early 20th century historical fiction reading list
Thought I’d share a few of the books I’ve tossed/will be tossing Beanie’s way during our 20th Century History studies…
Betsy and the Great World by Maud Hart Lovelace. Betsy’s family, ever supportive of her writerly dreams, sends her on a trip to Europe in 1913. Venice, Germany, England. She’s in London when the Great War begins.
Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery. Always and forever one of my favorite books. Life on P.E.I. during WWI, with beloved brothers…and Ken Ford…away at the front.
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. When you hit the Roaring 20s, you gotta read Cheaper by the Dozen. That’s practically a Law of Homeschooling.
A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller. This was one of my favorite reads during the CYBILs 2014 judging: the story of an English girl who gets involuntarily (at first) swept up in the fight for women’s suffrage.
Lost by Jacqueline Davies. Wrenching story (how could it not be?) about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
monica says:
historical fiction is my FAVE. I am always looking for good ones
On January 5, 2016 at 8:46 am
sarah says:
Rilla is such a wonderful book to study because its written about women by a contemporary woman, and it includes all the small stories of the war that seldom get told, the domestic tales, and it has the loveliest heroine, and Dog Friday of course, and, and, and … I do so love this book. Lucky Beanie getting to read it for the very first time.
On January 5, 2016 at 11:20 am
Emily says:
I LOVE Rilla. Going to have to re-read it very soon. A Mad, Wicked Folly sounds really great–going on my list!
On January 6, 2016 at 6:56 am
Kortney says:
Like Emily, I’m putting Mad and Wicked Folly on my list too.
Have you written about the *why* of including fiction in your history studies? I’d love to hear more…
On January 7, 2016 at 6:11 am
theycallmemommy says:
I’m looking for a list of favorite early American biographies from like Pilgrim/Jamestown timeframe…a title for a 6yo & 8yo to listen together and another title for a 10yo & 12 yo to listen together? Any thoughts? 🙂
On January 7, 2016 at 9:37 am
Melissa Wiley says:
I don’t know if they’re on audio, but my kids have enjoyed the Landmark biographies around that age.
On January 7, 2016 at 7:02 pm
Melissa Wiley says:
Kortney, I suppose I have the natural bias of a historical fiction novelist. 😉 But for me, hist fic is so often what brings a period or event to life and allows me to humanize/localize the events I’m reading about in nonfiction texts. So that’s my inclination whenever the kids are studying a particular chapter of history–“oh you know what you should read? The Witch of Blackbird Pond!” and so on.
Even though Rose and Bean are in high school now, they like doing history the CM-ish way we’ve always done, with me reading aloud from one of our spine texts. (We seem to always be juggling multiple nonfiction history texts these days.) So to balance those group nonfic readings, I always offer suggestions for historical fiction that complements our topic.
On January 7, 2016 at 6:59 pm
Carolyn Leiloglou says:
Thanks for including a link to my review of your book, The Prairie Thief, in your “Caught My Eye” section! We really enjoyed reading it 🙂
On January 9, 2016 at 2:58 pm
Melanie Bettinelli says:
So what do you think about tossing Rilla and Betsy and the Great World at Bella when she hasn’t read the prior books in the series? We haven’t met Anne yet and it hasn’t seemed quite the right time just yet and she gave up on Betsy and Tacy part way through the second or third book. But she loves historical fiction and I’m going to want to give her some books to fill that WWI spot.
On January 28, 2016 at 2:06 pm
Leonora says:
Hvis vi kort skal fortælle om internettet, så
blev ”fundamentet”, soom sagt, lagt tilbage i
1960´erne aaf det amerikanske forsvar.
On January 30, 2016 at 8:39 pm