UPDATE: Thank you for voting! The Children’s History Book Prize poll is now closed. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner in the coming weeks.    Have you finished all four finalists for our annual Children’s History Book Prize? Great! Now it’s time to vote! This poll will be live until end of day April…

In Sweetgrass Basket, author Marlene Carvell weaves together the story of two Mohawk sisters, Mattie and Sarah, who have been sent to an off-reservation Native American Boarding School in the early 20th century. Written in prose-poetry and alternating voices between the two sisters, this heart wrenching novel follows the sisters’ emotional journey, as they work to…

SPOILER ALERT! Below, we talk about some of the plot twists in our Reading Into History Family Book Club pick, The Parker Inheritance, by Varian Johnson. So, if you haven’t finished the novel yet, stop reading now and come back when you’re done! In the middle-reader novel The Parker Inheritance, author Varian Johnson spins a mystery…

In the mid-1800s, New York City was already on its way to becoming the dynamic metropolis we know today. Manhattan was a city of half a million people and about 15,000 of these New Yorkers were members of a free black community. Although this community’s place in our city’s history is often forgotten, it was…

On Saturday, January 19, we’re celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. weekend with a special program honoring the 50th anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards,  featuring acclaimed children’s author and five-time recipient Sharon Draper! In 1969 Coretta Scott King started the awards to further her and her late husband’s work towards peace and brotherhood…

Slave catchers, medicine showmen, and the Battle of Gettysburg…They’re all part of The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg, this month’s read for the Reading into History family book club. Readers are invited to the Museum to discuss the book and Skype with acclaimed, multi-award-winning author Rodman Philbrick on Sunday, April 10 from 2…

You probably know that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. You may not know that a previous assassination attempt was made on him during his 13-day train journey from Springfield, IL, to his inauguration in Washington, D.C., in 1861. Even more remarkable, it was a female detective who saved Lincoln’s life! That detective,…

Summer may be drawing to a close, but the Reading into History family book club is about to start up again! We’re meeting this Sunday at 2 pm to discuss Matt Phelan’s graphic novel Bluffton about a boy who spends a few magical summers with a young Buster Keaton. Many people know Buster Keaton as…

Reading into Mockingbird is a series of posts about the historical themes in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the Reading into History Teen Summer’s 2015 read. Through these posts, we will provide historical background to enhance your reading of the book and your participation in our Goodreads discussions and teach-in event at the…