England Week - Industrial Revolution

Like the actual industrial revolution, this book originates in England but then spreads into America. One key to that spreading thing is a man named Slater.

He grew up around the mills of England, and worked in them from the age of fourteen to twenty-one. That is when he finished an apprenticeship and wanted to open his own mill. But coming up with the money was a problem. He’d heard the United States awarded about $500 to the designer of a cloth-making machine and was sure there were opportunites for him there. However, the English, being protective of their healthy profits, made it illegal to send textile machinery, or plans for it, out of England. In Samuel Slater’s Mill: And the Industrial Revolution you’ll learn how young Slater played the part of a farmer to get out of England with all those machinery designs safely tucked away—in his head.

The book goes on to describe Slater’s partnerships, machines, workers (lots of children), and his growing business. It grew so much, in fact, that he was worth the amazing sum of $1,200,000 when he died! The effects of this sixty-year revolution are also discussed from the population’s shift from country to city and from farmer to wage earner as well as the pressure put on the south to produce more cotton with slave labor. 

Ages 9-12
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Acivity: Watch this video and then weave your own textile creation.

Great Heights Week - The Empire State Building

During the depths of the Great Depression a majestic symbol of fortitude arose. And it rose high. In fact it was the world’s tallest building for over 40 years. Besides providing a nation with much needed jobs (seven million man hours!), it also provided much needed national pride. In Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building, big pictures and minimal text show the process: from the demolition of the pre-existing hotel to the arrival of the steel and then the methods involved in building the skyscraper. This is an excellent choice for children interested in construction.

Ages: 6-9
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Activity: Build your own Empire State Building with this project from papertoys.com

P.S. Older children working on research papers would be well-served to get their hands on two other titles I found. In Unbuilding, David Macauley masterfully illustrates the imagined demolition of the Empire State Building. A great way to learn how it was built, in reverse. And Empire State Building: When New York Reached for the Skies by Elizabeth Mann is chock full of interesting information.

Revolutionary Times

A couple of parents are in Revolutionary War trouble up to their eye-bobs and the “calvary” that comes to their rescue is none other than their thirteen year old son, Samuel. Gary Paulsen, one of our favorite storytellers, weaves another hard to put down tale about a boy who is just mastering the skills of wilderness survival when the war breaks out. Samuel gets caught up in Hessian raids, Indian attacks, British ambushes and tangled up with undercover patriots all in an effort to recover his folks. Woods Runner is a very empowering book for an early teen boy. It also offers an interesting perspective as Samuel travels from the very edge of the wild frontier to the pulse of the enemy, the British held city of New York. Come to think of it, it’s kind of reminiscent of the Hobbit, Frodo, making his way to the oh-so-scary Modor. Interspersed with an occasional fact page, your child is sure to learn much while enjoying this heart pounding story.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: The firearm issued to the British army during the Revolutionary War was the Brown Bess. It was just about 62" long. Create your own Brown Bess, at actual size! Just print out these nine pages, then use the numbers to line up all the sheets correctly, and tape. Since the printing won't go right up to the edge of the paper, you will have to do some vertical trimming. Here is Ryan with his Brown Bess..

Happy Thanksgiving from Florida!

When we think of Thanksgiving we think of Plymouth Rock Pilgrims joining the Wampanoag tribe for a harvest feast in the fall of 1621. But 56 years before this celebration, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived in present day St. Augustine, and he wanted to show his gratitude to God for a safe journey and a new land. The explorer planned a Thanksgiving feast that was enjoyed by the Spanish, with the local tribe of Timucuas as guests. This September 8th will mark the 445th anniversary of this event.

You will learn about this and other Florida history facts in Robyn Gioia’s, America's REAL First Thanksgiving. The contents of this 44 page book include.
1. The World in 1565
2. Uncharted Lands
3. Spain in the 1560s
4. Florida in the 1560's
5. The Timucua, St. Augustine's Native Americans
6. The Founding of St. Augustine, 1565
7. Day of Thanksgiving
8. St. Augustine Today

Also included are a cocido recipe, a timeline and a glossary. This is a must-have book for any child studying Florida history.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: On September 8, celebrate the first Thanksgiving with a big pot of cocido, a traditional Spanish stew. You’ll find the recipe at Spain Recipes.com.

BEACH WEEK - D-Day

TITLE: Invasion: The Story of D-Day

AUTHOR: Bruce Bliven Jr.

