This book relays the factual details of the story of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a fireman fighting fires and rescuing others, a girl whose home is destroyed, and a resident of Chinatown. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about a historical event.
This book relays the factual details of the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a teenage girl worker, a New York socialite, and a responding fireman. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about a historical event.
This book relays the factual details of the Great Depression in the United States during the 1930s. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a government worker, a Civilian Conservation Corps worker, and a young daughter of an unemployed banker. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about a historical event.
This book relays the factual details of the U.S. homefront during World War II. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a female bomber plant worker, an African-American worker, and a Japanese-American business owner. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about a historical event.
This book relays the factual details of immigration through the Angel Island station, which is near San Francisco, California. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a male Chinese immigrant, a Chinese woman coming to join her immigrant husband, and a missionary woman trying to help Chinese immigrants. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about a historical event.
This book relays the factual details of the Battle of Bull Run that took place during the U.S. Civil War. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a Union soldier, a Confederate captain, and a Washington newspaper reporter. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about an historical event.
This book relays the factual details of the creation of the U.S. Constitution. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a serving girl at a Pennsylvania boardinghouse, a law clerk in the state of Virginia, and an apprentice printer. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about a historical event.
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, declared all Confederate slaves to be free. Because the order only applied to Southern states that the Union did not control, few slaves benefited immediately. However, many see the historic document as a key turning point in the U.S. Civil War and in the movement to abolish slavery.
The first enslaved Africans landed in North America in 1619 to begin a life of forced, unpaid labor, harsh living conditions, and cruel treatment. The Southern economy grew dependent on slave labor, and the terrible institution was not abolished until after the American Civil War. Although slavery ended almost 150 years ago in the United States, its legacies of racism, prejudice, and the struggle for equal treatment persist today.
Born into slavery, Frederick Douglass was struck by the unfairness and cruelty of slave life and escaped as a young man to the North. A skilled speaker and writer of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass became a fierce fighter for the end of slavery and later led the early civil rights movement.
France wanted to show its support of American democracy by giving the country a gift for the centennial. This gift would become the Statue of Liberty. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
This book looks at the geography, history, resources, and people of the West region of the United States. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
Begins with a factual overview of the War of 1812 and then continues with a fictional story centering on Sophie Turner and her father. The Turners are slaves owned by President James Madison and his wife, Dolley. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
The first monarchies date back to about the time civilization began. Many existing monarchies have survived for centuries. The monarchy of Great Britain is more than 1,000 years old. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
This book introduces pioneer pilots Otto Lilienthal, the Wright brothers, Roland Garros, and Anthony Fokker. Flying aces such as the Red Baron, Albert Ball, and Edward Mannock are also discussed. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
This book looks at the geography, history, resources, and people of the Midwest region of the United States. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
This book looks at the geography, history, resources, culture, and people of China. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
Jonah Robinson wanted to entice people to South Dakota, so he proposed building a monument out of a mountain. Robinson found Gutzon Borglum, a talented sculptor who took on the incredible task. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
This book discusses several ancient civilizations and their forms of government. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
Chinese civilization advanced over many thousands of years--through wars, famine, and many families of emperors called dynasties. During this time, there were great moments of invention, discovery, and exploration. Reading Essentials in Social Studies.
When Jason agrees to go camping with his cousin Sean, he doesn’t picture two weeks at a War of 1812 reenactment camp. But that’s where he ends up. The historically accurate camp bans all trappings of modern life, like cell phones and electricity. Jason is not impressed, but they do get to fire muskets, and he secretly likes that, despite the general dorkiness of the camp. And then there’s the cute girl who works in the mess tent. And the sneaking around at night getting into trouble, which is fun—until Jason and his friends keep running into a camp counselor who is clearly up to no good. They resolve to find out exactly what the counselor is up to, but they may have taken on more than they can handle.
The year is 1903, and Charlie Sutherland, a sixteen-year-old orphan, is on the run. Three years earlier, he was sent by Dr. Barnardo's Home in England to work on the remote Alberta homestead of Albert and Buck Brooks. Charlie has been treated poorly by the two brothers, but he has endured. However, when Albert dies under curious circumstances, and Buck accuses him of murder, Charlie has no choice but to run. He ends up in Frank, a coal-mining town in the Rocky Mountains. Once in Frank, Charlie finally finds friendship and a sense of belonging and self-worth—emotional qualities that had eluded him as a mere "Home boy." His new best friend is another English boy, who has recently received the deed to a homestead and is working to save for supplies. Things change dramatically, however, when—as the local aboriginals have for centuries predicted it would—the mountain walks. In this true event of April 29, 1903, Turtle Mountain collapses, burying a portion of the town. What Charlie does next is determined by the lessons he's learned from those he's become close to, the hard-working immigrants and colorful Canadians who struggled against all odds to populate the West.
Abandoned by her father during the Depression, eleven-year-old Elsie lives in the garage behind her old house with her mother, grandmother Nan and out-of-work uncle. Elsie's friend Scoop accompanies her as she searches for her father in the city, encountering unfriendly hobos, food lines and shantytowns. After both her uncle and her mother disappear on mysterious errands, Elsie and Scoop eventually discover them competing in a dance marathon. Persuading them to abandon the contest, Elsie and Scoop lead the exhausted dancers home, where Nan has news of Elsie's father and his impending return to the family.
It's 1963, and Jack's family is still reeling from the SIDS death of his baby sister. Adrift in his own life, Jack is convinced that setting a world record will bring his father back to his senses and his mother back to life. But world events, including President Kennedy's assassination, threaten to overshadow any record Jack tries to beat from sausage eating to face slapping. Nothing works, and Jack is about to give up when a new friend suggests a different approach that involves listening to, not breaking, records.
In the spring of 1954, when her father announces that the family has a chance to immigrate to Canada, Theresa's life changes forever. She and her family are wartime refugees from Yugoslavia; so it shouldn't be hard to leave Austria. But the weathered barracks of Lager Lichtenstein are the only home she knows, and they are filled with family and friends she doesn't want to leave behind. As she says her good-byes, Theresa's friend Martin gives her two gifts: a package of postcards and a stone he calls the Gnome's Eye, which he says will "protect her from all things evil, living or dead." Theresa is convinced the stone has no power, but she still keeps it close as they travel on the crowded immigrant ship and when they settle into a rooming house on Kensington Avenue in Toronto. At first Theresa is afraid of everything: the other tenants in the rooming house, the rat that lives in the kitchen, learning a new language. But as time goes by, Theresa's need for the Gnome's Eye fades, until she is finally able to give it to someone who needs it more than she does.