Katie Runyon

Kathy Mynatt

Literature List for Georgia Historical Figures and their Contributions

Bader, B., & Wolf, E. (2014). Who was Martin Luther King, Jr.? New York, NY: Penguin

Group. Biography.

This book is about Martin and his protests. It is a chapter book but has some illustrations

every few pages. It starts with his childhood and what led him to fight for equal rights. It talks

about the Montgomery boycott when he was 25 and it talks about his I have a dream speech.

This book also talks about the others who helped shaped history during this time.

This book is an excellent resource to have in the classroom. It is a little higher-level

reading but the teacher can read a chapter a day during this unit. At the end of the unit the

teacher will ask for a student to read at least one chapter from the book. For the students who

read at a higher level can read it on their own. This book will challenge the students but it also

helps guide them into chapter books.

Burleigh, R., & Wimmer, M. (2007). Stealing home: Jackie Robinson: Against the odds. New

York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

I thought this was a great book that talked about Jackie Robinson and his contribution of

becoming the first African American to play in major league baseball. The thing I like about

most is that its a non-fiction book that tells the story of Jackie instead of just putting facts about

him. This book would be good to read to the class whenever it is time to talk about Jackie

Robinson. Not only is it a story that the kids will be interested in, but it also talks about how

influential Jackie Robinson was during his time on the major league baseball team. I feel like
most kids would enjoy this just because it is a story instead of reading fact books like most other

Georgia historical figures are.

Dunn, H., & Henderson, M. (1999). Jackie Robinson: Young sports trailblazer. New York:

Aladdin Paperbacks. Fictionalized Biography.

This book is about Jackies life before he was a famous baseball player. It is all about his

childhood. This book is about the hardships Jackie had to face while growing up in Georgia. It

has so much information on Jackies life and what he had to endure. This book goes into Jackies

full life so the students will be able to see how he got to be in the major leagues.

This would be great in the classroom because it is an easy read. First, the teacher would

read it to start the lesson and then it would be in the classroom library for all the students to read.

The students will learn so much about how hard it was back in the 1920s. Students will realize

that Jackie had to work so much harder and had to fight the bullies. It is not just about getting to

know Jackie its about realizing that no matter what if you work hard you can do so much in life.

It can definitely be considered a life lesson book.

Higgins, H. B., & Morrison, C. (2002). Juliette Low: Girl scout founder. Carmel, IN: Patria

Press. Fiction.

This book is about Juliette Gordon Low. It is written from a childs perspective and it

teaches them how we are more alike than different. This book talks about how she thought that

girls and boys were equal. It talks about her childhood and her marriage. It also explains how Sir

Robert Baden-Powell encouraged her to start up the Girl Scouts.

 This would be great in the classroom because it can be a fun read for the students. It will

be a good book if students are having difficulty reading, the teacher can work one on one with

them. Girls have self-esteem issues and I think having books with strong woman will help them

overcome their insecurities. This is interesting writing from the child point of view so the

students can relate to the book and enjoy reading.

Kudlinski, K. V. (2015). Juliette Gordon Low: America's first girl scout. Puffin Books.

Biography.

This book is all about Juliette Gordon Low. It starts with her childhood and goes into

how she started the Girl Scouts. Her childhood she was full of life and wanted to be heard. She

was a prankster and it talks about how she would prank her family and friends. It talks about how

she was deaf. It talks about how she had to convince everyone that Girl Scouts is a good idea.

This is great in the classroom especially for girls. It has the main idea about how strong

woman can be. Many girls have so many self-esteem issues so I think this book being in the

classroom will be a great thing. So many of the students may be in the Girl Scouts so they can

learn more about their founder. The teacher will read this book first and then it will be in the

classroom library, so the students can read it on their own.

Maloof, T. (2017). James Oglethorpe: Not for self, but for others. Huntington Beach, CA:

Teacher Created Materials. Non-fiction.

This book is all about James Oglethorpe and his contribution to co- finding Georgia. It is

a very visual book giving you a timeline of the events that took place during the time he was

Chief of the Yomacraw Indians. It talks a lot about why James Oglethorpe did what he did and
how those things influenced him to start a new colony. This book has a lot of pictures as well

making it easier for students to understand the text if they are not sure what it is saying.

This book would be great to have in the classroom when we are going into this unit. It

gives a lot of information about James as a person and what he contributed to Georgia. It gives a

lot of information but it gives it in a kid friendly way so that kids can understand what exactly

was going on instead of reading about things they have never heard of. I also really liked this

book because of the pictures and the side notes it has throughout the book. The pictures will have

students interested and will motivate them to read more. This would be a really good book for

students who are visual learners and retain more information by looking at pictures rather than

looking at a bunch of words.

Maloof, T. (2017). Mary Musgrove: Bringing people together. Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher

Created Materials. Non-fiction.

This book like all the others connect to our Georgia standard of historical figures in

Georgia. Something that I really liked about this book was that it didnt just talk about Mary

Musgrove, it also talked about the rough time that women went through during that time. It talks

about all the things that women had to do for their families and then it goes into talking about

how Mary is different than every other women.

This book would be great to keep in the classroom library because it has a lot of facts

about history throughout the world. It talks about the life of women and what they had to do for

their families and it also gives random facts on some pages about things that connect to the

reading. It also talks about common trading items and struggles that families had and because of
that it is great for kids to refer back to this and see this as learning more about the history of

Georgia and the history of Mary Musgrove.

Rice, D. (2017). Jimmy Carter: For the people. Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created

Materials. Non-fiction.

This book is an e-book and connects to the Georgia standards. This book is all about

Jimmy Carter. It talks about his life and his presidency. It has pictures throughout, it starts with a

picture of him as a child and his childhood home. It has some information that is about how he

joined the farmers association and learned how to farm.

This book would be great in the classroom because students will be able to see a different

side of Georgia. Students may know who Jimmy is but this book will show them how he got to

be president. It also has older pictures in there so they may be shocked about how photos used to

be in black and white. This book can be in the class library for the students to read on their own

but the teacher can introduce the unit by showing the book. This also teaches the students about

hard work.

Rodgers, K. (2016). Sequoyah and the written word. Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created

Materials.

This book is all about Sequoyah and his great contribution to the Cherokee culture and

the written words he created. It talks about when he was born, where he was born, and mainly

the contributions he gave to Georgia. It also talks about events that were happening during the

time of his creation of the Cherokee language, such as the Trail of Tears. It gives a brief

overview of many important things that were happening during the time of his contributions.
 This book would be great to keep in the classroom because of the facts and information it

has on Sequoyah and information on the Cherokee culture. I think this would be a great book to

use during a unit where you are focusing on different Native American cultures. It gives a lot of

insight on the type of lifestyle they had and how they were living and what they used for food,

clothes, etc.

Schwartz, H. (2016). Tomochichi: Chief and a friend. Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created

Materials. Non-fiction.

This book that I found was all about Chief Tomochichi and the great peacemaker that he

was. At first it introduces why Chief Tomochichi is even involved in the New World wanting to

create a colony. It does a great job of giving visuals on each page and it even gives a map of

where they were sailing so that kids really understand where they were coming from. I really like

how this book doesnt just talk about Chief Tomochichi, it connects to other people and events

that were happening showing that all of these people worked together and the events kept leading

up to more events.

This book is not only great to use during the historical figures unit, it is also great to use

when learning about Native Americans and the different tribes around the world. It talks a lot

about Chief Tomochichi, but it also talks a lot about where he came from and what each tribe

meant to him. Students will be learning about contributions made by Chief Tomochichi, but they

will also be learning about the different tribes that he made peace with around that time.