Today I am sharing some of our favorite history books for elementary students who are studying modern times from about 1850 to present day.

Now please note, these are not your typical history books that merely give a bunch of facts and dates to memorize for the test.

These are living books. Books that will fire your students' imaginations and touch their

emotions and make history come alive for them.

Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Sonia Schaefer. History is about people.

It's the stories of people who have lived before we do.

And it's about the ideas that governed the choices and decisions they made in life.

With a good living history book, those stories and ideas will help your students form a

personal relationship with the people and events of the past.

The Simply Charlotte Mason curriculum includes many of the time-tested, older living books,

but we have also spent many hours looking for and discovering newer books that are just as good.

I think you'll find that this list includes both.

Now keep in mind that these books are meant for you to read aloud to your elementary

students. They'll be at a higher reading level than your young students can probably read

for themselves. But your students can probably read for themselves.

But your students can comprehend the ideas in these books just fine if you do the reading.

All right, let's dive in.

Abraham Lincoln by Ingry and Edgar Dallaire.

The Dallaires wrote superb living narratives for younger students.

In fact, I like to use this one as an example of what a living book sounds like.

And people who are brand new to that concept quickly understand the difference between

a dry recitation of facts and a truly living book.

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