History is a Story: Teaching History the Interesting Way

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Welcome to Chapter 4 of Noori's Library: History is a Story, dedicated to sharing the best historical fiction and non-fiction for kids from preschool to high school and beyond.

A Note to Visitors 

This Lens, like all the "chapters" of Noori's Library, can be considered a work-in-progress and I expect to expand and reorganize it many times as I discover or rediscover literary treasures, add commentary and other extras, and improve my organizational systems. I hope you will find it useful and stop back often for updates!

Just about every year, it seems, a study comes out demonstrating that American students' knowledge of American history is poor at best, and their knowledge of world history pathetic in the extreme. You can dispute the methodology of these studies until the cows come home, but the fact is, there is a problem, and I believe its foundation lies in the way history is taught in our public schools. All too often, teachers and educators forget that history is, first and foremost, a story, and every child loves a good story.

We have seen over and over again around the world that those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it. These are some of the best books and resources I know to help parents, educators, and homeschool parents alike rekindle a love of history in our students, so that they can be best assured of avoiding history's mistakes and repeating its triumphs.

Good General Histories 

The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

A good general introduction for elementary and middle school students.

Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Story of Civilization (11 Volume Set)

Expensive but exhaustive and well worth the money and effort. Best for advanced middle school and high school students.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States

A humorous parody of American history. The better you know American history, the funnier this book becomes. Some mature language and themes.

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Interactive History: Timelines 

One fun way to enrich your study of history is to build a timeline on one of the walls of your house. These can be homemade or purchased. My family purchased one from Calvert School that came laminated and included a starting selection of great authors, artists and musicians, which we used as a template when creating other timeline figures.

Timeline figures can be as simple or elaborate as you want. Ours started out simple - a cutout wearing pants for a male or a dress for a female, a name, date, and some indication of his or her great achievements. Later on costumes and methods of conveying information became increasingly elaborate and creative and my siblings and I held several Academy Award-type competitions with awards such as Best Hairstyle, Best Props, and Best Non-Standard Figure (a perennial favorite at the latter was my sister's depiction of the Boston Tea Party: a painted and feathered colonist peeking out of an enormous teacup.)

Ideally, the timeline should be large enough to allow for expansion as children develop individual areas of special interest. Ours included particular emphasis on medieval British history, women's history, and the American Civil War, courtesy of myself, my sister, and my brother, respectively. After the first timeline awards were held, anyone who could be expected to have a particularly cool costume also experienced an immediate jump in popularity. In later competitions, for example, my brother's depiction of Shah Jahan received high marks for both costume and props. One really can't beat the Taj Mahal.

Costume Help for Timelines 

Historic Costume in Pictures (Dover Pictorial Archives)

Amazon Price: $12.71 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Historical Encyclopedia of Costumes

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The Ancient World 

Bible Stories for Children

Excellent retellings of Bible stories for children.

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The Red Tent

A retelling of the Biblical story of Dinah from a feminist perspective. Some mature themes. Best for high schoolers and adults.

Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Mummy (Eyewitness Books)

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The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Mara, Daughter of the Nile (Puffin Story Books)

Espionage and intrigue in Hatshepsut's Egypt. Best for middle and high school students.

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Greeks 

Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of The Iliad

Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Mythology

Amazon Price: $9.88 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Iliad of Homer

Amazon Price: $10.08 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The History of the Peloponnesian War: Revised Edition (Penguin Classics)

Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Lysistrata and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)

Amazon Price: $9.00 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Series Spotlight: Time Quest Books 

Modern day archaeologists describe their discoveries in this fascinating series for elementary and middle school students.

Secrets of Vesuvius (Time Quest)

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Lost Wreck of the Isis (Time Quest Book)

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The Romans 

The Bronze Bow

Amazon Price: $6.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome

Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Greenleaf Guide to Famous Men of Rome

Amazon Price: $8.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The First Man in Rome

Best for older teens.

Amazon Price: $12.20 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

King Arthur 

These retellings of the classic Arthurian legends include both fantastic and realistic versions. Best suited to middle school or high school readers due to mature themes, including sex and brutal medieval violence.

The Once and Future King

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Winter King (The Arthur Books #1)

Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga, Book 1)

Amazon Price: $10.76 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Mists of Avalon

Amazon Price: $12.24 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir Orfeo

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Medieval Europe 

Catherine, Called Birdy (rpkg) (Trophy Newbery)

The diary of a not-so-typical medieval girl. Some mature themes. Appropriate for middle schoolers.

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Adam of the Road (Newbery Library, Puffin)

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Door in the Wall (Books for Young Readers)

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age

An extremely well-written account of the late middle ages and early Renaissance. Some mature themes. Best for high schoolers and adults.

