1. Whatever Happened to the Pony Express? Author- Root, Kimberly Bulcken, Illustrator- Root Barry , Historical Fiction, Published by G.P. Puntman’s Sons, 2010, ISBN-978-0-399-24483-4, Reading level- 1.5, Interest Level K-2.
This book is about a brother and sister who live miles apart and how over many years the way they send mail back and forth changes. At first the mail is carried by a stagecoach. It is a very slow process due to the mountains and rivers that stand in their way. As transportation advances that letters are then sent by water on steamboats, but it still takes that letters way too long to get from Sacramento, California to Pennsylvania. The first letter that is sent is from Prudence the sister is to tell her brother Tom that she has gotten married. The next form of transportation used to deliver the mail is by camelback. This doesn’t work out both so then they turn to the use of ponies and that is where we get the name pony express. The ponies are very quick; however they are also dangerous to ride due to attacks by Native Americans and just the risk of riding a pony itself. The two families grow and as the years move on telegraph is invented and eventually the train. By the end of the story one of Prudence’s sons is getting on a train to go live with his uncle and help him on his farm. This shows the very big improvement in technology and communication systems that occurred over just one lifetime to the American people.
I really enjoyed this story. It has a lot of information packed into a short story. This book reminded me of the Wild West and I feel that many of my students especially the boys in my classroom will really enjoy this book because many of them are interested in horses and trains. I could use this book and relate it to the Essential Standard 2.H.1.1: Use timelines to show sequencing of events. Out of the events talked about in the book I could have my students to make a timeline showing the progression of events from first to last.
2. Back Home, Author- Keller, Julia, Historical Fiction, Multicultural, Published by Egmont USA, 2009, ISBN: 978-1-606084-005-4, Reading level- 4.3, Interest Level 6-8.
2. Back Home, Author- Keller, Julia, Historical Fiction, Multicultural, Published by Egmont USA, 2009, ISBN: 978-1-606084-005-4, Reading level- 4.3, Interest Level 6-8.
This novel is about a teenage girl named Rachel Browning whose dad was deployed to Iraq with his National Guard Unit. While in Iraq the tank that Rachel’s dad was driving was exploded by a car bomb which caused sever injury to her dad as well as his crew members. At the beginning of the book her father is in Walter Reed Army Hospital where he is being treated for traumatic brain injury as well as being fitted for a new prosthetic arm and leg because he lost one arm and one leg in the explosion. Rachel and her two younger siblings are not allowed to go to see him in the hospital but when he comes home they can clearly see that he is not the same dad that they had before he left for the war. It is very hard for Rachel to except what has happened to not only her dad but her whole family. Things just aren’t the same as they use to be. Her dad can hardly speak and he refuses to try and walk on his new prosthetic limbs that he has been fitted with. None of Rachel’s friends understand what she is going through and they pull away from her because now she is different than she was before. As the story progresses Rachel and her family become more adjusted to what has happened to their family and the changes in their lives that they have no control over. Even though she meets new friends, life is just not as good as it was before. She has so many questions such as why her dad had to sign up for the National Guard and if there was anything he could have done differently to keep his life for being put in harm’s way. At the end of the novel Rachel’s mom decides that it would be best for them and her husband if they put him in a center for people with traumatic brain injury so that he can have better care and so she can care for their children better. Life has defiantly changed for the Browning family and not so much for the good.
This book is heartbreaking. Over the past 10 years I have heard of car bombings on the news and the effects that they have on the American soldiers that are stationed in Iraq, but I haven’t known anyone personally who has been affected from an incident like the one described in the book. Reading this book even though it is fiction helped to give me a new prospective of how hard the life of a solider really is. Not only was Rachel’s dad affected the time he was in Iraq, but his entire life was changed and essential destroyed. I really enjoyed this book because now I have a new respect for military families and the hard times that they sometimes have to deal with.
In my classroom I could read this book with my student to help give them a better prospective of the sacrifices that others have made and are continuing to make so that we can live in a free country. I had an art teacher in elementary school who left teaching to continue her career with the National Guard that she had started before entering into teaching. We talked a lot about heroes and the sacrifices that soldiers make as we discussed why she was leaving. I think that this book helps bring home the point that we are often trying to make. Standard 5.H.2.2 :Explain how key historical figures have exemplified values and principles, would be a good standard to incorporate with the lessons being taught around this novel.
