Suggested Reading List for Teachers Teaching the Revolutionary War

 

Fourteen years ago, I came to realize the unique role Redding played in the Revolutionary War through the Historical Fiction novel- My Brother Sam is Dead. Since then I have been promoting historical fiction novels as a vehicle to help promote history topics in the classroom.
Below are books that I recommend for teachers teaching Revolutionary War topics in grades 5-8:
Historical Fiction books covering topics related to the American Revolution
1. Guns for General Washington
by Seymour Reit
This book tells the story of Henry Knox's daring mission to cross 300 miles of forest bring 183 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to George Washington's army in Boston. This was a significant event in the early part of the Revolutionary War, a mission which many thought was impossible. The book tells the story from the perspective of Knox's 19 year old brother Will.
2. The Secret Soldier: The Story Of Deborah Sampson
by Ann McGovern (Author), Harold Goodwin (Illustrator), Katherine Thompson (Author)
When "Robert Shurtliff" enlists as a common soldier in the Continental army, no one suspects there is anything unusual about him. The new soldier serves bravely for a year and a half. It is not until "he" is hospitalized with fever that his secret is discovered. Private Shurtliff is really a woman - 23 year-old Deborah Sampson!
3. Toliver's Secret
by Esther Wood Brady (Author)
When her grandfather is injured, a timid girl is asked to help the Patriots in his place.
ISBN-13: 978-0679848042
4. My Brother Sam is Dead
by James Lincoln and Christopher Collier
This is a great book that covers the early years (1775-1779) of the war very well. The topics covered in this book are well represented historically speaking. Christopher Collier was Connecticut's State Historian for a very long time, he knew the issues, the localities, the facts. James Lincoln Collier wrote children's stories- he knew how to write in a way that captivated the attention of young people.
5. Patriots: Young Adult Historical Fiction Novel about the Battle of Bunker Hill
by Gregory T. Edgar
2nd Place Winner of the 2010 Premier Book Award in the category of Young Adult Fiction. Three teenage boys - two Americans and one British - learn that war is not the glorious adventure they thought it would be, and that their enemies are human beings after all.
Books Relating to American Revolution Topics
1. The Whites of Their Eyes
by Paul Lockhart
Bunker Hill, the First American Army and the Emergence of George Washington.
Harper, New York, 2011.
2. Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring
by Alexander Rose
Rose unfolds the story of a Long Island-based spy ring of idealists and misfits who kept George Washington informed of what was going on in enemy-occupied New York.
Bantam; 1st Edition, 2006
3. George Washington, Spymaster
Thomas B. Allen
How the Americans Out-spied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. A very interesting look at spies in the Revolutionary War and how involved Washington really was.
National Geographic Children's Books, 2007
ISBN-13: 978-1426300417
4. The Bridge Not Taken: Benedict Arnold Outwitted
by Damon Greenleaf Douglas
Best account of the 1777 British Raid on Danbury written to date. Amazing resource that includes primary source documents, maps.
Westport Historical Society, 2002
ISBN 0-96487-592-6
5. Don Troiani's Soldiers of the American Revolution
by Don Troiani and James L. Kochan
From Bunker Hill to Yorktown, from Washington to Cornwallis, from the Minute Men to the Black Watch, these pages are packed with scenes of grand action and great characters, recreated in the vivid blues and reds that defined the Revolutionary era.
Stackpole Books (January 3, 2007)
6. Yankee Doodle Boy (Joseph Plumb Martin)
by George F. Scheer
A young soldier's adventures in the American Revolution told by himself. This book pretty much covers the entire War and children really enjoy Martin's narrative.
Holiday House/New York, 1995
ISBN 0-8234-1176-1