Best children american history of 1900s books according to redditors
We found 28 Reddit comments discussing the best children american history of 1900s books. We ranked the 23 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Twice now, professional friends of my wife (who, as always, is a humanities professor) have given my oldest daughter this kind of book as a gift. Each time it was a from a late 30s childless feminist female professor (who are people I like fine, btw). They apparently thought the books were "fun" and "playful" with a "good message".
The first of these, A is for Activist, I mostly rolled my eyes about and then gave away after a while.
The second one, Rad American Women A-Z, was given as a gift when I wasn't around, so I only came across it when looking at my 5 year old daughter's book shelf. The very first content page of this book when I opened it was this hagiography of Angela Davis - it is instructive to compare the article in the kids book with the information in the wikipedia page. And I'll admit, I seethed for a while after finding this book on my daughter's book shelf.
I recognize that there are people out there who want to give their kids these kinds of books, just as there are people who want to give their kids Baby's First Bible Stories or Baby's First Bill O'Reilly or Baby's First Glenn Beck or Baby's First Hamas.
And aside from that Hamas cartoon, this doesn't bother me. This is basically one major way people pass on their values and culture and worldview to their kids.
Nor does it bother me that my daughter will learn, over time, that there are well-meaning people out there who support Angela Davis, or Glenn Beck, or Moses, or radical feminism, or traditionalism, or Orthodox Judaism, or whatever, and that they disagree with each other, and they have their reasons, and that's okay. And she'll have to make up her own mind about those things.
But what does bother me is the idea that it's reasonable, and fun, and not even worthy of comment, to give what amounts to pretty nakedly partisan / radical propaganda to other people's kids.
It was actually after finding this second book that it finally sunk in for me that my previous practice of just politely and silently keeping my politics and worldview to myself around my wife's peers wasn't going to work. It doesn't bother me that I don't agree with them on plenty of stuff, and it's not important to me that they be convinced of, or engage with, my viewpoints or values. I actually get nothing out of them getting a window in to what I think and believe, really. But I've started seeing their assumptions about what all decent people think and value leak into how they treat my kids. And that's getting my back up. It's the assumptions part of it more than anything.
EDIT: To clarify, both books were given to my wife by the friends. No one was trying to go around our backs or anything like that... nor would they, because it wouldn't have occurred to them that there was anything objectionable about the books in the first place. It just happened to be the case that I found the second book on the book case without knowing it had been given, as described above.
You have to consider that racism isn't just the element of disliking someone and thinking their race is better.
In the U.S. specifically, there has been systematic, institutionalized racism. Basically, one group of people (white Europeans) set up society in a way that limits people of color and has traditionally kept them out of the areas that whites feel they dominate. This was done for many reasons, in part because of the idea that being European ancestry made someone more civilized, smarter, and better at [xyz reason].
"Racism" doesn't come from all sides - prejudice does. Racism is the long-term plot for people of color to be kept out of areas that give huge benefits to whites. It's having white criminals getting less severe sentences than black criminals. It's black women being more likely to die during childbirth than white women. It's black children in school being more likely to be punished, or called problem students than white children.
Race and Crime
Race and Pregnancy
Race and School Punishments
Race Bias in Teachers
Race Bias in Medicine
Books:
Fred Korematsu Speaks Up
She Stood for Freedom
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story
Separate Is Never Equal
Speaking of Hillary Clinton and Hockey apparently this exists
Hillary Clinton: Some Girls are Born to Lead
It Takes a Village: Picture Book by Hillary Rodham Clinton
A Girl Named Hillary: The True Story of Hillary Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton: Dreams Taking Flight
Hillary Clinton: The Life of a Leader
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark
I Look Up To... Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Elizabeth Warren: Nevertheless, She Persisted
And there are a lot more where those came from. There were a lot of politician worshiping children's books I chose not to include because my list was already pretty long.
Are you looking for fiction or non-fiction?
As far as non-fiction goes here are a few I like for kids:
Women in Science
Rad American Women
Girls Think of Everything
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
And if you search for any of these books there are always suggestions of tons of other great books. I have a Girl Scout troop so I'm always browsing for great pro-women books for them.
Also the Wreck this Journal books aren't "books" but still super fun for girls that age!
You should also pick up Fred Korematsu Speaks Up some of my fellow grad students literally did not know about Japanese internment camps in the US. :'(
For the holocaust unit we did when I was in grade school, we read the Diary of Anne Frank.
I also read Number the Stars as a kid and here's a Teacher's Companion for it.
All the Light We Cannot See is also a really good book and gives the view points of two very different people. The Book Thief is also really really good.
What a beautiful room! My daughter's name is Amelia, so I got her this book: http://www.amazon.com/Amelia-Eleanor-Ride-Munoz-Ryan/dp/059096075X The illustrations are beautiful and the story is pretty sweet. It'd make a good addition to your nursery :)
Here are some possibilities:
The Silents
Growing up in the Great Depression
Christmas After All
Rose's Journal
"Daddy's Gone to War"
Generally, I would just go through here.
