Creating Book Backdrops Using the Inquiry Method
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Content: Select a topic(s) you will be studying in your classroom. Check your state and local
school district standards and curriculum guides for content and skills suggestions.
Learning Objective: Determine what you want students to learn from working with the primary
sources associated with the book you select. What is the enduring understanding?
Book Selection: Choose a book that aligns with your topic and is appropriate for your grade level.
Consult online resources and booklists if necessary.
Pre-reading: Before reading the book as a class, discuss its historical setting. Brainstorm words
and events related to that time period.
Read: As you (or students) read the book, compile a list of dates, people and events that might
have primary source connections. (Teaching Tip: Use post-its while reading. After reading,
brainstorm again to extend vocabulary list.
Investigate: Search across the Library of Congress for primary source items that connect with the
selected book. Record findings (caption, collection, and permanent url on tracking sheet or other
graphic organizer.
Share: Share findings with class. Discuss how the primary sources that were found might increase
student understanding of the book and its historical setting.
Question: Discuss further learning possibilities. Discuss possible resources for more information.
Ask more questions. Look for more answers.
Teaching Strategies: Determine how you will incorporate the primary sources into your lessons.
A sampling of suggestions follow:
o Compare and contrast images of the same event by different artists.
o Compare fiction and non-fiction books written about the same event.
o Analyze maps that depict settings described in the book.
o Examine sheet music or audio files that connect with the time period.
o Use photographs as story starters or writing prompts. Have students use the photograph
as a jumping off point for writing a paragraph, letter or short story.
o Write dialogue. Select an image depicting one or more people. Have students study the
image and write dialogue or “thought bubbles” to accompany the image.
o Create found poetry. Have students create a “found poem” using a sampling of rich text
from a letter, document or narrative.
o Write captions or headlines. Select images relating to the topic and ask students to write
an attention-getting phrase (headline or caption) to accompany each image.
o Write a news article. Select a photograph or drawing that depicts a historical event or era
in your curriculum. Have students become reporters, research the image and write a news
article based on their findings.
o Write a narrative report to accompany a motion picture. Browse the American Memory
collections for early motion pictures.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/ListSome.php?format=Motion+Picture Select a
motion picture that ties in your subject. Have students assume the role of a TV news
anchor, and research, write, and narrate a report to accompany footage.
o Rewrite song lyrics. Select a song popular during a particular historical era or associated
with a curricular theme. Have students consider why the song was written and what it
tells about life during that era. Have them rewrite the song for our times, reflecting the
events, places, people, feelings and perspectives of today.
o Create a book gallery displaying the book (or cover) with primary source connections and
student statements.
o Create a timeline with primary sources related to happenings in the book.
Book Backdrop Activity - http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/tpsdirect/pdplanbuilder/
Books as Hooks PowerPoint available at - http://www.loc.gov/teachers/newsevents/events/aasl/
Gail Petri, Education Resource Specialist, Library of Congress gpet@loc.gov
Books as Hooks to Library of Congress Online Primary Sources – Selected Booklist
Compiled by Gail Petri, Education Resources Specialist, gpet@loc.gov
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Anderson, Laurie Halse. Fever, 1793. NY: Simon and Schuster, 2000. (historical fiction –
1793 yellow fever epidemic)
Anderson, M.T. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation. MA:
Candlewick, 2006 (historical fiction – American Revolution)
Anderson, M.T. The Serpent Came to Gloucester. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2005.
(picture book based on 1817 serpent sightings in Gloucester, MA – M.T.Anderson
presented at the 2007 book festival.)
Auch, Mary Jane. Ashes of Roses. NY: H. Holt, 2002. (historical fiction – immigration –
Triangle Shirtwaist fire)
Bauer, Pat. B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet. Illustrated by David Geister.
Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 2009.
Beardon, Romare. Li’l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story. NY: Simon and
Schuster, 2003. (picture book – Civil War)
Bildner, Phil. Twenty-One Elephants. NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004. (picture book –
Brooklyn Bridge)
Bolden, Tanya. Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl. NY: Harry N. Abrams,
2005. (biography – African Americans)
Bruchac, Joseph. Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two.
