Following up on David McCullough

I ran out of time yesterday, and wanted to add this list of suggested readings to go with my post yesterday about David McCullough's new 1776: The Illustrated Edition, the illustrated and abridged edition of Mr. McCullough's original 1776.

All of the children's books listed below are narrative histories and overviews of the period, rather than books about a particular element of the American Revolution (which means the list doesn't include any biographies or the terrific Jean Fritz books, such as And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?). And interestingly, all are illustrated (the first two are picture books) and by authors who have written extensively for children about history, especially American history.

For children (ages 8 or 9 and up/younger as a readaloud):

Liberty or Death: The American Revolution: 1763-1783 by Betsy Maestro with illustrations by Giulio Maestro, from the Maestros' wonderful "American Story" series

George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer (useful for Canadians and other Loyalist types)

For children (ages 10 or so and up):

Give Me Liberty: The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Russell Freedman

For children (ages 12 or so and up):

The Real Revolution: The Global Story of American Independence by Marc Aronson; nifty free teacher guides at Marc Aronson's website.

On to the Revolution

Since the kids are about to start their study of the Revolutionary War for history, I was delighted to see that J.L. Bell at Boston 1775 today posted an entry on Boston's Expanding Borders -- his plans over the next few days to "highlight some free online resources that relate to Revolutionary New England". Nifty, and perfect timing.

I'll have to check through Boston 1775's archives and the sidebars for other good links we can use. Many thanks to J.L. Bell for this fine resource.