WHO WAS AT THE BEACH? Allied and German forces

WHAT BEACH AND WHEN? Along a 50 mile stretch of coastline, in the Normandy area of France, on June 6, 1944, the greatest invasion in history was implemented by the allied armies.

WHAT HAPPENED?  Paratroopers were badly scattered on the ground, amphibious vehicles took on seawater faster than bilge pumps could empty them and rifles became clogged with sand. This was a day of tragedies that somehow turned into triumph. That triumph part may well be owed to a handful of infantry men that were very determined to break through the German lines. It's these accounts that make Invasion: The Story of D-Day so interesting. It's a great overview of the battle that changed the tide of World War II. 

Ages 12 and up
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Activity: Try this free online D-Day game.

BEACH WEEK - First Flight

I've been so busy enjoying the beach and so many other fun activities this summer that my blogging has ebbed. To make up for it I’m offering a flood of history that has happened at the beach...

TITLE: Will and Orv

AUTHOR: Walter A. Schulz

WHO WAS AT THE BEACH? This book details the day of the Wright Brother’s first flight through the eyes of Johnny Moore, a young Outer Banks native, who was, in fact, a witness to this historic event.

WHAT BEACH AND WHEN? The Wright Brother’s chose Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to test their flying machines because the wind blew everyday, the sand made for a soft landing and there were no trees or rocks to run into. Their first successful flight occurred on December 17, 1903.

WHAT HAPPENED? Johnny had gotten to know the Wright Brothers over the three summers they had come to Kitty Hawk to test their flying machines. In 1903 they stayed beyond summer to test their big glider with a motor they called the “Flyer.” The author tells the story of this historical day from the perspective of Johnny, starting with him leaving his house in the morning and ending with him celebrating the first successful flight later that day.

Your child will gain knowledge about not only the motor and propellers, but also the relationship between the Wrights and the locals, who often helped them. This book also drives home the point that the Wright Brothers developed the first method to enable an engine powered aircraft to go up, down and turn all with the Wrights own hand-made parts. These and other details are offered in a nicely paced little story that was first published in 1991, but has the charming qualities of one from the 1950’s.

Ages 4-8
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Activity: If you have money to spare and lots of patience, make a replica of the Wright Brothers Plane with Legos. This set for collectors is selling for upwards of $200! Or, for more feasible fun, try this Wright Brothers coloring page from another post.

FIRST LADY WEEK - Ladybird Johnson

TITLE: Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America

AUTHOR: Kathi Appelt

WHAT WAS HER BACKGROUND? Claudia Alta Taylor whom we know as Lady Bird Johnson, was born in Karnack, in eastern Texas in 1912. Her nanny proclaimed one day, “She’s as purty as a ladybird,” and the name stuck. A ladybird is another name for a ladybug. She had an enchanted, well-to-do though isolated childhood. Her mother died when she was only five. An aunt came to help raise her, and it is she who inspired Lady Bird to appreciate nature's beauty. Lady Bird enrolled in the University of Texas in 1930, at a time when it was unusual for women to attend college, and earned a degree in journalism.

HOW DID SHE AND THE FUTURE PRESIDENT MEET? While she was attending the university in Austin she met Lyndon Baines Johnson who was working as a congressional aid. He proposed on their first date.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: She had two daughters, Lynda and Luci. She introduced them to gardening but worried about other children playing in concrete parks and having no connection to growing plants. When her husband became president she poured her energy into the Highway Beautification Act. Highway landscapes changed because of that law. Road signs and depreis were better managed and native wildfloweres were planted. Later, when she was seventy, she helped establish the National Wildflower Research Center.

Illustrations filled with rich and vivid colors compliment the copy. This would make a great gift for the child with an interest in flowers.

Ages 9-12

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Activity: Here’s a great mother’s day gift idea. Print out this seed packet template, color it, glue up the sides and fill it with seeds. Your mother will love it!

Free History DVD

The History Channel is giving AMERICA The Story of Us DVDs to any school, including home schools, that request it. Requests must be made by July 1, 2010.

Down on Their Luck

Finding Daddy: A Story of the Great Depression is the story of one family’s desperation during a dismal time in our nation’s history. When times were good, the father and daughter enjoyed making music together. But when the father looses his job he sells his violin, they move to a shanty, food gets scarce and the mother takes in laundry. When the struggling father is told by a neighbor how useless he is, he feels ashamed and deserts his loved ones. The daughter finds him and a way to help the family’s finances. She encourages him to make music with her again, this time for an audience and for tips. Filled with evocative illustrations, it includes a photographic time line, as well as the words to a popular song from that era, Happy Days Are Here Again.

