Grade 4 Historical Fiction: Home

The article describes the use of dandelions as food during the Great Depression in the U.S.

The article discusses the author's experiences living through the Depression in the U.S.

The article focuses on how a child of immigrants coped with hunger and uncertainty in the 1930's in the U.S. Includes photo illustrations.

An interview with a friend called M and her husband Vernon, about living through the 1930s Depression is presented. M and Vernon describe the house their family lived in during the Depression. They cite the kind of food their own family provide and how the Depression affect their family. They also describe the style of clothing during the Depression.

Offers facts about pioneers, who traveled west across the U.S. to settle in new places. Description of log cabins; Materials used by pioneers in making their own clothing; Examples of crops that are planted by pioneers. Includes photo illustrations.

Looks back at the dangers faced by pioneers on the Oregon Trail which stretched 2,000 miles from Independence, Missouri to Oregon. How long the trip took; River crossings; Indians; Buffalo stampedes; Sickness and disease; Jeff Knight, whose mother kept a diary of the trip.

An overview of Washington's hardship and suffering as a slave and how his life changed after the Civil War.

The story of Harriett Tubman
Article with illustrations

Several excerpts from books on slavery.
Article with photos

The article offers information regarding several facts about the U.S. Civil War which include not all the Southern states seceding at once, some Americans having mixed loyalties to North and South and very little about the war playing out as expected. Includes Illustrations

The article discusses segregation in southern U.S. states up until the 1960's with details on several aspects of the civil rights movement. Includes photo illustrations.

The article presents information on the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which ruled that public school segregation was unconstitutional and overturned the U.S. Supreme Court Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1986.

The article presents information on the U.S. civil rights activists, known as Freedom Riders, who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern U.S. beginning in 1961 to challenge the non-enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that segregated bus and train terminals were unconstitutional. Includes photo illustrations

The article offers information on Barbara Johns, who started a protest against segregation in schools of the U.S. in 1951. Article with photo illustrations.

The article reports on the involvement of Carver High School students James Foster Smith, Frank Thomas and Robert Avery to civil rights protests ending racial segregation among the African Americans held in Washington, D.C. INSET: I HAVE A DREAM. Includes photo illustrations

The article provides an overview of the march of the people along with civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C. towards promoting integration in the U.S. It mentions that he lived in the time of segregation wherein African Americans cannot share with their white counterparts. It also notes that his efforts were supported through passing laws which prohibits the separation of people with different races in the country. Includes illustrations.

The article discusses Little Rock, Arkansas's attempts to de-segregate their schools with details on the superintendent Virgil Blossom's decision to choose nine African American students, including Elizabeth Eckford, to attend the all-white Central High School. Photo illustrations

Provides information on several battles related to World War II where the soldiers of the United States had fought with, including the battle in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941.

The article discusses the rise in popularity of baseball game at the time of Second World War.

The article provides information on a collie named Scott who became part of the K-9 Corps to serve during World War II.

The article presents American strategy in the Pacific Theater after the Battle of Midway in 1942, including the strategy of island hopping, the cryptographers who broke the Japanese Navy's code, the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the use of atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Describes the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945 by the United States. Effects of the bomb; Why a second bomb was dropped on August 9

The article discusses the expansion of Imperial Japan into China and the problems that the U.S. trade embargo caused for the Tojo government, eventually resulting in the attack on Pearl Harbor as Japan attempted to avert a war of attrition.

A personal narrative is provided in which the author discusses her experience as a child during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

Simple text and colorful illustrations explain the story of explorer, Christopher Columbus.