Tuesday, May 29, 2007

State-by-State Reading List

This list covers a wide variety of ages and genres. All were recommended by Catholic homeschoolers, but parents should be aware that there are different opinions regarding the choosing of books within the Catholic homeschool world. Please help us fill in the gaps by sharing additional suggestions in the comment box.

Alabama

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (high school)

Alaska

Balto, the Bravest Dog Ever

The Call of the Wild by Jack London (also Canada)

This Old House by Joanne Wild

Water Sky by Jean Craighead George


Arizona

Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry

We Live in the Southwest by Lois Lenski


Arkansas

Cotton in My Sack by Lois Lenski


California

By the Great Horn Spoon by Paul Fleischman

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes

Vallejo and the Four Flags by Esther J. Comstock

Blue Willow by Doris Gates

Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say (picture book) also covers Japan

The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp by Barry Denenberg

The Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi

Wait for Me, Life of Father Junipero Serra Sister Mary Helen Wallace, FSP

Westward the Bells (biography of Junipero Serra) Marion F. Sullivan

California Missions edited by Ralph B. Wright

The Decoration of the California Missions Norman Neuerburg

Saints of the California Missions by Norman Neuerburg

San Francisco Boy by Lois Lenski

Patty Reed's Doll by Rachel Laurgaard

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

The Story of The Pony Express by R. Conrad Stein

The Miner Was a Bishop The Pioneer Years of Patrick Manogue William Breault S.J.

Winter of Entrapment A New Look at the Donner Party Joseph A. King

Colorado

Beany Malone series by Lenora Mattingly Weber

Little Britches by Ralph Moody

The Home Ranch by Ralph Moody

Connecticut

26 Fairmount Avenue Series by Tomie de Paola

The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh

Flight into Spring by Bianca Bradbury

Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Delaware


Florida

The Cross in the Sand by Michael Gannon

Secret Agents Four by Donald Sobol

Strawberry by Lois Lenski

The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings


Georgia

The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis

Hawaii

Father Damien and the Bells by Arthur and Elizabeth Sheehan

The Quiet Light: Mother Marianne of Molokai by Eva K. Betz (Catholic Treasury Series)


Idaho

Year Walk Ann Nolan Clark

Bonanza Girl Patricia Beatty

Louly Carol Ryrie Brink

Illinois

From Slave to Priest: A Biography of Reverend Augustine Tolton, First Black American Priest of the United States by Sister Caroline Hemesath (high school)
Molly American Girl Stories

Indiana

Turn Homeward, Hannalee Patricia Beatty (also Georgia )

Floating House Scott Sanders (also Ohio ) – picture book

Laddie, Freckles, Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Porter Stratton

Iowa


Kansas

Climbing Kansas Mountains by George Shannon (picture book)

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Kentucky

The Happy Little Family and the rest of the Fairchild Family Series by Rebecca Caudill

Louisiana

Bayou Suzette by Lois Lenski

The Louisiana Purchase (Landmark)

Mother Cabrini: Missionary to the World by Frances Parkinson Keyes

Maine

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Calico Bush by Rachel Field

One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey

The Secret of Pooduck Island by Alfred Noyes

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey

The Sea Chest by Toni Buzzeo

L is for Lobster by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds

Keep the Lights Burning Abbie by Peter Roop and Connie Roop

Birdie's Lighthouse by Deborah Hopkinson

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

Island Boy by Barbara Cooney

A Penny for a Hundred Ethel Pochocki

Maryland

Charles Carroll and the American Revolution by Milton Lomask

Mother Seton and the Sisters of Charity (Vision)

The Story of the Star Spangled Banner, (Cornerstones of Freedom) by
Natalie Miller

Kate Finds A Friend, a Mother Seton Story by Joan Stromberg

Captain Kate by Carolyn Reeder

Massachusetts

Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (also New Hampshire)

And then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock

Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Puritan Adventure by Lois Lenski

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch Jean Lee Latham

Downright Dency Caroline Snedeker

"The Charlotte Years" Little House Books by Melissa Wiley

Michigan

Thomas Edison: Young Inventor by Sue Guthridge (CFA)