What a great lesson for children.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: Memorize the words to “Happy Days Are Here Again” Here are the lyrics:

And here you can hear it.

An American Plague

Over at the World Health Organization website there is an article about N1H1. Last year 209 countries reported cases of the disease resulting in 14,142 deaths worldwide. 216 years ago in just one city a third of that number died from another scourge, as chronicled in An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. At that time, the plagued city was the capital of a brand new country. Philadelphia was filled with important people like oh, President George Washington for instance. It was also filled with refugees from Saint-Domingue fleeing the slave uprisings, mounds of rotting coffee, stagnant water and open sewers.

Jim Murphy tells what the streets were like, how the disease began and then spread, how it affected those who succumbed to it and how doctors, government officials and everyday citizens reacted. But perhaps most interesting of all was the significant part played by The Free African Society. Thinking they were immune to the diesease because they were black, they kept the city going when so many deserted it.

This attractive and interesting book is filled with etchings and newspaper articles from those terrible weeks.

Awards: Newbery Honor Book

Ages 9-12
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Activity: Yellow Fever has not been the only killer spread by mosquitoes. Malaria and West Nile Virus and others are too. For $5 an insecticide treated bed net can be supplied to protect a person living in a high risk area. You can make a donation here.

Free American History Curriculum

What events led to the formation of the United States? What documents set America apart from other countries? Who were the individuals involved in the creation of this nation? The answers to these questions are being reinforced in free curriculum offered by The American Heritage Education Foundation. This organization is concerned with the rapidly declining knowledge of our nation's history and the lack of learning on this subject in K-12 public and private schools, and also colleges and universities of higher learning. They are providing these important resources in three levels:

Elementary
Middle Grades
High School

This material is available free for all to use. You can download right from their site as needed. You may also request a free CD which contains all three levels, or a printed version for a fee of $19.50 per level. There is a wealth of information provided in these lessons, which are presented in an orderly, and easy to follow fashion.

Remember the Ladies

Betsy Ross, Harriet Tubman and Annie Oakley are among the 100 American women highlighted in Remember the Ladies: 100 Great American Women. This attractive collection of movers and shakers of the female persuasion also contains unfamiliar names that Shannon and I would like to research further. Women like Sylvia Earle, who walked untethered on the ocean floor, further down than any other human at 1,250 feet! And Sybil Ludington, who at sixteen rode her horse through the night during the Revolutionary War to warn that the British were attacking Connecticut. “I had NO idea that women did that!” was Shannon’s reaction.

We enjoyed reading this, and together discovering just what women are capable of. The illustrations are wonderful. The chronological order is well handled, with each spread dedicated to a designated time period from the New World to Turn of the Millennium. I question some of the author's choices, like Martha Stewart, who, granted, built an empire, yet she excluded Mary Kay Ash, who built an empire that provided so many other women an opportunity to succeed.

Warning: In the sixties area of the book the birth control pill and abortion are brought up. My daughter is ten and at first I was a little uncomfortable discussing these topics with her. But it did lead us to a great mother/daughter talk on pro-life and pro-choice views.

Ages 9-12
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Pilgrim Cat

Cat lovers will relish Pilgrim Cat. It offers a look at sailing to and settling in a new land from a cat's perspective. It starts when a stray mouser boards the Mayflower and befriends fellow passenger Faith Barret. She names the feline Pounce. Together they experience a new world that includes howling wolves, a tribe of Wampanoags and rows of corn. Then one day Pounce disappears. Faith is distraught, but a happy ending is in store when Pounce is discovered -by Squanto no less- and surprise! He is a she with a litter of kittens. The kittens grow and are present at the first Thanksgiving. Very engaging story and pictures. A sure child pleaser with lots of well researched Pilgrim information.

Ages 4-9
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Activity: Color the Mayflower.

History Game

Can you place the stock market crash, the start of the civil war and the Wright brothers first flight in the correct years? Give this Timeline Game a try.

Spot On

On This Spot: An Expedition Back Through Time is oh SO clever. The author, Susan E. Goodman, starts at a busy spot in New York City where skyscrapers now loom. “But on this spot…” you read and then turn the page “175 years ago…New York was a different city.” Suddenly taxis and business people and asphalt give way to carriages and chickens and cobblestones.

