Saturday, August 25, 2012

Ten Girls From History - Golden Prairie Press Review


Remember last week I shared a living literature book called Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers? Well this week I have yet another living book that you NEED to add to your homeschool library, Ten Girls From History. This 238 page book is written by Kate Dickinson Sweetser and published by Golden Prairie Press.

A moms review:
We reviewed the eBook version of Ten Girls From History. I chose this book out of several options because my daughter has been really into learning about famous girls from history. I glanced over the list of the girls who were included in the book and really liked the selection...many of them I had NEVER heard of before and their stories sounded very intriguing.

This book is a great resource and can easily be turned into mini unit studies if you wish to delve deeper into each girls story.

Ten Girls from History Printed Book

We began with the story of Cofachiqui: An Indian Princess because Gwyn really enjoys learning about Native Americans and LOVES princesses. She was really excited when she heard me mention the Savannah River because she knows where that is so it really brought the story close to home for her (we live in GA).  Through this story we learned about a brave, sweet, loyal girl who despite treacherous treatment from the gold greedy De Soto still provided hospitality to a group of strangers.

I read through the list of the girls to let Gwyn decide the story we would read. She chose the story of Madeleine De Vercheres: The Heroine of Castle Dangerous. I am pretty sure she picked this one because it had castle in the title. Who doesn't love a good story with castles in it right? This story is about a brave 14 yr old mademoiselle who shows great courage while protecting her home and people. For seven days the sweet and strong girl led her younger brothers and towns people and did a wonderful deed for her country and King with no concern for own safety. My son (age 5) enjoyed this story very much.

Because the book is a collection of short stories you can easily skip around if you wish. Almost every chapter includes a very beautiful illustration of the young girl whom the factual dramatized story is about. This was very nice especially for younger girls who may need some help drawing a mental picture of the girl and era. Each chapter is between 10-30 pages long. So some of the longer chapters we had to split up over a few days. The book is recommended for ages 10 and up but I personally think that younger children will enjoy this book as well if  you read it to them and if they don't mind sitting through chapter books. Gwyn is only 6 1/2 and enjoyed the stories we read very much.

The only problem I had with the book was pronouncing some of the names. But thanks to Wikipedia and some other resources I was able to figure out the correct way to pronounce them.

In the back of the book is a glossary and biographical facts section as well as a mini timeline. Glossary words are indicated in bold throughout the book. I loved that the timeline was included because I was able to have Gwyn easily transfer the information over to our family timeline binder.

Ten Girls From History provides a nice selection of mentors for children to look up to. Brave girls who showed faith, courage, patriotism and devotion through their many trials. This book truly brings history alive for both girls and boys of all ages. And its a great way to teach children about very valuable character traits!

The ten girls discussed are:
-Louisa May Alcott: Author of Little Women
-Clara Barton: The Angel of the Battlefield
-Molly Pitcher: The Brave Gunner of the Battle of Monmouth
-Cofachiqui: An Indian Princess
-Madeleine De Vercheres: The Heroine of Castle Dangerous
-Dorothy Quincy: A Girl of the American Revolution
-Ida Lewis: The Heroine of Lime Rock Lighthouse
-Elizabeth Van Lew: The Girl who Risked all for the Union
-Virginia Reed: Midnight Heroine of the Plains
-Clara Morris: The Girl who Won Fame as an Actress

These forgotten heroines from the past will definitely encourage girls of the present!

We read the eBook in pdf format using either my laptop or Android phone. The quality was great on both the text and illustrations. Make sure you check out the many other wonderful books at Golden Prairie Press like Ten Great Adventures, Heroines of the Past-Civil War, Pioneers of America.

*Please note we are not completed with this book we have been working through it slowly because we are utilizing it as a unit study resource. 

Additional Resources:
Here are a few resources I used to make the stories we read into mini unit studies.
-Native American coloring pages.
-Hernando De Soto Explorer YouTube Video
-Madeleine De Vercheres YouTube video - some parts may be too gruesome for younger children and the subtitles are in French but I liked how this video had young children as the actors.
-Canada coloring pages.

Gwyns review (6 yrs old):
I like the story about the Indian Princess. She lived close to us and was very brave and kind. The men were mean to her and lied.

Rowyns review (5 yrs old):
I liked the story about the castle because the girl was a super hero and saved everyone. 


Links to follow:
-Golden Prairie Website
-Golden Prairie Facebook page 
-Ten Girls From History SAMPLE (first 25 pgs) you can also listen to an audio SAMPLE

FreeBEE:
Make sure you sign up for a FREE three week Heroines of the Past  Bible Study.

Where to buy:

The downloadable eBook (PDF MOBI or EPUB) can be purchased directly off of Amy Puetz's website. The retail price is $15.00 but it is currently on sale for $12.00. It can also be purchased as a printed book or audio for $25.00 currently on sale for $20.00.

Click here for more Golden Prairie Press reviews from the The Schoolhouse Review Crew.


*Disclaimer - As part of the TOS Review Crew I received an eBook copy of Ten Girls From History in return for my honest review. Please note that prices indicated in the post are subject to change. I was not compensated for my review and all opinions are our own! Many of the links found on my side bars and in my blog posts are affiliate links. As a result, I might get paid money and I will most likely spend the money on homeschool supplies.

1 comment:

hope jackson said...

Fabulous review! We will be adding this to our library!

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