Sneak Peek #9: New American History Guide

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Carrie
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Sneak Peek #9: New American History Guide

Post by Carrie » Thu Aug 20, 2015 4:44 pm

Ladies,

As we designed the U.S. History I guide, we wanted to be sure to stay with our more CM focus and include wonderful living books along with the narrative spines scheduled within the new guide. We didn't want the students to suddenly hit the high school years and wonder where all of the wonderful books they have enjoyed through HOD have gone! :wink: We also didn't want our students to only have readings that were on the heavier or more factual side and miss out on the joy of reading for pleasure that goes along with reading engrossing books that immerse you in a certain time or place. :D

So, with this in mind, as part of the U.S. History I guide we developed a "Living Library" of books that enhances the study of American history. :D These books were selected to bring another facet, perspective, or point of view to the study of history and were chosen for their text connections to the history plans.:D

The books in this particular set are not intended to fulfill your student's high school literature credit, as students are scheduled in the "Literature" portion of the U.S. History I guide to read separate higher-level literature to fulfill that need. Instead, the books in this package were chosen to make U.S. history come to life and to help students experience various time periods in history through the lives of the people who lived during those times. 8) A daily reading schedule for the books is provided in the guide and follow-up activities are scheduled as well. This set of books is highly recommended, unless you need to economize, however it is not required to earn credit in U.S. History. Extra credit is earned by reading the books in the Living Library, so this is an additional incentive as it provides a way to improve a student's American history grade if needed. :D

The time has arrived to share our new "Living Library" selections. They are now available from Heart of Dakota to order as part of our 72 hour sneak peek. After that they will be available to order on our website. :D

So, to give you a feel for the books in this package, I will share the publisher's and reviewer's description of the books below. There is a girl set and a boy set for our living library. For those titles that are specific to the girl or boy set, I will note that next to the book title. :D

*Dark Enough to See the Stars in a Jamestown Sky
Narratives about the women living in Jamestown are rare. Joan Phippen Peirce, an ancestor of the author, came to America in 1609, and short, diarylike chapters tell her story. While Plymouth Colony's religious roots are often contrasted with Jamestown's economically based conception, this title acknowledges the important religious convictions held by many of the Jamestown colonists. Truly step back in time and follow the journey of Joan Phippen Peirce from her home in Dorset to the New World, in the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. With meticulous research and historical accuracy, Richmond author Connie Lapallo brings her ancestor's story vividly to life, poignantly telling the story of the survival of the women and children at Jamestown in the harrowing first years. Mrs. Lapallo is a descendent of one of the very few colonists who survived the "starving time" which almost annihilated the colony in 1610. With this personal interest in the early history of Virginia she has written a well-researched novel in which her ancestor, Joan Phippen Peirce, Joan's five-year-old daughter, Jane, and their friend Temperance Yeardley, are the central characters. Dark Enough to See the Stars in a Jamestown Sky is "based on the true story of the women and children at Jamestown" in the years 1609 and 1610. Also populating the tale are the well-known and lesser-known leaders of the colony, their Native American antagonists, and a few fictitious characters representing the soldiers, mariners and colonists whose names are lost to history.

*Anne Bradstreet: Pilgrim and Poet
Sailing to the New World at the age of eighteen, Anne Bradstreet was among the first contingent of Puritan refugees to leave English shores between 1630 and 1642, in search of liberty to worship without fear of persecution from state or church. Frequently struggling with ill-health, in addition to the challenges of raising a family in the harsh conditions faced by the early settlers, she achieved unexpected fame as America's first published poet, a remarkable feat for a woman in view of the cultural prejudices of the times. Anne's writings reveal her as a devoted wife and mother, while also expressing the strong spiritual convictions and the biblical truths that shaped America's early laws and underpinned its society. But, above all, Anne Bradstreet viewed the Christian life as a pilgrimage. Her humble dependence on God and her desire to live constantly in the light of a better world yet to come, whose builder and maker is God', provide a challenge to our frequently materialistic, earthbound outlook.