With each spread, the spot in New York City recedes further back into time—becoming home to Native Americans and cougars, then woolly mammoths, then glaciers a mile thick, then going back 190 million years to dinosaurs, then way before then to the highest mountain range ever, then a tropical sea and lastly nothing but rock

Your children will be intrigued by this concept and they will be captivated by the illustrations. Well done!

Ages 5-7
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Activity: What used to be where your house is now? Use this template to make your own little book about the spot where you live. Oh, and here is the author's teacher guide.

Memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution

In lieu of having cable during our children's lifetimes, we've created a little stock pile of DVD's. Out of this collection, the early Andy Griffiths are hands-down our favorites. And here's a scene I found on You Tube that illustrates why. In this episode titled Andy Discovers America from The Andy Griffith Show - The Complete Third Season, Barney Fife "shows off" his ability to recall what he learned in his 8th grade history class. This is a MUST SEE for any child having to memorize the preamble to the constitution. Classic!

The Lincolns

I really enjoyed reading about Abraham Lincoln's wife and her dearest friend in An Unlikely Friendship: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, by the ever so talented Ann Rinaldi. This well written historical fiction will especially appeal to teenage girls as well as adults with an interest in history.

It is organized in a unique way:
1. The day Abraham Lincoln was shot (starting with breakfast)
2. Mary Todd's upbringing in Lexington, Kentucky
3. Elizabeth Keckley's upbringing as a slave
4. The friendship of these two women.

You could certainly say that Mary and Elizabeth (Lizzy) were opposites. Priviledged Mary Todd grew up waited-on by slaves while Lizzy endured the wretched life of a slave. Mary lost her mother early in life and was then subjected to a loathsome step-mother. Lizzy on the other hand was raised in the company of her mother, the plantation's seamstress. And thankfully, her mother taught her how to sew, a skill that eventually earned her freedom and an introduction to the upper-crust of the nation's capitol.

Readers will come away from this story with empathy for those trapped in slavery and a true sense of what Antebellum life was like. A great read.

Ages 12 and up
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Another Lincoln title caught my eye this week. The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary is a thick "scrapbook" containing 156 pages of newspaper clippings, photos, political cartoons and letters from the couples lives all arranged in chronological order. It's chock-full of information making for interesting browsing. Here is one of the many little gems it contains...an account of the first time Abraham met Mary:

Tall and gawky, wearing a swallowtail coat that was too short, shabbily patched trousers, and mismatched socks, Abraham made his way to Mary's side. "Miss Todd," he said, "I want to dance with you in the worst way." And, as Mary remembered it, "he certainly did."

Ages 9 and up
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Activity: How well do you know the 16th president? Try this Abraham Lincoln Crossword Puzzle.

Hungry Times

In the good old days there were some bad old years. The Irish Potato Famine and the American Dust Bowl are two such instances. Each of these "good farming gone bad" events caused immense physical and financial suffering, epic migrations and questions concerning government response.

My maiden name is O'Brien. My great-grandparents immigrated from Ireland to America during the famine but I had never actually read about it. Then I picked up Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850. Wow. What a mess! The vast majority of the Irish population were tenant farmers working on land owned by British landlords, and they depended heavily on potatoes to feed their large families. Then along came a blight that turned their potatoes into a black, stinky mush...for five years! This book is loaded with stories of starvation, disease, evictions, work-houses, famine ships, death and misery. It also delves into the Irish/English relationship at that time. How Britain's frustrating Corn Laws, which placed a high tax on imported grains, elevated the local costs of all oats, wheat, barley and rye, exacerbating the famine problem. Also mentioned is the attempted uprising against the British government led by William Smith O'Brien.

Many stories I will have a hard time shaking off. The baker who was obsessed with cleaning his clothes before going into the street for fear any remnants of flour dust would create a frenzied mob. The family that knew the farmer next door shot and buried two diseased pigs and waited until nightfall to dig them up and eat them. The men who cut off the tails of cattle or drained a few pints of blood from them, thereby not destroying someone else's property, and yet providing some protein to their families.

In fact, what makes this book so interesting are all the first hand accounts along with the many etchings as they appeared in London newspapers. If nothing else, Susan Campbell Bartoletti's book will make you ever so thankful the next time you are at the table and say, "please, pass the potatoes."

