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“If You…” history series

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When it comes to teaching kids about our country’s history – we might not know when to start.  Sure, they get a smattering of U.S. history in preschool, kindergarten, and the primary grades.  But in my experience, I didn’t get my first big dose of American history until fifth grade.

Let’s change that!

teach-history-to-kids---the-measured-mom

Today I’m going to share how to teach kids about history —  using one simple word.

READ.

Too simple, right?  Actually, reading with our kids and talking about the books is one of the best ways to help them learn.  You may not live near a Native American museum.  Read about it! You may be far removed from the Civil War battle sites.  Pick up a book!  You  might love to visit Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace, but you’re not driving across the country.  No problem. There are books for that.

While it’s true that visiting historical sites is an awesome way to teach your kids about American history, it’s also true that books are not only a wonderful stand-in, but they should be first.  The next time you plan to visit a museum or landmark, check with your library beforehand.  Build background with a great history book for kids.

Ah, but what are those?  It’s extremely hard to find accessible, interesting history books for kids ages 4-10.

Never fear! The “If You…” series from Scholastic is here!

if-you-series---scholastic

I’ve loved this series ever since I began teaching grades 3-5 fourteen years ago (I’ll pause while you do the math there).  These books are fabulous for many reasons.

Why I love the “If you…” series of history books by Scholastic

1) They are great for many age levels.

a) I had these tucked away in my box of books for my kids to enjoy when they were in about third grade.  But when my four-year-old daughter asked me to read one, she was hooked.

b) Now that my daughter has finished kindergarten, she reads these books on her own.   The content and vocabulary are appropriate for advanced readers of a young age.

c) Kids in the primary grades who can’t quite read these independently will learn a lot from listening to a parent or teacher read and discuss the series.

d) The books are perfect for independent readers in grades 3 through 5.  They’re a great support for the American history these children will be learning in school.

2) I love the layout – it means you can skip around without losing meaning.

There are no chapters.  Instead, the books are organized with a series of questions.  As you can see, these can be read out of order without any difficulty.  Since sitting through all 60+ pages of history in one sitting is a lot to expect from a little one, pick and choose.  You know what interests your child.

My daughter is always interested in pages that tell about food.

3) The  illustrations are beautiful and many. 

Nothing’s worse than a history book for kids that skimps on illustrations. Pages of single-spaced text are going to scare away even an avid reader.  These books are accessible even to preschoolers because of the many engaging illustrations.  On occasion, historical photographs are included as well.

4) The content is appropriate for young children.

 Let’s face it – history can be gruesome.  I don’t like it when I’m reading what I think should be a great nonfiction book to my kids – and then I have to stop in my tracks and edit.  That’s even harder now that my Six is reading over my shoulder!  But I can feel comfortable having her read these books on her own.  They don’t sugarcoat history – but they spare the details that young children aren’t ready to handle.

5) The series covers a big span of United States history.

My library doesn’t carry this series (how could they have missed it??), but I can get the books by requesting titles from other libraries. As I was researching this post I was excited to discover newer books that I’ve missed.  We’ll be asking for these soon!

These books are also great to own – consider ordering a few for your home library.  For your convenience, I’ve arranged them in chronological order – not by publishing date, but by when the events occurred in history.

If_You_Lived_With_The_Cherokee_788

If You Lived with the Cherokee, by Peter Roop (© 1998)

if you lived with sioux

If You Lived with the Sioux Indians, by Ann McGovern (© 1992)

If-You-Lived-with-the-Hopi-Indians-Kamma-Anne-9780590397261

If You Lived with the Hopi Indians, by Anne Kamma (© 1999)

northwest coast

If You Lived with the Indians of the Northwest Coast, by Anne Kamma (©  2002)

iroquois

If You Lived with the Iroquois, by Ellen Levine (© 1999)

mayflower

If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, by Ann McGovern (© 1991)

squanto

If You Lived in the Time of Squanto, byAnne Kamma (© 2006)

thanksgiving

If You Were at the First Thanksgiving, by Anne Kamma (© 2001)

if you george washington

If You Grew up with George Washington, by Ruth Belov Gross (©1988)

colonial

If You Lived in Colonial Times, by Ann McGovern (1992)

colonial days

If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days, by Barbara Brenner (© 2000)

revolution

If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution, by Kay Moore (© 1998)

constitution

If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution,by Elizabeth Levy (© 1992)

west

If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon, by Ellen Levine (© 1992)

pioneer

If You Were a Pioneer on the Prairie, by Anne Kamma (© 2003)

abe

If You Grew up with Abraham Lincoln, by Ann McGovern (© 1976)

slavery

If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America, by Anne Kamma (© 2004)

civil war

If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War, by Kay Moore (© 1994)

