RESEARCH USING ‘GATEWAY’ BOOKS
back to SFFS book list

Gateway Books are the 'gateway' into learning history
---can be used to introduce a historical event/issue to people of all ages
---are are less dense than standard text material
---often have illustrations or photographs and are often appropriate for reading aloud, discussing, etc.
---are historically accurate/defensible as opposed to historical fiction

Contact us if you would like support in developing curriculum for these books.

Historical accuracy and sophistication are much improved, if books are fiction. Since they are not completely accurate, they are particularly useful as teaching tools.

Teaching Nonviolent Direct Action through picture books

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

--   A Taste of Colored Water, Faulkner, Nat. Story of two white children in segregated south and their coming to understand laws and customs. Excellent read-aloud

--     Delivering Justice: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights,Haskins, Jim. Illustrated by Benny Andrews. Story of Savannah desegregation; community organizing

--     Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt,Hopkinson, Deborah.

--     Pink and Say, Palacco, Patricia. Two young men during Civil War, one slave, one white. Story of their relationship.. Told to Palacco’s ancestor and passed down.

--     Witnesses to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights, Rochelle, Belinda. Photos. Reading level about grade 5. Consider use as text. 8-9 chapters

--     Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit Ins, Weatherford. Wonderful artwork; told from point of view of younger sister whose family became involved as did she.

--     Show Way,Woodson, Jacqueline. Generation story beginning in slavery and ending in present day. Written in poetic style. Award winner. Complex ideas but accessible to grade 4 kids.

--     Amos Fortune – Free Man,Yates, Elizabeth. Historical (1725-1801); tells story of prince/slave from capture through his life and death. Newbury winner. Published in 1950. Beautiful language

--     We Shall Not Be Moved series. History of the US Civil Rights/Southern Freedom movement. Primary sources are well integrated.

--   White Socks Only, Evelyn Coleman, Tyrone Geeter (illustrator).

OTHER TOPICS

--     Cannibal in the Mirror, Fleischman, Paul. Family and society; primary sources with modern photos. South Sea Island, set in 1890’s.

--     Errata: A Book of Historical Errors and More Errata challenge readers to find the "mistakes" in detailed spreads that depict famous inventions, in a search-and-find book that offers informative historical information. Excellent for English Learners.  Works on the ‘push and pull’ between the past and the present.

--     The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy, Rick Beyer. Two-page vignettes; short but not overwhelming. Series includes Presidential Stories and War Stories.

--     Cheyenne Again, Bunting, Eve, and Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle, Amiotte, Arthur.  Both tell of children taken from their Plains Indian homes and sent to government schools far from home where they were forced to abandon their ways and assume white people’s ways, known as ‘Kill the Indian, keep the man.’ Both have outstanding artwork and are appropriate for all ages. MORE primary source information

--     Children of the Wild West, Friedman, Russell

--     Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp, Stanley, Jerry. Fascinating photo story of outcast children and the building of a school for them near Bakersfield, CA.

--     A Man Ain't Nothin' but a Man: The Adventures of John Henry, Killens, John Oliver. Makes research process and historical thinking visible to reader.

--     Train to Somewhere, Bunting, Eve and We Rode the Orphan Trains, Warren, Andrea. Among the several books written about homeless children in the 1890’s who were put on trains and sent around the country so that they could be adopted.

--     Then and Now: The Wonders of the Ancient World Brought to Life in Vivid See-Through Reproductions, Perring and Perring. From Amazon review: “for lovers of ancient civilizations. The acetate overlays restore present day photographs of ruins to their original colorful glory, as they might have looked back then. Connection: engineering innovations. What difference was made? What, if anything, was the impact of the change? The legacy? The effect?

--     The Honest to Goodness Truth-- written by Patricia C McKissack, illustrated by Giselle Potter. “Sometimes the truth is told at the wrong time or in the wrong way, and for the wrong reasons. And that can be hurtful. But the honest-to-goodness truth is never wrong.”