I would be remiss not to compile a list of a handful favorites highlighting the history of the United States on its 250th birthday. Obviously not all of it is positive, but it is America’s story. Which books would you add to the list?
People
- You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe focuses on being a female biographer with humor for days
- Teri Kanefield’s The Making of America series from Alexander Hamilton to Thurgood Marshall are accessible middle grade biographies
- Sheinkin and Robinson’s Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn’t Tell You About the Civil War entertain and teach at the same time
- Any James L. Swanson book featuring the tragic stories of assassinations of people like Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy Jr. such as End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. Swanson’s dedication to American history is unparalleled
Events
- Brown’s The Great American Dust Bowl: A Graphic Novel
- Graff’s The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
- Slade and Gonzalez’s Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon
- Any of Kate Messner’s History Smashers series books from learning about the Mayflower to the Salem Witch Trials
- Brown’s Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans
Iconic
- Larson’s The Devil in the White City highlighting both the Chicago World’s Fair and an infamous serial killer H.H. Holmes
- Biden’s inauguration was only memorable (for me) because of Gorman’s recitation of her original poem, The Hill We Climb, accessible in print but best listened to
- Jarrow is known for her investigative science storytelling for teens and her newest White House Secrets: Medical Lies and Cover-Ups fulfills that. Her focus on certain presidents was enough to realize she wanted to write a follow up book too
- Kluger and Shamir’s To the Moon!: The True Story of the American Heroes on the Apollo 8 Spaceship because you can’t talk about American without talking about space exploration
- Aberg-Riger’s America Redux: Visual Stories from Our Dynamic History: Visual Stories from Our Dynamic History is a visual feast and provides unique storytelling that’s just as dynamic as the title implies
Social Justice
- Cooper and Aronson’s book Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation
- Mann’s Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States
- Smith, Barnes, and Anyabwile’s graphic novel collaboration Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice
- Blumenthal’s Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights
- Elliott’s Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
- Yoo’s Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire
- Tunnell’s Desert Diary: Japanese American Kids Behind Barbed Wire
I could go on and on… Perhaps I’ll create a few additional posts around the subject!
Readers Be Advised 