Specifically, here are some lists of my favs:
one
two
[I](http://www.amazon.com/Appetit-Delicious-Life-Julia-Child/dp/0375869441/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3RPKDHM4EC9XE&coliid=I2BZYDMR4J2UQQ_ L LOVE BOOKS TOO!! :)
Sonya, Your momma wouldn't tell you this but...
True beauty shines from within. Beautiful people do what is right, not what is popular. They are true to the people they are close with and those who love them. They realize that different isn't scary, but a beautiful experience. They realize that there are so many wonderful things in life including being an amazing person. Sonya, be the beautiful young girl that we all aspire to be.
I think every 9 year old should have this book, [Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future!] (https://www.amazon.com/Rad-American-Women-Trailblazers-Visionaries-ebook/dp/B0140EEQSS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523332796&sr=8-1&keywords=powerful+women)
Brad Meltzer also authors a great series of biographies for kids about people that changed the world and are quite inspirational. I love the one about Amelia Earhart
Possibly this one?
I'd recently made a similar post elsewhere, so I'll go ahead and copy that below. In addition to that, another thing my four year old and I have done is to make a scale-distance solar system on the sidewalk using chalk. Look up the distances of planets in AU, draw the Sun, and then get walking--one large step = one AU. Don't worry about properly scaling the planet sizes themselves because then everything would be tiny. Feel free to include fun details like the asteroid belt / Ceres, large moons, dwarf planets, etc. And at the very end, Voyager. Its amazing to see how far out that one has gone!
So many good books to choose from! Examples:
Other book recommendations here: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2018/space-books-kids.html
Looking through a telescope is another fun activity you can do. But please don't bother with a "kids telescope" - those are basically toys, are difficult to use, and barely help in seeing even the Moon. The smallest real telescope is around a 4.5" - 5" reflector. This will obviously be too large for a 4 year old to operate, but with your help he will be able to see things first-hand. If you are unfamiliar with the sky, free apps like Stellarium or Sky Safari (iOS) can guide you where to look. Jupiter and Saturn are currently out in the night sky.
View the International Space Station! See here for when the ISS will be making a pass over your area, and explain what he is seeing!
Follow current space events! This can include watching rocket launches (SpaceX does a great job with webcasting these) or NASA/ESA science missions (Mars 2020 launches next year, and those landings are always very exciting).
My daughter liked all of these books:
World Snacks Series introduces the idea of different cultures to toddlers:
The "who was" and "I am" books are pretty good for a diverse group of historical figures. For example (we haven't read all of these):
A might girl is also a great resource for books about powerful girls and women:
https://www.amightygirl.com/books
They have categories for "multi-cultural fiction", "world regions" and "prejudice / Discrimination":
My mom is a pre-school teacher and this is what she uses in the classroom:
http://www.amazon.com/Birthday-Martin-Luther-Scholastic-Bookshelf/dp/0439782244/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314017707&sr=1-5
Kids are very open-minded at that age. Point out that some people have different colored eyes and some people are different ages and some people are different genders and people have all kinds of different hair. Roll having different skin colors into just another way that people are different. If you think contrast would be good, go over some of the positive ways that people are also alike, too- we all like to be friends, we all have to follow the rules, we all have families, etc. etc.
How about:
Also: Have you tried having a look at what she's pinned on Pinterest? You might find some helpful ideas there. Good luck!
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=F6xTCAAAQBAJ&source=productsearch&utm_source=HA_Desktop_US&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=PLA&pcampaignid=MKTAD0930BO1&gl=US&gclid=CLCO1qPZ0csCFYZXNwodu6AFbA&gclsrc=ds
http://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Americans-Scouts-Building/dp/0978983610/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1Q14ADPZ9XMVRATTQRAE
http://www.amazon.com/The-Scouting-Party-Preservation-Progressivism/dp/0978983637/ref=pd_sim_14_10?ie=UTF8&refRID=1Q14ADPZ9XMVRATTQRAE
These seemed interesting.
[Labor day] (http://www.amazon.com/Kennedys-Last-Days-Assassination-Generation/dp/080509802X/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1U1MMZWYQKBYH&coliid=I6L5RZVES8W5K)
"It was bad faith to pretend you didn't know something you did. Bad faith to have someone kiss you and pretend it meant nothing. Bad faith to dislike someone and stand there chitchatting, you had to be authentic, it was the only way to know how you really felt."- Paint it Black. Janet Fitch
Book
Fun fact about Lorises: Loris is the only known "poisonous" primate. It has a patch filled with venom under its elbow used for protection against the predators. When faced with danger, loris licks its elbow and covers its teeth with poison. As soon as loris bites its enemy, it will deliver the venom.
Would he like The Look-It-Up Book of Presidents? It doesn't include W. or Obama, but I think the rest of them could keep him busy. And -- don't make fun of me, Reddit, I was young and didn't know better -- Childhood of Famous Americans: Ronald Reagan?
I'll get back to you about books for her.
Publicly at least.
A local mass-market bookstore during Pride month here had a special table in the kids section which included a few horribly offensive books directed at children. You can take a look at one of them here; Amazon has helpfully included a "Look Inside" feature.
Local libraries are similar.
Destruction of property is rightly punishable by law. And Matthew 10 is always a good read.
I am Amelia Earhart (Ordinary People Change World) by Brad Metlzer. Along with the rest in the series.