Historically Speaking

Who can imagine what life must have been like for a kid living twenty thousand years ago? Lois Huey can! Travel back in time with author and archeologist, Lois Miner Huey , with her latest book, Children of the Past:Archeology and the Lives of Kids . Thanks, Lois, for talking with us today about this fascinating book. What inspired you to write about kids who lived thousands of years ago? Based on archaeological evidence, I was wondering what it was really like to be a kid years ago. My latest book Children of the Past Archaeology and the Lives of Kids (Lerner 2017) begins thousands of years ago with cave kids and goes through time to the 1790s. Finding evidence of children from various times in soil layers is exciting for archaeologists. I wanted to share that excitement and what that evidence of their lives meant in different time periods. In previous books like Forgotten Bones Uncovering a Slave Cemetery and Ick! Yuck! Eew! Our Gross American History, I've included ki...

I spent some time this weekend in lower Manhattan. My hotel was directly across the street from St. Paul's Chapel so I had to stop over to see this 250-year old Episcopal church that survived 9/11 and holds so much history. The cemetery is populated by Revolutionary War veterans and New World residents who lived in New York before we were a free nation. It is remarkable to see this tiny chapel among NY skyscrapers and to imagine an earlier New York. St. Paul's was built by Trinity Church to serve the neighborhood. St. Paul's  Just a few blocks away is Trinity Church, where Angelica Schuyler her sister, Eliza and Alexander Hamilton are buried. The original Trinity Church burned down. While awaiting the new building, George Washington and the gang attended St. Paul's. Trinity Church  He was a good guy, but.....   John Lawrence!  Eliza's plot This is a great place to fill out your Hamilton knowledge. These two loc...

I fell in love with Stacy Innerst's beautiful illustrations at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference in Los Angeles this month. Stacy is the recipient of the 2017 Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Art for The Music In George's Head , a wonderful book about George Gershwin by Suzanne Slade. Seeing Stacy's books collected together made me appreciate their amazing illustrations all the more. Stacy has a wonderful way of bringing these historical biographies to life. I was amazed to learn that the Levi Strauss illustrations were actually created on denim!  Take a look at them for yourself!   Find out more about Stacy's work and August picture book release about Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

So many great patriotic titles to read this holiday. I'm thinking the popularity of Hamilton on Broadway has a little something to do with some of these new releases. Don't you? I can't wait to read Melissa De La Cruz 's latest YA novel inspired by this famous couple. For younger readers, Don Brown has taken a stab at the famous duel.  Brown wrote and illustrated Aaron and Alexander , described as a tale of passion, patriotism, and pride. Here are a few others that shed light on our founding fathers.  Save Save

While Russia seems to be in the news every day, I'd thought I'd put together a reading list of books set in and about Russia.  Perhaps you might want to add these to your summer reading list. I'm starting off with my book that, surprisingly, has much to do about Russia. I went to St. Petersburg, Russia to research and photograph THE STORY OF SEEDS: FROM MENDEL'S GARDEN TO YOUR PLATE, AND HOW THERE'S MORE OF LESS TO EAT AROUND THE WORLD. Having grown up during the Cold War, I never imagined I would be visiting there, let alone on a research trip to a government facility. I had the unique opportunity to visit the Vavilov Research Institute, the world's first global seed bank. You can read about how this important facility survived during the WWII's Leningrad Siege and how Nikolai Vavilov created something so valuable that countries, including the US, are still benefiting from it today. It is a story of bravery, science, and vision! M.T. Anderson...