The Who Was Series

When I was a freshman in college I took a class to help prepare me for college and how to be successful.  I really do not remember much about the class, but one thing stood out all these years later!  If you do not know about something, start with juvenile books!  REALLY,  there is NO SHAME in being an adult and reading a juvenile book!  Honestly, if you are not a MAJOR history buff, I think they are FAR superior books.  Here is jokingly the way I see it.  When you are a writer for adults you add LOTS of information  (way to much) to prove just how much you know about the subject and to prove how smart you are.  As an adult, when I read a grown up book I will easily get completely overwhelmed by ALL of the facts that my brain just shuts down and I remember very little.  But when I read a juvenile book, it is like they just talk about the skeleton or the MOST IMPORTANT facts that holds everything together. Not the skin, guts, heart, veins, kidneys, etc., just the important stuff that your brain can more easily hold onto and not get overwhelmed!

The Who Was / Is and What Was series are very popular with my son and I.  The series will take a person or event and tell about it in easy to understand chapters.  They are written for 8 to 12 year old's or 3rd to 7th grade.  There are MANY to choose from, I would have to count, but I know at least 30 books are available and they just keep printing more.  What I love is that they will tell the many biographies, but important facts or other important people they will take a moment to explain who they/what they are too.  These books are really well illustrated too!

I use them for homeschooling our son.  I like to take several books and use a theme.  The picture up above we had used a Revolutionary War theme.  It was a wonderful collection for my literature based technique.  When my son read Who Was George Washington  he read about a man who served the British by fighting in the French and Indian war,  then later as things began to heat up between the Patriots and the British he sided with the Patriot and led the Minute Men into defeating the British.  Then you continued through Washington to see our nation grow.  Read Who was Paul Revere and you see that he was a patriot who MAY have been at the Boston Tea Party and of course there is the famous ride.  You get a glimpse of life from a Patriot, but again, you are seeing from his story the build up from the French and Indian war, to the start of the war and his war effort.  From Who WasThomas Jefferson you learn more about the Declaration of Independence and his efforts in building this great nation and how he served as 3rd president, Then Who Was Ben Franklin, you see a respected scientist, statesman, ambassador and newspaper owner and his part in this time in history.  By the time you come to What WasThe Boston Tea Party    then you get another view of the events that led up to the war.  Us teachers call this spiral learning.  They learn a bit, then they learn a bit more adding to what they know and then a bit more and I really felt after 5 books we had a really good feel for that era in history.