The middle-grade volume Native Americans in History by Jimmy Beason (Rockridge Press, 2021) shares the powerful stories of Native American leaders, artists, activists and athletes from history and today. The ninety-page volume is easily readable and nicely formatted for either reference or a straight readthrough. The fifteen people discussed receive about 5 pages of text

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The American Plate by Libby O’Connell (Sourcebooks, December 2014) captures the essence of American cooking throughout by highlighting dishes that were essential or popular throughout history. It is truly American history meets foodie, and I love the end result.

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I’ve mentioned before that I love the nonfiction books I’ve read by Sally M. Walker. Ghost Walls (Lerner, 2014) is no exception. With Ms. Walker’s conversational style of writing and clear explanations of both science and history, Ghost Walls digs into the anthropological history of a seventeenth-century house in Maryland, giving life to a house that fell into

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One series I’ve been reading over the past two months are books from the Childhood of Famous Americans series. I found them to be a mixed series. Some of the books are fabulous, while others are a slog. For the most part, each book in the Childhood of Famous Americans series has 15 chapters. The

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Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker (Carolrhoda, 2009) is about what we can learn about a few early American settlers from their bones and burial. It is both a lesson in very early American history as well as a scientific exploration of forensic anthropology. Since I’m studying

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We have been “officially” doing unofficial kindergarten at home for a little over a month now. I’ve been teaching Raisin at home for much longer, of course, but I had to call it official at some point.1 I decided we would learn about American History this year, and I feel it’s definitely time to report

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Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick (published by Penguin 2007) is about far more than the arrival of the “pious” pilgrims in the New World in a ship named Mayflower. Rather, Philbrick’s tome delves deep in the history of the Plymouth Colony. The facts shared seem to be essential in

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