United States of America Living Book List
This living book list includes recommendations for families. Some books contain sensitive content and are not appropriate for all ages, so parental guidance recommended. Some books are vintage with original language, including derogatory terms that are not respectful or appropriate. Four Square condemns any words used to describe people or people groups that undermine their value as created equally in the image of God.
American History Overview
A Child’s First Book of American History, by Earl Schenck Miers
America First (Updated Edition), updated and revised by Rachel Lebowitz
The Light and the Glory, by Marshall/Manuel
The Light and the Glory for Young Readers, by Marshall/Manuel
This Country of Ours, by H.E. Marshall
This Country of Ours: The Story of the United States Volume 1, by Donna-Jean A. Brekenridge
From Sea to Shining Sea, by Marshall/Manuel
From Sea to Shining Sea for Young Readers, by Marshall/Manuel
Heart and Soul, by Kadir Nelson
Sounding Forth the Trumpet, by Marshall/Manuel
Sounding Forth the Trumpet for Young Readers, by Marshall/Manuel
Stories of America: Volumes 1 & 2, by Lorene Lambert
American Indians
American Indian Prayer Guide, by Danette Maloof
Cheyenne Again, by Eve Bunting
Doesn’t Fall Off His Horse, by Virginia Stroud
Full Worm Moon, by Margo Lemieux
Hiawatha, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
If you Lived with the Sioux Indians, by McGovern
Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison, by Lois Lenski
My Name is Sally Little Song, by Brenda Woods
Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell
Many Nations: An Alphabet of Native America, by Joseph Bruchac
North American Indians, by Marie and Douglas Gorsline
Meet Kaya: An American Girl, by Janet Beeler Shaw
Night Bird, by Kathleen Kudlinski
Northwoods Cradle Song, by Douglas Wood
Sacajawea and the Journey to the Pacific, by Gina Ingoglia
Sequoyah, by James Rumford
Shadow of the Wolf, by Gloria Whelan
Sing Down the Moon, by Scott O’Dell
Small Wolf, by Nathaniel Benchley
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims, by Clyde Robert Bulla
Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving, by Joseph Bruchac
The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich
The Mud Family, by Betsy James
The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare
The Trail of Tears, by Joseph Bruchac
The Trail on Which They Wept, by Dorothy Hoobler
The Year of Miss Agnes, by Kirkpatrick Hill
We Asked for Nothing: The Remarkable Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, by Stuart Waldman
Viking and European Exploration
Calico Bush, by Rachel Field
Columbus, by D’Aulaire
Encounter, by Jane Yolen
Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky, by Barbara Schiller
Father Marquette and the Great Rivers, by August Derleth
Follow the Dream: The Story of Christopher Columbus, by Peter Sis
Leif the Lucky, by D’Aulaire
Marquette and Joliet: Quest for the Mississippi, by Alexander Zelenyi
Tattered Sails, by Verla Kay
The Vikings, by Elizabeth Janeway
Where Do You Think You’re Going, Christopher Columbus, by Jean Fritz
Who Was Ferdinand Magellan, by S.A. Kramer
Who Was Leif Erickson, by Nico Medina
Colonies
A Lion to Guard Us, by Clyde Robert Bulla
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalikin, by Marguerite Henry
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham
Homespun Sarah, by Verla Kay
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
Our Colonial Year, by Cheryl Harness
The Courage of Sarah Noble, by Alice Dagliesh
The Story of the Pilgrims, by Katherine Ross and Carolyn Croll
A Soldier of Virginia – A Tale of Colonel Washington and Braddock’s Defeat, by Burton Egbert Stevenson
A Woman’s Life in Colonial Days, by Carl Holliday
Dear Benjamin Banneker, by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Pilgrim Stories, by Margaret Pumphrey
Pioneers of the Old South, by Mary Johnston
The Pilgrims of New England – A Tale of the Early American Settlers, by Mrs. J.B. Webb
