Secrets of American History Revolutionary War The Founding Fathers Were Spies

Ready to read has produced a leveled reader American History series, Secrets of American History.  I was pleased to see this because parents, teachers, and homeschooling families often are looking for independent reading material for children that engages and provides independent non-fiction reading opportunities for their students.

The Founding Fathers Were Spies!: Revolutionary War (Secrets of American History)is a Level 3 reader and while it gives a brief and not very interesting introduction to the war, the book's main purpose is to introduce students to the topic of Colonial spying during the Revolutionary War.

I think sometimes the author's feel compelled to do more than the book allows, which weakens the over all success of the book. The introduction to the war is terrible. However, the information the book was written to cover is well written and age appropriate. It covers a wide range of material that often isn't covered for elementary students about the importance of intelligence work in Washington's efforts to win the war.

The author challenges students to think about how communication occurred in a world before electronic communication and then proceeds to explain how those challenges were met in very creative ways. My two favorite stories were about how women participated in the spying because they were often around the British when their homes were occupied. One story discusses a woman using buttons as a means of communicating secret messages. Another discusses how hanging laundry became a communication system that could be used for a variety of alerts.

Recently more adult literature and movies have been discussing Washington's Culper Spy Ring. This book presents this bit of history in a very child friendly format. Many children are fascinated by secret codes, invisible ink, and spies who carry secret messages in their shoes. This book explains it was all part of the efforts to win the Revolutionary War. The back section of the book even includes a recipe for invisible ink.

This is an accessible independent reader for elementary students studying the American Revolution.

My Life in the Plymouth Colony

I've long been a fan of books that don't just attempt to teach history, but try to engage kids with the people, time, place, and events happening. There is also something unique about a book that doesn't take the most obvious part of the subject but moves slightly forward or backward to give you a view of what was life like before or after the big event that is more often chosen as a topic for a children's book.

My Life in the Plymouth Colony (My Place in History) is a historical fiction picture book written in a diary format that tracks the life of an eight year old girl in 1633, thirteen years after the colony was settled. As I said previously I like the time jump because it gives the reader an idea of what life was like after the original settlers arrived. This wasn't the time often chronicled in First Thanksgiving stories. This is about what happened when the colony started to grow.

There are nine diary entries, each covering a different topic a New Year, Anne's First Word (her introduction), schooling, farm life, gardening, the Sabbath, a feast, harvest, and breeching. Each entry is about two pages with lots of pictures. There is a glossary in the back that defines the bold vocabulary words that might be new to children. Each section also has a Note from History that gives a little background information on the topic being discussed.

This is clearly not designed to teach the history of the Plymouth colony, but it is a great book to make the experience more real for students by providing practical life details of what life was like for a child living in one of America's earlier colonies. It can be hard to find age appropriate material for younger children that still has something for upper elementary students. I think the information provided here is unique enough that it could cross those boundaries. With support the language and pictures are appropriate for younger students. The material provided addresses gaps not often found in books written for upper elementary students about life for children.

The Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party (Graphic History)is another entry in the Graphic history series. For those interested all these books have come from the library and I have no connection with the publisher. I am interested in finding accurate and age appropriate history books to share with others. The publisher of this series has taken on a wide range of topics and I am curious to see if quality is as important as quantity, which is one of the reasons I have chosen to keep previewing the series. I am also interested in locating texts for specific topics.

Matt Doeden takes on the task of creating a graphic history that covers the time period of the Boston Tea Party. Many children's authors gloss over the details that created the conflict over the tea. Doeden does an excellent job in explaining the time line and the political issues involved with why the tea was being taxed, the deadlines for the tea to be unloaded, and the consequences of not unloading the tea. This sets the stage for why the colonists acted when they did, which is something many textbooks I have used with children are rather vague in explaining.

Doeden gives a detailed account of the actions of the colonists during the Boston Tea Party and gives one of the few explanations I have read in children’s books for the Native American costumes. The colonists did not expect to be mistaken for Indians; they only hoped not to be identified later for prosecution.

As with most of the books in this series, there is a hasty summary after the book discusses its main points. This is a weakness of the series. In many respects, the remaining time would be better spent discussing the books main topic leaving readers to visit other books to find out more about what happened next.

Paul Revere's Ride

Paul Revere's Ride (Graphic History)Paul Revere's Ride is another entry in the graphic history series appropriate for Patriot's Day.

Xaviar Niz does a fairly accurate job in presenting Revere's Ride. He only credits Revere with saying the British were out once, which Revere would never have said. He does give accurate credit to the multiple riders and the urgency to provide warnings to protect both the munitions the British Regulars were after and the people they were seeking to arrest.

