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This school year we are studying modern history with Story of the World Volume 4. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cover the topics of war, and communism, and other difficult discussions with my elementary-aged children.
However, I decided that my kids needed a background in these topics of modern history to better understand current events.
So, we are jumping in to modern history with a list of picture books. It was hard work to find appropriate books on many of these topics. I tried to find a good mix of nonfiction and literature books that will interest my young elementary-aged kids. Here is what I plan to use this year.
(And if you’re looking for some chapter book ideas for older kids, check out my list for Modern History)
Chapter 1 – Britain’s Empire
Chapter 2 – West Against East
Chapter 3 – British Invasions
Chapter 4 – Resurrection and Rebellion
Chapter 5 – The American Civil War
Chapter 6 – Two Tries for Freedom
Chapter 7 – Two Empires, Three Republics, and One Kingdom
Chapter 8 – Becoming Modern
Chapter 9 – Two More Empires, Two Rebellions
Chapter 10 – A Canal to the East, and a Very Dry Desert
Chapter 11 – The Far Parts of the World
Chapter 12 – Unhappy Unions
Chapter 13 – The Old Fashioned Emperor and the Red Sultan
Chapter 14 – Two Czars and Two Emperors
Chapter 15 – Small Countries with Large Invaders
Chapter 16 – The Expanding Unite States
Chapter 17 – China’s Troubles
Chapter 18 – Europe and the Countries Just East
Chapter 19 – China, Vietnam – and France
Chapter 20 – Revolution in the Americas…War in the World
Chapter 21 – A Revolution Begins, and the Great War Ends
Chapter 22 – National Uprisings
Chapter 23 – “Peace” and a Man of War
Chapter 24 – The King and Il Duce
Chapter 25 – Armies in China
Chapter 26 – The Great Crash, and What Came of It
Chapter 27 – Civil War and Invasion
Chapter 28 – The Second World War
Chapter 29 – The End of World War II
Chapter 30 – Partitioned Countries
Chapter 31 – Western Bullies and American Money
Chapter 32 – Africa and China After World War II
Chapter 33 – Communism in Asia
Chapter 34 – Dictators in South America and Africa
Chapter 35 – The Cold War
Chapter 36 – Struggles and Assassinations
Chapter 37 – Two Short Wars and One Long One
Chapter 38 – Two Ways of Fighting
Chapter 39 – The 1980’s in the East and the Mideast
Chapter 40 – The 1980’s in the USSR
Chapter 41 – Communism Crumbles – but Survives
Chapter 42 – The End of the Twentieth Century
More Book Lists
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An awesome book for World War II is Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
Thanks for the recommendation!
Oh my goodness! You are AWESOME!!! Thank you for sharing this gem! I am saving this list for sure!! 🙂
Do you happen to have one for Volume 1 o 2? 😉
Bridgette Ontiveros
I do not have a list for 1 and 2 yet. I do hope to make one. But they take hours and hours and hours. So I hope I can work on it occasionally 🙂 I will try!