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One of my favorite parts about homeschool is history. Once I learned about “living books” from Charlotte Mason all subjects came alive for me and my kids, but especially history. If you’re not sure what a living book is, it’s simply a book written by an author who tells what they know in story form. They don’t just tell facts, they tell stories. We used Two Miserable Presidents as the spine (a general overview of a time period) and then my first and third grader read some picture books to supplement that reading, while my 6th grader read a biography. We read The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg as a read-aloud and historical fiction. My boys absolutely loved this book! It was that special ingredient that helped everything else come together beautifully.
There are so many excellent books about this time period! There are many that aren’t on this list (you can find the complete lists in my curriculum guides), but these are our favorites. And I know your family will love them, too.
Picture Books
- Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass by Lesa Cline-Ransome
- William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad by Don Tate
- Freedom River by Doreen Rappaport
- So Tall Within by Gary D. Schmidt
- Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford
- Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine
- John Brown and His Fight For Freedom by John Hendrix
- Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson (historical fiction)
- Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books by Nancy Carpenter
- Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek by John Hendrix
- Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
- Clara and Davie: The True Story of Clara Barton by Patricia Polacco
- Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero by John Hendrix
- Ben and the Emancipation Proclamation by Pat Sherman
- The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch by Chris Barton
- Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott by Yona Zeldis McDonough
Spine
Two Miserable Presidents by Steve Sheinkin
(a good book for all ages! My 7, 9, and 11 year old all enjoyed it)
Biographies
- The Story of Eli Whitney by Jean Latham
- Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
- Abraham Lincoln by Barbara Cary
- Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs
- The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Historical Fiction
- Thee, Hannah! by Marguerite de Angeli
- Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
- The River Between Us by Richard Peck
- The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Painting: Cotton Pickers by Winslow Homer
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