Well, it’s finally gotten cold here. We’ve been so spoiled this winter with very little snow and above average temperatures. However, last Saturday evening that all came to a screeching halt. For the next three days the temperature didn’t rise above the teens and I had to resort to wearing my toe warmers and my long down coat whenever I ventured out – which wasn’t often! The best part about this has been the sun. With temperatures so low, the sun has been shining nonstop since Saturday afternoon. That’s a wonderful treat in January! Of course, after the blizzards in the east, I know I have nothing to complain about. What’s a little cold weather?

hISTORICAL fICTION:

DEAR AMERICA SERIES; PATRICIA REILLY GIFF BOOKS

Now that winter has finally arrived, it might be a good time to curl up with a historical fiction book. I always had students who were very interested in “war books”. This concerned me, because they seemed to be fascinated by battles and weapons used throughout United States history, but this interest was often inspired by stories they had heard from their grandparents. There was one boy, in particular who always wanted a book about war from the time he was in kindergarten through the fifth grade. By the time he was in second or third grade he was always talking about growing up and becoming an officer in the Army as his Grandpa was. I realized that this bright, determined child would very likely end up attending West Point and defending our country. Once I thought about that, this fascination didn’t concern me nearly as much!  However, I very early on ran out of new “war books” to offer to John. Instead, I began to suggest historical fiction books about the various U.S. wars and he devoured them! He especially liked the Dear America series (AR:4.5 – 6.5; Lexile 740 – 970).

This series is comprised of diaries and letters of children throughout history. John’s favorites were the first person accounts by children during World War II. Once John reached fourth grade, he was not alone in his love of historical fiction. Because the new fourth and fifth grade curriculum includes many historical fiction books, kids are even more interested now in reading about the past.

Fifth graders are extremely interested in World War II. A popular book that boys often choose is, Foster’s War (AR: 5.9: Lexile 940) by Carolyn Reeder. This tells the story of an eleven year old boy who is caught up in conflict when his brother is shipped overseas and his best friend is sent to an internment camp.

Patricia Reilly Giff has written some great books about this period, including Willow Run and Lilly’s Crossing (AR: 4.2 – 4.6; Lexile 625 – 700).

All of these books describe the effect of the war on the children who are waiting at home for their fathers and brothers to return. The books really pull you into the stories.  Because they are written from a child’s point of view, readers can readily identify with the characters. Miss Giff has also written excellent historical fiction books about other periods of history, including Nory Ryan’s Song (AR: 4.3; Lexile 675) about the Irish potato famine, that you might want to check out.

hISTORICAL fICTION:

AMERICAN GIRL SERIES  

 Another historical fiction series popular with girls is the American Girl Series (Lexile 700-800; AR 4.0 – 5.0). These books are set throughout various periods of U.S. history and focus on each of the American Girl dolls. There are multiple books about each doll. These books are especially popular for girls in second or third grade who have the dolls and want to read all of the stories about their American Girl.

In conclusion, I hope these ideas will help the kids in your life to find a historical fiction book to curl up with during these long, cold winter days. The series and authors I have mentioned cover all periods in U.S. history, so whatever time period is your child’s favorite, they should be able to find a book to fit their needs.

As always, if you have a specific question about a book, or some favorite historical fiction books you would like to share, please leave a comment.

There were so many biographies in my library that were never touched by the kids. Mostly those were the ones that were at least an inch thick and contained very few pictures. Although I had based my purchases on the respected reviews that I had read in a variety of library sources, these books were ignored. The
kids taught me very early in my career which biographies I should be buying or the books would simply sit on the shelf! They liked the to read the ones which gave them lots of facts, but not using too many words to relay the information. They liked indexes and table of contents. And most importantly they liked pictures!

 BIOGRAPHIES FOR YOUNG READERS

In the Common Core Curriculum, which is now found in schools across the country, children are being exposed to many more biographies. I found when I shared biographies with first and second graders, they were fascinated and rushed to check them out. A series that is great for this is First Biographies from Capstone Press.These books are available in public and school libraries, as well as from Capstone Press. The books are 32 pages in length, contain many pictures, as well as an index and table of contents. They are perfect for pleasure reading or research.

BIOGRAPHIES FOR oLDER rEADERS

Another publisher I really like for nonfiction is Bellwether Media and their Blastoff Readers. A great series for older readers, third grade reading level and above, who are looking for biographies about authors, is the Children’s Storytellers Series. These books are 24 pages in length and contain a table of contents, index, glossary, timeline and fun facts about the authors. They are perfect for both pleasure reading or research. 

JANE GOODALL BIOGRAPHIES for home and school

A new biography that I recently discovered is Untamed The Wild Life of Jane Goodall by Anita Silvey, with a foreword by Jane Goodall. Lexile Level 1100, Accelerated Reader 7.4

I was initially drawn to this book when I read a review on the site, The Nonfiction Detectives. I have been an admirer of Jane Goodall for many years. When my son was a freshman at Beloit College, he had the opportunity to attend a lecture given by Ms. Goodall. Immediately afterwards, he called me to tell me all about it. If you have ever been a mother of a college boy, you may recognize the importance of this call! First of all, he actually called me immediately after hearing the lecture and was extremely excited! He was very impressed and motivated after hearing about her work in Africa and her mission to make the world a better place for animals. He wanted to buy some of her books for me! His enthusiasm led me to read many books about her and to share picture biographies with the children in my elementary library every year to introduce the biography section of the library. This included early reader biographies, as well as Me, Jane by Patrick McDonnell and The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter.

However, I never had a Jane Goodall biography to offer to the older students. Untamed is that book! It reinforces the stories the children learned in the previous biographies, and then expands on that. It follows Ms. Goodall from childhood through the present as she travels the world to teach about conservation. It includes many photographs on every page with very descriptive captions. The vibrancy of these photographs and the engaging text will appeal to children and inspire them to continue reading.

What are some of your favorite biographies? Is your child looking for biographies about a particular person? Please let me know in the comments and I’ll try to help them find that “perfect book”!