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The Kingdom of Bones by Stephen Gallagher
Published: 2007 Genre: historical fiction Length: 366 pages Setting: England and the U.S., late 1800s/early 1900s Interest: It fulfilled a letter on my reading challenge Summary: Tom Sayers is the...
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The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin
Published: 2004 Genre: U.S. nonfiction history Length: 271 pages of story, 307 with indices Setting: Midwest, 1888 Interest: I can’t remember how I became aware of the book, but the story sounded quite...
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Weekly Wrap-Up: American history club
A homeschooling friend and I have decided to start a book club for our kids based on the American Girls series. We are calling the club an American history club, and our first get-together was this...
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Let Us All Praise Famous Men by James Agee
Published: 1939 Genre: nonfiction farm life Length: 416 pages Setting: rural Alabama, 1930s Interest: It was recommended at the end of The Contrary Farmer Summary: The book is Agee’s attempt to...
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Eighty Days by Matthew Goodman
Subtitle: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History Making Race Around the World Published: 2013 Genre: nonfiction biography Length: 379 pages of story, 449 with indices Setting: 1889-1890, around the...
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Weekly Wrap-Up: Native Americans and Poetry
This past week was the second meeting of our American history club so the kids had two new books to read. The girls read Kaya and Lone Dog by Janet Shaw. This is the fourth book in the series and …...
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Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser
Subtitle: The Tale of an American Dreamer Published: 1996 Genre: literary fiction Length: 293 pages Setting: NYC, turn of the 20th century Interest: It’s a Pulitzer Prize winner that also fulfills a...
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Weekly Wrap-Up: Native American presentations.
It was the third meeting of our American History Club this week. The third meeting in a topic is a chance for everyone to pick their own book to present to the group. Mr. Curiosity wanted to learn more...
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Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Published: 1943 Genre: YA historical fiction Length: 322 pages Setting: Boston, 1770s Interest: This was the first book we chose for the boys to read as we start the Revolutionary War period for our...
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Weekly Wrap-Up: American Revolution
Our American History Club met this week, and we started a new time period: the American Revolution. The girls read Meet Felicity by Valerie Tripp, the first Felicity book. It’s set in the 1770s, but...
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Kindred by Octavia Butler
Published: 1979 Genre: technically science fiction, but felt more like historical fiction Length: 264 pages Setting: mostly near Baltimore, MD around the 1850s Interest: Butler is one of the Grand...
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The Fighting Ground by Avi
Published: 1984 Genre: YA historical fiction Length: 152 pages Setting: April 3rd-4th, 1778 in the Northeast Interest: It was the second book chosen for the American Revolution time period for our...
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Weekly Wrap-Up: American Revolution Part Two
We didn’t add too many new books to our homeschooling this week. We’re kind of winding down for the holidays, and finishing up our work for a break. The break is coming a bit early because I have...
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Christmas presents
I hope everyone had a nice Christmas, if you choose to celebrate, and Santa brought you something nice. Unsurprisingly, we got some books for Christmas and I thought I’d share them with you. I got a...
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Rabbit, Run by John Updike
Published: 1960 Genre: fiction Length: 264 pages Setting: Mount Judge, a small town in Pennsylvania, 1950s Interest: It was one of the Time top 100 books. Plus, I enjoy Updike’s writing and this starts...
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Weekly Wrap-Up: Made It To the End
Goodness, was this a crazy week. I had one doctor’s visit on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, two on Thursday, and four on Friday, plus two hockey games to watch, and a gymnastics meet today. Needless to...
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Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry
Published: 1954 Genre: children’s historical fiction Length: 160 pages Setting: Vermont, in the early 1800s Interest: It was the book we read for our American History Club meeting on the War of 1812....
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Weekly Wrap-Up: War of 1812
We had our latest American History Club meeting this week. We’ve moved on to a new time period – the War of 1812 (the one fought in the U.S., not the one associated with the 1812 Overture). The...
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The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
Published: 1960 Genre: fiction Length: 756 pages Setting: London and Maryland, 1700s Interest: It’s a Time Top 100 book. Summary: Ebenezer Cooke is a poet in London, wandering his way through life...
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Weekly Wrap-Up: Verbs and Adverbs
Now that the Olympics are over, we needed a new topic to focus on for a month or so. I was browsing the children’s nonfiction shelves at our local library, and got inspired by a series of Words Are...
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