America's Story Through Living Books
The American story, taught the way it's meant to be learned: as a story.
History isn't a list of dates. It's people - making hard choices, crossing into worlds they didn't understand, figuring out who they were when everything familiar fell away. That's what living books teach better than any textbook, and it's what this collection is built around.
America's Story Through Living Books takes some of the finest novels of America's founding era and turns each into a complete unit study - not a worksheet packet, but a full course in the story: historical background and geography, chapter-by-chapter discussion that actually makes kids think, character and theme work, hands-on and cross-curricular projects, and an integrated Bible study that takes the hardest questions seriously.
Each one is built with the cross-cultural and theological depth that generic guides skip.
Read together, they move through America's founding from the Puritan settlements of the 1680s to the Revolution itself - a sweep of the founding story, told through the people who lived it.
THE FOUR GUIDES
The set, in chronological order.
This collection is still growing. More of the American story is on the way, including the nation's founding documents and the people who shaped them.
Start with the one that fits your year, or teach all four in sequence for a full founding-era study that reads like a story instead of a syllabus.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Connecticut, 1687. A spirited girl from Barbados collides with a rigid Puritan town, and a friendship lands her at the center of a witch accusation. A study in fear, faith, and the cost of welcoming the outsider.
Calico Captive
New England & New France, 1754. Captured during the French and Indian War and marched to Montreal, Miriam comes of age caught between three cultures: English, French, and Abenaki. A study in identity, resilience, and what home really means.
Sign of the Beaver
Maine frontier, 1768. Left alone to guard the family's wilderness cabin, thirteen-year-old Matt survives with the help of a Penobscot boy whose friendship changes how he sees the world. A study in survival, respect, and friendship across difference.
Johnny Tremain
Boston, 1773–1775. A silversmith's apprentice is swept into the Sons of Liberty and the outbreak of war, from the Tea Party to the first shots at Lexington. A study in courage, conviction, and what an ordinary person will stand up for.