French Revolution for 7yo?

[raptor_dad]

We are deep in an American Revolution obsession here. Books take a long time to come in since many are through interlibrary loan. DS7 has read all the relevant garrard/discovery bios and several Landmark books as well as a half dozen other books. We are still waiting for bios of Lafayette to come in....

 

I was planning on trying to pivot from this to Jefferson and Lewis and Clark. Silly me, DS wants to instead move on to reading about the French Revolution. Not suprisingly, there is little available. Anything up to middle school level would be fine. I want something relatively unbiased. Fiction about poor aristocrats getting rescued isn't what I'm looking for.... I have Palmer's "Twelve Who Ruled" sitting on a shelf; I fully understand how brutal the revolution was and the madness it ended in. However, I'm hoping there is some suitable resource that can outline the history. After that we can have the discussion of how  just revolutions succeed or fail. Not my plan but manageable. We've already had the discussion of whether Marion or Tarelton where heroes or war criminals discussion in the American Revolution.

 

PS. For those who want to gush about The Scarlet Pimpernel or Dickens, I think these are great options for after we flesh out the basic story. If we don't read these now, we certainly will in a year or so. If anyone has historical fiction recs about peasants/urban poor who support the revolution and then abandon it later I would love to hear them.

[raptor_dad]

Oh... We also have a rapidly developing interest in Scots and Irish Folk revolutionary folk music. More opportunities to discuss failed revolutions :).

 

Lewis and Clark... 1812... McDonnell on the Heights, Brock, all that to simple and unambiguous apparently ;).

[Uff Da!]

This isn't that helpful for your overall goal, but there is a Stepping Stone Les Miserable.  I'm assuming it would be OK for a 7 year old.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Les-Miserables-Stepping-Stone-Book/dp/067986668X

 

I just skimmed the sample.  The writing is rather poor.

[Black-eyed Suzan]

Have you explored the additional reading recommendations in SOTW Vol 3 Activity Guide? There are 5 history books specifically about the French Revolution with an "Independent Reading" level of 3rd-6th. I haven't seen those specifically, but my 7 year old and I have enjoyed reading the recommended books in Vol 2.

[raptor_dad]

I was not impressed with SOTW so don't own it or the ancillaries.

 

So far the best resource I've found is "The French Revolution (Cornerstones of Freedom)" by Gregory. It gives a good overview while eliding much of the Reign of Terror. I'll report back with what DS thinks and if I find better/additional resources.

 

[Emerald Stoker]

Do you know Sally Gardner's books? She has two French Revolution novels for young readers, The Red Necklace and The Silver Blade: http://www.sallygardner.net/books/red-necklace-silver-blade/ . We've not read those, but have read a couple of her others, and she is a very good writer indeed. Maybe worth a look?

 

Is he interested in the Jacobite Rising? Rosemary Sutcliff wrote Bonnie Dundee and Flame-Coloured Taffeta (there may be others, she was so prolific, but those two are on our shelves).