Review of Golden Prairie Press' Uncover Exciting History

I recently had the privilege of reviewing Golden Prairie Press' Uncover Exciting History by Amy Puetz.  Amy Puetz is well known in the homeschooling community for her living book style history books.  Uncover Exciting History (subtitled Revealing America's Christian in Short, Easy-to-Read Nuggets) is one such book.  Covering American history from Columbus through the 1940s, the book reads as a continuing historical narrative, but also as a series of discrete short stories (that just happen to be true!).  For this reason, the book can be adapted to a variety of homeschooling scenarios. It can be used as a read-aloud for the whole family as a gentle overview of American history with an emphasis on the Christian character of the country. It can be used as supplementary reading with an American history curriculum.  It can be free time "school" reading for an older child.  While the book is recommended for ages 12+, it is definitely well within reach for younger readers.  The only thing that makes it especially appropriate for older readers is the section at the end of each chapter called "Digging Deeper" comprised of questions appropriate for essays or discussions, map work, and other activities.



I used this ebook two ways.  I received it as an pdf to read on my iPad.  I then put it on my eldest daughter's Nexus 7 tablet.  I knew that she would read it for pleasure reading any time (and she did - she loved it!).  For my other 3 children, I used the book as a lunchtime read-aloud not directly tied to our history curriculum.  All of my kids loved this book.  American history properly told makes for exciting reading, and Amy's chapters are exactly the right length to be read in one sitting (6-9 pages).  If you have kids who love history, they are guaranteed to love this book, especially if they think they already know the whole story of American history! There are plenty of surprises in this book.

If you want to learn more about Uncover Exciting History, you can read Chapter 8, Crossing the Delaware, here.  You can see the entire Table of Contents here.  The ebook version I received retails for $14.95, but it is currently on sale for 20% off, making it just $11.96.  The book is also available as a printed volume for $18.95 and as an audiobook for $25.00 (both are currently available for 20% off as of this writing).  The sale ends 9/1/12.

I have received Amy's ezine for quite awhile now, so I knew that I would love this book -- and I did (more importantly, so did all four of my kids).  To find out how other Crew members used Amy's books, see the Crew blog.



Disclaimer: I received the ebook version of this book free in exchange for my review. I received nothing else (apart from the joy of reading very well-written history).