US History and Children's Literature

Professional Books

• In Times Past by Carol Otis Hurst and Rebecca Otis.
  This book is an Encyclopedia for Integrating US History with Literature in Grades 3-8. Our section about this book includes the table of contents and sample chapters. Order from Amazon.com.

Subjects and Themes

These topics are fully developed with related children's books, and activities.

• Biographies and Memoirs
• Buildings and Architecture
• The Civil War
• Colonial America, 1600-1776
• Flight and Planes
• The Great Depression
• Local History and Family Stories
• Martin Luther King Day
• Native Americans Past and Present
• Pilgrims, The Time of: 1600-1700
• Quilts
• The Revolutionary War
• Rivers
• Slavery
• Time as a Subject and Time Travel Fantasies
• History through Time-Travel Fantasies
• Trains
• Westward Movement
• World War II
• World War II as an example of a school wide parallel reading theme.

General Activities and Lesson Plans

• Creating a Living History Museum
• A timeline activity with children's books, an article.
• See also the Subjects and Themes, and Featured books listed above or below for more US History activities.

Annotated Booklists

• The Holocaust

Children's Books

Here are some of the historical books featured on this site. You'll find a review, discussion topics, activities, related books and links for each. There are many other historical novels featured within the subject articles above.

• Araminta's Paint Box - by Karen Ackerman. Picture Book. Grades 1 and up.
• Birchbark House, The - by Louise Erdrich. Novel. Grades 3 and up.
• Breaker Boys, The - by Pat Hughs. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
• Bud, Not Buddy - by Christopher Paul Curtis. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
• Charlotte's Web - by E. B. White. Novel. Grades 3 and up.
• Dandelions - by Eve Bunting. Picture Book. Grades 2 and up.
• Everywhere - by Bruce Brooks. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
• Foxman, The - by Gary Paulsen. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
• Ghost Belonged to Me, The - by Richard Peck. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
• Grasshopper Summer - by Ann Turner. Novel. Grades 3 and up.
• I Am Regina - by Sally M. Keehn. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
• Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain - by Robert Burch. Novel. Grades 3 and up.
• Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain - by Robert Burch. Novel. Grades 3 and up.
• Keeper of the Doves - by Betsy Byars. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
• Keeping Quilt, The - by Patricia Polacco. Picture Book. Grades K and up.
• Killing in Plymouth Colony, A - by Carol Otis Hurst. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
• Kira-Kira - by Cynthia Kadohata. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
• Letting Swift River Go - by Jane Yolen. Picture Book, Nonfiction. Grades PreK and up.
• Lyddie - by Katherine Paterson. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
• Man Who Walked Between the Towers, The - by Mordicai Gerstein. Picture Book, Nonfiction. Grades K and up.
• Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel - by Leslie Connor. Picture Book. Grades 1 and up
• Night the Bells Rang, The - by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
• Out of the Dust - by Karen Hesse. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
• Snowflake Bentley - by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. Picture Book, Nonfiction. Grades 2 and up.
• Storm in the Barn, The - by Matt Phelan. Graphic Novel. Grades 3 and up.