We Live in the North by Lois Lenski

Minnesota

Betsy-Tacy Series by Maud Hart Lovelace

Kirsten American Girl Stories

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Mississippi

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor

Let the Circle be Unbroken Mildred D. Taylor

Missouri

Katie John Series by Mary Calhoun

Little House on Rocky Ridge by Roger Lea MacBride

Little Farm in the Ozarks by Roger Lea MacBride

In the Land of the Big Red Apple by Roger Lea MacBride

Montana

San Domingo: the Medicine Hat Stallion Marguerite Henry

To Yellowstone : A Journey Home Robert McKinnon

Nebraska

A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich

Nevada

Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West by Marguerite Henry

New Hampshire

The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet

George the Drummer Boy by Nathaniel Benchley

The Great Stone Face by Nathaniel Hawthorne

New Jersey

Cheaper by the Dozen by Gilbreth

The Edison Mystery by Dan Gutman

Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi

The Story of Baseball by Lawrence A. Ritter

Abigail Takes the Wheel by Avi

The First Air Voyage in the United States: the story of Jean Pierre Blauchard by Alexandra Wallner

New Jersey Timeline: a chronology by Marsh

Priest on Horseback by Eva K Betz

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the U.S. by Collen

The Village: Life in Colonial Times by Knight

New Mexico

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (high school)

Josefina American Girl Stories

Tree in the Trail by Holling Clancy Holling

We Live in the Southwest by Lois Lenski

New York

Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz

The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

High-Rise Secret by Lois Lenski

Karen by Marie Killilea

St. Isaac and the Indians

The Moffats by Eleanor Estes

New York City

The Copper Lady by Alice Rosee and Kent Ross

Lou Gehrig: One of Baseball's Greatest by Guernsey Van Riper

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegard H. Swift and
Lynd Ward (picture book)

Samantha American Girl Stories

Shadow of the Bear and Black as Night by Regina Doman

The Story of the Statue of Liberty (Cornerstones of Freedom Series)

Lily and Miss Liberty

The Orphans Find a Home: A St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Story by Joan Stromberg

A Cricket in Times' Square

North Carolina

Blue Ridge Billy by Lois Lenski

They Loved to Laugh Kathryn Worth

North Dakota


Ohio

Homer Price and Centerberg Tales by Robert McCloskey

Kit American Girl Stories

Lentil by Robert McCloskey (picture book)

Oklahoma

Boom Town Boy by Lois Lenski

Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls

Oregon

Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary

To Be a Logger by Lois Lenski

Year of the Black Pony

Pennsylvania

Addy American Girl Stories

The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin by James Cross Giblin

The Battle of Gettysburg by Bruce Catton

Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia (Landmark).

Brady by Jean Fritz

The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz

Gettysburg by MacKinlay Kantor

Katie: The Young Life of St. Katherine Drexel by Claire Mohun Jordan

Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (high school)

The Many Lives of Benjamin Franklin by Mary Pope Osborne

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson

A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin by David A. Adler

The Riddle of Penncroft Farm by Dorothea Jensen

Shh! We're Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz

Shoo-fly Girl by Lois Lenski

Silver for General Washington by Enid Lamonte Meadowcroft

The Skippack School by Marguerite de Angeli

The Story of the Declaration of Independence by N. Richards

The Story of William Pennby Aliki

Thee Hannah! by Marguerite de Angeli

Thunder at Gettysburg by Patricia Gauch

What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? by Jean Fritz

The Winter at Valley Forge by VanWyck Mason

Rhode Island

South Carolina

The Swamp Fox of the Revolution by Stewart H. Holbrook (Landmark)

South Dakota

Prairie School by Lois Lenski

Little Sioux Girl by Lois Lenski

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Old Sam: Dakota Trotter by Don Alonzo Taylor

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Tennessee

Daniel's Duck by Clyde Robert Bulla (easy reader)

The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills

White Bird by Clyde Robert Bulla

Texas

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

Savage Sam by Fred Gipson

Texas Tomboy by Lois Lenski

Wilderness Pioneer by Carol Hoff

The Wind Blows Free

Utah

The Great Brain by John Fitzgerald

Vermont

Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry

The Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp

Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Virginia

Felicity American Girl Stories

George Washington by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire

The Story of George Washington

Misty by Marguerite Henry

Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

Washington State

Young Mac of Fort Vancouver by Mary Jane Carr

Washington D.C.

The Mitchells: Five for Victory by Hilda Van Stockum

West Virginia

The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills (picture book)

Coal Camp Girl by Lois Lenski

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant (picture book)

Wisconsin

First Farm in the Valley: Anna's Story by Anne Pellowski and others in the Polish American Girls Series

Caddie Woodlawn and Magical Melons by Carol Ryrie Brink

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Rascal by Sterling North

Father Marquette and the Great Rivers by August Derleth (also Illinois, Michigan et al.)

Wyoming

My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara

17 comments:

Christine said...