The Underground Railroad

If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad, by Ellen Levine (© 1993)

ellis

If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island, by Ellen Levine (© 1994)

if you earthquake

If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, by Ellen Levine (© 1992)

women

If You Lived When Women Won Their Rights, by Anne Kamma (© 2008)

martin luther king If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King, by Ellen Levine (1994)

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37 Comments

  2. Natalie

    I totally agree with you on teaching history at a young age. We listened to all 4 volumes of Story of the World with our 6 year old and read many-many history picture books and chapter books. We were focusing more on the World history, so our favorite series similar to If You Lived… is You Wouldn’t Want to Be… It sends children to various parts and various time periods of the world – quite fun.

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      Thanks for the recommendations, Natalie! I looked at the preview of the Story of the World series… it looks great! I’m hoping my six year old will enjoy it – I reserved volume one at our library. I also requested a few of the You Wouldn’t Want to Be series… I can’t wait to check them out!

      Reply to this comment

  6. Katie @ Gift of Curiosity

    I hadn’t heard about this series before I’m so excited about it! I’ve been looking for preschool-appropriate books that teach about various holidays and other historical events. This series looks promising – I’ve already ordered one from the library to check it out! Thanks so much for the info!

    Reply to this comment

  7. michelle

    I’ve seen these in the bookstore but haven’t purchased them yet. I know we will be hitting them soon as we have really started to get into history, especially social history. Thanks for the great reminder! I’m actually writing a post about great non-fiction series and I’m going to have to include these (and link back to you of course).

    Reply to this comment

  9. Anna@stuffedveggies

    Thanks for a fascinating review – I’ve been looking for good history books for my dd. I have a question on these – do they honestly tell about Christianity in US history, or do they pretend it never existed? I have looked and looked for a good Thanksgiving book, but ALL of them at the library leave out what Thanksgiving was REALLY about – Giving Thanks to God. Are these better? Thanks : )

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      Hello, Anna! I looked more closely at this book to answer your question. We actually just read the Thanksgiving book. The books are not Christian themselves — they do not promote Christianity – but they definitely acknowledge it and share the historical facts. The book talks about how Pilgrims were thankful to be able to worship God the way they wanted.

      The Mayflower book talks about how the Pilgrims wanted to have their own church so they wouldn’t have to obey the rules of the King’s church. It mentions bringing a Bible along on the voyage , singing psalms on the trip, and saying prayers to God upon reaching the new land. It also talks about the first Thanksgiving in that book: “…Most important, they had done what they had set out to do. They had found a place to live where they could worship God in their own way. And so the Pilgrims decided to set aside a special time to give thanks.”

      Hope this helps!

      Reply to this comment

      • Anna@stuffedveggies

        Thanks so much for checking this out for me! : )

        All I expect from a history book is that it be honest about the role of Faith in history, and not cover it up or lie about it. Since the Mayflower Pilgrims were motivated to travel to a new land exclusively because of religion, and the first Thanksgiving was exclusively a religiously motivated observance, I see it as dishonest to omit those facts.

        I appreciate knowing that these books include them – and may well seek them out.

        Thanks for the help : )

        Reply to this comment

  11. Bruce Gargoyle

    Such a great idea to have accessible history books for the littlies – we have the fantastic My Australian Story and Our Australian Girl series for middle readers, but I’m not sure about what’s available for younger readers….hmmm, will have to look into this more closely from a local viewpoint. Thanks for posting!

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      My daughter was just reading that one in the car the other day, Heather – she loves anything about food 🙂 I hope your son enjoys the books – and thanks for sharing on your Facebook page!

      Reply to this comment

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