First Place | Middle School Curriculum
Practical Home schooling Readers Award
Sample Reading Suggestions
History's Masterminds students read one historical fiction or biography per lesson in order to immerse them in the time period surrounding the scientists, inventions, and explorers they are studying. The beauty of TRISMS is that students are not required to read a certain book, but rather, may select a book from the suggested list, or, you may choose another book appropriate for the student's reading level and interests for the time period.
A list is provided in each lesson and an expanded list of books is provided for each unit in the History's Masterminds Student Manual. If you want even more suggestions, TRISMS offers Reading Through the Ages, an excellent resource listing over 1500 books, divided by time period and reading level.
The list below is just an example of the types of books you will encounter in each unit.
Lesson |
Titles |
Authors |
0 |
The Cat of Bubastes |
G.A. Henty |
1 |
Black Ships Before Troy |
Rosemary Sutcliff |
2 |
Children's Homer |
Padraic Colum |
3 |
Detectives in Togas |
Henry Winterfeld |
4 |
Vinegar Boy |
Alberta Hawse |
5 |
Men of Iron |
Howard Pyle |
6 |
Trumpeter of Krakow |
Eric Kelly |
7 |
Call It Courage |
Armstrong Sperry |
8 |
Hawk that Dare not Hunt by Day |
Scott O'Dell |
9 |
Spy for the Night Riders |
Dave & Neta Jackson |
10 |
Valley of the Broken Cherry Trees |
Lensey Namioka |
11 |
Serpent Never Sleeps |
Scott O'Dell |
12 |
Corn Raid |
James Collier |
13 |
Night Journey |
Avi |
14 |
Calico Captive |
Elizabeth Speare |
15 |
Journals of Lewis and Clark |
John Bakeless |
16 |
Streams to the River, Rivers to the Sea |
Scott O'Dell |
15 |
My Brother Sam is Dead |
James & Christopher Collier |
17 |
Amos Fortune Free Man |
Elizabeth Yates |
18 |
Hue and Cry |
Elizabeth Yates |
19 |
By the Great Horn Spoon |
Jim Fleischman |
20 |
With Lee in Virginia |
G. A. Henty |
21 |
Brady |
Jean Fritz |
22 |
Forgotten Heroes |
Clinton Cox |
23 |
Little Town on the Prairie |
Laura Ingalls Wilder |
24 |
Jim Ugly |
Jim Fleischman |
25 |
Orphan of Ellis Island |
Elvire Woodruff |
26 |
Angel on the Square |
Gloria Whelan |
26 |
George Washington Carver |
David Collins |
27 |
After the Dancing Days |
Margaret Rostkowski |
28 |
Number the Stars |
Lois Lowry |
29 |
Journey to Topaz |
Yoshiko Uchida |
30 |
Hero of Lesser Causes |
Julie Johnston |
31 |
My name is Sepeetza |
Shirley Sterling |
32 |
Journey Home |
Yoshika Uchida |
33 |
The Return of Gabriel |
John Armistead |
34 |
Boat to Nowhere |
Maureen Wartski |
35 |
Lupita Manana |
Patricia Beatty |
36 |
Goodbye Vietnam |
Gloria Whelan |
37 |
Any Small Kindness |
Tony Johnston |