3.Sarah, Plain and Tall, Author/Illustrator- MacLachlan, Patricia, Historical Fiction, ALA Notable Children's Book Award, Newbery Award, Published by HarperCollins Publisher, 1987, ISBN-0-06-02102-0, Reading level- 4.2, Interest Level 3-5
4. Ruth and the Green Book, Author- Ramsey, Calvin Alexander, Illustrator- Cooper, Floyd, Historical Fiction, Published by Carolrhoda Books, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-7613-5255-6, Reading Level- 5.3, Interest Level- 3-5.
This book is set during the earlier years of American expansion westward. The story is written from the perspective of a young girl named Anna whose mother passed when her younger brother; Caleb, was born. Their home is very sad and lonely because now their father doesn’t sing anymore and the children don’t remember any of the songs. Their father put an advertisement in the newspaper looking for a wife and Sarah a lady from Maine responded to his ad. She lived with her brother and he was getting married so she needed a place to go. After writing letters back and forth to Anna, Caleb, and their father Sarah decided to come down and stay a month with them to see if she like living in the rolling plains with the family. Sarah cared deeply for the children and their father. However, she also missed her brother, aunts, and the sea that she had lived beside her entire life. Sarah continued to find things that reminded her of the sea and her old home. This made it a lot easier for her to make her decision that she would stay and marry the children’s father. Sarah was plain and tall and a very independent woman. She wanted to learn how to drive the horse and buggy so that she could go to town by herself. Caleb was afraid that she was going to by a train ticket back to Maine but when she returned from town she had three colored pencils the colors of the sea so that she could finish her drawing that would remind her of home. She informed the family that yes she missed her home, but if she left them she would miss them more than she missed Maine.
This is a really good book. I think that it is historically accurate because many mothers did die while they were giving birth to their children and the father remarried because he couldn’t take care of everything on the farm that needed to be done as well as being the primary caretaker for his children. This book reminded me of the Little House on the Prairie because they are both set around the same time period with horse and buggies being the main source of transportation and most people lived in very small homes.
In my classroom I could use this book to discuss how the way of life use to be for people in America and how it has greatly changed over the last 200 years. I could use Essential Standard :Use historical thinking skills to understand the context of events, 3.H.2.1 Explain change over time through historical narratives. (events, people and places), and pair this book with a true fiction story to help my student see what life was really like for the pioneers of our country.
4. Ruth and the Green Book, Author- Ramsey, Calvin Alexander, Illustrator- Cooper, Floyd, Historical Fiction, Published by Carolrhoda Books, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-7613-5255-6, Reading Level- 5.3, Interest Level- 3-5.
This book is about a very young African American girl in the 1950s. Her father has just bought their first car and as a result the family wants to down south and visit the little girl’s grandmother who lives in Alabama. Ruth had never been out of the city before and she was very excited to start this trip. They stopped at a gas station not too far into the trip and were refused service because of the color of their skin. The family also had to sleep in their car the first night of the trip because none of the hotels around would let them stay in them. As the family crossed over into Tennessee they stayed the night with Eddy a family friend who was more than happy to see Ruth and her parents. Ruth didn’t sleep much though she was so sad that her family was being treated the way they were and as they were leaving Eddy’s house she first learned of Jim Crow and the laws that were named after him. The only gas station that would serve African Americans were Esso stations. When Ruth’s family stopped at an Esso station to fill up the car the man asked them if they would like to buy The Negro Motorist Green Book, this book was put together by Victor H. Green to help black people that were traveling know where they would be welcomed to stay the night and eat their meals. Ruth and her mother used the green book to navigate the rest of the trip until finally arrived at grandma’s house.
I really enjoyed this book and feel that it would be very helpful in my classroom when discussing civil rights and the hard ships that African Americans had during this time period. The fact that the green book was really something that was used in history makes this story very real. I had never heard of the green book until my group was doing a project on civil rights in North Carolina history last semester. In my classroom I could relate this to the third grade Essential Standard 3.H.2.1 Explain change over time through historical narratives. (events, people and places). I could then pull up the original green book as a primary document and introduce my students to the importance of primary documents and how they help use better understand history.
