Children's Reading List: American Girl Addy and Lapbook


1/19/2012

My daughter recently finished reading the next book series in the American Girl collection: Addy.

Addy and her mama are runaway slaves, living in 1864. They escape, but leave behind Addy's baby sister, older brother and papa. The family is eventually reunited and find freedom. Although these books may pose an unrealistically happy ending to this family's story, they were a great introduction to the Civil War time era, slavery and the Underground Railroad.

We have not yet studied this time period in our homeschool history lessons (my daughter moved on with the American Girl books while we're studying American history at a slower pace in school). After reading this series, I pulled out some other materials to supplement her learning.

We have numerous Adventures in Odyssey tapes, including episodes on Abraham Lincoln and the Underground Railroad, so my girl has been enjoying the history woven into those entertaining radio dramas.

My daughter also created a lapbook for Addy, as she's done for all of the American Girls she's read about so far. All of the lapbooking templates we use can be found for free here.

This is the lapbook cover - a picture my daughter drew of Addy, in front of the sewing shop where her mother found work.

Here's the first set of pages of the lapbook, with mini-books showing Who Is Addy, her Father, her Mother, Living in 1864, What Changes in Addy's Life, and more descriptions of Addy's World.
The lapbook opens up to two more pages, with mini-flaps about Addy's pet, her best friend, her favorite things, conflict in the storyline, and a map showing where Addy lived (in the South and the North).


So my daughter has read about Kaya, Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Marie-Grace and Cecile... and now Addy. These girls span 100 years, from 1764 to 1864. What a great way to learn about American history! Next up is Samantha from 1904.

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