Books like Sybil Ludington's Midnight Ride — picked by fans

Many have studied how in 1963 African Americans marched to gain equality, especially in southern towns, like Birmingham, Alabama. But I never knew that the first main march involved thousands of children and teens who marched so their parents wouldn’t lose their jobs. These brave youth found the courage to face their fears and the hatred of whites who fought to keep them separate and unequal. Their protest march encouraged adults to join them. Hateful efforts to stop the march were broadcast across the country, ultimately changing the direction of the civil rights movement. Bold pictures show everyday children and civil rights leaders finally gaining rights to playgrounds and diners and eventually better schooling. An important story, simply written—and about children who made a difference.

This classic is about the need to speak up when someone sees something wrong. The story mirrors what many seemingly good people did not do during the WWII Holocaust. This story is told about different groups of animals, which is easier for young readers to understand. When the Terrible Things come to take away one group, the others feel relief. But one by one the Terrible Things take away another group. During this time no one speaks against what’s happening. They are just happy their time hasn’t come. By the time the Terrible Things come for the last group, there is no group left to protest and save them. The author wrote this book to “encourage young children to stand up for what they think is right, without waiting for others to join them.” That’s exactly what children in my books do and what I want to encourage in readers.

During times of war, children often wonder what they can do to help. When Polly’s father joined fighting in World War I, she planted food, stopped eating meat on Mondays, and wrote to her father overseas. But she wanted to make more of a difference. After her teacher asked kids to save their peach pits for soldiers to use as filters in their masks, Polly suggested her town hold a peach pit parade to gather more peach pits. She made signs, wrote to newspapers to announce the parade, and sent notices to other classrooms, schools, and Girl Scout troops. In the end the parade gleaned enough peach pits to filter hundreds of gas masks—all from one girl’s idea. I try to emphasize that each child can make a huge difference with seemingly small and everyday actions.

I have been a Patricia Polacco fan for years. Her books show real situations that kids face growing up. One is dealing with a bully. That takes courage. This story recounts how a girl named Lyla gets caught up with being popular, only to find that kids in that group can be nasty to others, especially her best friend Jamie. Lyla decides that she doesn’t like when Jamie is bullied by this group and finally tells them. Similarly, her best friend tells the principal when this group tries to make it look like Lyla cheats, but he knows differently. Bravery shows itself in many ways. In this case it’s speaking the truth and standing up for others.

This book is also part of a series. It’s packed with illustrations and also contains a timeline of women and the American Revolution. I liked that the book features seven women – writers, warriors, negotiators, and caretakers – and their contribution to how they helped shape our nation. Plus there are mentions of other founding mothers, including Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, so that kids can be introduced to more women in history and follow up by reading other books about them. 

When I speak to middle school classes, one of my themes is that while women rarely appear in history books or paintings about the American Revolution, except as victims, the Continental Army could not have functioned without the women who were part of the Army community. Revolutionary Mothers offers fascinating insights into how women shaped and influenced the war and its outcome. I found it of tremendous help in fleshing out the character of Ruth Munroe, Gideon Hawke’s partner and occasional savior.    

I always ask people if they know about any of the nation’s “founding mothers.” Most do not, and those who have some insights usually speak about these women as one-dimensional characters.

Betsy Ross = Flag. Dolley Madison = Ice cream (This, although Dolly Madison, the ice cream company founded in the 20th century, is not related to Dolley Madison, the influential wife of President James Madison in the early 19th century.)

I loved how this book, a collection of profiles of Colonial women, presents them as real people with their own ideas and strengths and spheres of influence.

Abigail Adams famously warned her husband, John, to “remember the ladies” while drafting laws for the United States. Betsy Ross did some important sewing, yes, but also ran a successful upholstery business and was such an ardent supporter of the patriot movement that she was dubbed “the little rebel.” Dolley Madison set… show more.

You know the standard stories of the Revolution, with heroes like George Washington and villains like Benedict Arnold. But Woody Holton shines a new light on America’s founding war. You’ll meet new heroes, and you’ll understand the old ones better. How does America start? And why? Here’s a whole new set of answers to complicate the ones you’ve learned.

The Boston Massacre: A Family History takes an event that I thought I knew inside and out, an event I teach in my classes, and tells an entirely new story.

The soldiers who shot the protestors in Boston on a wintery day in 1770 are usually the villains—Paul Revere and other Boston revolutionaries labeled the deaths a “massacre,” after all. But by starting a few years earlier, Zabin shows the British soldiers as young men coming to a colonial town that was also, at the time, British.

They lived in colonial houses, made Bostonian friends, and married Bostonian women. So by the time tensions between the protestors and the British government were accelerating into war, it was a community of friends and families that would be torn apart. 

This is a fantastic book to help you understand the conflicts underlying the USA.

This two-volume work covers the period from 1763 through the Revolution’s early stages. Smith emphasizes the perspectives of ordinary colonists, soldiers, and marginalized groups, weaving their experiences into a rich tapestry.

His accessible storytelling brings figures like John and Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and George Washington vividly to life. Reading it, I felt present at the moment “the shot heard ’round the world” was fired in Lexington on April 19, 1775.

The book helped me grasp the foundational tensions between North and South that would later explode into the Civil War.