Children's Lit: Book Lists to Work Through (2011-2012), 1st, 3rd Grades

This is my one of my 'behind the scenes' pages. It's how I am keeping track of our readings this summer and next fall. I was tired of the blind hits we had taking things randomly from the library and thought I'd try to make the kids' readings a bit richer.

I'll make this public in case anyone else is interested down below.

Here are some more recent posts (over at my new location homeschoolden.com):

Read Aloud List  Summer/Fall 2011 (DD age 5)

From Five in a Row
Highlights indicate ones we've already read aloud:
**I've indented some of the go-alongs that we've read with the FIAR books.
Kids' star rating *1 not our cup of tea to *10 wonderful

Authors from FIAR:
Patricia Polacco:
For the Love of Autumn-*9
Ginger and Petunia*8
The Lemonade Club
Something About Hensley's
Just Plain Fancy
Babushka's Doll

Marsha Diane Arnold
The Pumpkin Runner
Prancing, Dancing Lily

Rainforest Theme Books in our South America Unit:
The Kapok Tree *10
Biblioburro *8
The Rainforest Grew All Around *8

Children's Literature Authors (suggested by Lucy Calkins in Raising Lifelong Learners)
Frank Asch                                  James Marshall
Byron Barton                               Bill Martin
Byrd Baylor                                 Else Minarik
Marc Brown                                Robert Munsh
Margaret Wise Brown                 Felice Numeroff
Eve Bunting                                 Bill Peet
Eric Carle                                    Patricia Polacco
Donald Carrick                            Cynthia Rylant
Joy Cowley                                 Maurice Sendak
Donald Crews                             William Steig
Tomie de Paola                           James Stevenson
Mem Fox                                   Cynthia Voight
Paul Galdone                              Bernard Waber
Eloise Greenfield                         Rosemary Wells
Pat Hutchins                               Vera Williams
Ezra Jack Keats                          Jane Yolen
Steven Kellogg                            Charlotte Zolotow

Volume 1: We will read these on our own (w/o the FIAR curriculum guide).

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese *9
      *The Five Chinese Brothers
      *The Empty Pot *10
      *The Boy Who Painted Dragons
Lentil by Robert McCloskey *5
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno
The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills
        Elfabet : an ABC of Elves by Lauren Mills -- Read this with ED. Very cute, appealing pictures for each letter. *9
Who Owns the Sun? by Stacy Chbosky
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say
Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin
Another Celebrated Dancing Bear by Gladys Scheffrin-Falk
Papa Piccolo by Carol Talley
Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews
The Clown of God by Tomie DePaola
Storm in the Night by Mary Stoltz
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton
Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost (with illustrations by Susan Jeffers)

Volume 2: We will do this with the FIAR curriculum guide

The Giraffe That Walked to Paris
by Nancy Milton
Three Names by Patricia MacLachlan
Wee Gillis by Munro Leaf
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert *8.5
Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco
Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully
They Were Strong and Good by Alice and Robert Lawson
Babar, To Duet or Not to Duet based on characters by DeBrunhoff
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
Down, Down the Mountain by Ellis Credle
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
The Tale of Peter Rabbit written and ill. by Beatrix Potter
Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car by John Burningham
All Those Secrets of the World by Jane Yolen
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift
Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
Gramma's Walk by Anna Grossnickle Hines

Volume 3: With the FIAR curriculum guide

The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco
Andy and the Circus by Ellis Credle
The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ill. by Ted Rand
Henry the Castaway by Mark Taylor
The Finest Horse in Town by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Truman's Aunt Farm by Jama Kim Rattigan
The Duchess Bakes a Cake by Virginia Kahl
Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty
Daniel's Duck by Clyde Robert Bulla
Warm as Wool by Scott Russell Sanders
The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer
Climbing Kansas Mountains by George Shannon
Amber on the Mountain by Tony Johnston
Little Nino's Pizzeria by Karen Barbour

Volume 4: We will read these on our own (w/o the FIAR curriculum guide).

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
The Raft by Jim LaMarche
Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
The Gullywasher by Joyce Rossi *8
Arabella by Wendy Orr
Higgins Bend Song and Dance by Jacqueline Briggs Martin *7.5
Cowboy Charlie by Jeanette Winter
Grass Sandals by Dawnine Spivak
Albert by Donna Jo Napoli
The Hickory Chair by Lisa Rose Fraustino
Hanna's Cold Winter by Trish Marx
The Hatmaker's Sign Retold by Candace Fleming
The Pumpkin Runner by Marsha Diane Arnold *10
Angelo by David Macaulay

Early American History Book List:

Books we might include as we cover the ancient Mayans, Aztecs and Incas and then continue on to study Native Americans and the early explorers (and colonists).