The Quaker Colonies, by Allen Johnson
The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare
The Women Who Came In the Mayflower, by Annie Russell Marble
Woman on the American Frontier, by William Worthington Fowler
Slavery
Amistad: The Story of a Slave Ship, by Patricia McKissack
Amos Fortune, Free Man, by Elizabeth Yates
Answering the Cry for Freedom: Stories of African Americans and the American Revolution, by Woelfle
Autobiography of a People: Three Centuries of African American History Told by Those
Who Lived It, by Herb Boyd
Before She was Harriet, by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Building a New Land: African Americans in Colonial America, by James Haskins & Kathleen Benson
Circle Unbroken, by Margot Theis Raven
Follow the Drinking Gourd, by Jeanette Winter
Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History, by Dean Myers
Frederick Douglass: The Right to Dignity, by Janet & Geoff Benge
Freedom Bird: A Tale of Hope and Courage, by Jerdine Nolan
Freedom Over Me, by Ashley Bryan
Freedom’s School, by Lesa Cline-Ransome
My Name is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth, by Ann Turner
Harriet Tubman: Freedombound, by Janet & Geoff Benge
Heart and Soul, by Kadir Nelson
Freewater, by Amina Luqman-Dawson
If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America, by Anne Kamma
Let My People Go: Bible Stories Told by a Freedman of Color, by Patricia McKissak
Light in the Darkness: A Story About How Slaves Learned in Secret, by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, by Carole Boston Weatherford
No More! Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance, by Doreen Rappaport
Runaway: The Daring Escape of Ona Judge, by Ray Anthony Shepard
So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk to Freedom, by Gary D. Schmidt
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, by Deborah Hopkinson
The Bell Rang, by James E. Ransome
The Women Who Caught The Babies: A Story of African American Midwives, by Eloise
Greenfield
Twelve Years A Slave, by Solomon Northrup
Words Set Me Free: The Story of Frederick Douglass, by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Revolutionary War
Arrow over the Door, by Joseph Bruchac
American Prisoners of the Revolution, by Danske Dandridge
Ben and Me, by Robert Lawson
Benjamin Franklin, by D’Aulaire
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin, by Marguerite Henry
Betsy Ross, by Alexandra Wallner
Boston Coffee Party, by Doreen Rappoport
Boston Tea Party, by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Did It All Start with a Snowball Fight and Other Questions, by Mary Kay Carson
Early Thunder, by Jean Fritz
George the Drummer Boy, by Nathaniel Benchley
George Washington, by D’Aulaire
George vs George: The American Revolution As Seen from Both Sides, by Rosalyn Schanzer
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, by Patrick Henry
Guns for General Washington, by Seymour Reit
Hatmaker’s Sign, by Flemming
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
Let it Begin Here! Lexington and Concord, by Dennis Brindell Fradin
Mr. Revere and I, by Robert Lawson
Paul Revere’s Ride, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Phoebe the Spy, by Judith Griffin
Poor Richard, by James Daugherty
Sam the Minuteman, by Sally M. Walker and Nathaniel Benchley
Sybil’s Night Ride, by Karen Winnick
The Eve of the Revolution, by Carl Lotus Becker
The Cabin Faced West, by Jean Fritz
The Fourth of July Story, by Alice Dagliesh
The 18 Penny Goose, by Sally M. Walker and Nathaniel Benchley
The Old Bell of Independence… or Philadelphia in 1776, by Henry C. Watson
Tick Tock Banneker’s Clock, by Shana Keller
Toliver’s Secret, by Esther Brady
Washington and His Comrades in Arms – A Chronicle of the War of Independence, by George McKinnon Wrong
When Washington Crossed the Delaware, by Lynne Cheney
The Constitution & Bill of Rights
A Kid’s Guide to America’s Bill of Rights, by Kathleen Krull
