Literature By Time Period

This classic, by Jean Fritz covers the era of exploration from 1421 to 1522. Like most Jean Fritz books, this one is charmingly illustrated with maps, portraits, and scenes of the period. Jean tells 10 tales of famous explorers and their exploits: Prince Henry the Navigator, Bartholomew Diaz, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Cabral, John Cabot, Amerigo Vespucci, Ponce de Leon, Vasco de Balboa, and Ferdinand Magellan. This book makes an excellent addition to any study of the Renaissance.

The story of King Arthur as it has never been told before. Galwyn, the son of a bankrupt and dishonored aristocrat, has always had an ear for languages. So when Lord Artos--later known as King Arthur--needs an interpreter to help him buy large horses to breed a troop strong enough to carry armed warriors against the Saxon invaders, Galwyn gets a chance to redeem his father's honor and make a name for himself. 

Homer's epic poem, The Illiad, is one of the greatest adventure stories of all time. In it, the abduction of the legendary beauty, Helen of Troy, leads to a conflict in which even the gods and goddesses take sides and intervene. It is in the Trojan War that the most valiant heroes of the ancient world are pitted against one another. Here Hectore, Ajax, Achilles, and Odysseus meet their most formidable challenges and in some casas their tragic ends. 

Johnny Tremain is the Newbery Award winner by Esther Forbes. Set in Boston during the Revolutionary war, Johnny Tremain is the story of a brilliant orphan boy who was apprenticed to a silver smith. Though young, Johnny has a bright future before him as he is quickly recognized as the driving force behind the silver smith. With marriage to the master's daughter in view, and the eventual ownership of the shop, things are looking up for Johnny, until a jealous fellow apprentice plays a prank on Johnny that literally ruins his life. 

In 1940s Brooklyn, two boys who have grown up within a few blocks of each other, but in entirely different worlds, meet for the first time in a bizarre encounter -- a baseball game between two Jewish parochial schools that turns into a holy war. With dramatic force and simplicity that seizes the heart, "The Chosen" depicts the powerful bonds of love and pain that join father and son, the communions and quarrels of friendship, the true religionist's love of God, and the tumults by which the heart is made human.

"This Country of Ours" contains stories from the history of the United States beginning with a full account of exploration and settlement and ending with the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. The 99 chapters are grouped under 7 headings: Stories of Explorers and Pioneers, Stories of Virginia, Stories of New England, Stories of the Middle and Southern Colonies, Stories of the French in America, Stories of the Struggle for Liberty, and Stories of the United States under the Constitution. 

"In a simple, short biography of Columbus she has been extraordinarily successful in extracting the essence of the man." -- "The Horn Book." "Fritz's unconventional look at the great explorer who accidently discovered the New World reveals the navigator's obstinate as well as his visionary side." -- "School Library Journal"