*Ben Franklin’s Almanac
"What good shall I do today?" How Ben Franklin answered that question -- through his work as a writer, printer, statesman, and inventor -- forever established him as one of America's greatest figures. On one day in 1729 he published the first edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette; on another day he changed the Declaration of Independence by adding the famous words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident"; and it was all in a day's work when he planted the first willow trees in America. Modeled on his own Poor Richard's Almanack, this unique scrapbook captures Franklin's countless accomplishments. Biography and anecdote, cartoon and etching mesh to create a fascinating portrait of this most fascinating man. Anyone interested in the birth of American democracy...or curious about the rise of the U.S. postal system...or wondering how paper money came to be...or wanting to know how Ben Franklin was part of it all, is sure to pore over Ben Franklin's Almanac.

*Calico Captive (for girls)
In the year 1754, the stillness of Charlestown, New Hampshire, is shattered by the terrifying cries of an Indian raid. Young Miriam Willard, on a day that had promised new happiness, finds herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War. It is a harrowing march north. Miriam can only force herself to the next stopping place, the next small portion of food, the next icy stream to be crossed. At the end of the trail waits a life of hard work and, perhaps, even a life of slavery. Mingled with her thoughts of Phineas Whitney, her sweetheart on his way to Harvard, is the crying of her sister’s baby, Captive, born on the trail. Miriam and her companions finally reach Montreal, a city of shifting loyalties filled with the intrigue of war, and here, by a sudden twist of fortune, Miriam meets the prominent Du Quesne family, who introduce her to a life she has never imagined. Based on an actual narrative diary published in 1807, Calico Captive skillfully reenacts an absorbing facet of history.

*Forgotten Founding Father (for boys)
For many of those who are even familiar with his name, George Whitfield is thought of as a preacher, a man connected with the Great Awakening in the 1700s. While this is true, it is only part of the story. As a student at Oxford University, he experienced a spiritual awakening under the influence of John Wesley's Methodists and immediately began tending to prisoners, caring for the poor, and preaching the Christian gospel. He met with astounding success, in time speaking to larger crowds than had ever gathered in the history of England. Whitefield became the most famous man of his age. His impact upon the American colonies, however, may have been his most lasting gift. In seven tours of the colonies, Whitfield preached from Georgia to Maine, calling the colonists to spiritual conversion and challenging them in their sense of national destiny. He befriended men like Benjamin Franklin, converted men like Patrick Henry, and inspired men like George Washington. Furthermore, when he learned that England intended to tighten her control over the colonies, Whitefield warmed his American friends in sermon after sermon and even accompanied Benjamin Franklin to make the American case in the Court of Saint James. Many of the colonists considered him the father of their revolution. Forgotten Founding Father captures the early struggles and international successes of this amazing leader. The result is a portrait of a gifted but flawed human who yielded himself as a tool in the hands of a sovereign God. Also portrayed is how important Whitfield was to the American cause and how much Americans today owe to him -- a story that will inspire a new generation with a past vividly and truthfully retold.

*Abigail Adams (for girls)
The wife of one president and the mother of another, Abigail Adams was an extraordinary woman in her own right. She experienced the gathering storm of the Revolutionary War and saw the battle of Bunker Hill from a hilltop near her home. Think of this biography as a portrait. Not the smooth, impassive painting reproduced on the jacket, but an intricate mosaic made of colorful bits of fact, emotion, period detail, and letters. Bober nudges readers to look beyond their twentieth-century expectations and become absorbed in another age. She creates a detailed eighteenth-century background showing Adams as the product of her times: an educated, intelligent, and capable woman in an age when the expectations and challenges of a woman's role were different from what they are today, but no less complex. Often separated from her husband John, Abigail wrote letters to him and to others constantly. Throughout the text, Abigail's voice is heard through quotations from her letters. Thorough research of this first-person resource gives Bober a comfortable familiarity with Abigail's personality as well as her personal history, which is interwoven with the turbulent history of her times. Meticulous research and documentation give the book authority, good writing gives it clarity, and sympathetic understanding gives it humanity. An excellent biography.