Amazon Price: $10.87 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Pope Joan: A Novel

A speculative account of the life of the legendary female Pope. Some mature themes. Best for high school students and adults.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Series Spotlight: The Pageant of England 

A gripping history of the Plantagenets, one of England's most colorful ruling families.

The Conquering Family

Amazon Price: $31.88 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Magnificent Century

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The Three Edwards

Amazon Price: $34.92 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Last Plantagenets

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Author Spotlight: Sharon Kay Penman 

Thrilling and romantic accounts of 12th and 13th century British history, with a focus on the Plantagenet rulers and their difficult relationship with the (at that time autonomous) Princes of Wales. Some mature themes, including graphic sex and brutal medieval battles. Best for high schoolers and adults.

Here Be Dragons

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Falls the Shadow

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The Reckoning

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When Christ and His Saints Slept: A Novel

Amazon Price: $11.52 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Time and Chance: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Richard III: Hero or Villain? 

For the student who loves a good mystery.

The Tragedy of King Richard III (Oxford World's Classics)

For Shakespeare, Richard III became one of his finest and most famous villains.

Amazon Price: $10.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Sunne in Splendour

Sharon Kay Penman presents a sympathetic study of the man behind the monster. Some mature themes. Best for high schoolers and adults.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Princes in the Tower

Alison Weir thinks Richard did it.

Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Daughter of Time

Josephine Tey presents a history lesson disguised as a surprisingly gripping mystery.

Amazon Price: $10.08 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Murders of Richard III

One of the greatest living mistresses of the mystery genre, Elizabeth Peters 's third most famous sleuth investigates a series of murders among a group of Richard apologists having a house party.

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Author Spotlight: David Macauley 

Incredible illustrations and fascinating accounts of the planning and building of some of the world's great architectural masterworks make these books a hit with all ages.

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction (Sandpiper)

Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Castle

Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction

Amazon Price: $7.91 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Pyramid

Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Mosque

Amazon Price: $14.25 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Author Spotlight: Diane Stanley 

Diane Stanley's picture book biographies are a great introduction to some of history's most fascinating figures for elementary age students.

Cleopatra

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Leonardo da Vinci

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Michelangelo

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Good Queen Bess : The Story of Elizabeth I of England

Amazon Price: $12.23 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Shakespeare Does History 

History lessons disguised as some of the greatest masterpieces of English literature. It's a win-win situation!

Julius Caesar (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Antony and Cleopatra (Folger Shakespeare Library)

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Henry IV, Part I (Folger Shakespeare Library)

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

King Henry IV, Part 2 (Arden Shakespeare: Second Series) (Pt. 2)

Amazon Price: $17.00 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Henry V (Folger Shakespeare Library)

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Classic Historical Fiction 

The Three Musketeers (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Amazon Price: $8.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Ivanhoe (Penguin Classics)

Amazon Price: $8.00 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Signet Classics)

Amazon Price: $5.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Middlemarch (Penguin Classics)

Amazon Price: $8.00 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Scarlet Pimpernel (Signet Classics)

Amazon Price: $4.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

More Classics of Historical Fiction 

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Colonial and Revolutionary America 

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Author Spotlight: The d'Aulaires 

D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths

Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Columbus

Amazon Price: $10.04 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Pocahontas

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Benjamin Franklin

Amazon Price: $13.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

George Washington

Amazon Price: $10.04 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Author Spotlight: Genevieve Foster 

Long out of print, these are fantastic introductions to world history for elementary and middle school students.

Augustus Caesar's World

Amazon Price: $11.48 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The World of Columbus and Sons

Amazon Price: $17.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The World of Captain John Smith

Amazon Price: $13.63 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

George Washington's World

Amazon Price: $11.48 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Abraham Lincoln's World, Expanded Edition

Amazon Price: $17.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Author Spotlight: Jean Fritz 

Great introductions to American history for elementary and middle school students.

Shh! We're Writing the Constitution

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? (Paperstar)

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Will You Sign Here, John Hancock?

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Around the World in a Hundred Years

Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Author Spotlight: Robert Lawson 

Fun historical fiction written from the perspective of the animals. Appropriate for elementary and middle school students.

Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Captain Kidd's Cat

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Author Spotlight: Ann Rinaldi 

Anne Rinaldi's historical fiction novels usually focus on teenage girls at the crossroads of American history, most often the Revolution and Civil War. Popular with middle and high school students.

A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials

Amazon Price: $6.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Last Silk Dress

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

In My Father's House (Point)

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

A Stitch in Time (Quilt Trilogy, Volume 1)

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley (Great Episodes)

Amazon Price: $6.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Alternative History 

A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.)