Early America (ancient Americas, explorers):
The Corn Grows Ripe -- The story of a Mayan Indian family. *8


Secret of the Andes -- A story of a young Inca boy's initiation into Inca secrets.

Walk the World' Rim -- A 14-year old Indian joins Cabeza de Vaca's 16th-century expedition through the Southwest.

Satori Smiles recommended these: Morning Girl by Michael Dorris, Pedro’s Journal by Pam Conrad, and Christopher Columbus. Morning Girl is about two siblings living as Taino Native Americans before Columbus arrives. Pedro’s Journal is about a little ship boy traveling with Columbus on his ship.

The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell.  A group of Spanish explorers, led by Captain Mendoza and his guide Zia, set out on an expedition searching for gold.


Native Americans and Whites relations:

Om-Kas-Toe: Blackfeet Twin Captures an Elkdog : life changes dramatically for the Blackfeet people in the early 1700's when a twin brother and sister discover a stange animal and succeed in bringing it back to the tribe.


The Sign of the Beaver - A white boy in the Maine wilderness is rescued by an Indian chief.

The Arrow Over the Door (Grades 4-6) Joseph Bruchac In 1777, a young Abenaki Indian meets a peaceful young Quaker boy and both come to realize that the way of peace can be walked by all human beings.

Enemy in the Fort (American Girl) (Grades 4-7) Sarah Buckey Twelve-year-old Rebecca must confront her fear and hatred of the Abenaki when a boy raised by members of that tribe is brought to the fort at Charleston, New Hampshire.

Sweetgrass Basket (Grades 5-8) Marlene Carvelle --Two Mohawk sisters describe their lives at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School as they try to assimilate into white culture and one of them is falsely accused of stealing.

Echohawk (Grades 5-9) Lynda Durrant--A white boy is taken from his family and raised by the Mohican tribe as one of their own, and as he grows older, he realizes that he must make a choice between the Mohicans or the world he came from long ago.

Where the Great Hawk Flies (Grades 6-8) --Lisa Ketchu Years after a violent raid by the British and their Indian allies, two families with very different perspectives become neighbors and must deal the past.

I Am Regina (Grades 5-8) --Sally Keehn In 1755, ten-year-old Regina is kidnapped by Indians in Pennsylvania and struggles to hold onto memories of her earlier life as she grows up under the name of Tskinnak.

Trouble’s Daughter: the Story of Susanna Hutchinson, Indian Captive (Grades 7 and up) --Katherine Kirkpatrick Nine-year-old Susanna is captured by the Lenape Indians after witnessing the massacre of her family and spends the next four years as a member of the tribe.

Indian Captive: the Story of Mary Jemison (Grades 4-6) Lois LenskiTwelve-year-old Mary, after being captured by a Shawnee war party during the French and Indian War, is rescued and subsequently adopted by two Seneca sisters.

Paddle to the Sea -- A modern-day, wooden toy Indian in a canoe travels throughout the Great Lakes region before arriving in the Atlantic.

 Justin Morgan Had a Horse -- The true story of a young boy who trained the first all-American (but now world-famous) Morgan horse.

 Swift Rivers -- Eighteen-year-old Chris spends a winter with his grandfather in a cabin in Minnesota.
The Winter People -- Bruchac, Joseph -- Saxso, a fourteen-year-old Abenaki boy hunts for the English rangers who attacked and destroyed much of his village in Quebec. They took his mother and sisters hostage, and he must find them. In the process he learns what it means to take care of your family and become a man. Bruchac tells a gripping story of the French and Indian War from Saxso's point of view.



Native Americans:

The First Strawberries -- about the Cherokee tale -- with lesson about anger, hurt, forgiveness

Children of the Longhouse by Joseph Bruchac.  (Mohawk culture)

The Legend of the Bluebonnet: An Old Tale of Texas by Tomie dePaoloa. E-UE
An old Comanche legend celebrates the courage and selflessness of a young girl, giving a glimpse of the religious beliefs of this early American culture (pre-1500?).

Little Runner of the Longhouse (I Can Read Book) by Betty Baker, illus. Arnold Lobel. Harper & Row, 1962. K-E
A cute story of children and Iroquois culture. Three-color illustrations.

North American Indians by Marie Gorsline, illus. Douglas W. Gorsline. K-E
Lots of color and lots of information for the younger child.

A Tree's Tale by Lark Carrier. Dial Books, 1996. K-E
The story of the "path trees" the Indians bent and used to mark their trails. Few are left in North America, and this is the story of one of them.

