoln's School Days" (pg. 286)

Week 12:

• An Apple for Harriet Tubman by Turner
• A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman by Adler
• Red Legs by Lewin
• "Robert E. Lee and the Wounded Soldier" (pg. 300)

Week 13:

• If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad by Levine
• "Henry and the Steam Drill" (pg. 308)
• "Martin Luther's Dream" (pg. 320)

Week 14:

• The Glorious Flight by Provensen
• Eureka!  It's an Airplane! by Bendick
• "I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman" (pg. 296)

Week 15:

• Theodore Roosevelt by Venezia
• The Bully Pulpit  by Jeffers (selections for copywork)
• "The Tale of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (pg. 297)

Week 16:

• If Your Name Was changed at Ellis Island by Levine
• You Wouldn't want to be a Worker on Statue of Liberty by Malam
• "The Wizard of Menlo Park" (pg. 314)
• "The New Colossus" (pg. 313)

Week 17:

• October ' 45 by Benson
• The Butterfly by Polacco
• "Father Flanagan" (pg. 203)

Week 18:

• Franklin and Winston: A Christmas the changed the World by Wood
• Passage to Freedom by Mochizuki
• "America" (pg. 334)

Week 19:

• Count the Stars by Lowry
• "Mother Teresa" (pg. 174)

Week 20:

• Home Run by Burleigh
• "Jackie Robinson" (pg. 141)

Week 21:

• Team Moon by Catherine Thimmesh
• The Man Who Went to the Other Side of the Moon (Mike Collins Bio) 
• Godspeed, John Glen! by Hillard
  
• "The Eagle Has Landed" (pg. 326)

Weeks 22-24:

• Our Constitution Rocks!  by Turner
• Dubs goes to Washington by Morris

In many cases I have not read these books, they have come recommended by other sources.  I will try to post reviews as I go along. 

In addition, I am not a lapbooker (someday I'll get the nerve to try, looks like fun), nor am I big into turning a book reading into a 6-12 week courses (though I know I should), I just don't have the bandwidth for that right now.  However, I do know someone who is and does.  Here's the link to her American History book list with all the neat links to lapbooking and book unit studies:  Halfhundredacrewoods  Enjoy!  :-)

**Be careful of rewords of the Preamble, Gettysburg Address and other historical documents.  The trend is to remove some or all references to God in the re-words.  Worst part is they usually do not mention they are re-words and not the original text (including Yale Law and other sites you'd expect to be credible).  I was forced as a child to memorize the original and noticed the discrepancies when trying to create some copy work for the boys.  My thought was it would be easier to copy the works into Word than to type them to create copywork, but I was wrong.