Picture Books for the Midwest

Time to dust off the blog and share a little of what Nathaniel and I have been learning in our homeschool. We’ve been exploring America state by state for social studies this year. It was my intention last September to share about the picture books I selected for each state. We started reading across the United States late fall after a ten-week unit on Indigenous People.

It’s April! We’ve traveled through thirty-six states! And I’m only now beginning to share. Life! But let’s give this a go anyway. I’ll start with the region closest to home and that we just finished last week - the Midwest.

I love picking out picture books to read to Nathaniel. While they are picture books, many that I’ve chosen have advanced themes: the Underground Railroad, fathers working away from the family, African American children being denied schooling, settling the prairie frontier, immigration and longing for home, the Flu Epidemic of 1918 and children being sent away from home to stay well. We learn the basics about each state from our textbook, but these stories have been the heart and soul of our social studies learning.

I create an anchor, read, apply reading comprehension activity sheet for each book. These help us connect to the main character and glean more from the stories. Perhaps if time permits in the future I can prepare those for public use and add the files for download here.

Until then… enjoy the list! Each book listed is a treasure and worthy of being added to a home library. Most have additional information in the back of the book that sets the story in context of history and place. A couple of the books are currently out of print, but can be found used.

Michigan: Mail by the Pail by Colin Bergel, Illustrated by Mark Koenig
Indiana: Miss Colfax’s Light by Aimee Bissonette, Illustrated by Eileen Ryan Ewen
Illinois: Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis, Illustrated by Gilbert Ford
Ohio: Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad by Marlene Targ Brill, Illustrated by Janice Lee Porter

Iowa: American Gothic: The Life of Grant Wood by Susan Wood, Illustrated by Ross MacDonald
Missouri: Steamboat School by Deborah Hopkinson, Illustrated by Ron Husband
Wisconsin: Sport: Ship Dog of the Great Lakes by Pamela Cameron, Illustrated by Renee Graef
Minnesota: Marven of the Great North Woods by Kathryn Lasky, Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

North Dakota: My Mother’s Apron by Dr. Edward Keller, Illustrated by David Christy
South Dakota: Dakota Dugout by Ann Turner, Illustrated by Ronald Himler
Nebraska: Nora’s Chicks by Patricia MacLachlan, Illustrated by Kathryn Brown
Kansas: Three Names by Patricia MacLachlan, Illustrated by Alexander Pertzoff

Links provided here are affiliate links and I do earn a very small commission if you purchase after clicking.
This is at no additional cost to you.