DD10 has read and re-read the Horrible Histories/Science books for years. She needs some books to replace these now she's a bit older. Any ideas? She finds basic history books "too boring". She says she gets fed up with the "so and so was born in ___ and died in ___." Of course that is why the HH books are good because it's all about the gross facts! She also likes the HH series because of the fun graphics.
Thanks!

What about you wouldn't want to be books...

You wouldn't want to be a Roman gladiator.

....Egyptian mummy
...polar explorer
Sail on the whaling ship Essex

I shelved them last year in the library as a volunteer...no clue about level other than they were at least third grade reading level...not sure of content difficulty but the cover on the Roman one says...."and other gross stuff"

DS loves any book by Nathan Hale, like this one. They are graphic novels.

http://www.amazon.com/Nathan-Hales-...d=1443789260&sr=1-1&keywords=nathan+hale

Also try books by this author:
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Miserable...sr=1-1&keywords=two+miserable+presidents

I probably should have stated a reading level. Perhaps 8th now? 9th? She's only 10 though so the emotional stuff from older kids' stuff goes right over her head. She's in 6th grade.
As soon as I get back from volunteering I will check out the ones listed so far. Thanks!!!!!!! Keep on sending ideas!!

Some are pretty short, but DS9 has enjoyed some of the biographies by Kathryn Lasky recently and asked for more!

I don't have any suggestions, but I had to say thanks for the Horrible Histories mention. I never heard of these and ordered the set -- DS7 loves them!

DS is currently reading "Guts and Glory" about the Civil War. There is also one about the Vikings.

I was thinking about getting him this book, which he'd probably eat up, but he would probably want to take it to school and I don't know what an elementary teacher would say about him having a book with "BADASS" plastered across the front. Plus from the reviews, it sounds like the language inside is pretty bad. Oh well, maybe in about 5 years it will work.

http://www.amazon.com/Badass-Deathm...F8&qid=1445694808&sr=1-2&keywords=badass

I am not familiar with hh books. But a couple years ago, I found the Story of the World volumes 1-4 with activity books at a homeschoolers garage sale for a deal. The new books are a little expensive. Anyway, I have been reading volume 1, ancient times, to my dd6 and she can't get enough. It is an interesting read and even I enjoy reading it.

DS likes those Story of the World books as well. I don't know how historically accurate they are, but at least they give a nice overview.

The Larry Gonick "Cartoon Guides" are very interesting, but preview for content.

How historically accurate are any textbooks put in front of elementary/middle school kids...just the other day someone posted an article about a history text book claiming that slavery wasn't what the civil war was about (and here I am paraphrasing the article and not sure how accurately I am paraphrasing the article)...something about the text book company was going to change the online version of the text due to the uproar/backlash but the hardback copies could be out there for a long time.

I think when you boil all of the Vikings down to 3 or so short lessons and a bunch of activities you aren't going to be able to write a Ph.D. thesis on them. You are going to get the basics as a foundation.

With the classical education model...you go through the cycle in elementary school at a basic level. You repeat it in middle school more in depth and repeat it again in high school. With some gifted children...you could skip going through the cycle three times and just do it more in depth and detailed once at the higher level at an earlier age.

My older son did Story of the World as a homeschooler in elementary, regular middle school classes in public school (world history, civics, american history) and has now expressed that history is his favorite subject in high school. He has taken AP Human Geography and AP World History. He isn't profoundly gifted and I wasn't a history major to know how awful they really are so I think the Story of the World was fine for him.

I had to skip some parts when I read it to DS, for instance there were a couple chapters in the ancient history book that were based on nothing but the Bible.
The exodus of Israelites from Egypt, for example, makes for a nice Bible story for a religious school or religious homeschoolers, but historians would say it's not supported by the evidence. The problem was that the book presented it like it was historical fact. If they had just written it as a story in the Bible, claiming that is what it is, then I would have been fine with it.

maybe she's ready for some biographies/autobiographies? The Young Royals series could be good, although a bit below her reading level?

I think the new edition of SOTW1 is clearer about that.

Yes, I can imagine that some families would find SOTW1 a little problematic (in terms of the Christian bent). Nonetheless the four books have been one of the best resources we have provided for our DCs. They provide a good overview of the sweep of world history and have given them a framework for further reading in other sources. So much better than what many kids experience in US schools - a big glob of US-focused history over and over again with little else besides.

I think that's an overgeneralization. Our public school is doing a pretty outstanding job teaching world history (including the stories of various empires and peoples).

I do think SOTW is problematic-- it's not just a "bias," it's not having the facts right. Matters to me, YMMV.

Disclaimer: I'm not sure what the Horrible Histories books are exactly (although I think I get the general idea, just don't know them well) , so this might not be what you're looking for.
Anyway, your DD might like this book - called Outbreak! Plagues That Changed History - about, well, diseases, etc. Based on the Amazon reviews some people didn't love it - it's great for an interesting read but not incredibly in depth - but I think it does a nice job of combining 'gross' diseases with history. It looks at diseases in more of historical social/medical context -- eg, how people viewed tuberculosis and thought the plague spread by miasma, etc.

I also thought of this one. "How they Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous."

http://www.amazon.com/How-They-Croa...5825806&sr=8-1&keywords=how+they+croaked

I think SOTW is problematic too--but if you combine it with other materials it can be problematic in a good way because the storytelling nature of it lends itself to discussing why those stories were chosen and teaching kids early on that they can't just trust a book because it seems to be nonfiction. I also think they're good for helping a child get a better understanding of time and geography. Still, I read those books with mine. I don't think I'd want to just hand them to her and say, "here's history."

For reading/working on her own, mine finds her way in through historical fiction and then selects nonfiction that arises based on the book. Series she likes are Royal Diaries, the Dear America series, and the Journal series by Marissa Moss. Her librarian turned her on to the Giants of Science series.They're really science books, but she gets inspired to read about corresponding historical subjects when she's reading one of them.

Edited because your daughter is in a higher grade than I thought. But if she is only 10, she might still like some of them. They're all fun girl books.

Not a book, but did you know that the BBC made 5 seasons of Horrible History? Covers a lot of the same material as the books, but with catchy tunes and funny sketches.