These resources won’t cover everything a kid should know. I consider this list supplemental to a comprehensive text on these periods. It’s also a work in progress. Prior to Georgia’s request, I had never considered whether what I read would work for the middle grades, and I did not want to recommend anything I had not read myself. Check back for updates as I plow through my newly enhanced reading list!

Also, since Georgia’s class is not specifically about women’s history, I have a lot on here that is more general. But I have placed asterisks (***) by those that are about or by women, if that’s what you’re here for.

Colonial

Nonfiction

• DK Eyewitness Books: North American Indian: Discover the Rich Cultures of American Indians from Pueblo Dwellers to Inuit Hun
  • I love the Eyewitness books for their pictures, color, and interesting tidbits of information. This one naturally covers things well beyond the colonial period, but it starts here, so that’s where I’ve placed.

Contemporary Literature and Documents

• ***”On Being Brought from Africa to America” by Phyllis Wheatley
  • This could be a good springboard for a discussion about slavery and racism, but I would not use it alone. It should be presented in context with other viewpoints, and a speculation on why Wheatley might have written it the way she did.
  • Students may also be interested to know that Wheatley’s poetry career began at age 14.
• ***Excerpt from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.
• Excerpts from Poor Richard’s Almanac by Benjamin Franklin

Historical Fiction

• ***The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
  • An award-winning novel about 16-year-old Kit who arrives in Connecticut in 1687.

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Revolution

Nonfiction

• DK Eyewitness Books: American Revolution

Contemporary Literature and Documents

• Declaration of Independence
• Bill of Rights
• “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” by Patrick Henry

Historical Fiction

• My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
  • An award-winning novel about a family torn between loyalty to the crown and revolutionary ideas.

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Antebellum and Expansion

Nonfiction

• DK Eyewitness Books: Wild West

Contemporary Literature and Documents

• ***Excerpts from Lewis and Clark Journals, including those on Sacagawea.
• “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe
• ***”Ain’t I a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth
• “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key

Historical Fiction

• ***Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
  • Great book about a girl living through the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. Very timely as we are still in a pandemic as I write this.
• ***The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
  • This is the Native American answer to the Little House series. It features an Ojibwa girl and her family living by Lake Superior.

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Civil War and Reconstruction

Nonfiction

• ***The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming
• DK Eyewitness Books: Civil War

Contemporary Literature and Documents

• The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
• Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
• “O Captain, My Captain” by Walt Whitman
  • This poem was written to commemorate the death of Abraham Lincoln.

Historical Fiction

• Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
  • An award-winning book about a family torn between North and South.

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Progressive Era

Contemporary Literature and Documents

• Chief Joseph “Surrender Speech“
  • Chief Joseph was the head of the Nez Perce tribe, pursued by the U.S. Army.
• Thomas Edison’s patent application for the light-bulb
  • The link above shows the actual patent. This article explores the importance of Edison and the history of artificial light.
• Excerpts from Andrew Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth”
  • This particular document includes a political cartoon that demonstrates the tension between Carnegie as a philanthropist and Carnegie as a robber baron.

Historical Fiction

• ***The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
  • This is one of my favorite books ever. It’s about a spunky girl with big dreams living on her family’s plantation in Texas at the turn of the century.

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20^th Century

Nonfiction

• Bomb : the race to build–and steal–the world’s most dangerous weapon by Steve Scheinkin
• ***Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s Remarkable Life by Candace Fleming
• DK Eyewitness Books: Vietnam War

Contemporary Literature and Documents

• ***19^th Amendment to the Constitution
• John F. Kennedy Inaugural Speech
• “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Historical Fiction

• ***Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
  • At age 16 Hattie inherits an unimproved Montana farm and decides to try homesteading alone. It often feels like a novel about the 19th century west, but is in fact set during World War I.
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
  • An absolutely delightful book about a black family living in Flint, Michigan, but traveling back to their roots in Alabama. Plenty about racism and civil rights, but it’s also often cheerful and funny.
  • This could be paired with more recent news about Flint, Michigan, and racism.
• ***Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
  • A beautiful easy-to-read book about a girl who is a Vietnamese refugee in the US.

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