OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL READING FOR INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY (LEVELS 1 AND 2)
GENERAL READING
- 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 Resource
- Ballads of American History with CD by Fred Cooper
YEAR ONE
Term 1 (Explorers and Pioneers)
Christopher Columbus
- Columbus by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
- Where Do You Think You Are Going, Christopher Columbus? by Jean Fritz
- Pedro’s Journal by Pam Conrad (Level 2)
- He Went With Christopher Columbus by Louise Andrews Kent (Level 2)
- By Right of Conquest by G. A. Henty (longer read aloud or for older students)
Term 2 (Stories of Virginia)
Virginia
- A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla
Pocahontas
- Pocahontas by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
- Pocahontas by Brian Doherty
- Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla
Term 3 (Stories of New England)
- If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern
Pilgrims
- 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
- The Landing of the Pilgrims [Landmark Book] by James Daugherty (Level 2)
Maine
- Calico Bush by Rachel Field — young French girl becomes an indentured servant in Maine (Level 2)
- The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (Level 2)
Connecticut
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Level 2)
YEAR TWO
Term 1 (Stories of the Middle and Southern Colonies)
Catholic History
- Mother Seton and the Sisters of Charity [Vision Book Series] by Alma Powers-Waters
- Priest on Horseback by Eva K. Betz
New York
- Peter Stuyvesant: Dutch Military Leader by Arthur M. Schlesinger
Pennsylvania
- The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz
Ben Franklin
- 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
- Poor Richard by James Daughtery (Level 2)
Term 2 (Stories of the French in America; The Struggle for Liberty)
- Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare
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
- The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds
- Madeleine Takes Command by Ethel Brill (great family read aloud, also on audiobook)
Native Americans (Level 2)
- Om-Kas-Toe by Kenneth Thomasma
- The Book of Indians by Holling C. Holling
- Indian Boyhood by Charles Eastman
Boston Tea Party (Level 2 or 3)
- Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Paul Revere
- And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz
- Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson
Term 3 (Stories of the Struggle for Liberty)
- 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
American Revolution (Level 2)
- The American Revolution [Landmark Book] by Bruce Bliven
- 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
- George Washington by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
- Meet George Washington by Joan Heilbroner
- The Bulletproof George Washington by David Barton (Level 2)
YEAR THREE
Term 1 (Stories of the US Under the Constitution)
- Carry On Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Level 2)
- Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (Level 2)
Thomas Jefferson
- Meet Thomas Jefferson by Marvin Barrett
Mexico / Texas
- Susanna of the Alamo: a True Story by John Jakes
- The Mexican Story by May McNeer and Lynd Ward — Catholic perspective
Term 2 (Gold Rush; Civil War)
- Turn Homeward Hannalee by Patricia Beatty
Westward Expansion
- Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
- Buffalo Bill by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
- Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark by Rhoda Blumberg (Level 2)
- Pioneers Go West [Landmark Book] by George R. Stewart (Level 2)
Gold Rush
- By The Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman – great read-aloud for all ages
Underground Railroad
- Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Dorothy Sterling
Abraham Lincoln
- Abe Lincoln by Ingri & Edgar D’Aulaire
- Lincoln: a Photobiography by Russell Freedman (Level 2)
- Abe Lincoln [Landmark Book] by Sterling North
Civil War
- 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.
- Gettysburg [Landmark Book] by MacKinlay Kantor
Term 3 (Civil War to World War I)
Catholic History
- 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
- 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
