The Creation of the U.S. Constitution

If you are looking for a resource that explains in an accurate and age appropriate way the Articles of the Confederation and Shay's Rebellion The Creation of the U.S. Constitution (Graphic History)is a great resource to add to your list.

As I continue to work my way through the graphic history series I was impressed that Michael Burgan started with the Articles of Confederation and spoke about how the weak confederation and Shay's rebellion led the colonists to agree for the need to have a Constitutional Convention. Sadly, too many texts leave students unaware of the existence of the Articles of Confederation or the concerns that led to a very careful balancing and debate of rights that resulted in our Constitution.

Another strong area of this book is how it leads the reader through the discussion of the Virginia Plan and the state by state ratification of the Constitution. This book also provides readers with an understanding of why there was a push for a Bill of Rights to be included and a more limited explanation of how it came to pass as the first amendments to the Constitution.

This is one of the strongest books I have reviewed in the series to date. This is a good supplementary resource for parents or teachers looking for materials for students studying government or the history of the time.

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.

The Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving (Graphic History)is another entry in the Graphic History Series. For those looking for Pilgrim resources this is a great companion to The Voyage of the Mayflower (Graphic History)which I reviewed previously.

Unlike previous books, this one focuses less on the history of colony. Its goal is to present information on community life. The author centers the book on how the colony survived to reach its first harvest feast. While the Mayflower book focused on using correct vocabulary, like Separatists, this author is more comfortable with the more familiar term Pilgrim. The author explains that they were Separatists, explains how the term Pilgrim emerged and settles on the term Pilgrim for the remainder of the book.

This book does provide more Native American history of the area than previous books on the topic, mentioning specific tribes by name. She also gives explanations as to why they were reluctant to have relations with the colonists.

While this book provides some solid background information about the colony, the residents, and the challenges they faced, my one disappointment is the author seemed to think her audience needed the information simplified and I have not seen evidence of that in previous editions of this series. I think other authors have done a marvelous job in this series with presenting challenging concepts without resorting to simplistic descriptions and explanations.

Despite my annoyance at some of her descriptions, I think this is a good resource to have available when studying the colony. The information on the Native American tribes is harder to find than it should be and this is one resource that gives students a starting point. Contrasting this author's style with others the children read can help them become more discerning readers of non-fiction resources.

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 Story of Jamestown

It's book sharing Monday at Canadian Home Learning.

We were asked for specific quotes for the Monday book sharing, but the format of this book did not lead to amazing quotes. The artwork and the word bubbles blended to create a surprisingly accurate account of the history of what would become Virginia. I tried to go back and update this with specific quotes, but it really is not any specific quote that makes the book. What makes this book worthy of mention is the format that brings history to life in a different way than most kids see it in traditional textbooks.


I am always on the lookout for accurate and interesting history books for children. I ran across a listing for The Story of Jamestown (Graphic History)and realized it was part of a series of graphic histories for children. I decided to start with Jamestown because I have not found lots of quality literature for children on the topic. The topic is generally tucked into a history book chapter that often lacks accuracy and interest leaving children uniformed about the topic.

I was pleased with this choice and have several others checked out to preview before making a purchase. The material was presented in graphic novel format focusing on content and storytelling so the reader is engaged in learning more about the material. The formatting makes the book appropriate for young readers or older readers who may need material at a more accessible reading level.

Some of the strengths of this book are that it presented the challenges the colonists faced, was honest about their relations with the Natives, and it foreshadows the challenges that are coming as the colonial population expands into Native territories regardless of treaties and promises that have been made. It explains why tobacco becomes a major product of Virginia and the introduction of slavery into the Virginia colony. It also talks about how government evolved in Virginia as the colonists struggled with adapting to life in an environment they were not prepared to handle. I was pleased to see these issues addressed in a manner children could understand and process.

It is nice to see a book for a child that focuses on the history of the colony. I have read far too many accounts of the love story of Pocahontas that teach children little about the formation of Virginia. I am looking forward to previewing more books in this series.