Some of my favorite books for middle schoolers who are studying the Early Modern times.
Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Sonya Shafer.
I love being surrounded by great books! My father recently made me two more bookcases,
so I've been happily reshuffling and reorganizing my collection of history and literature books.
That's one of my favorite tasks: handling and organizing my books. As I hold each one,
it's like looking into the face of an old friend.
So today, I want to introduce some of those friends to you. We'll focus these introductions
on books for students in grades 7–9 and these will be great living books that will
add much to your study of Early Modern times, approximately the years 1550 to 1850.
We've already discussed spine books for the Family and extra books for the younger grades
in previous episodes. I'll leave a link to those reviews in the notes. And don't worry,
my high school picks will be coming soon. Whenever I recommend books for Early Modern
or Modern Times, I like to include both American history and World history. I think it gives
our students a great advantage to study American history in the context of what was going on
in the rest of the world at that time. Check the notes if you want to skip the American
history books and move right to World history. And if you would like daily lesson plans that
detail the order in which to read all of these wonderful books and how many times a week
to read them and how much to read at each sitting, you'll find all of that already scheduled
out for you in our lesson plan book called Early Modern and Epistles. It will layout
a plan for all of the books I recommend across all of the grades for that time period. That
link will be in the notes too. Okay, let's get to introducing my book friends.
First, for American history. Poor Richard by James Daugherty
You can't find a better biography of Benjamin Franklin for this age group than Poor Richard.
James Daugherty is a master storyteller and distinct artist, and both of those qualities
shine through in this book. Reading the story of Ben Franklin's life provides a great overview
of colonial America, the Revolutionary War, and the founding of our government. And James
Daugherty provides that overview in personal terms with a living narrative written in rich
language. Early Thunder by Jean Fritz OR Johnny Tremain
by Esther Forbes I would recommend you choose one of these
two. Now, of course, if your student is an avid reader and you're always looking for
more good books to give him, use both; that's fine. But they are somewhat similar. Both
are historical fiction that center on a young man's adventures in the pre-Revolutionary
tension. Early Thunder centers on the rising tensions between those loyal to the king and
those who want liberty. Daniel has to make his decision. Johnny Tremain is the story
of a silversmith apprentice who has an accident that renders one of his hands useless. As
his life takes a new path, he comes in contact with Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams
and other Boston patriots and discovers his place in American history. Both books are
well written and make for excellent reading. Plus, they are both about the same length
(Johnny Tremain is a little bit longer) and both about the same reading level, so use
whichever you have handy. They're both great. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
This Newbery Medal winner is written like historical fiction, but it chronicles the
life of a real man, Nathaniel Bowditch, and his valuable contribution to navigation. It
was fun a few years ago when I was visiting my nephew who is in the Navy. Somehow we got
onto the topic of navigating the ships at sea, and he mentioned the "Sailor's Bible,"
which is what they call the book that Nathaniel Bowditch wrote. The official title is The
American Practical Navigator. Well, I immediately recommended that my nephew read Carry On,
Mr. Bowditch, if he wanted to know the story behind that "Sailor's Bible" that is still
used today. The story is very readable and follows Mr. Bowditch from his modest beginnings
to his first sea voyage to his eventual mastery of navigation and publishing of his work.
Best of all, Nathaniel Bowditch was self-educated. It's a great book filled with great ideas
for your student. And, as with any good biography, you learn much about the time period as you
follow a person's life events. Diary of an Early American Boy by Eric Sloan
Eric Sloan found a small wood-backed, leather-bound diary in an ancient house in the eastern United
States. It was the diary of a fifteen-year-old boy, Noah Blake, and documented a year in
his life: 1805. The author has used that diary and seamlessly woven in his commentary on
early American life to create a vivid picture of the work and tools and plans and ingenuity
that were demonstrated by those early settlers. If you have a son or daughter who loves to
study how things work, the exquisitely detailed pen-and-ink drawings will be fascinating.
But the narrative will be interesting to all, regardless. It's a fabulous living depiction
of how life changed for that family over the years, even while focusing on just one year
in the life of an Early American boy. Those are my early American history picks.
Let's move on to world history books. So much was happening around the world during
this time period, and few authors can show you the full scope better than Genevieve Foster.
