A Child's First Book of American History

[NewIma]

Has anyone read this? Do you think it would work for a more secular and liberal leaning family? Thank you so much!

[TKDmom]

:bigear:

 

I just saw this book for the first time this afternoon, while I was researching more history options for ds11.

[RootAnn]

I have it & have used some of it. I don't remember anything off-hand that would be difficult to use from a secular perspective, but I don't know about liberal. I'll look at it later tonight & repost tomorrow.

[freelylearned]

It is a very well written book with engaging stories rather than a dry textbook account. The vocabulary and writing style are excellent. Some of the themes involve courage, heroism, and hard work.

 

My biggest complaint is that there is hardly a woman in the book. I will probably us it as a read aloud the next time we get to American History and weave in books from the Outrageous Women series to fill in the gender gap.

[RootAnn]

It might be a little young for an 11 yr old. Depends on the kid, I guess, but that's my feeling.

 

There is mention of God, but as part of the story (Columbus writing in his accounts that he felt the natives would make good Christians, or Marquette being a Jesuit). There aren't any Bible verses that I saw. The author doesn't white-wash things & often mentions the negatives to the actions described (as well as positives where they are). There might be some things you will want to add your perspective on, but I don't think there is anything offensive to liberal-leaning people.

 

It isn't exhaustive, but would work as a spine - especially as a read-aloud. It only goes to World War 2 and only covers certain events/people.

[NewIma]

Thank you so much!!

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

We like it, but it was written about fifty years ago. If you are looking for something that is more modern/revisionist, it may not suit you. You might consider Joy Hakim's series. But I think the stories have been pretty solid. It is not overly religious, just more classic Americana.

[RootAnn]

I agree with the above except I did find that there was a realism to the stories like how the author pointed out the greed and cruelty of the early Spaniards. Or how the colonists ended up with the good land and kept relegating the natives to inferior land or just pushing them further west. It isn't all rah-rah, but I do think the tone tries to be positive.