*Give Me Liberty (for boys)
The American Revolution is about to ignite! Life is tough for thirteen-year-old Nathaniel Dunn, an indentured servant in colonial Virginia. Yet in a twist of luck, he meets Basil, a kind schoolmaster, and an arrangement is struck lending Nathaniel's labor to a Williamsburg carriage maker. Basil introduces Nathaniel to music, books, and philosophies that open his mind to new attitudes about equality. The year is 1775, and as colonists voice their rage over England's taxation, Patrick Henry's words "give me liberty, or give me death" become the sounding call for action. Should Nathaniel and Basil join the fight? What is the meaning of "liberty" in a country reliant on indentured servants and slaves? Nathaniel must face the puzzling choices a dawning nation lays before him.

*Lafayette and the American Revolution (for boys)
When the Marquis de Lafayette ran off to join the American Revolution against the explicit orders of the king of France, he was a strong-willed nineteen-year-old who had never set foot on a battlefield. Although the U.S. Congress granted him an honorary commission only out of respect for his title and wealth, Lafayette quickly earned the respect of his fellow officers with his bravery, devotion to the cause of liberty, and incredible drive. Playing a pivotal role in the Revolution, Lafayette convinced the French government to send troops, made crucial pacts with Native Americans, and lead his men to victory at Yorktown. This thrilling account of a daring soldier will fascinate young historians. Includes source notes, bibliography, time line, index.

*Mount Vernon Love Story
Always a lover of history, Mary Higgins Clark wrote this extensively researched biographical novel and titled it "Aspire to the Heavens," after the motto of George Washington's mother. Published in 1969, the book was more recently discovered by a Washington family descendant and reissued as "Mount Vernon Love Story." Dispelling the widespread belief that although George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, he reserved his true love for Sally Carey Fairfax, his best friend's wife, Mary Higgins Clark describes the Washington marriage as one full of tenderness and love, as a bond between two people who shared their lives -- even the bitter hardship of a winter in Valley Forge -- in every way. In this author's skilled hands, the history, the love, and the man come fully and dramatically alive.

*The Adventures of Lewis and Clark
Exciting, action-packed account of the expedition to chart the vast unknown lands of the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase — a perilous journey made by undaunted men who faced hostile Indians, prairie fires, floods, heat and thirst, illness, famine, sub-zero weather, and other perils. Absorbing and inspirational from start to finish.

*The Journeyman
The boy isn't much to look at: thin, pale, and undersized for his age. Neighbors shake their heads over Jared Austin's odd ways. His father doesn't think he's good for anything much. Even his friend Jennet wonders what will become of him. But Jared isn't concerned; he has his own ideas about what is really important. One day a journeyman painter visits their quiet New Hampshire farm, and his unexpected offer sets Jared aglow with excitement. He starts off on an adventure that takes him miles from home and into experiences that bring him to manhood and deepen his faith. He will face bitter cold, hardship, and heartache, but before he leaves, Jared promises Jennet that someday…someday…he will come back for her.

*Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster was a farm boy who loved books. He became a lawyer, congressman, senator, and Secretary of State. He was also a strong Christian. In the halls of Congres he debated Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. Before the Supreme Court he argued for freedom from government intrusion for little Dartmouth College. Through every turn in his career, the silver-tongued orator was found always on the same side of every political debate--the side of the United States of America.

*A Heart for Any Fate (for girls)
In the spring of 1845, the King family of Carroll County, Missouri, loaded five covered wagons and set out for Oregon. Historical records tell us the route they chose. In this richly detailed novel that originally appeared in 2005, Crew creates a riveting, fictional story from the bare facts of an extended family’s grueling journey across the Continental Divide. Illness and death claim some members, and grief and sorrow temper the survivors’ jubilation when they finally reach the promised Eden in Oregon. Seventeen-year-old Lovisa narrates in a wholly believable voice that vividly evokes a young woman’s daily life on the trail. Readers, along with Lovisa’s family and friends, will recognize love brewing long before she does, and her marriage forms a warm coda to the exhausting journey.

