I had a stack of must see resources for our trip to Boston. The ultimate preparation would have been a year long American History study, such as Sonlight's Core 3 and Core 4...but this trip didn't fit into that schedule, so here are the books I made sure we enjoyed before the trip:
Johnny Tremain by Ester Forbes: In my mind, this was the most important book to read for our trip, I read this book in 6th grade- and to me, it spoke "Boston". I was so excited to see the area myself, as an adult, and I was sure my kids would love and get as invested in Johnny's story as I did.
Samuel Eaton's Day and Sarah Morton's Day: wonderful, scenic picture-books of a day in the life of a pilgrim boy/girl, photographed at Plimoth Plantation, using period costumes. Really, really wonderful!
Tampenum's Day, a Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim times:
again, wonderful photos, done on location at the Wampanoag village at the Plimoth Plantation museum.
Drive Thru History: Columbus, the Pilgrim's and early Boston DVD*
I'll fess us and say I haven't viewed this, but if I had known about it before our trip, I would have ordered it. I was aware of the longer and more expensive Drive Thru History America dvd set...and was thinking about getting it when we do American History next school year...but this is shorter, more specific to the area and not a bad price at all... Did you see that it is a DVD? I have viewed one of these on Greece, and it was very entertaining and informative, well-done, I thought.
1621-A new look at Thanksgiving: beautiful photography again. I first read this years ago, and had a little bit of a hard time with some of it's harsh tone and representation of parts of history..but, it did challenge me, and it did present a side to the colonization of Plymouth I did not know, and it presented a clear look at the historical Thanksgiving-debunking many of the myths we learned way back in kindergarten...I think it was a good addition to our reading and gave my students a chance to see the 'other' side of history lore.
We also had a booklet on the Freedom trail, which was invaluable on our walking tour. We purchased it at Border's bookstore in Boston...I'm sorry but I cannot find it now, but I am sure you can find it, or ones like it in Boston!
Of course, Make Way for Ducklings was also on our list!! How could I forget that one? If you don't know, there are statues from this book at Boston Commons...