Wilderness Pioneer by Stephen F. Austin takes place in Texas.
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes takes place in Massachusetts.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain takes place in Mississippi.
My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara takes place in Wyoming.

love2learnmom said...

Terrific! Thank you for the suggestions!

Christine said...

Oops, I just realized that I wrote Wilderness Pioneer was by Stephen F. Austin. It is actually about him. The book is by Carol Hoff

Christine said...

New York: The Matchlock Gun, by Walter D. Edmonds
Conneticut: Flood Friday, by Lois Lenski

Unknown said...

Cailfornia: By the Great Horn Spoon by Paul Fleischman

Christine said...

Tennessee: White Bird, by Clyde Robert Bulla

Ana Braga-Henebry said...

Nebraska: My Antonia by Willa Cather

Maureen said...

How about some Ecce Homo books. Their Glory of America series is so good:

Orphans Find a Home; New York
Kat Finds a Friend: Maryland
Willy Finds Victory: Virginia
Thomas Finds a Treasure: New York
Iron Spy: Pennsylvania
Jose Finds the King: Mexico

All are by Joan Stromberg except Jose Finds a King which is by Ann Ball.

Maureen said...

And then there are few Bethlehem books I didn't see:

Kentucky: Becky Landers, Frontier Warrior by Constance Lindsay Skinner

Maine: A Penny for a Hundred by Ethel Pochacki

Massachusetts: Downright Dency by Caroline Dale Snedeker

North Carolina: They Loved to Laugh by Kathryn Worth

North Dakota: Old Sam, Dakota Trotter by Don Alonzo Taylor

Oregon: Year of the Black Pony by Walt Morey

Texas: The Wind Blows Free by Loula Grace Erdman

Maureen said...

Being a Michigander, I have to add some Michigan books:
These are picture books, so I'm not sure if they belong:
M is for Mitten: A Michigan Alphabet by Annie Appleford
The Legend of Mackinac Island, The Legend of the Sleeping Bear, and The Legend of the Loon, all by Kathy Jo Wargin -- these are really good and the illustrations lovely.
Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling

These two should be used with caution, but good . . .
Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Curtis
The Watxons go to Birmingham also by Christopher Curtis (also Alabama)

love2learnmom said...

Absolutely picture books belong! I love picture books. Eventually I'd like to sort them out like the Mexico list to delineate which ones are picture books, which ones are for high school, etc.

Maureen said...

Okay, just a few more and I'm done. For a while at least :-)

Delaware: Cornstalks and Cannonballs by Barbara Mitchell
Florida: Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Idaho: Potato: A Tale From the Great Depression by Kate Lied
Illinois: Anything about Lincoln
Indiana: Anything about Johnny Appleseed
Kentucy: Just about anything on Daniel Boone
Mississippi: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Missouri (my other "home": Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
Any books about Mark Twain or George Washington Carver.
North Carolina: Meet Add: An American Girl by Connie Porter
Wright Brothers by Russel Freedman
Oklahoma: Where the Red Fern Grows by Winston Rawls
South Dakota: A Boy Called Slow: A True Story of Sitting Bull by Joseph Bruchac
Texas: Holes by Louis Sachar
Vermont: Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Martin
Virginia: Bridge to Teribithia by Katherine Paterson
Wyoming: My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie DePoala

Maureen said...

Yes, it would be good Alicia to code them. A P for picture book or H for High school or something like that.

Jo said...

I just wanted to say that as an atheist, I didn't have a problem with most of your list. It's very good with alot of good suggestions (you had said it was mostly compiled by Catholic homeschoolers and that influenced some of the choices is why I say that).

This is a great idea and thank you for posting it. I also think it's great that you suggested With of Blackbird Pond. I've known some Christian and Catholic groups who ban it just for the title alone.

Very nice job!!

love2learnmom said...

Thanks to everyone for all of your great contributions!

Jo, I'm glad you liked the list too (and I really liked the book you mention!). I think there are an awful lot of worthwhile books out there that everyone can appreciate and gain perspective from. :)

I'll be printing all of these lists up to get them all organized and sorted during an upcoming road trip. Don't be afraid to keep adding suggestions here, though.

Candlestring said...

Montana: The Trumpet of the Swan by EB White

Joyce Moyer Hostetter said...

I would love to send you a copy of my book HEALING WATER (2008) which commemorates the lives of leprosy patients and celebrates Father Damien's legacy on the Kalaupapa peninsula of Molokai, HI.

There are professional reviews at Barnes and Noble's website and reader reviews on Amazon.

For more info about me follow links through my blogspot.