NY: Speak, 2006. (historical fiction – WWII – Navajo code talkers)
Bryant, Jenifer. Trial: A Novel. New York: Yearling, 2004. (Fiction – Lindbergh trial)
Burleigh, Robert and Wendell Minor. Abraham Lincoln Comes Home. NY: Henry Holt,
2008. (Picture book)
Bunting, Eve. Dandelions. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1995. (picture book – Westward
movement)
Bunting, Eve. Illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet. So Far From the Sea. NY: Clarion
Books, 1998. (picture book – Japanese Americans – Manzanar)
Carbone, Elisa. Stealing Freedom. NY: Knopf, 1998. (historical fiction – slavery –
Underground Railway – Maryland)
Carbone, Elisa. Storm Warriors. NY: Knopf, 2001. (historical fiction – Pea Island, NC –
African Americans)
Cheney, Lynne. America: A Patriotic Primer. NY: Simon and Schuster, 2002. (alphabet
book)
Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Shirts. NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004.
(historical fiction – Alcatraz, Autism)
Christ-Evans, Craig. Moon Over Tennessee: A Boy’s Civil War Journal. Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin, 1999. (historical fiction – told through journal entries)
Coleman, Evelyn. White Socks Only. Morton Grove, IL: A. Whitman, 1996. (Picture
book – Civil Rights)
Cooper, Edward S. Vinnie Ream: An American Sculptor. Chicago: Academy Chicago
Publishers, 2004. (Biography of Vinnie Ream)
Deedy, Carmen Agra. 14 Cows for America. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Publishers, 2009.
Denenberg, Barry. Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered. NY: Feiwel and
Friends, 2008. (Historical fiction designed to look like a newspaper published one year
after Lincoln’s death)
Donnelly, Jennifer. A Northern Light. San Diego: Harcourt, 2003. (historical fiction –
1906 Adirondacks murder)
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Elliott, L.M. Under a War-Torn Sky. NY: Hyperion, 2001. (Fiction, WWII)
Fitzgerald, Dawn and Catherine Stock. Watertown, MA: Vinnie and Abraham.
Charlesbridge, 2007. (Picture book biography about Vinnie Ream, best-known for her
sculpture of Lincoln)
Fleming, Candace. The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Mary and Abraham. NY:
Schwartz and Wade, 2008. (Biography in scrapbook format)
George, Jean Craighead. The First Thanksgiving. NY: Philomel Books, 1993. (nonfiction picture book)
Gerstein, Mordecai. The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. Brookfield, CT: Roaring
Brook Press, 2003. (picture book – World Trade Center)
Gilchrist, Jan and Ashley Bryan. My America. NY: Harper Collins, 2007 (picture book –
author and illustrator spoke at the 2007 Book Festival)
Giovanni, Nikki and Bryan Collier. Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship.
Walker Books, 2008. (Picture book about Lincoln and Douglass’ relationship)
Hest, Amy. Illustrated by P.J. Lynch. When Jessie Came Across the Sea. Cambridge,
MA: Candlewick Press, 1997. (Picture book – immigration)
Hopkinson, Deborah and John Hendrix. Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall Thin Tale.
NY: Henry Holt, 2008. (Picture book based on a supposedly true incident in Lincoln’s
life)
Karwoski, Gail. Quake: Disaster in San Francisco. Atlanta: Peachtree, 2004. (historical
fiction – San Francisco 1906 earthquake)
Kerley, Barbara. Walt Whitman: Words for America. NY: Scholastic, 2004. (picture book
biography)
Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City. NY: Crown, 2003. (adult non-fiction – 1893
Chicago Fair)
Lisle, Janet Taylor. Black Duck. NY: Sleuth/Philomel, 2006. (fiction – prohibition)
MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall. NY: Harper and Row, 1985. (fiction –
Patricia MacLachlan presented at the 2007 Book Festival)
McCullough, David. 1776. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005. (adult non-fiction)
McCully, Emily Arnold. The Ballot Battle Box. NY: Knopf, 1996. (picture book –
Elizabeth Cady Stanton)
McCully, Emily Arnold. The Bobbin Girl. NY: Dial, 1996 (picture book – child labor)
Miller, Sarah. Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller. NY: Simon and Schuster, 2007.