Weetamoo, Heart of the Pocassets (Grades 4-7) Patricia Smith A fourteen-year-old Pocasset Indian girl describes how her life changes with the seasons and with her tribe’s interactions with the English of nearby Plymouth Colony.


Tingle, Tim. Spirits Dark and Light: Supernatural Tales from the Five Civilized Tribes. Little Rock, AR: August House, 2006.
This great collection of traditional stories from the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chicasaw, Creek and Seminole tribes has tales that are eerie, gruesome, and frightening. This is a great campfire or sleepover read aloud.

Quebec, French Canada

 Madeleine Takes Command by Ethel C. Brill, illus. Bruce Adams. Bethlehem Books. French Canada in the 1690s Set in French Canada, Madeleine and her 2 younger brothers are part of a small group left at the fort when the Iroquois attack. Based on a true story. 

Saint Isaac and the Indians -- Jesuit missionary in Quebec in 1626

The Winter People -- Bruchac, Joseph -- Saxso, a fourteen-year-old Abenaki boy hunts for the English rangers who attacked and destroyed much of his village in Quebec. They took his mother and sisters hostage, and he must find them. In the process he learns what it means to take care of your family and become a man. Bruchac tells a gripping story of the French and Indian War from Saxso's point of view.


American Colonies 

The Witch of Blackbird Pond -- A girl raised in luxury in the Caribbean struggles to adjust to Puritan New England. 

1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving. Grace, Catherine O'Neill and Margaret M. Bruchac. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2001. Not just another Thanksgiving story, this book is a great example of a cooperative effort between the Wampanoag tribe and the Plimoth Plantation. Check out this account of the first Thanksgiving with spectacular photos of reenactors.
  
The Iron Peacock  -- Joanna Sprague's life is upended when her father dies on the voyage that was to take them to a new life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Poor and alone, 16-year-old Joanna must summon uncommon courage to survive life as a bond servant in a strange new world. An unforgettable, captivating story. Massachusetts Bay Colony

Calico Bush-- Left an orphan shortly after her family arrives in the New World, young Marguerite is "Bound-out" for six years to serve the Sargent family in exchange for food, shelter and clothing.

THE COURAGE OF SARAH NOBLE Dalgliesh, Alice--A little girl and her father are among the first to settle in Connecticut in 1707.

 The Journeyman -- Touching story about a boy, despised by his father because of his artistic bent, who leaves home to find his place in the world.

 Almost Home: A Story Based on the Life of the Mayflower's Mary Chilton 

I Walk in Dread: the Diary of Deliverance Trembley, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials (Dear America) (Grades 4-6) Lisa Fraustino--A young girl becomes ensnared in the tumult and terror of the Salem Witch Trials.

A Break with Charity: a Story about the Salem Witch Trials (Grades 6-10)  Ann Rinaldi While waiting for a church meeting in 1706, Susanna English, daughter of a wealthy Salem merchant, recalls the malice, fear, and accusations of witchcraft that tore her village apart in 1692.

 

  
Revolutionary War:

 Johnny Tremain -- A young apprentice silversmith is caught up in the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution. 

 Toliver's Secret -- Ten-year old Ellen Toliver must conquer her timidity to take a secret message through enemy lines during the Revolutionary War.

The Pox Party.Anderson, M.T. Cambridge, MA : Candlewick Press, 2006.
Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War.

American West:

Cushman, Karen. Rodzina. New York: Clarion Books, 2003.
Rodzina, a twelve-year-old Polish American girl has been sent west on an Orphan train. She doesn't know what will meet her at the end of the train and fears being adopted by a family and worked as a slave rather than being accepted as a member. Read this book to find out what happens to Rodzina and the other orphans sent west as they leave behind life in the city as beggars for what they hope will be a better life.

Dear America -- Historical Fiction -- diaries of young girls in various periods of American history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_America

The Josephina Story Quilt about a girl who wants to bring her hen on their move out West.

More Recent American History:  http://www.sonlight.com/read-alouds-e.html
http://courseweb.lis.illinois.edu/~jevogel2/lis403/index.html

Reading Lists:
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended_to_love.cfm

http://www.annunciationacademy.org/FORMS/Summer/09-10SummerReadingList.pdf

Native American and American History Related Read Aloud Sources:
Children and Teen--Historical Fiction about Early American History
Sonlight--http://www.sonlight.com/read-alouds-d.html
http://www.abookintime.com/america/americato1700.html
http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/booklists/?id=teachingamericanhistory