Historical Fiction Archives - Classical Education Books

Legend of the North

sarah — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 22:31:49 +0000

Amitok is the smallest and the weakest of the pups born to the white wolf family. His brother Skal is strong, and he quickly emerges as the natural leader who will one day take over the job of their father, old Tuluk, to lead the wolf pack. But Amitok is swift and smart, and Skal is proud and reckless, and it is Skal’s foolishness that leads to the brothers’ terrifying encounter with a snow bear. When the battle is over, Amitok finds himself alone on the ice. He drifts for days, until the spirit of his father’s father, Kivvik, appears to lead him to safety.

It was a white man’s gun that killed Kivvik. The man took the hide from his body. Later it was the wolverine who ate the flesh and broke the bones to suck out the marrow. But they did not take the spirit of Kivvik, the great white wolf. Kivvik’s spirit gives strength and direction to Amitok, and Amitok grows from a timid pup into a great wolf able to follow Kivvik. Now far from his family and the land he knows, Amitok must use that strength to make his way home across the great Arctic tundra, a journey that will change him forever. But it is when Amitok and Kivvik come to interact with the men who inhabit their barren land that their story becomes a legend of the north.

This is a mighty fable, a legend of the Inuit that Sullivan portrays artfully.

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Keewatin

sarah — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 22:23:49 +0000

Sample

The massive snow bear has been following Jake for days, but that’s not the only thing Jake is worried about. His plane went down in the vast tundra of Keewatin, a region of the Arctic named for the brutal north wind that blows across it, and now he must walk to the nearest settlement, about thirty miles away. If the bear doesn’t get him, the wolves might, or perhaps hunger and fatigue, or—most likely—the bitter cold that comes on the north wind. He managed to save his rifle, but he only has two cartridges, and he doesn’t want to use them unless he has to.

If only his friend Max were with him! Max would know what to do. Max was taught by an old Inuit hunter named Koluc, and from him Max learned to understand the land, to respect it and the creatures that live upon it. Jake never put much stock in the old Inuit myths, but now the bear, the wolves, the land, and the wind itself are teaching him that he has only a limited understanding of any of it and that he may have been wrong about all of it. Time and again his journey to the settlement is delayed, rerouted, called into question entirely. Jake faces the very real possibility that he will not make it. And always behind him is the bear.

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The Unforgiving Land

sarah — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 22:19:42 +0000

Sample

As a boy, Inatukk has a vision, and in it he makes a promise to the animals of the Arctic that his people will take only what they need and no more, and in return, the fox, caribou, and seal will be plentiful on the land and will provide for the people well. By the time Inatukk becomes the leader of the people, that agreement has proven a good one. The spirits are happy, and the Inuit are strong and healthy. But then a ship comes to their village, and it brings a trader named Briggs, who gives the people rifles and traps and sends them out to get furs in exchange for the trading goods he’s brought with him. Inatukk worries because the people begin taking too much from the land. The next year, the ship comes back, this time leaving behind the Reverend Joshua Hewitt, an enthusiastic missionary who believes that it is his calling to bring God to the Inuit. And again Inatukk worries.

Sixty years later, Matthew Hewitt sets off on a journey above the Arctic Circle, headed toward a place called Hewitt Sound, named for his late uncle, Joshua Hewitt. He has never been north before, has never even been outdoors much, but he has Joshua’s old letters to Matthew’s father describing the Inuit village and the people and the trader named Briggs. Joshua had written about old Inatukk and his daughter, the beautiful and gentle Utea, as well as his deep respect and regard for the people. Unfortunately, he vanished sometime after that, and so did Briggs, and so did the village, and no one knows what happened to them. Matthew is determined to find out the truth—the ending to Joshua’s story. But the Arctic is far more savage than he expected, and even with the help of an old Inuit hunter named Iudaak to take him north, the risk of simply disappearing, just like Joshua did, is frighteningly high. Matthew must find a strength that he is not sure he has in order to learn the truth of what happened.

This novel is told in a double narrative, following both Inatukk and his daughter Utea and their people on the one hand and Matthew’s journey to Hewitt Sound with Iudaak on the other. It is a revealing look at the Inuit people and their intimate way of life with one another and with the land, and it exposes the harm that white people caused when they came to interrupt that. And yet the characters—nearly all of them—change their opinions about one another, learning and understanding and growing to find a mutual empathy that is at the heart of both stories. The book is about love and loss and human frailty and greed and human strength and endurance. It is about respect, both for the unforgiving land that is the Arctic and for the people who live upon it.

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The Half Moon on the Hudson (Dyslexic Font)

sarah — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 18:16:45 +0000

Sample

These books are printed in a special dyslexia-friendly font that makes them easier for some children with visual processing problems to read. A special feature of the books is that each two-page spread contains a QR code that links to audio of the book being narrated. Children can listen and follow along to help them learn the words that they are seeing.

The Explorers in a New World Dyslexia Series offers a way for children with reading difficulties to enjoy reading and American history in a rare and wonderfully accessible combination that they will treasure for years to come.