Amazon Price: $11.07 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

American Indians 

The Rough-Face Girl

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

Amazon Price: $9.50 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World

Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Lakota Woman

An autobiographical account of a modern-day American Indian activist. Some mature themes. Best for high school students and adults.

Amazon Price: $10.07 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Pioneers 

A Family Apart (Orphan Train Adventures)

Amazon Price: $6.50 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Caddie Woodlawn

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Addie Across the Prairie

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My Antonia

Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Interactive History: Travel 

One of the best ways to make history truly come to life is through travel. It's nearly impossible not to get a sense of history when you're standing on the spot where it was made.

I was lucky enough to have parents who love travelling. One of the first things we did after starting to homeschool was to take an extended trip following the Oregon Trail by car from Independence to Oregon City, Oregon. We also took advantage of my father's government job to spend nine months in Washington, DC, visiting historical sites galore and taking a few extended trips to visit Southern plantations, Civil War battlefields, and other historic sites in Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and other Eastern states that were less accessible from our native Midwest. Even better, when I was 17, my sister and I were able to accompany our aunt and uncle on a month-long tour of France, which included everything from prehistoric cave paintings to medieval castles and cathedrals to World War II sites. And in college, I studied abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia and saw first hand everything from Scythian gold to the palaces of the tsars to buildings and bridges throughout the city that still show damage from shrapnel (or worse) received during the Nazis' long and devastating siege of Leningrad, as well as being able to talk to survivors of the siege.

Regardless of whether you're going to the next town over or to a foreign country halfway around the world, make an effort to learn about the area's history in advance and visit historical sites or museums when you go. History museums, much like history books, range from the crashingly boring to the utterly captivating and you'll quickly learn your family's preferences and tolerences.

Great Americans 

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Author Biography: Russell Freedman 

Freedman writes some of the finest historical nonfiction for elementary and middle school students.

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The South 

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History Live 

Martin Luther King "I have a dream"

The full version of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech. Comments disabled since many of them were hateful and racist. You can discuss the video here: http://www.mychurch.org/blog/121537/17-Minutes-with-Martin-Luther-King

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Russian and Soviet History 

Peter the Great

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Pavlovsk: Life of a Russian Palace

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Nicholas and Alexandra

Amazon Price: $12.89 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: A Novel

Amazon Price: $6.48 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Soviet Experiment: Russia, The USSR, and the Successor States

Amazon Price: $51.32 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Great Memoirs 

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Amazon Price: $6.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Homage to Catalonia

Amazon Price: $10.08 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph

Amazon Price: $14.28 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Journey into the Whirlwind (Helen and Kurt Wolff Books)

Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

World War I 

Rascal

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

All Quiet on the Western Front

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

World War Two 

Summer of My German Soldier (Puffin Modern Classics)

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Jacob Have I Loved

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

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The Holocaust 

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Devil's Arithmetic (Puffin Modern Classics)

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Twenty and Ten (Puffin story books)

Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Number the Stars

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

History Live 

First Moon Landing 1969

The video of the very first moon landing of the apollo 11 mission in 1969! Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon with his now legenday words "One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind." This is a truly amazing video and it was in 1969!!! If you think about it, you have orders of magnitude more processing power in your mobile phone than they did in the whole space craft!! Incredible!

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More Great History Books 

A child's history of art,

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Splendid Century: Life in the France of Louis XIV

Amazon Price: $15.12 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

To Marry an English Lord or, How Anglomania Really Got Started

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Important Lessons From History 

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Always.2 points

Don't mess with Texas.

Ever.2 points

Never invade Britain by sea.

Unless you're a Viking.1 point

Never invade Russia by land.

Unless you're a Mongol.1 point

Never trust a paranoid, racist, spittle-emitting, megalomaniac dictator.

Ever.1 point

More Great History Resources 

These books are intended for homeschoolers, but equally useful for afterschoolers and anyone with an interest in enriching historical education. Although general in scope, they include particularly strong history sections.

The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The BEST Source for Children's Historical Fiction and Non-Fiction 

Greenleaf Press publishes historical study guides and nonfiction books and also offers an extensive collection of historical fiction and non-fiction materials for students and history lovers from preschool to high school and beyond. Run by a Christian homeschooling family, it offers both secular and Christian materials (though don't go looking for anything about dinosaurs or evolution.)
GreenLeaf Press
Greenleaf Press is a small family-owned and operated publisher and supplier of quality books for children. Rob & Cyndy founded Greenleaf in 1989 out of their experiences looking for good material for their own children's study of history. Greenleaf Press is committed to "twaddle-free", living books. We believe that history is both important and exciting and that our kids can share that excitement.

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by kerryg

Kerry is Noori's mom and a lover of books.
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