Interest Level:  about 4th grade and up 
Reading Level:  about 4th - 6th grades 
128 pages including index 

This is a good book covering all the major exploring expeditions starting with Henry the Navigator in 1421 all the way up to Magellan's boat returning to Spain in 1522.  Included are Prince Henry, Bartholomew Diaz, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Alvares Cabral, John Cabot, Amerigo Vespucci, Juan Ponce de Leon, Vasco de Balboa, Ferdinand Magellan.  Plenty of maps.

Interest Level:  about K - 3rd grades 
Reading Level:  About 3rd grade 
31 pages 

This book tells the story of the huge rock that later became known as Plymouth Rock.  Through the years, it had a wharf built around it, it had been broken in two parts twice, part of it had been put in the center of town, the other part had a monument built around it.  Quite the story--cute history.

Interest Level:  about 3rd - 7th grades
Reading Level:  about 4th - 6th grades 
128 pages including index 

I thought this book was a little silly in parts, but I don't think most children will mind. It covers all the events that should be covered in a book about Pocahontas, including her travels to England and her life there.

Interest Level:  about 5th - 12th 
Reading Level:  about 5th to 7th 
87 pages 

This is a simple biography of Lafayette, a young French man who rode at General Washington's side during the American Revolution.  Fritz covers Lafayette's young life in just a couple of pages and then focuses more in depth on his service to America during the revolution.  After Lafayette returns home to France, we read about his influence on the French Revolution.  This would be a fine, yet eye-opening, introduction French Revolution.  Lafayette's 2-year return trip to America when he was in his 60s is a great way to review the Revolutiony War because he visits many well-known sites.  This book is not as cutsie as her books for younger children, but we found it to be well done for the ages for which it is intended.  We found that using this book as a read aloud was time well spent.  It took about 3 hours to read aloud with some discussion thrown in.

Interest Level:  about 5th - 12th 
Reading Level:  about 5th and up 
64 pages 

Jean Fritz's books are often very humorous!  And this one definitely has its moments.  One is when George Washington's feelings must have been showing; he had on his "Valley Forge look."  This book not only goes into the writing of the Constitution, it goes into what is in the Constitution.  While it won't be the foundation of your Constitution studies, this book would be a light-hearted (yet meaty) addition.  Topics touched on:  sovereign states, Continental Congress, George Washington, James Madison, Ben Franklin, "federal" or "national," Virginia Plan, Senate, President, Supreme Court, House of Representatives, Articles of Confederation, Great Compromise, slavery, states rights, individual rights, Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, checks & balances, Patrick Henry, Noah Webster, ratification, etc.  I *did* enjoy this book.

Interest Level:  about 2nd to 6th grades 
Reading Level:  about 2nd to 6th grades 
48 pages (1 page of valuable notes) 

This sounds like a story about the Constitution to me, but it's actually John Hancock's biography.  With an ingenious flair, Jean Fritz tells of John Hancock's early years in Boston, his flamboyant apparel, his desire to be noticed and liked, his accomplishments all against the backdrop of colonial America and the Revolutionary War.  I learned a lot reading this book.  Jean Fritz makes these folks come alive!

Interest Level:  about 4th - 7th grades
Reading Level:  about 4th grade
48 pages

Do you want to have the story of the Revolution from George the Third's point of view?  This is the book to read!  I really like this one. 

Lesson plan based on Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?

Interest Level:  about 1st - 5th grades 
Reading Level:  about 4th grade 
43 pages 

Again, a very good book.  It's interesting to read and is full of bits of information that help one to feel like they know more about the everyday life of Washington.  So many of us know that George Washington wore dentures, but I didn't know how he lost his teeth until after I read this book.

A good beginning reader.  We can learn a lot by reading about the mothers of successful men.

Interest Level:  about 4th grade and up
Reading Level:  about 5th grade
159 pages

The Great Little Madison was pretty good; it keep our interest well enough.  It explained Madison's influence on the Constitution and then went on to describe his Presidency.  It touched on his youth, family life, the Constitutional Convention, his friendship with Jefferson, his life with Dolley, Britain's refusal to consider the U.S. a viable country, the War of 1812, the burning of Washington DC, New England's constant threats of secession, etc.  I feel that Fritz, the author, did a good job of giving us enough personal information without making Madison a comic figure like she did with Stonewall Jackson.  (She so painted Jackson as a rather eccentric individual in her bio of Stonewall, imo.)  Anyway, I would recommend The Great Little Madison if you're going to be studying the Constitution.  I'd say it's an above average book and a pleasant way to learn about this time period.  It's a good "first book" about Madison for about ages 9 and up.

Interest Level:  about K - 4th grades 
Reading Level:  about 2nd - 3rd grades 
48 pages 

This is an informative story that tells about Mr. Lincoln's writing and delivery of the Gettysburg Address.  Books like this really go above and beyond what books were like when I was a child.

Interest Level:  about 4th - 8th grades 
Reading Level:  about 5th grade 
160 pages  Fritz's Stonewall paints an eccentric picture of Tom Jackson. This is our current read aloud, so we three (me, son, daughter) discuss it as we go. I'd prefer a book that discusses his greatness a little more or at least a focuses at times on some positive aspect that made Jackson a success. But this book really makes him seem life a goof, without one character trait worth emulating. We're only on page 58 of 152, so it might possibly get better. Maybe his bravery will come into play, soon, or ... something!

Here's an example of Jackson's eccentricity from page 27 of Stonewall:

While I find little tidbits of little known and useless information entertaining, I wonder whether it's worth it to focus on this type of information in a children's biography.

Anyway, I hope the book gets better soon so that we won't always think of Stonewall Jackson as "the guy that thought one side of his body sweated more than the other."

Interest Level:  about 5th - 12th 
Reading Level:  about 5th - 7th 
88 pages 

This book has a feminist slant and would be very good for a study of women's rights and the suffrage movement that resulted in the women's right to vote.  Worthwhile.