You may be familiar with her books covering other time periods, but I like to recommend
two titles of hers for Early Modern times. And both are surprisingly small, compared
to her others, which is great, because we can take our time and make those personal
connections that are such an important part of learning. The first Genevieve Foster title
that I recommend for this time period is The World of William Penn. Your student will learn
about Penn, yes, but also about the emperors of India and the Taj Mahal, about the great
Manchu emperor in China, about Louis the Fourteenth in France and Peter the Great in Russia. But
not just rulers. Your student will also see how scientists, like Edmund Halley and Sir
Isaac Newton, and explorers, like Marquette and Jolliet and la Salle, all fit into that
era. William Penn's life spans a fascinating age of exploration and discovery. Plus your
student will gain great ideas from Penn's beliefs that undergirded his relationships
with the Pennsylvania Native American tribes. The World of William Penn, it's another great
living narrative from Genevieve Foster. Since I’m listing these books in chronological
order, I’ll get to the other Genevieve Foster at the end.
The Story of Modern France by H. A. Guerber You may recognize this author from The Story
of the Greeks and The Story of the Romans that we recommend for those time periods.
The Story of Modern France does a great job of laying out the French Revolution in a succinct
yet living narrative. The book goes on to tell more about the history of France, but
the main reason I assign this book is to cover that revolution. So I usually recommend only
the first 23 chapters. Your student can certainly finish the whole book if he wants to, but
only chapters 1–23 are scheduled in the lesson plans. And don't worry if you don't
use the whole thing; happily, this book is in public domain, so you can find it free
online. Hearts and Hands: Chronicles of the Awakening
Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow The Withrows have written a series of books
about church history that focuses on telling the stories of influential Christian men and
women. Hearts and Hands is volume four in that series and presents living biographies
of gifted preachers and justice fighters around the world in the 18th and 19th centuries:
Jonathan Edwards, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Wesley, William Wilberforce and the Abolitionists,
William Carey, Elizabeth Fry, Liang Fa, Adoniram and Ann Judson, Fidelia Fiske, Sojourner Truth
and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and others who played key roles in church history. I feel
a kindred spirit with the authors; the back cover copy starts out: "Let history come to
life—just the way it should do." For living church history, check out the History Lives
series. Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates
This is another Newbery Medal winner and a powerful story. It traces the life of Amos,
from his capture in Africa in 1725 to his horrific trip across the ocean to his life
as a slave in New England. After more than twenty years as a slave, he was able to arrange
for and buy his freedom. The narrative follows his establishing a trade and building a homestead
and finally being able to purchase freedom for the woman he wanted to marry as well as
some needy children in his town. Your student will learn much about the evils of slavery
and yet how a strong character and kind heart can rise above hard circumstances and overcome
evil with good. It's a true story and a powerful book.
The Year of the Horseless Carriage by Genevieve Foster
This is the other Genevieve Foster book that I love to recommend for this time period.
It's the thinnest of them all, but this is the one that gave me the most "ah-ha" moments
when I read it. Though it sounds like it chronicles only one year, it does much more than that.
Here is the author's introduction: "In 1801, when this book begins, Napoleon
Bonaparte was not only the ruler of France; he was also planning to conquer and rule over
England, as well as the entire continent of Europe. In America he owned all the land from
the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. What he planned to do with it was of great
concern to Thomas Jefferson, the new president of the United States.
"In fact, in 1801, Napoleon was causing such a stir in both Europe and America that the
invention of the 'horseless carriage,' the most significant event of that year, passed
by almost unnoticed. It was not until Napoleon had been defeated by the kings and emperors
of Europe, and was a prisoner on the island of Saint Helena, that the first public railroad
was started in England and the locomotive began to take the place of the horse.
"This is the story of those eventful twenty years—from 1801 to 1821."
And through this masterful storytelling, your student will form connections between Richard
Trevithick, Thomas Jefferson, Beethoven, Robert Fulton, Lewis and Clark, James Madison, and
more. A great book that sets the wheels in motion for transitioning into Modern Times.
So those are some old friends of mine that I hope will become good friends to you and
your seventh-through-ninth-grade student. Do you have any other book friends that you
would like to recommend for Early Modern at this age level? Leave a comment and let's
talk books. If you enjoyed this video, subscribe through
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the blog post on our website at simplycharlottemason.com. All of those links will be in the notes along
with links to resources I mentioned. Thanks for joining me. See you next time!