A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution, by Betsy Maestro
Declaration of Independence from A to Z, by Catherine Osornio and Layne Johnson
Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson
George Washington’s Birthday: A Mostly True Tale, by Margaret MacNamara
George Washington’s Breakfast, by Jean Fritz
George Washington’s World, by Joanna and Genevieve Foster
In Defense of Liberty, by Russell Freedman
Shhh, We’re Writing the Constitution!, by Jean Fritz
The Constitution of the United States, by Sam Fink
The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence, by Judith St. George
The United States Constitution, by Jonathan Hennessey
We the People, by Peter Spier
What is the Constitution, by Patricia Brennan Demuth
What is the Declaration of Independence, by Michael C. Harris
Who Was George Washington, by Roberta Edwards
1700’s
Justin Morgan Had a Horse, by Marguerite Henry
Westward Expansion & Gold Rush
A Book for Black-eyed Susan, by Judy Young
A Picture Book of Sacagawea, by David A. Adler
A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family, by Barbara Greenwood
Apples to Oregon, by Deborah Hopkinson
Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West, by Lillian Schlissel
Bound for Oregon, by Jean Van Leeuwen
Boss of the Plains, by Laurie Carlson
Black Cowboy, Wild Horses, by Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney
Buffalo Bill, by D’Aulaire
By the Great Horn Spoon, by Sid Fleischman
Caddie Woodlawn, by Carol Ryrie Brink
Carolina’s Courage, by Elizabeth Yates
Children of the Covered Wagon, by Mary Jane Carr
Cowboys and Cowgirls, by Gail Gibbons
Daily Life in a Covered Wagon, by Paul Erickson
Dandelions, by Eve Bunting
Daniel Boone: Frontiersman, by Janet & Geoff Being
Diary of an Early American Boy, by Eric Sloan
Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Gold Fever, by Rosalyn Schanzer
Gold Fever, by Verla Kay
Gold Rush Fever: A Story of the Klondike 1898, by Barbara Greenwood
Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson
Hard Gold, by Avi
Heart of a Samurai, by Margi Preus
How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark, by Rosalyn Schanzer
If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon, by Ellen Levine
Land of the Buffalo Bones, by Marion Bauer
Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog’s Tale, by Laurie Myers
Lumber Camp Library, by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
Moccasin Trail, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Mr. Tucket, by Gary Paulsen
Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson
On to Oregon, by Honore Morrow
Our Only May Amelia, by Jennifer Holm
Rachel’s Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl, by Marissa Moss
Prairie Lotus, by Linda Sue Park
Sacagawea, by Flora Warren Seymour
Seaman’s Journal: On the Trail with Lewis and Clark, by Patricia Eubank
Shag: Last of the Plains Buffalo, by Robert McClung
Streams to the River, River to the Sea, by Scott O’Dell
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, by Karen Cushman
The Battle of New Orleans: The Drummer’s Story, by Freddi Williams Evans
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, by Paul Goble
The Land of Little Rain, by Mary Austin
The Legend of the Bluebonnet, by Tomie dePaola
The Journey of York, by Hasan Davis
The Year of the Horseless Carriage, by Genevieve Foster
The Stouthearted Seven: Orphaned on the Oregon Trail, by Neta Lohnes
Who Was Daniel Boone, by Sydelle Kramer
The Underground Railroad & Civil War
Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Doreen Rappaport
Abraham Lincoln, by James Daugherty
Abraham Lincoln’s World, by Genevieve Foster
Across Five Aprils, by Irene Hunt
Amos Fortune, Free Man, by Elizabeth Yates
Bull Run, by Paul Fleishman
Carver: A Life in Poems, by Marilyn Nelson
Charley Skedaddle, by Patricia Beatty
Fields of Fury, by James M. McPherson
Follow the Drinking Gourd, by Jeanette Winter
Freedom’s Wings: Corey’s Underground Railroad Diary, by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
