Colleen+Chittenden

Colleen Chittenden ECS 418 Revolutionary War Bibliography


 * Non-Fiction**

Anderson, Dale. **World Almanac Library Of The American Revolution: Causes Of The American Revolution.** 2006. Gareth Stevens Publishing. 48 pages. Scottsdale Public Library. This book is about the causes of the American Revolution. When the British government began having taxes on goods and restrictions on where the colonist could settle, they began to rebel. The book covers many events such as the Sugar Act, Boston Tea Party, and the Stamp Act that lead the colonist to fight back against the British. This book includes maps, pictures, timelines, and resources that would be great to show students. This book has so much information that it would be easy to include other subjects while teaching. For example there are many different Act’s talked about in the book so I would assign a group of students to each one. Each group would defend why their Act should be passed. The students would have to use their math skills to figure out the taxes and how much they would cost. Also, the students would have to write a defensive to read to the class.

Burgan, Michael. 2004. **We The People: Valley Forge.** Compass Point Books. 48 pages. Scottsdale Public Library.

In the book “We The People: Valley Forge” we learn about George Washington and his troops lives at Valley Forge. This book discusses the struggles that the men endured during the harsh winter of 1977. The weather and lack of food was something that caused many deaths that winter. Valley Forge and the battles that happened around it are a big part of the Revolutionary War. This book would not only be great to use in the classroom to teach about the Revolutionary War but also for other things such as timelines and how to read maps. On page 18 in the book there is a map of the troops movements and battles. This would be a great opportunity to teach students how to use a map key and make their own maps. On page 44 there is a timeline of important dates. This would be a great opportunity to teach students what a timeline is and what it can be used for.

Fradin, Dennis B. **Let It Begin Here!: Lexington & Concord: First Battles of the American Revolution.** 2005. Walker Publishing Company. 32 pages. Scottsdale Public Library. This book is gives a detailed account of the 24 hours leading up to the start of the war. The story begins at 9:30 when Paul Revere discovers that the British army is coming to Lexington to destroy their military supplies. The book mentions people from both sides who played important roles. The book ends with the famous shot heard around the world that signals the beginning of the Revolutionary War. In the front of this book there is a page with names of people who were important during the war. At the end of the book there is a page that says what happened to all the people mentioned at the beginning. This would a great way to introduce predictions to students. Students can make predictions about what they think will happen to the individuals and then at the end see if their predictions were correct. Another lesson that could be taught using this book is a writing lesson. Paul Revere had to deliver the news to Sam Adams that the British were on their way to invade them. Students could write about how they might feel if they were in Paul’s position.

Holbrook, Stewart H. **The Swamp Fox of the Revolution.** 2008. The Flying Press Point. 120 pages. Scottsdale Public Library. This chapter book is about Francis Marion and his men during the war. Francis Marion led a group of men throughout South Carolina fighting the British. Marion and his men would attack the British forts and then mysteriously disappear into the swamps. During the book we get to know the people Marion is fighting with and we also learn facts about the people they are fighting against. Because this is a chapter book, it presents many different opportunities for cross curriculum. One thing the students could do with this book is to learn about what a hero is. Francis Marion is portrayed as a hero in the story so the students can compare the qualities they think makes a hero with the qualities of Francis Marion.

Klingel, Cynthia. **Wonder Books: Paul Revere’s Ride.** 2002. The Child’s World Inc. 32 pages. Scottsdale Public Library. “Paul Revere’s Ride” is a book about Paul Revere’s life from the time he was born until after the war was over. This book teaches the readers about Paul’s life growing up and the impact he made on the Revolutionary War. Paul Revere started out as a silversmith from Boston and became one of the most known people in history. I like this book because the text Is bold and very easy to read. This book can be read by beginning readers. This book includes a map, glossary and index. In the classroom I would use this book as an opportunity to teach the students what a glossary is. Students could do a scavenger hunt using the glossary in the book.

Minor, Wendell. 2006. **Yankee Doodle America: The Spirit of 1776 from A to Z.** G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 45 Pages. Scottsdale Public Library. In alphabetical order, this book takes its reader down a colonial road with signs from the Revolutionary War. Each page has a letter that tells the reader about some event or person from the time period. This book uses pictures to highlight each event or person. Everything from Native Americans to the Common Sense pamphlet is talked about in this book. Besides just using this book to teach about the Revolutionary Way you can incorporate math and art into it. In this book the students will learn about taxes. It would be a great idea to tie in a math lesson about taxes after reading this book. Also this book is all about signs that might have been seen during this time period. Students could do an art project where they designed a wood sign that they think they might have seen during that time period.

Murray, Stewart**. DK Eyewitness Books: American Revolution.** 2005. DK Children. 72 pages. Scottsdale Public Library. This book is loaded with facts about the Revolutionary War. It has tons of pictures along with maps, timelines, and a glossary. This book gives information about every major person that had something to do with the war and every event that lead up to and happened during the war. The book teaches the readers about the purple heart and how it was started. On page 46, the book explains that there was very little “hard coined” money that existed during this time. The book provides pictures of the money and some brief detail about them. This would be a great lesson to teach the class the difference between the money we use today and the money the colonist used back then. Students could research how much each coin was worth and make a replica of the coins.

Nordstrom, Judy. 1993. **Concord and Lexington.** Dillon Press. 72 pages. Scottsdale Public Library. In “Concord and Lexington” the author describes how the Revolutionary Way began. The British set out toward Concord to destroy the military supplies the colonist had. This book discusses the decision the Americans made to go to war with the British and how they made their decision. There are many monuments around our country today that remind us of the brave men who fought the war. This book provides great reasoning for the war and the thoughts behind going to war. It would spark a great conversation in the class about what goes into making the decision to go to war and if they would have made the same decision. Besides this, this book gives times that certain events happened which would be a good opportunity to talk about time, and how to tell time. Students could compare the times that these events were happening to what they are doing at those times every day.

Weber, Michael. **Battle Fields Across America: Yorktown.** 1997. Blackbirch Graphics Inc. 64 Pages. Scottsdale Public Library. This book provides a summary of the American Revolution, the Battle of Yorktown, and discusses historic places these events took place. The first part of the book gives a summary of how and why the war started. The second part of the book is about the Battle of Yorktown, which is claimed to be the climax of the American Revolution. The last part of the book talks about all the different sites that exist today and how important it is to preserve these historic places. This book does an excellent job explaining one of the most important battles in the Revolutionary war but it also provides some useful resources. The last part of the book is about preserving the parks and grounds that these battles took place on which would be fun to base a science experiment on. Students could discuss and practice preserving their own school grounds. On page 60 there are some web sites that would be fun for students to get on computers and do their own reach.

Zell, Fran. **A Multicultural Portrait of the American Revolution.** 1995. Cavendish Square Publishing. 80 pages. Scottsdale Public Library. This is a great book that gives different perspectives of the different people during the Revolution. The book includes perspectives from Africans, Native Americans, poor European settlers, women, and upper class Europeans. The book also talks about the contributions each one of the groups made during this time period. An over view of the entire war is given in this book. Each event that lead up to the war, during the war, and after the war is described in this book. I picked this book because I thought it has great information and also a very important lesson to teach students. To get the students thinking outside the box, I would have them each pick a perspective talked about in the book. The students would write a paper describing what they think life was like and how the war impacted that group of people. Teaching students that there are different sides to every story and different people to consider is an important life lesson.