Ages YA

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Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930s describes how life on the plains bottomed out as topsoil blew away.

On May 9, 1934, a dust storm carried an estimated 350 million tons of dirt two thousand miles eastward. Weathermen calculated that four million tons of prairie dirt fell on Chicago—four pounds for each city resident. The following day, the dust darkened the sky over Buffalo, New York, and Atlanta, Georgia. Three hundred miles out into the Atlantic Ocean, brown prairie dirt fell like snow on the decks of ships.

During World War I the federal government guaranteed farmers $2.00 per bushel of wheat. When the war ended, European demand for wheat encouraged what historians call "the Great Plow Up." In Oklahoma in 1915, only a few thousand tractors tilled the soil, but ten years later 50,000 tractors were working the fields. Then the disk harrow, with it's long row of circular blades, replaced the single-blade iron plow. Millions of acres of native grasses that held the earth in place were plowed under. Some farmers planted crops right up to their front doors. Then rain became scarce and winds began to blow.

Michael L. Cooper's straightforward book goes on to describe the policies of newly elected Franklin D. Roosevelt, the all encompassing Great Depression and the migration of millions to mostly California. The book includes many first hand accounts and heart-wrenching photographs.

Ages 9-12

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Activity: Can you correctly identify the most affected states on the Dust Bowl Map?

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses...

...yearning to breathe free,

the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me:

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

—Emma Lazarus, 1883

The story of the Statue of Liberty is the story of a patriotic dreamer, a capable artist, an ingenious engineer, a talented poet and hundreds and thousands of French and American contributors. You will meet them all in Lady Liberty: A Biography.

The author, Doreen Rappaport, begins by telling of her own grandfather's (a Latvian immigrant) shipboard arrival into New York Harbor:

"The Lady! the Lady!" awakened him. He raced up to the deck. The ship was pulling into New York, and there was Lady Liberty greeting them all. Arms reached out as if to caress her. People lifted babies so they could see her. Tears ran down my grandfather's face. People around him were crying, too. And then a wave of cheering and hugging swept over the ship.

But how did she come to be? The answer is learned with introductions to the cast of characters responsible for creating this symbolic statue. Right down to young Florence of New Jersey who donated her two pet roosters to help pay for the pedestal! This is a well researched, organized, attractive book.

Ages 8-12

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Activity: Build and paint a Statue of Liberty Kit or give this Statue of Liberty word search a try.

Great History Magazines for Kids

I can still remember walking my two young feet out to the road, pulling down the metal mailbox door and, with my little heart pitter-patting, pulling out a Jack & Jill magazine—addressed to me. Jack & Jill's are still thrilling children with their mailbox arrivals, and so are other old favorites like Highlights, Ranger Rick and Boys Life. These days publishers are offering an even bigger array of magazines for the younger set covering a wide range of interests. National Geographic Kids, Sports Illustrated Kids and American Girl are examples. Amongst all these choices I have noticed a couple of excellent history magazines.

Both of these award-winning publications bring history to your house nine times a year. They are both geared toward children nine years old and up. They are both composed of 50 pages that delve into one given topic. They are both brimming with articles that relate to the main topic, fun facts, pictures, maps, sidebars, contests, puzzles and suggested reading lists. The difference between them is that Cobblestone concentrates on American history while Calliope presents topics about world history.

Cobblestone's current July issue is about American inventions. Topics that will be covered over the coming year are:

• National Parks: America's Legacy


• Pilgrims: Journey to a New World


• John Adams


• 30 Greatest Americans


• Gettysburg: Pivotal Civil War Battle


• Brooklyn Bridge: Engineering Marvel


• Baseball: Americans at Play


• 30 Greatest American Events


• It's All-American: Our Culture & Symbols

You can read all about the gladiators of Rome in the current issue of Calliope. Other topics to look forward to in upcoming issues are:

• Karnak - Egypt's Chosen Place


• Aesop and His Fables - Did He Really Exist?


• Great Wall of China


• The Parthenon - Symbol of Eternal Greece


• Isabella of Spain - Queen of a New World


• Michelangelo


• Dutch East India Company - Trade Goes International


• Exploring Africa with Stanley & Livingston


• Meaning of Numbers

Either of these magazines would make a thoughtful gift for a young history buff (or a history buff to be). I will envy them that walk to the mailbox ;-)