Books for U.S. History
The Guts & Glory series. This series covers a variety of American history events with high interest topics such as the American Revolution and the Civil War. My students were totally entranced by this series and continued to check out more and more of them over various history topics throughout the year.
Our 50 States is a beautifully illustrated story of travel through the 50 states and features unique qualities of each of them. This book is a great way to get students a lot of information about sights in different areas of the country in a concise way.
By the same author is America an alphabet book which is a fun way to start the year of American History.
Books for U.S. History: Independence
When it is time to discuss the formation of our country and founding fathers some of my favorite choices are:
- We the Kids a book all about the preamble to the Constitution of the United States
- John, Paul, George, & Ben which is a great introduction to our Founding Fathers
- What is the Declaration of Independence? is fantastic for introducing the Declaration of Independence to your students along with why the colonists wanted independence
Yet another wonderful series for getting students excited about history and placing them in the shoes of historical figures is the You Wouldn’t Want to Be a… series.
This series covers topics such as life on the Mayflower, as an American colonist, during the American Civil War, and a part of the Boston Tea Party among other topics.
This series spent very little time on the shelves as it was always highly sought after.
I have found that one of the surefire ways to get students interested in history is to talk or read about some of the shall we say grosser parts of history.
Books for U.S. History: The Colonie
This book, The Dreadful, Smelly Colonies is a great way to capture all the “ewwwws” and “ah grosses” that you kids have to offer. Make no mistake though, later they will all be rushing to check this one out to read more about how terrible life in the colonies way.
Are you done hearing about series yet? I sure hope not, because the
If You… series is another great, historically accurate series with topics that will take you all the way from Colonial America to Westward Expansion.
This series has great illustrations that capture the imagination of students. They lead to amazing discussions that will have students digging deeper into history.
Books for U.S. History: Civil War and History of Slavery
One period of history for which there is a ton of amazing literature is the time period of the Civil War. This also includes the history of slavery in the United States. Some of my absolute favorite books to share with students take place during this period. I never seem to be able to fit them all in. My favorites include:
Books for U.S. History: Civil Rights Era
There are also an amazing collection of books for the Civil Rights era. These books are amazing for showing the triumph of the human spirit. They also celebrate the diversity that makes our country so great. By sharing stories of the difficulties people have suffered through in order to make their lives, and the lives of those around them better we can encourage our students to always strive for better.
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