Freedom Over Me, by Ashley Bryan
Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman, by Dorothy Sterling
Heart and Soul, by Kadir Nelson
Freewater, by Amina Luqman-Dawson
Gettysburg: A Day that Changed America, by Shelley Tanaka
Go Free or Die, by Jeri Ferris
Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad, by Ellen Levine
Iron Thunder, by Avi
Listen for the Whippoorwill, by Dave and Neta Jackson
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, by Carole Boston Weatherford
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass
No Man’s Land, by Susan Bartoletti
Nurse, Soldier, Spy, by Marissa Moss
Overground Railroad, by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Seeing the Elephant, by Pat Hughes
Shades of Gray, by Carolyn Reeder
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, by Deborah Hopkinson
The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad, by Barbara Greenwood
The Last Brother, by Trinka Hakes Noble
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg, by Rodman Philbrick
The Patchwork Path, by Bettye Stroud
The Poems of Phillis Wheatley, by Phillis Wheatley
The Perilous Road, by William O. Steele
The Silent Witness, by Robin Friedman
The Underground Railroad, by William Still
The War Within, by Carol Matas
Turn Homeward, Hannalee, by Patricia Beatty
Underground to Canada, by Barbara Smucker
Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington
Walking the Road to Freedom, by Jeri Ferris
The Industrial Revolution & American Innovation
Bobbin Girl, The, by Emily Arnold McCully
Danger at the Breaker, by Catherine Welch
Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin, by Jessica Gunderson
Florence Robinson: The Story of a Jazz Age Girl, by Dorothy and Thomas Hobier
Good-Bye, Charles Lindbergh: Based on a True Story, by Louise Bo
Henry Ford: Young Man With Ideas, by Hazel B. Aird
I am Neil Armstrong, by Brad Meltzer
If I Only Had a Horn: Young Louis Armstrong, by Roxane Orgill
Imagine You Were There… Walking on the Moon, by Caryn Jenner
Full of Beans: Henry Ford Grows a Car, by Peggy Thomas
Lyddie, by Katherine Paterson
Safe Return, by Catherine Dexter
Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building, by Deborah Hopkinson
So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, by Barry Denenberg
Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski
The Blue Door, by Ann Rinaldi
The Clock, by James Lincoln Collier
The Great Brain is Back, by J.D. Fitzgerald
The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver, by Cheryl Harness
The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane, by Russell Freedman
The Year of the Horseless Carriage 1801, by Genevieve Foster
Thomas Edison: Young Inventor, by Sue Guthridge
With Books and Bricks: How Booker T. Washington Built a School, by Suzanne Slade and Nicole Tadgell
Where is the Empire State Building, by Janet B. Pascal
Who Was Booker T. Washington, by James Buckley Jr.
Who Was Henry Ford, by Michael Burgan
Who Was Louis Armstrong, by Yona Zeldis McDonough
Who Was Neil Armstrong, by Roberta Edwards
Who Was Thomas Alva Edison, by Margaret Frith
WWI
A Brave Soldier, by Nicolas Debon
Archie’s War, by Archie Albright
Christmas in the Trenches, by John McCutcheon
Goodbye, Billy Radish, by Jean Little
Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson
His Banner Over Me, by Jean Little
Knit Your Bit: A World War 1 Story, by Deborah Hopkinson
Lord of the Nutcracker Men, by Iain Lawrence
Rags: Hero Dog of WWI, by Margot Theis Raven
Rascal, by Sterling North
Ruthie’s Gift, by Kimberly Bradley
Sergeant York, by John Perry
The Night the Bells Rang, by Natalie Kinsey Warnock
The War to End All Wars: World War 1, by Russell Freedman
Truce, by Jim Murphy
War Game, by Michael Foreman
When Christmas Comes Again, by Beth Seidel Levine
Where the Poppies Grow: A World War 1 Companion, by Linda Granfield
The Great Depression
A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt, by C. Coco De Young
Anna’s Fight For Hope, by Joann Grote
