History books for children

politicians and kings and wars and don't give the perspective of the people suffering under all of the powerful elite. Many classics give the perspective of the people. Ron Paul mentioned that Dr. Zhivago was very influential as a young man. Victor Hugo's Tale of Two Cities, many of Mark Twain's, especially Huckleberry Finn, Tolstoy's War and Peace, some of Dickens' works, etc.
Clearly not for little ones, but for young teens and up. Pretty young children could be introduced to Animal Farm, except the very tender-hearted. i still get teary when Boxer dies.

it's not enough to be well-intentioned in teaching the historical truth. (God only knows what the "truth" we think we know) . it is of foremost importance to teach them how to think. how to critically analyze. have an open mind. think logically. question authority. even yourself. and i don't mean in the disobedient sense. i mean question authority in the sense that our teachers, parents, religious leaders, and obviously political leaders aren't always right. so be objective.

that should come first.

I "taught" my children history by reading to them until they were in their teens. Bearing in mind the comments below about no book coming without a point of view,

Recommended favourites:

Hendrick Van Loon, The Story of Mankind (first Newberry award winner)

The Landmark series (well worth finding and using. Lots of world stuff)

The Landmark History of the United States

Books by Rosemary Sutcliffe

Get the Sonlight curriculum catalog or go to their website: http://www.sonlight.com/
for recommended reading lists. [No matter your religious persuasion, please do not be put off by their Christian position. Their book lists are second to none, they do a great job of presenting both sides of controversial issues with their book choices, especially in history and religion]
then go to the library to get the books!

from studying how viewpoints influence what is written down.

Even if there were a "Way Back" machine that would guarantee I only taught my kids the correct facts, I wouldn't be helping them be life-long history students because they'll ultimately have to interpret the texts that are available for themselves.

You see how I had to reference an imaginary contraption to come up with an example of teaching only the correct facts?

I hope you can come up with a list of what's good enough and that I can find the same list when the time comes.

This is a hard one. Someday when I have time I might try writing my own books, but here are a couple of suggestions.

The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer
We have used several of the Genevieve Foster books and enjoyed them.
Richard J. Maybury has a series of economic and history books for older kids/teens that are written from the libertarian/Austrian perspective.

Unless you write your own book you will probably never find anything that matches your viewpoint exactly. We have enjoyed all of the books I listed above, but we also do history together so I can give perspective and commentary as we go along. If you want your kids to understand a certain viewpoint, then ultimately you are the one who will have to explain it to them.

you wish to study. With the internet that is a lot easier than it used to be.

"What was taken from the boomers, it ain't there, what was taken from the X'ers it ain't there, what is being taken from their great, great, great squared grandchildren it ain't there. Some generation just has to have the guts to quit passing it on." Me