*13 Days to Glory (for boys)
In thirteen chapters, Lon Tinkle tells the day-by-day story of how 182 men fought a losing battle but won for their cause an almost unparalleled measure of fame. The familiar figures appear on these pages: stern young Colonel William Barret Travis; the middle-aged fighter Jim Bowie, who contested the young upstart’s comand; famous frontiersman Davy Crockett, soon to have his stock in legend rise even higher. Echoing the shot heard round the world in 1776, the volleys fired by the Alamo defenders were aimed at the large and well-outfitted army of Santa Anna, self-styled “Napoleon of the West.” As the days of the siege are described, the author cinematically flashes back to pivotal points of destiny—the circumstance that led each person to be inside the walls of the abandoned mission late in the winter of 1836. Thoroughly documented, 13 Days to Glory also includes a chronology of events from June 30, 1835, when William Barret Travis, under a secret pact with Anglo leaders at San Felipe de Austin, drove out the new Mexican garrison opposite Galveston, to February 23, 1836, when the thirteen-day siege of the Alamo began.

*Black Storm Comin’
WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. When Colton Wescott sees this sign for the Pony Express, he thinks he has the solution to his problems. He's stuck with his ma and two younger sisters on the wrong side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with no way to get across. They were on the wagon train heading to California when Pa accidentally shot Colton and then galloped away. Ma is sick, and Colton needs money to pay the doctor. He'd make good money as a Pony rider. he also needs to get to California to deliver freedom papers to Ma's sister, a runaway slave. The Pony Express could get him there too... Does Colton have what it takes to be a Pony Express rider? And if so, will traveling the dangerous route over the mountains bring him closer to family, freedom, and everything he holds dear?

*Gideon’s Call
Tad, a very clever slave boy, comes of age as the American Civil War intrudes on the tropical sea islands of South Carolina. But his desire to better himself is obstructed by the color of his skin, until Northern soldiers force the evacuation of white plantation owners, setting 10,000 slaves free in a single day. These circumstances seem like a dream, but the newly freed slaves have no money, no education, no leadership, and little hope for the future. This is the story of how a boy grows into a man facing the horrors of war and unimaginable prejudice - fighting the urge to run from the shame of his family and his past - to become the leader and deliverer of thousands of freed slaves. Award- winning author Peter Leavell explores new territory in the familiar literary backdrop of the Civil War, forging an unprecedented tale of tragedy and triumph based on true events.

*Quiet Thunder
Legendary hero John Stranger becomes involved in the lives of a brave and skillful Sioux warrior named Quiet Thunder and the white Army captain who has been his blood brother since childhood. Despite the disapproval of both their people, Quiet Thunder and Thane Tyler remain faithfully true to their friendship...both in their hearts and on the battlefield. But when the two must inevitably face each other with weapons drawn, which will win out: love or duty?

*Substitutions: If you previously purchased the Extension Package for Revival to Revolution, you already own Calico Captive and Give Me Liberty. To take advantage of the Girl or Boy Set: Living Library Package savings without duplicating a book you already own, refer to the “Substitution Policy” at the top of the ordering page for the U.S. History I Guide. on our website.

Blessings,
Carrie

StillJulie
Posts: 394
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2009 5:04 pm

Re: Sneak Peek #9: New American History Guide

Post by StillJulie » Fri Aug 21, 2015 7:14 am

Hooray!

I'm still using these books as "Storytime" with my oldest b/c neither of us wanted to give up that together time.
16yo DD using US History 1 for 11th grade
14yo DS using World Geography for 9th grade
13yo DS using Rev to Rev for 7th grade
10yo DD using Creation to Christ for 5th grade
8yo DD using Bigger for 3rd grade
7yo DD using Beyond Hearts for 2nd grade

Tiffini
Posts: 413
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:36 pm
Location: Indiana

Re: Sneak Peek #9: New American History Guide

Post by Tiffini » Sat Aug 22, 2015 9:12 pm

Seeing the Living Library selections each year is probably my favorite part of the sneak peaks! I love the look of all these books and can't wait to read them! How do you keep finding books that I've never heard of and that fit so perfectly into the time period?? I know you spend hours and hours on these choices - and they are even considered extra credit - yet you put so much time, effort, thought, and prayer into these choices. They are never considered "extra" by our family, but "essential", because we just couldn't stand to miss one. Thank you again so much, Carrie. I was so thrilled to see this tonight and read all the descriptions!
Tiffini
DD (21 ) Graduated! Used HOD from 5th Grade through 12th Grade!
B/G Twins (18) Graduated! Used HOD from 3rd through 12th Grade!
DS (12) and DS (10)- Preparing Hearts
HOD Users since 2008

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