Optional Additional Reading for Introduction to American History (Levels 1 and 2)
General Reading
Level 1
Short Stories of Famous Men in History by James Reynolds — not just American history — Alexander the Great to Douglas MacArthur
Little People Who Became Great by Laura Large
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Edward Eggleston
Other Resources
Ballads of American History with CD by Fred Cooper
Year 1 – Term 1 (Explorers and Pioneers)
Christopher Columbus
Level 1
Columbus by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
Where Do You Think You Are Going, Christopher Columbus? by Jean Fritz
Level 2
Pedro’s Journal by Pam Conrad
He Went With Christopher Columbus by Louise Andrews Kent
Other
By Right of Conquest by G.A.Henty
Year 1 – Term 2 (Stories of Virginia)
Virginia
Level 1
A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla
Captain John Smith
TBA
Pocahontas
Level 1
Pocahontas by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
Pocahontas by Brian Doherty
Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla
Year 1 – Term 3 (Stories of New England)
Pilgrims
Level 1
If You Sailed on the Mayflower by Ann McGovern
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla
The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh
Who’s That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? by Jean Fritz
Level 2
The Landing of the Pilgrims (Landmark Book) by James Daugherty
Maine
Level 2
Calico Bush by Rachel Field — young French girl becomes an indentured servant in Maine
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
Connecticut
Level 2
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Other
Level 1
If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern
–
Year 2 -Term 1 (Stories of the Middle and Southern Colonies)
Catholic History
Level 1
Mother Seton and the Sisters of Charity [Vision Book Series] by Alma Powers-Waters
Priest on Horseback by Eva K. Betz
New York
Level 1 / 2
Peter Stuyvesant: Dutch Military Leader by Arthur M. Schlesinger
Pennsylvania
Level 1
The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz
Ben Franklin
Level 1
Benjamin Franklin by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia by Margaret Cousins
What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? by Jean Fritz
Ben and Me by Robert Lawson
Level 2
Poor Richard by James Daughtery
–
Year 2 – Term 2 (Stories of the French in America; The Struggle for Liberty)
Catholic History
Level 2
Kateri Tekakwitha: Mohawk Maid [Vision Book Series] by Evelyn M. Brown
Louis Jolliet & Father Jacques Marquette by Daniel E. Harmon
Father Marquette and the Great Rivers [Vision Book Series] by August Derleth
St. Isaac and the Indians [Vision Book Series] by Milton Lomask
Mississippi
Level 2
La Salle and the Exploration of the Mississippi by Daniel E. Harmon
French and Indian War
Level 1
The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds
Level 2
Madeleine Takes Command by Ethel Brill
Native Americans
Level 1
Om-Kas-Toe by Kenneth Thomasma
Level 2
The Book of Indians by Holling C. Holling
Indian Boyhood by Charles Eastman
Boston Tea Party
Level 2
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Paul Revere
Level 1
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz
Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson
Other
Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare
–
Year 2 – Term 3 (Stories of the Struggle for Liberty)
Level 1
If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy
Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George? by Jean Fritz
Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz
Will You Sign Here, John Hancock by Jean Fritz
Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? by Jean Fritz
Why Don’t You Get a Horse, Sam Adams? by Jean Fritz
The Winter at Valley Forge by James Knight
Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady
Phoebe the Spy by Judith Berry Griffin
Level 2
The American Revolution by Bruce Bliven (Landmark Book)
Gettysburg by MacKinlay Kantor (Landmark Book)
Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit
John Paul Jones by Norma Jean Lutz
Ethan Allen by Virginia Aronson
The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery
George Washington
Level 1
George Washington by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
Meet George Washington by Joan Heilbroner
Level 2
The Bulletproof George Washington by David Barton
–
Year 3 – Term 1 (Stories of the US Under the Constitution)
Level 1
Carry On Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
Thomas Jefferson
Level 1
Meet Thomas Jefferson by Marvin Barrett
Other
Level 1
Susanna of the Alamo: a True Story by John Jakes
The Mexican Story by May McNeer and Lynd Ward — Catholic perspective
–
Year 3- Term 2 (Gold Rush; Civil War)
Level 1
Turn Homeward Hannalee by Patricia Beatty
Westward Expansion
Level 1
Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Buffalo Bill by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
Level 2
Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark by Rhoda Blumberg
Pioneers Go West by George R. Stewart (Landmark Book)
Gold Rush
Level 1
By The Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman — read aloud for younger children, independent read for Level 2
Underground Railroad
Level 1
Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Dorothy Sterling
Abraham Lincoln
Level 1
Abe Lincoln by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
Level 2
Lincoln: a Photobiography by Russell Freedman
Abe Lincoln by Sterling North (Landmark Book)
Civil War
Level 1
The Monitor and the Merrimac by Richard Conrad Stein
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Behind Rebel Lines by Seymour Reit
The Perilous Road by William O. Steele
This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War by Bruce Catton – gives a sense of the political forces behind events, all written in an accessible but engaging style. Out of print.
Year 3 – Term 3 (Civil War to World War I)
Catholic History
Level 1
Katie, The Young Life of Mother Katharine Drexel by Claire Jordan Mohan
Mother Cabrini: Missionary to the World [Vision Book Series] by Frances Parkinson Keyes
World War I
World War I by Kent
Other
Level 1
Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
The Terrible Wave by Marden Dahlstedt — Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood of 1889
Hero Over Here by Kathleen Kudlinski
You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? by Jean Fritz