The book loses focus after the colonists are warned. It provides a very confused accounting of the battles fought at Lexington and Concord. This was not as strong an addition to the series as some of the previous titles I have reviewed. However, considering how many inaccurate accounts of Revere's ride I have read, I think this one is worth reading because it does provide details not included in many of the other books available for children on this topic.

The Mystery of the Roanoke Colony

The Mystery of the Roanoke Colony is another history title in the Graphic Library series.

When I saw our local library had access to this title, I was anxious to review it. Since there is a mystery about what happened to the colonists who settled Roanoke, some textbooks provide extremely limited information on an important historical event and other books are filled with speculation and gossip. I am pleased to say this book focused on the facts and only at the end provided some logical explanations as to the possible outcomes of the colonists who stayed behind.

Having looked for resources that focused on the early settlements when I taught colonial history, I would have added this book. As with all books in this series, it picks it areas of focus. It skims over the purposes for the establishment for the colony, which did not bother me as that is an area I can find material that is age appropriate. This book focuses on the time line of the establishment of the colony, the relationship with the local native tribes that led to issues, and the wars and other factors that prevented the colony from being resupplied.

The book does gloss over some of the challenges between the Native populations and the colonists, but it does address that there were issues that led to conflicts. Considering the format, I was pleased to see that they raised the issue.

One very strong point I appreciated about this book is it emphasized the time involved. Since Roanoke is often given a paragraph to a page in textbooks, the timeline is often compressed such that children often do not understand the time involved. It often is presented as if the colonists land, there is some magic involved, and they disappear never to be seen again. This book does a good job in presenting the elapsed time between arrival and the realization by those who left the colony to resupply it that it was gone. Even if the people who left to resupply the colony returned as quickly as they could, there would have been a substantial amount of time for disasters to have occurred. However, due to weather, damaged ships, and war, Governor White was gone for three years before he could convince Sir Walter Raleigh to release ships for him to return to Roanoke to provide relief to his family and the other settlers. Sadly, when he returned he was unable to find his family and the mystery is still unsolved today.

Winter at Valley Forge

Winter at Valley Forge (Graphic History)is another book in the graphic library history series.

Matt Doeden does a quick introduction to the American Revolution and settles into explaining what happened to the colonial troops during the winter Washington spent camped at Valley Forge. His details and descriptions are age appropriate for elementary students to understand the hardships and challenges faced by the soldiers without exposing them to details that younger students are not prepared to handle.

He introduces Lafayette and Von Stueben to the reader with a brief introduction. The author presented more information than I have found in many children's text on these men. However, I am beginning to suspect this series has a text limit because there always seems to be an emphasis in one area that is well written and detailed. Then other areas seem to get a quick pass.

Told in graphic novel format, this is a way to engage students in reading about Washington's winter at Valley Forge. This book works differently than other books on the topic, since the focus in this book is on living conditions and survival during the winter at Valley Forge. I would include it with other resources to give students a broader picture of life during the American Revolution.

The Boston Massacre

While there are many children's books that cover the events of Lexington and Concord it is much harder to find accurate, age appropriate material that covers the Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre (Graphic History)by Michael Burgan is another entry in the Graphic history series.

This book starts with the conflicts and issues leading up to the mob scene that resulted in the British Regulars firing on colonial citizens. It discusses the Stamp Acts and the reaction that arose after the colonists found out their long standing relationship with Great Britain and taxes had changed.

The book does something few on the topic do, it gives the reader a bit of perspective on how the loyalists felt by telling the story of a loyalist shopkeeper who was attacked by mobs determined not only to harm his business, but his person. Many textbooks fail to address that the mobs in Boston were not just a concern to the British, but to Colonial leaders as well. While they disagreed with the tax policies and the monopolies that the British government imposed, they were also aware of the danger uncontrolled mobs posed to their futures as well. While they proved useful in creating disturbances such as they Boston Tea Party that rallied public outrage, they were aware of the dangers that could occur should they lose control of the mob's focus, too.

The book does not address how the incident came to be known as the Boston Massacre when similar previous encounters did not reach this level of colonial outrage. That is something teachers and parents will have to seek other resources to discover.

It does however, address John Adam's involvement with the trial of the soldiers accused of murdering civilians in the incident. His actions in defending the soldiers created some animosity between Adams and certain colonial leaders. Adams felt that instead it created the legitimacy of the movement. It was not a mob movement, but one that respected the rule of law.

This book does a good job at trying to recreate the very hostile atmosphere of an occupied Boston. Loyalists had issues with those who sought more freedom. Tensions occurred as a distant Parliament sought more control and instead created more chaos. Orders like the Quartering Act which seemed reasonable to the British government, only created more anger and tension. This in turn gave more support to mobs, which in more reasonable times, people would have turned against.

