Christianbook.com Homeschool Blog

Non-fiction kids’ books are great.

One of Charlesbridge Publishing’s newest books, The Great Molasses Flood is on a particularly unique topic [what, you weren’t planning an entire unit study around the Great Molasses Flood of 1919?] but would be great to integrate into broader studies.

The Great Molasses Flood is just interesting, period. On January 15, 1919, a tank of molasses exploded, sending shards of metal flying and releasing a 40-foot wave of dark, flowing molasses that collapsed buildings and coated the North End of Boston. Kops uses a number of personal stories in telling her story; find yourself in the shoes of poor Mrs. O’Brien, who opened a door to find her entire building moved down the street, among those helping with the sticky, long, clean-up, or telling your testimony along with other survivors.

Falling squarely in the intersection between the “weird disasters” category, the “this-is-an-example-of-how-historical-research-is-done” category, and the “early modern period of history” category, Deborah Kops uses primary documents, archival photos, and a narrative re-telling that will put you right in the midst of the action. Set into the broader early-modern context of 1919, students will find it interesting how the effects of broader events they’ve read about elsewhere—World War I, early waves of immigration, women’s suffrage, the struggle over improved regulation, prohibition, and the anarchist movement—played out in the face of one disaster. It’s one thing to read about how and why events happened, and their direct aftermath. It’s quite another to see the unique, localized ways in which they affected ordinary people. With the scent of molasses only fading from Boston in the mid-1990s, Kops’ Great Molasses Flood presents a contextual, localized history that is brought into the present day.

102 indexed pages, library-reinforced hardcover with dust jacket. Sepia-toned pages and archival photographs. Ages 9-12.

Never heard of him?

You’re certainly not alone! One of the ignored heroes of the Revolutionary War, his descendant 6-times-removed has decided to bring him back into the spotlight once more.  Hercules of the Revolution: A Novel Based on the Life of Peter Francisco will introduce you to the man who was born into wealth, kidnapped, raised as a slave, and who eventually would become known by Lafayette, George Washington, Patrick Henry, and others.

With monuments in three states, a stamp issued with his picture, and the officially designated Peter Francisco Day in VA, MA, and RI, invigorate your American history studies with this brand-new story of adventure, strength, and courage.

And, for today only, Hercules of the Revolution will ship free to US addresses! Just select Standard or UPS Ground shipping at checkout, and you’ll be receiving your book with no shipping costs.

Want to learn more? Watch the promo video!

Woodcut from: The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate…we can not consecrate…we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Did anyone else catch PBS’ American Master’s special on Louisa May Alcott? The in-character, direct-to-camera acting caught me slightly off guard—it just took a bit of getting used to. However, the more traditional “documentary” animation, music, and voice-overs, I thought were fantastic. And now I know I have to read more Alcott, only ever having read Little Women once!

A few interesting facts learned:

*She lived on the same street as Thoreau and Emerson, and down the street from Hawthorne—and they even were only able to buy their house with Emerson’s monetary help.

*She wrote voraciously, but primarily for the money (employing a pseudonym for her more “popular”-type novels), since her philosophizing father, Bronson Alcott, was apparently not so good at gainful employment.

*She could have really died from Lupus, despite her faulting the mercury-laden “medicine” they gave her while she was serving as a nurse during the Civil War.

A selection from our Louisa May Alcott section of our Classic Literature Store:

A reminder:

The Mayflower Compact from William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation:

“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. A.D. 1620″

And from Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth:

“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

I loved history, and still do–so I was incredibly happy to finally get a chance to start working on our new history store. I’ve tried to compile all of the curriculum lines and series that we carry, as well as organize the vast number of individual books, biographies, games, and other fun resources by history period. So far, you can browse through Ancient History (by region), Greece, Rome, The Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation, Colonial American History, and the Civil War…I hope to add more time periods soon (obviously we need some current events and world wars!).

While I doubt it will ever be “complete”—thank goodness new history books are always coming out—it’s at least a start!