I’m old enough to remember’Johnny Tremain’ by Ester Forbes.
In elementary schools of my day, 5th grade, (in OK), the teacher held a reading/ story-time every single day. The first book she shared was Johnny Tremain. I could barely sit still knowing there would be a new chapter awaiting after the recess.
Now, I keep JT on my ipad & continue to read it again during some down time. As an older adult, I was incredibly disappointed the day I checked the hard copy out of our county library, only to see that someone had crossed through every single page where it told of the old silversmith and how he read the Bible to his three apprentices every morning.
Other deeply relevant information of how the colony’s revolution against King George began....Again, many paragraphs had been crossed out. I didn’t really understand the reason why someone would take it upon themselves to self censor the book. Now, I understand completely.
If you can ever get ahold of a copy, you will likely immediately recall the names of many of our original founders. Yes, JT was a fictional character, but, the well told & historical facts are accurate. The book is wonderful, sometimes even pretty funny, and most suitable for any age group, adult to child.
I loved the study of American history as a child, and,still, as an adult now. I wish I had been able to keep those books. Unfortunately, we always had to return them to the school when finished. I have found several good books that would work well for home schooling in old antique places. Such a shame.
I visited Boston with my daughter and her Italian husband last year. She read Johnny Tremain to him throughout the trip :) It’s a great book. She was presenting a paper at Harvard related to early medieval English. Books like Johnny Tremain ignited her love for history.