Titles in Series:

Explorers in a New World
The Search for the Seven Cities of Gold
De Soto and the River in the Wilderness
Jacques Cartier Explores Lands for France
Champlain’s Search for the Northwest Passage
The Half Moon on the Hudson
Lewis and Clark Travel Up the Missouri River
Jed Smith and the Search for the Buenaventura
John Fremont and Kit Carson Map the Westward Trails

Explorers in a New World (Dyslexia Series) Set

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Champlain’s Search for the Northwest Passage (Dyslexic Font)

sarah — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 18:12:44 +0000

Sample

Titles in Series:

Explorers in a New World (Dyslexia Series) Set

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The Seal Hunters

sarah — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 17:07:07 +0000

Sample

This novel is set in the early 1900s at the Earth’s frozen edge: the Arctic Circle. The native people there, the Inuit, depend on their traditional skills in hunting seals and caribou for food, clothing, and other necessary materials. Always aware of the fragility of their existence, they are mindful to thank the animals after the kill and to acknowledge the spirits that rule the universe. This way of life and respect for nature could not be more different from that of the Canadian commercial seal hunters.

Thirteen-year-old Inuluk first sees the steam-and-sail ship the Grendel while he is on a hunting expedition with his father Eetuk, a great hunter and a shaman of their Inuit tribe. Eetuk warns his son that the ship is evil; it is filled with men who are slaughtering seals, leaving the carcasses on the ice and taking only the skins and oil. Inuluk sees the ship again while he is out with his best friend Kotuk, and Kotuk is too curious not to get closer. When Inuluk follows him out of fear for his safety, everything goes wrong, and Inuluk is clubbed by a hot-headed crewman of the ship while Kotuk runs for safety. Rather than leave the boy injured on the ice, the captain orders Inuluk brought aboard, effectively capturing him. By the time Inuluk recovers, the ship has sailed far from the land he knows.

The captain finds work on board the ship for Inuluk, but the language barrier is significant. It is nothing, however, compared to the cultural barrier that exists between Inuluk and the white men of the crew. Inuluk sees his first seal hunt by the crewmen, and he is horrified and sickened by the carnage. He spends an entire hunting season on board the Grendel. When at last it nears land, the captain has Inuluk rowed to a settlement on shore, but the boy is hundreds of miles from his tribe. No matter the distance, Inuluk is determined to return to his people—and to a life of harmony with and reverence for nature.

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The Meyer’s Saga

CEBAdmin — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 02:41:56 +0000

A compelling story of the true experiences of a United Empire Loyalist family during a critical period of Canadian history

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The King’s Daughter

CEBAdmin — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 21:41:29 +0000

Winner of the Ruth Schwartz Award Jeanne Chatel has always dreamed of adventure. So when the eighteen-year-old orphan is summoned to sail from France to the wilds of North America to become a king's daughter and marry a French settler, she doesn't hesitate. Her new husband is not the dashing military man she [...]

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Amazing Impossible Erie Canal

CEBAdmin — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 22:29:17 +0000

From the Publisher: IMPOSSIBLE! When De Witt Clinton, a young politician, first dreams of building a canal to connect the Hudson River with the Great Lakes, folks don't believe such a thing can be done. But eight long years after the first shovelful of earth is dug, Clinton realizes his vision at last. The longest [...]

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The Nor’Wester

CEBAdmin — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 22:54:18 +0000

This gripping novel for young readers begins in 1805, when fifteen-year-old Duncan Scott and his sister Libby lose their parents in a Glasgow cotton mill fire. Their tragedy is compounded when, through one reckless act of grief, the Scott children become fugitives as well as orphans, and must flee Scotland. Across the border in England, [...]

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With Wolfe in Canada – Or the Winning of a Continent

CEBAdmin — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 22:06:16 +0000

Through misadventure, the hero of the story, James Walsham, becomes involved in the historic struggle between Britain and France for supremacy on the North American continent. The issue of this war determined not only the destinies of North America but to a large extent those of the mother countries themselves. With Wolfe in Canada will take the reader through many battles of this conflict. Meet a young George Washington and General Braddock as they fight the French and Indians, join up with Rogers’ Rangers, and learn of the legendary generals Wolfe and Montcalm.

This classic provides a lesson in history instructively and graphically, whilst infusing into the dead facts of history new life. Mr. Henty’s classic With Wolfe in Canada is a useful aid to study as well as amusement.

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Hudson Bay

CEBAdmin — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 22:00:18 +0000

Combining anthropological observations with descriptions of landscapes, plants, and animals, the account was applauded by the Dundee Courier for ‘opening up a mine of information to the curious’ and ‘describing the everyday life of a novel and singular existence’ with ‘buoyancy and animation’.

Appearing within a year of the first edition in 1848, the second edition reproduced here is illustrated throughout with views and vignettes. ‘Free from tedious details and unnecessary wordiness’, Ballantyne’s fast-moving and readable narrative challenges many misconceptions about nineteenth-century Canada and its indigenous peoples.

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