A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck
Blue Willow, by Doris Gates
Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp, by Jerry Stanley
Christmas After All, by Kathryn Lasky
Christmas With Ida Early, by Robert Burch
Dust for Dinner, by Ann Turner
Grandma’s General Store, by Dorothy Carter
Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain, by Robert Burch
In the Shadow of the Pines, by Karen Newell
Jar of Dreams, by Yoshiko Uchida
Leah’s Pony, by Elizabeth Friedrick
Lizzie’s Storm, by Sally Fitz-Gibbon
Long Way From Chicago, by Richard Peck
Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool
Nothing To Fear, by Jackie French Koller
Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression, by Kate Lied
Rocks in His Head, by Carol Otis Hurst
Roses’s Journal: The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression, by Marissa Moss
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor
Rudy Rides the Rails, by Dandi Daley Mackall
Sky Boys, by Deborah Hopkinson
The Storyteller’s Candle, by Lucia Gonzalez
The Carpenter’s Gift, by David Rubel
The Cave, by Kathleen Karr
The Coming Home Cafe, by Gayle Pearson
The Dust Bowl, by David Booth
The Gardener, by Sarah Stewart
The Journal of C.J. Jackson: A Dust Bowl Migrant, by William Durbin
The Thanksgiving Visitor, by Truman Capote
The Truth About Sparrows, by Marian Hale
Turtle in Paradise, by Jennifer Holm
What You Know First, by Patrica McLachlan
WWII
Air Raid – Pearl Harbor, by Theodore Taylor
Alex, Who Won His War, by Chester Aaron
Aloha Means Come Back: The Story of a World War II Girl, by Thomas Hoobler
Baseball Saved Us, by Ken Mochizuki
Coming On Home Soon, by Jacqueline Woodson
Early Sunday Morning, by Barry Deneberg
Heroes, by Ken Mochizuki
Lily’s Crossing, by Patricia Reilly Giff
My Friend the Enemy, by J.B. Cheaney
My Daddy Was a Soldier, by Deborah Ray
Meet Molly: An American Girl, by Valerie Tripp
Nim and the War Effort, by Milly Lee
One Splendid Tree, by Marilyn Helmer
Say You Are My Sister, by Laurel Brady
Summer of my German Soldier, by Bette Greene
Taking Wing, by Nancy Graff
The Art of Keeping Cool, by Janet Taylor Lisle
The Bracelet, by Yoshiko Uchida
The Farm Summer 1942, by Donald Hall
The Morning Glory War, by Judy Glassman
Under the Blood Red Sun, by Graham Salisbury
Under the Shadow of Wings, by Sara Banks
War Boy: A Wartime Childhood, by Michael Foreman
Willow Run, by Patrica Reilly Giff
Wolf Hollow, by Lauren Wolk
Civil Rights
A Sweet Smell of Roses, by Angela Johnson
Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis
Freedom on the Menu, by Carole Boston Weatherford
Freedom Summer, by Deborah Wiles
Goin’ Someplace Special, by Patricia McKissack
Granddaddy’s Turn: A Journey to the Ballot Box, by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein
Heart and Soul, by Kadir Nelson
If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks, by Faith Finggold
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt
Martin’s Big Words, by Doreen Rappaport
My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., by Christine King Farris
One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia
Ruby Bridges Goes to School, by Ruby Bridges
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation, by Ducan Tonatiah
The Bus Ride, by William Miller
The Other Side, by Jacqueline Woodson
These Hands, by Margaret Mason
The Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles
The Education of Mary 1832, by Ann Rinaldi
Vergie Goes to School With Us Boys, by Elizabeth Howard
We March, by Shane Evans
White Water, by Michael Bandy
White Socks Only, by Evelyn Coleman
Late 20th Century
Miracles on Maple Hill, by Virginia Sorensen
The Peace Tree from Hiroshima: The Little Bonsai with a Big Story, by Sandra Moore
The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden
The Wall, by Eve Bunting
National Parks
National Park Mystery Series, by Mary Morgan
Danger in the Narrows, by Mike Graf
As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra expense to you.