The Hatmaker's Sign A Story by Benjamin Franklin
Retold by Candace Fleming  Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker

The Hatmaker's Sign is a story that Benjamin Franklin told to Thomas Jefferson to make him feel better about the changes people wanted to make to the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson thought it was perfect but some members of Congress wanted to rewrite it and leave parts out. Benjamin Franklin tells him the story of the hatmaker's sign. 

A hatmaker is getting ready to open up his own shop and he has designed the sign he wants to hang above his door. He thinks it is perfect but his wife suggests that he leave out a part of the sign. He agrees and decides to remake the sign, he then heads off towards the signmakers shop when he comes across someone who tells him he should leave a part out of it. He agrees and designs a new sign. This keeps happening over and over until finally the sign is blank. When he takes the blank sign to the signmaker, the signmaker is confused. The hatmaker tells him what happened and then the signmaker suggests a design for the sign. It is the exact same design the hatmaker originally made, he thinks it is perfect.

Benjamin Franklin tells Thomas Jefferson that no matter how well something is written people will want to change it. Thomas Jefferson struggles with this as the Congress debates his Declaration, but in the end they did not change it much, they thought it was perfect.

This is a great story to read to 2nd graders up to 4th grade. This book would be good to illustrate to children that even though they might have to revise a paper it is okay. I think it also a good lesson that you should trust your instincts and that not everyone will agree with everything you do. 

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson paintings by James Ransome

This is a story about an 11 year old black girl named Clara who is a slave. She gets separated from her mother and has to go work in the field. She gets very sad and people start to worry about her health because she has to work hard. A nice lady she calls her Aunt Rachel decides to teach Clara how to quilt so she can get out of the fields and be a seamstress in the house. Clara passes the test and gets to work inside. Once she is inside she learns what a map is and about the underground railroad. She wants to make a map so she decides to make a map on a quilt. By using her knowledge she gained from others she makes the map and then leaves it behind for others when she escapes and finds her Mother and new sister. She hears stories about people who have escaped to the North by studying her quilt.

This would be a great book to read to a 1st to 4th grade class. I really enjoyed it. It has a good lesson that if you stick to your goals you can eventually succeed. It would also be good to talk about slavery and how people used the underground railroad to escape. I think a good classroom activity would be to make a quilt map out of construction paper.

Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall
Pictures by Barbara Cooney

Ox cart man is set in colonial times in America. The man takes an ox-cart to town to sell all of the extra  food and items that he and his family had left over at the end of the year. They load the ox-cart up with all kinds of household goods like linen and candles they had made. They also load up a lot of food. With his cart full he starts the long journey into town to sell his goods. When he gets there he sells everything he has, even the ox and the cart. He bought presents for the whole family including a big sack of candy. After he bought all he needed he starts the long journey home. He gives the kids and his wife their gifts, which they quickly start making things to sell for next year. The whole process starts once again.

I enjoyed reading this book. It has a nice rhyming scheme that young kids will enjoy. The pictures are nice and it is a calm story. This book would be good to read to children who are studying America during this time period. It might be a good idea to talk to kids about some of the vocabulary they might be familiar with. There is a moral in this story about how hard work pays off. 

I would recommend this book to 2nd through 4th grade. This book was awarded the 1980 Caldecott Medal. 

 Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco 

Pink and Say is a wonderful book about a friendship that is formed between two teenage boys during the Civil War. Say is shot in the leg and near death when Pink finds him. Pink carries him for a long way to where his mother Moe Moe Bay lives. Moe Moe nurses him back to health. While he is recovering he and Pink become good friends. Say is scared to go back to war and does not want to go.  Just before they getting ready to leave a group of marauders comes and Moe Moe forces the boys into the cellar. She stays above to give them a sign when it is clear. When no sign comes they go upstairs to find Moe Moe shot dead. Then they are captured by Confederate soldiers and taken to a prison. Say is held for a few months but Pink is killed.

This would be a good book to read to a class studying the civil war. There are many activities online for student to do before or after reading this book. Before reading you can ask children to tell you what they think the story will be about. After reading you can discuss some of the complex vocabulary in the book that might be above their grade level. Because of the subject matter and the vocabulary I would recommend reading this to grades 2nd and above. 

Here are a few websites that have activities for children to do.

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/books/pink_and_say/ps_index.html

http://users.manchester.edu/Student/BEDawes/