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Finished Story of the World. . .now what for history free reading?


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My 10 year old son has DEVOURED the SOTW series. . .over and over. . .and over.

He asked my when I was getting him the next one, so I was forced to break the news to him: there is no volume 5. Poor kid. I told him I'd try and find him some more history oriented books to read. What have ya'll gone to after SOTW? Would he like the Foster books?

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As far as spines go, my favorites are A History of US (concise edition from K12) then the Human Odyssey series (from K12) then Geography Alive! (from TCI) then the American Odyssey (from K12).

 

We used the Foster books several years ago and I wasn't overly impressed.

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You can try "The Story of Science" by Joy Hakim

 

http://www.joyhakim.com/

These look beautiful.

 

I haven't read it yet. But if you want something Canadian :) you can try, "From Then to Now: A Short History of the World" By Christopher Moore.

 

http://www.amazon.ca...57008467&sr=8-1

 

I'm not Canadian, but I can see it from my house. ;)

 

Anything he'll love as much as Story of the World is what I'm looking for. :-)

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As far as spines go, my favorites are A History of US (concise edition from K12) then the Human Odyssey series (from K12) then Geography Alive! (from TCI) then the American Odyssey (from K12). We used the Foster books several years ago and I wasn't overly impressed.

 

I've been think about A History of US but reviews seem to be SOO mixed. I think I'll try and check one out at the library and see what he thinks. Are the K12 and Geography Alive! conducive to "free reading"?

I know people tend to have mixed feelings about the Foster books as well. . .maybe we should give it a library "test run".

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Builders of the Old World

The reviews for this look good on amazon. Is it in print anywhere? I'm only seeing used copies and no samples.

 

Mine loves Horrible Histories. I keep meaning to try A Little History of the WOrld. :lurk5:

 

Wow. . .ds loves Horrible Histories via you tube, but I had no idea there were books. I must be living under a rock or something. I KNOW he would love those.

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The reviews for this look good on amazon. Is it in print anywhere? I'm only seeing used copies and no samples.

 

 

 

Nope - it's out of print. It's nice - very readable, a bit above SOTW but not much, with a lot more detail about social history.

 

Another for fun resource - the DK book Take Me Back is amusing.

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I've been think about A History of US but reviews seem to be SOO mixed.

 

 

Most (if not all) of the reviews are for the original version. The concise version is *much* better, though if you're concerned about it being liberal then both versions will be a problem. I actually don't recommend the original version at all, just the concise version.

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Most (if not all) of the reviews are for the original version. The concise version is *much* better, though if you're concerned about it being liberal then both versions will be a problem. I actually don't recommend the original version at all, just the concise version.

 

Depends on HOW liberal. . .I'm not for "howard zinn" liberal, but also not looking for a providential "the founding fathers were infallible" brand of conservative either.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the third k12 Odyssey book about Moderns. I was so disappointed not to be homeschooling--a great deal of it was that dd wouldn't be reading that wonderful book. It has excepts every now and again from pertinent books or sources. For example, there is a little history of the occurances in Les Mis, and an excerpt from it--who wouldn't love that? :001_smile:

 

Really, it's very readable and interesting.

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Cheryl Harness has written numerous history books for children in your son's reading range. She has a much different writing style than SWB, so you might want to check a book or two out of your library and see if your son takes a shine to it.

 

We like the D'Aulaire biographies. My oldest is an avid reader, and she's read these over and over.

 

We recently purchased the Foster history books. I am reading through them, LOL, and learning a lot. I think they are a bit much for my six year olds, but my eight year old has "perused" them. I think a bright 10 year old like your son could read them and grow into them.

 

We really like the Betsy & Giulio Maestro history books. Some people think they have a liberal bias, but I haven't noticed it. [shrug]. My only wish is that the Maestros would finish MORE books, LOL. They are working on it, but their books take time. Not a part of their "American Story" series, but worth reading, are The Story of Money, The Story of the Statue of Liberty, and Coming to America.

 

Jean Fritz has written a number of enjoyable (and funny) children's books about various history topics.

 

If your son is not too squeamish about reading "girl" books, he could read through the Little House books or the American Girl books. I realize this is all American history, though (that's what we're working on this year, so I have my list handy). The Little House books are available as audiobooks (CDs) read by Cherry Jones. Wonderful listening!

 

We have enjoyed James Baldwin's Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Thirty More Famous Stories Retold, Fifty Famous People, and Four Great Americans. We haven't read his other books yet.

 

That's all I can think of for now. We bought Story of the World CDs (all of them) and have started listening, so in a few years I'll be back here posting, "What next?" ;)

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Depends on HOW liberal. . .I'm not for "howard zinn" liberal, but also not looking for a providential "the founding fathers were infallible" brand of conservative either.

 

 

Hakim is not Howard Zinn liberal, thank goodness, though I do think Zinn has his place.

 

I actually find Hakim to be fairly balanced. But then again, I'm a raving liberal myself...

 

I know that in some threads people have delineated all of the errors Hakim has in her books, and I admit that I've found a few myself (or at least, I've found things that were reported differently elsewhere; I don't claim to know enough history to know for sure which source is the most correct one at all times). But when we found those things, we just talked about them and moved on.

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