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Sunday, April 28, 2013

Social Studies Mentor Text: Charlotte (Revolutionary War)

Ahhh...Sunday night.  Back to reality tomorrow.  We had a busy, fun-filled weekend setting up our first camper at a seasonal site.  The kids are so excited and we all can't wait to relax by the lake in our tiny second home in a couple months:)  
Tonight, I am linking up again with Amanda and Stacia from Collaboration Cuties for their awesome mentor text linky.  You have to check out all the link ups each week.  I have been pinning so many great books and can't wait for the summer to get organized!
This week the topic is social studies and I wanted to share a picture book read aloud that could be unexpected addition to your American Revolution books.
The book is Charlotte by Janet Lunn.
I just happened to find this book last year in some random searching on the internet.  It doesn't seem to be to widely used but I really love it!  It is based on a true story (the students love that!) and offers a perspective rarely seen in picture books about the American Revolution.



Based on a true story, ten year old, Charlotte Haines, faces one of the cruelties of war (family division) when her father, a Patriot, breaks all connections to the British empire.  He shuns his Loyalist brother who has been ordered to leave New York City for the wild land of Nova Scotia!  (Loyalists banished to Canada?? great teaching point!).  
When Charlotte disobeys her father and maintains her friendship with her cousins, he shuns her from the family as well and Charlotte must leave for Nova Scotia with her Loyalist uncle, aunt, and cousins.  It is a dramatic story and depicts one girl's sad story of the effects of war on families in a way that cannot be described without a secondary source like this.  The story is followed by an afterword discussing the story of the real Charlotte Haines.

I am off to read some more great social studies mentor texts and watch the return of one of my favorite TV series, Revenge:)

7 comments:

  1. Awww, I have never heard of this book! I definitely need it! I love all of my books for the American Revolution!! I never have time to read them all but I'm going to work on that over the summer!! Thanks so much for linking this up!! I'll be on the look out for it!

    Amanda
    Collaboration Cuties

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  2. I will have to look for this book too! Have you ever read Katie's Trunk? It's another really good one from "another perspective" - check it out if you haven't before! :)
    Jivey
    ideas by jivey

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  3. I am so excited that you picked a book by Janet Lunn - she wrote two of my favorite historical novles - The Hollow Tree and The Root Cellar. You should check those two out - they are set during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. I never even knew that she wrote picture books too, thanks for sharing this book.

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  4. I am so excited that you picked a book by Janet Lunn. She wrote two of my favorite historical novels - The Hollow Tree and The Root Cellar. You should check those out this summer while hanging out by the lake. They are set during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. I didn't even know that she wrote picture books, thanks for sharing your find.

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  5. This book looks great! I will add it to my list of books to find.
    Thanks for sharing!

    EmilyK

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  6. This is a new book for me, but it looks great. I will have to check it out. I'm always looking for new books that show another perspective of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

    Hunter's Tales from Teaching

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  7. My wish list sure is growing after this linky! Thanks for sharing. :)
    Brandee @ Creating Lifelong Learners

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