My students simply adore reading fantasy and mystery - but it's time to help them spread their wings. What better way than to read about the real lives of some amazing women from our history?

This series introduces the idea of primary sources to younger audiences, which definitely appeals to me.  Every child should be able to see images and "hear" the real voices of the time period as they learn about real people. I think this is a lesson that can be taught well before middle and high school, especially when we use images as our primary sources. 

The actual writing style comes across as a little dry, but the pictures and quotes make it a bit more interesting. The fact that the books are short will hopefully make it enticing to my students that are attempting to branch out into new genres. 

I missed a few weeks of recommendations due to the Thanksgiving break at my school.

This week's book is a compilation of Native American stories from tribes across the United States. 

Simply told and simply illustrated - the tales get to the heart of the reverent relationship Native American tribes had with the world around them. I see students diving into Greek and Egyptian lore to tie into their love for Rick Riordan stories, and I want to help them broaden their knowledge of myths and legends. 
The stories are told by Joseph Bruchac -the author of Code Talker (a novel about the Navajo who were integral to our successes in World War 2)

As an added bonus- the stories are a perfect add on for a student who is learning about Native Americans in school (as they do in my school in third and fourth grades). It also dovetailed beautifully with two books I am using in reading groups this year. One group is just finishing Sign of the Beaver and another read Code Talker at the start of the year.