(historical fiction – based on Annie Sullivan/Helen Keller)
Nelson, Marilyn. Carver: A Life in Poems. Asheville, NC: Front Street, 2001. (biography
in verse - features primary source images of Carver)
Nelson, Marilyn. Fortune’s Bones. Asheville, NC: Front Street, 2004.(poetry – slavery)
Paulsen, Gary. Soldier’s Heart: A Novel of the Civil War. NY: Delacorte, 1998. (fiction)
Peck, Richard. Fair Weather: A Novel. New York: Dial Books, 2001. (fiction – 1893
Chicago Fair)
Polacco, Patricia. Pink and Say. NY: Philomel Books, 1994. (picture book – Civil War)
Rabin, Staton. Illustrated by Greg Shed. Casey Over There. San Diego: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1994. (Picture book – WWI)
Rabin, Statin and Bagram Ibatoulline. Mr. Lincoln’s Boys. NY: Viking, 2008. (Picture
book stories, based on fact, about Lincoln’s sons – Tad and Willie)
Rappaport, Doreen and Kadir Nelson. Abe’s Honest Words. NY: Hyperion Books for
Children, 2008. (Picture book)
Rappaport, Doreen and Matt Tavares. Lady Liberty: A Biography. Cambridge, MA:
Candlewick Press, 2008. (Picture book – non fiction)
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Raven, Margot Theis. Circle Unbroken: The Story of a Basket and It’s People. NY:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. (picture book – Gullah baskets and African heritage)
Rees, Celia. Witch Child. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2001. (fiction – Salem
witches)
Reit, Seymour. Guns for General Washington. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
1990. (beginning chapter book – American Revolution)
Rumford, James. Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 2004 (picture book biography)
Sandler, Martin W. Lincoln Through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Shaped
an Extraordinary Life. NY: Walker, 2008. (Non-fiction)
Schlein, Miriam. Illustrated by Tom Newsom. I sailed with Columbus. Illustrated by
Tom Newsom. NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. (beginning chapter book biography)
Simon, Barbara. The Underground Railroad: Long Walk to Freedom. Washington, DC:
National Geographic, 2004. (non-fiction picture book)
Sis, Peter. Follow the Dream. NY: Knopf, 1991. (picture book biography – Columbus)
Smith, Lane. John, Paul, George and Ben. New York: Hyperion, 2006. (picture book –
biographies)
Strum, Richard. Henry Knox: Washington’s Artilleryman. Stockton, NJ: Ottn, 2006.
(biography)
Sullivan, George. Lewis and Clark. NY: Scholastic, 2000 (non-fiction)
Swanson, James. Chasing Lincoln’s Killer. NY: Scholastic, 2009. (Non-fiction account
of Lincoln’s assassination and the 12 day hunt for his killer – Swanson spoke at 2009
Book Festival)
Thompson, Julie. A Pirate’s Life for Me. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 1996. (Nonfiction picture book)
Wells, Rosemary and P.J.Lynch. Lincoln and His Boys. Somerville, MA: Candlewick,
2008. (Fictional account of Lincoln written from Willie Lincoln’s point of view)
Wells, Rosemary. Red Moon at Sharpsburg. NY, Viking, 2007 (historical fiction - Civil
War – set in Virginia – Rosemary Wells spoke at the 2007 Book Festival.)
Winnick, Karen. Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 1996.
(Picture book – Grace Bedell writes Lincoln encouraging him to grow a beard)
Winthrop, Elizabeth. Counting on Grace. NY: Wendy Lamb Books, 2006 (historical
fiction – child labor)
Wise, Bill. Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer. Illustrated by Bill
Farnsworth. NY: Lee and Low Books, 2007. (Picture book biography)
Wolf, Allan. New Found Land: A Novel. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2004. (novel in
verse – Lewis and Clark)
Woodson, Jacqueline. Show Way. NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2005. (picture book –
slavery)
Yolen, Jane. Encounter. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992. (Picture book –
Columbus)
Yolen, Jane. Paintings by Jim Burke. Naming Liberty. NY: Philomel Books, 2008.
(Picture book- Statue of Liberty)