Books

Books for Children

Picture
Library of Congress
  • Bushnell, Alice. (Marcia Cowles Bushnell, ed). A Little Girl's Diary: Life on a Farm in Rural Vermont. Canada, 1967. This book is an annotated reproduction of Alice Bushnell’s 1911 diary.
  • Hall, Donald and Greg Shed (illus). The Milkman's Boy. New York, NY: Walker and Company, 1997.    Hall describes the routines of a small dairy including the importance of the ice house and horse team. In the early 1900s, The Graves Family Dairy is faced with decisions about pasteurization and increasing the size of the business. This picture book is beautifully illustrated.    Grades 1 - 5
  • Kay, Verla and Ted Rand (illus). Homespun Sarah.    New York, NY: G. P. Putnam's Sons,   2003.    This whimsical story paints (literally) a clear picture of daily life on a rural pre-industrial farm. Kay's poetry offers a great hook for further discussions.    Grades 1 - 5
  • McCully, Emily Arnold. The Bobbin Girl. Dial Books for Young Readers, 2005.    "Rebecca Putney is a bobbin girl who helps support her struggling family by working all day in a hot, noisy cotton mill. Working conditions at the mill are poor, and there is talk of lowering the workers’ wages. Rebecca’s friend Judith wants to protest the pay cut — but the organizers at the mill are dismissed. Does Rebecca have the courage to join the protest?" [Publisher's description.] Grades 3-8
  • Medearis, Michael and Angela Shelf Medearis. Daisy and The Doll. Middlebury, VT: Vermont Folklife Center, 2000.     Eight year old Daisy Turner asserts her individuality by reciting an original poem during her school's end of the year program. She eloquently shares how she feels about being the only black child in class at school.    Grades 1-5
  • Osborne, Linda Barrett (with The Library of Congress). Travelling the Freedom Road: From Slavery and the Civil War Through Reconstruction. Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2009.   Written for children about children, teenagers, and their families, this book takes readers through the topics of slavery, Civil War and Reconstruction. Through diaries, narratives, anti-slavery publications, interviews and other well preserved 19th Century material, Osborne draws readers in with compelling imagery that enhances her gripping storytelling. Grades 4 & up
  • Rockwell, Ann and R. Gregory Christie (illus). Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.    Strikingly illustrated, this picture book tells the story of Sojourner Truth's transformation from a Dutch speaking slave girl named Isabella to a confident and feisty activist and engaging orator.    Grades 2-6
  • Rooney, Thomas.  Tobey Boland and the Blackstone Canal. Ambassador Books, 2005.        Grades 1-5

Books for Educators and Older Students

Picture
Library of Congress
  • Albers, Jan. Hands on The Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape. The MIT Press; Reprint edition, 2002.    "The unique character and timeless appeal of Vermont are rooted largely in the look of the land itself. In Hands on the Land, Jan Albers offers a lively and insightful study of the geological factors, the social and economic trends, and—perhaps most compelling—the human dreams and schemes that have shaped the landscape and in the process made Vermont one of America's truly special places." Richard Moe , President, National Trust for Historic Preservation
  • Cowan, Ruth Schwartz.  More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave. London: Free Association Books, 1989.    As industrialization caused a general shift in homes from production to consumption, household tasks also shifted. While men's tasks around the home lessened and their work shifted to earning money at jobs outside the home, women's tasks continued to bind them to the home. This book offers an historical perspective on ways in which women's work shifted, but did not lessen, over time.    Grades 8 & up
  • Gerzina, Gretchen Holbrook. Mr. and Mrs. Prince: How an Extraordinary Eighteenth-Century Family Moved out of Slavery and into Legend. Amistad Press, 2008.
  • Guyette, Elise A. Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburg, 1790-1890. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Press, 2010. A comprehensive and engaging investigation of a 19th century community of free blacks living in northern Vermont. Guyette uncovers, analyzes, and interprets thousands of primary sources and uses them to reveal this lost history while also demonstrating the process of weaving together historical fragments into the complete biography of three families.
  • Jurmain, Suzanne. The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The True and Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2005.      An engaging, yet dismaying, nonfiction account of Prudence Crandall's commitment to providing quality education to African American girls. Includes primary source materials.    Grades 6 & up
  • Schwartz, Gerald (ed).  A Woman Doctor's Civil War: Esther Hill Hawks' Diary. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1984.  This is the thoughtfully edited diary of Esther Hill Hawks, a female New England doctor who served in the Civil War. The diary entries span the years 1862 through 1866. Schwartz provides helpful background and contextual information.    Grades 9 & up