The Voyage of the Mayflower

The Voyage of the Mayflower (Graphic History)is another wonderful addition to the Graphic History series.

Allison Lassieur does a great job in providing children with accurate information and vocabulary. She uses the word Separatists to refer to the travelers, which is not only accurate, but also easier to explain to children than the more common term Pilgrims. The book does not start with the travelers boarding the ship or already on the ship, but explains what life was like for the community living in Holland. This ultimately provides students with a deeper understanding of their motivations for leaving and making a journey to lands none of the future settlers had been to prior to this trip.

The book also addresses another area that often is ignored, the financing of the trip. The book discusses the financial backing they required. It mentions them seeking out Thomas Weston and how they recruited other people to make the journey who did not share their religious beliefs, labeling them strangers. These additional passengers were required to meet the financial obligations of the journey. The book also explains some of the issues that arose as the second ship, the Speedwell was not able to continue with the journey.

The strongest parts of the book were those that discussed the journey. The book loses some of its focus when the settlers arrive in the New World and the author appears to be hurrying to a finish. I would suggest this as a resource for learning about the Separatists and the journey of the Mayflower and seeking information about the settlement from other resources.

I continue to be amazed at the quality and accuracy of the information that is provided in the graphic novel format. These books are appropriate for younger students and can be used with older students too. They would be especially useful for older students that may struggle with reading or have second language challenges. The information is accessible, but still very accurate.

The Battle of Bunker Hill an Interactive History

There are not a number of books available on the Battle of Bunker Hill for children and The Battle of Bunker Hill: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books) (You Choose: History)happens to be a good one. Students are not just presented with the dry, dull facts of the event. They are asked to participate in the event by taking on a role.

Like the previous books I have written about in the series, the book begins with an introduction to the events leading up to the Battle of Bunker Hill. Then readers are presented with three character options. They can be a colonial soldier, a British soldier, or a civilian watching events unfold. As the story unfolds, more choices are made and the reader can see how some choices have major consequences and how others still lead to similar outcomes based on events that individuals can't control.

Just a warning to parents, while death was addressed in the The Boston Massacre: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose: History)title, this is the first book I have read in the series where two of the characters that a reader can choose to follow actually face that outcome depending on the choices selected. As with any book, I suggest you preview it and decide if how you want to approach the topic with your child.

Three Young Pilgrims

I have been previewing Pilgrim books to add to my Thanksgiving box and came across Three Young Pilgrimsthrough our library network. While this book may not make this year's purchase list, it will be on next year's list.

This picture book focuses on telling the story of the Pilgrim's journey to the New World and their life here through one family's experience. Bartholomew, Remember, and Mary Allerton arrive in Plymouth and face many challenges.

The best parts of this book are the beautiful illustrations and the maps that provide extra information that the prose does not. The maps add details and added specific information that does not quite fit into the family's story.

While this is written as a picture book, this could be a good teaching tool for older elementary students if approached in the right way. A discussion about the additional information, the illustrations, and the characters can make this a much-needed addition to many dry textbooks that are on the market. However, it is also a perfect match for the target audience of primary readers that generally study the Pilgrims.

I will be putting this on my search list for next year's Thanksgiving mailing.

The Boston Massacre an Interactive History

The Boston Massacre: An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose: History)is another book I borrowed from the library prior to purchasing for Christmas this year. Like the previous stories in this series, the reader is given a background of the events leading up to the event and three characters to choose from in following the story.

This story starts with the background information of the Stamp Act, the formation of the Sons of Liberty, the Stamp Act protests, and the arrival of British troops to keep the peace in Boston. Readers are provided with three character choices to follow the adventures through the book, a 13-year-old wig maker's apprentice, a British soldier, or the role of John Hancock's maid.

The story then walks the reader through the events of the Boston Massacre through each characters experience, giving the reader options to make choices and see how those choices alter the outcomes along the path. What I found interesting and an important lesson was in some cases you could not change the outcome. Despite your best intentions, bad things still happen. This is historically accurate, but also an important life lesson illustrated for kids in a practical setting. The British soldier's life provides another side to the story that is often missed in the retelling of the Boston Massacre. The author gives his character the temptation of deserting and the life the options that would come with that or staying loyal and all the choices that come for a soldier with that option.

The book ends with a summary of events that happened after the Boston Massacre.

I was pleased this topic was one the series decided to approach. The Boston Massacre is a great example of how choices have consequences. It also demonstrates that events sometimes do end up overtaking the ability of people to avoid them. Regardless of our own wishes and choices, sometimes other’s choices prevent us from changing our outcome.

I continue to be impressed with the possibilities for this series to engage and encourage children's interest in history.