Unit 7: Toward the Modern Age
INDEPENDENT READING
Easy
My Prairie Year: Based on the Diary of Elenore Plaisted
by Brett Harvey
Holiday, 1986 (40p)
Nine-year-old Elenore describes living with her family in the Dakota territory in the late 1800s.
The Great Migration: An American Story
by Jacob Lawrence
Harper, 1993 (48p)
These sixty panels from Lawrence's epic Migration series tell the journey of African Americans who left the South in search of better lives in the North.
The Real McCoy: The Life of an African American Inventor
by Wendy Towle
Scholastic, 1995 (32p) paper
Inventor Elijah McCoy is said to have inspired the expression "the real McCoy."
The Copper Lady
by Alice Ross and Kent Ross
Carolrhoda, 1997 (48p)
A boy stows away on the ship carrying the Statue of Liberty from France to America.
You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton?
by Jean Fritz
Putnam, 1995 (88p)
Called the "Grand Old Woman of America," Elizabeth Cady Stanton changed history by helping women win the right to vote.
Average
Immigrant Kids
by Russell Freedman
Puffin, 1995 (80p)
The young immigrants shown in Freedman's book often had harrowing journeys before arriving in America.
West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi: New York to Idaho Territory, 1883
by Jim Murphy
Scholastic, 1998 (208p)
Their desire for land leads an Italian family from New York across country by train to the Idaho Territory.
Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl: New York City, 1903
by Kathryn Lasky
Scholastic, 1998 (144p)
A young Jewish girl and her family emigrate from Russia to New York.
We Have Marched Together: The Working Children's Crusade
by Stephen Currie
Lerner, 1997 (88p)
In 1903, Mother Jones led a march of child textile workers from Philadelphia to New York to protest child labor conditions.
The Day Martin Luther King, Jr. Was Shot: A Photo History of the Civil Rights Movement
by Jim Haskins
Scholastic, 1992 (96p)
Powerful words and photos look at the history of the civil rights movement and the gains made since the death of Dr. King.
Challenging
Growing Up in Coal Country
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Houghton Mifflin, 1996 (128p)
This absorbing historical account tells that working and living conditions faced by miners in Pennsylvania coal towns were often grim.
I Was Dreaming to Come to America: Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project
selected by Veronica Lawlor
Viking, 1995 (40p)
This collection has fifteen stories, including eight from young people who came through Ellis Island in the, 1920s.
The Star Fisher
by Laurence Yep
Morrow, 1991 (160p) also paper
In a West Virginia town in 1927, fifteen-year-old Joan Lee feels very alone as a Chinese American.
Big Annie of Calumet: A True Story of the Industrial Revolution
by Jerry Stanley
Crown, 1996 (102p)
Annie Clemenc, who led daily marches during the 1913 Michigan copper miners' strike, was one of many women who played central roles in the strike.
BOOKS TO READ ALOUD
Letters from Rifka
by Karen Hesse
Holt, 1992 (160p) Puffin paper
Migrating to America from Russia, twelve-year-old Rifka, in sight of the Statue of Liberty, fears she will not be allowed to enter the country because of an ailment that caused her to lose her hair.
Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story
by Andrea Warren
Houghton Mifflin, 1996 (80p)
Interspersed among chapters on the history of the orphan trains is the poignant story of Lee Nailing, an orphan train rider in 1926 who eventually found a new home.
BOOKS FOR TEACHERS
Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor
by Russell Freedman
Clarion, 1994 (104p)
Hine, who left teaching to become an investigative photographer, conducted a campaign against the exploitation of children by the mining and manufacturing industries.
MULTIMEDIA RESOURCES
Videocassettes
What Is a Democracy? 18 min.
My America Series
Sunburst Communications, 1994
How Our Laws are Made 21 min.
My America Series
Sunburst Communications, 1994
Rights and Responsibilities 17 min.
My America Series
Sunburst Communications, 1994
Our World, Many Worlds: Hispanic Diversity in the US 22 min.
Rainbow Educational Media, 1993
Great Black Innovators 25 min.
Knowledge Unlimited, 1995
Software
Decisions, Decisions: Immigration (Floppy Disk)
Tom Snyder Productions, 1996
GTV: American People: Fabric of a Nation (Computer-Interactive Videodisc)
National Geographic, 1993
The Genius of Edison (CD-ROM)
Compton's NewMedia, 1996
Back to top
Social Studies Center |
Houghton Mifflin Social Studies |
Grade 5 Home
Education Place |
Site Index
You may download, print and make copies of Bibliography pages for use in your
classroom, provided that you include the copyright notice shown below in all such copies.
Copyright © 1999 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.