Where better to go than here? I am switching over to social studies this year(fifth grade), and I need to brush up on the history. I fall asleep when reading most nonfiction, so I need some good suggestions of historically based fiction(and even killer bios and other nonfiction) to brush up and feed my need for a "good read."
The time period is: pre-Columbus to early 1800's.
Thanks in advance! (All levels)
Posted by MattB (Member # 1116) on :
Young adult novels: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
The Scarlet Letter
A Light in the Forest
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Crucible (also gets bonus points for the 1950s)
Scholarly history that reads like fiction: The Kingdom of Matthias
The Unredeemed Captive
A Midwife's Tale
Rebecca's Revival
American Jezebel
American Sphinx
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Thank you, Matt! There are actually some great new(er) novels at a middle school level: The Fighting Ground(Avi) The Secret Soldier(?) My Brother Sam is Dead
How about speculative fiction? Anything like OSC's Alvin Maker series out there?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Johnny Tremain! I loved that book when we read it in junior high. (It's not spec-fic, just plain old fic fic. )
Oh, and Caddie Woodlawn, which I read about the same time, but not for school. Both are Newberry Award winners.
Although the second is probably set too late for your purposes, come to think of it.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Fawn and Hang For Treason by Robert Newton Peck. Both relate to history surrounding Fort Ticonderoga, in different time periods.
My 5th grade teacher read both of them to us, but he left out the sex scenes.
Oh, and Last of the Mohicans.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
One of my favorite books of all time is "A Day No Pigs Would Die, " Glenn.
Keep 'em coming!
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
The books of Willa Cather.
I wonder if you could find This Book at your local library...
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Ooh, thanks, FG.
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
I've been reading books from the "youth" section at our local library. She writes mostly about teenage girls, many of whom were actual people. The ones that aren't real people know real people, if that makes sense.
I enjoyed the books I've read of hers, but they may be above the age group slightly. There is a brief description of each book on her Web site.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Anything by James Michener. I love his books. Except you said fifth grade... Wait, but you want the books for you or for them?
Posted by SenojRetep (Member # 8614) on :
While reading through the list of Newbery winners, I came across Carry on, Mr. Bowditch, a marginally true biography of a boy from Salem, MA who grew up to change the way sailing navigation was performed. Set in late 1700s, early 1800s Massachusetts, I thought it was one of the best YA books I've read recently. It also provides some good exposure to math and science, as well as world geography.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I've read the "Quilt Trilogy" by Ann Rinaldi. They were sufficiently interesting for me to finish the trilogy, but not to get any other books by her. Her writing was a bit stilted and contrived for my tastes. But now some of the other books look a bit better. I believe the Quilt Trilogy were some of her earlier books. Did they get better as she wrote more?
Posted by katdog42 (Member # 4773) on :
When I was in late elementary school/middle school, I really enjoyed Ann Rinaldi. I have never read The Quilt Trilogy, but I liked one that wolf in the title (I think about Jefferson owning slaves), but the two that I really enjoyed at that time were "Time Enough for Drums" about the American Revolution and "The Last Silk Dress" written in the South during the Civil War. I haven't read either of these in years but remember enjoying them both immensely at the time.
I also second Caddie Woodlawn for everyday life at that time period.
That's all I can think of right now, but may come up with more later. Kat
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
quote:Originally posted by quidscribis: Anything by James Michener. I love his books. Except you said fifth grade... Wait, but you want the books for you or for them?
Both, actually.
I would like lists of good books for fifth graders to read themselves, or for me to read to them, but I am more interested in fiction I, myself, can learn history from.
I am going into an "immersion" phase this year, so I will steep myself in American history.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
By the way, I loved "Hawaii." Did Michener write any novels set in Colonial/Revolutionary times?
Howard Fast is another one.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
quote:One of my favorite books of all time is "A Day No Pigs Would Die, " Glenn.
Mine too.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
My dad read it to his classes for many years, and still cried a puddle of tears every time.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: By the way, I loved "Hawaii." Did Michener write any novels set in Colonial/Revolutionary times?
Howard Fast is another one.
Please understand that my understand of American history is, well, pretty much sucky. Everything I know, I got from James Michener, and since my memory is so lousy...
I haven't read all of his books - I was working my way through the rest of his when in Canada, but no longer have them. Chesapeake is set in Chesapeake Bay, and that one sure is very very interesting and one I'd read again. It starts either before or very shortly after the arrival of settlers in that area - I think - it's been a long time - and works its way forward through hundreds of years, like he usually does, so it'll cover it.
My favorite non-American ones by him include The Source and The Covenant. Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
The Jungle?
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Blayne, that is one I have never read. Its setting is in the 20th Century, isn't it? (which is fine, but I am looking more for Pre-Columbian through the first push to the West.
quid, I will see if the library has that one.
And, hmm, I believe I have heard that the Outlander duo travels to the US? Egads. I am not sure I can make it through seven novels, but I am not sure I can't! I have a wee crush on Jamie.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
Burr and Lincoln, both by Gore Vidal. Lincoln whitewashes Lincoln, but it's a good read and has a lot of good information in it anyway.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Elizabeth, The Jungle is set in about the turn of the century (it was researched in 1904, and I think set a few years prior). Definitely later than the period you were looking for.
But when you have a chance, I recommend it. It's fairly short, and while not a comfortable read, it's one of those books I think everyone should read.
(In fact, I just created a GoodReads shelf with that title, just so I could put that book on it.)
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Rivka,
It has been on my list of "books I should have read."
I just reread Ethan Frome, which was set in the early 1900s(or earlier? published in 1911, I think.)
In many ways, anything written(or set) before the age of automobiles and electricity would work for me.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: It has been on my list of "books I should have read."
I have a long list like that.
The Jungle is pretty specifically about the evils of urbanization and food processing and related topics.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
OK, I'm sold. Once I get through this Outlander series, so, like, 2010?
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I love his books. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Wait, but you want the books for you or for them? ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
)![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Everything I know, I got from James Michener, and since my memory is so lousy...