Justified Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 At our library used book sale, I found some great gems. Four animal books by George F. Mason, one book on tools by Irving Alder, biography on Galileo by Rebecca B. Marcus, a history of the Greeks by Dorothy Mills, a diary of an early American boy by Eric Sloane, and several more. These books mostly come from out of the 50s and 60s, but some older. I have been actually very frustrated with most of the books in the children's area at our library, and finding these gave me hope. The modern science and history books for children are poorly written, vague and choppy and there only redeeming quality are the graphics. I love graphics but my kids need a little more challenging text. There seems to be nothing in between these graphic filled children books and the adult books. We aren't ready for textbooks and I prefer that their understanding of history and science not be narrated by just a couple of individuals. Does anyone have a list of authors/books for children that have depth and cover science and history? I think nonfiction narrative would be the name of this particular style. Age level is upper elementary to middle school. I tried to search the forum for the authors I found today, but I came up empty. I haven't read any of these books and I was curious if reading science books of this age would be a bad idea due to possible out dated info. Any up to date books like this would be great too. Thanks for any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietchapel Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Try Yesterday's Classics, Ambleside, and Rbinson book lists Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curlymom Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I also like the books offered by Beautiful Feet Books. You don't have to do the lesson plans bit they have great literary book lists for history and science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HejKatt Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I know your request isn't specifically for vintage books, but older books do tend to lend themselves better to narration so these threads might be useful: Science http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/398721-vintage-science-books-how-useful-your-favorites/ http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/473692-science-books-from-the-1950s-60s-70s-and-80s/ http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/467518-science-through-stories/ History http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/298509-calling-the-vintage-folk/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Valerie's Living Books is a marvelous resource for science, history, and more! There's also a great pdf of Landmark and World Landmark books in chronological order. I love these books for history, definitely good for upper elem to middle school ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I think you do have to be careful with vintage books and science. As recently as my childhood in the 1970s, brontosaurus were present in kids' books. That is no longer considered a species. Geology books might not mention tectonic plate theory. Astronomy and biology books might similarly present outdated info. But there are some gems. Some of the nature books that are based on long hours of actual observation are quite nice. I'm thinking, for example of A Walk through the Year by Edmund Way Teale. I have a couple books on electricity and satellites that I really like because they actually explain the concepts in detail. Things like how the altitude of a satellite determines if it will be geostationary or not. Joy Hakim has a History of Science set that might be good for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I think you do have to be careful with vintage books and science. As recently as my childhood in the 1970s, brontosaurus were present in kids' books. That is no longer considered a species. Geology books might not mention tectonic plate theory. Astronomy and biology books might similarly present outdated info. I have books that talk about "one day we may even get to the moon!" Also weird racial theories of the past or rather awkward phrasing about Mongoloid features or whatever. It's very disappointing because I love the interesting texts and the assumption that kids are quite curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauphin Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Is your siggie also another example of outdated science, Stripe? I've been meaning to ask you your thoughts behind it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymonkeybug Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Some great authors of superb vintage History books would be Van Loon, Genevieve Foster, Eva March Tappan, H.A. Guerber, V.M. Hilyer, heck, even Dickens wrote a couple kids History books that were good. There is also a great series of books from the late 1800's called The Story of the Nations written by several different authors and each book is about a specific country/nation. A great company to check out the site of too is Heritage History. They have a homeschool History curriculum that uses these very old higher quality writings as their base for History. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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