Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts

Friday, April 13, 2012

Complete Guide to My Brother Sam is Dead E-book

Last night I posted my latest e-book in the Guide to My Brother Sam is Dead series.

Complete Guide to My Brother Sam is Dead E-book

This e-book was created to help parents and teachers better understand the topics woven into each chapter of the fictional history novel, My Brother Sam is Dead, and provide them with the resources needed to effectively teach it in their classrooms.

I have broken out this e-book into two sections: Guide to MBSD and Teaching Resources.

In the Guide to MBSD section you will find:

Chapter One- Chapter by Chapter Summary & Analysis of My Brother Sam is Dead

Chapter Two- Real Life vs. Events Fictionalized in My Brother Sam is Dead

Chapter Three- My Brother Sam is Dead Maps of Redding, Connecticut

Chapter Four- Short Summary of My Brother Sam is Dead & the Topics it covers

Chapter Five- Places you can Visit Related to My Brother Sam is Dead

Chapter Six- The Setting of the Novel- Redding, Connecticut

Chapter Seven- The Real People Fictionalized in the Novel

Chapter Eight- Why is My Brother Sam is Dead Censored by Some Watch Groups?

In the Teaching Resources section you will find:

Chapter One- Lesson Plans & Ideas
Lesson plans and examples of how others are using historical fiction novels in their classrooms.

Chapter Two- My Brother Sam is Dead Teaching Resources
Suggested reading materials, online resources and links to online, self-grading tests for each chapter of the book (test results can be emailed directly to you).

Complete Guide to My Brother Sam is Dead E-book

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

My Brother Sam is Dead Social Media Links

In an effort to highlight the resources now available for My Brother Sam is Dead, I've opened up accounts at Facebook and Twitter.


My Brother Sam is Dead on Facebook
(direct wall link)

My Brother Sam is Dead on Twitter (direct link)

Both these accounts were opened for interaction and questions. Look forward to meeting the fans of this amazing historical fiction novel.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

My Brother Sam is Dead Study Guide

Recently I released my second e-book to help students, teachers and parents better understand the historical fiction novel- My Brother Sam is Dead.

The My Brother Sam is Dead Study Guide is available via Amazon.com's Kindle edition. It is more extensive (67 pages) than any other guide available and the information in it is based on 14 years of research. I grew up in Redding, Connecticut and was surrounded by all that Tim Meeker speaks of in this book. There was so much I could have explored, but I was only 12 years old and never made those connections. So what this examination of My Brother Sam is Dead really is, is an opportunity to prevent children of the current generation from missing out on all this great history. I put a lot of effort into this book for that very reason.

If you purchase or borrow this My Brother Sam is Dead Study Guide at Amazon.com you will find in it:

Chapter One:
About the Book My Brother Sam is Dead


My Brother Sam is Dead is told in the first person by 10 year old Tim Meeker of Redding Ridge. It recounts the hardships endured by Tim and his family during the early stages of the Revolutionary War.

When Tim's older brother Sam returns home from Yale College in New Haven to announce he’s joining the rebel forces, it greatly impacts the rest of his family who wish to remain neutral and/or avoid a rebellious war with England. Tim's family is Anglican and thus loyal to the Church of England; a split with England would greatly affect them...


Chapter Two:
Setting of the Book My Brother Sam is Dead


Redding, Connecticut is located in Southwest Connecticut. Its size is 31.5 square miles, about five miles from north to south, roughly seven miles from east to west. It encompasses 4.9% of Fairfield County.

I also provide background information on Redding before and after the Revolutionary War.


Chapter Three:
Real Life vs. Events Fictionalized in My Brother Sam is Dead


The intent here is to point out real life vs. My Brother Sam is Dead events that relate to Redding, Connecticut. The quotes come directly from the novel; below the quotes are the historical facts these quotes are based on.


Chapter Four:
Places you can visit related to My Brother Sam is Dead


Redding Ridge:
This is where the Meeker's lived. Be sure to explore the Christ Church cemetery, you'll be amazed at how many characters from the book are buried here.

Across the street from the Church looking North are the fields Tim runs across when he attempts to steal back his Father's Brown Bess from Sam.


Chapter Five:
The Characters in the Novel My Brother Sam is Dead


Read all about the characters in the book and learn about the real life people the characters are based on.


Chapter Six:
Why has My Brother Sam is Dead been Challenged or Censored in the Past?


Learn why the novel earned a top 10 listing on the American Way's most challenged book list in 1996.


The 67 page My Brother Sam is Dead Study Guide is available via Amazon.com's Kindle edition.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Suggested Reading List: My Brother Sam is Dead

Suggested Reading

My Brother Sam is Dead Related

1. Brother Sam and All That
by Christopher Collier with an essay by James Lincoln Collier.
Historical Context and Literary Analysis of the Novels of James and Christopher Collier.
1999 Clearwater Press, ISBN 0-9667657-0-2

2. Westchester County During the American Revolution, 1775-1783
by Otto Hufeland

3. Rebels and Redcoats: The American Revolution Through the Eyes of Those Who Fought and Lived It
by George F. Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin

American Revolution

1. The Whites of Their Eyes
by Paul Lockhart.
Bunker Hill, the First American Army and the Emergence of George Washington.
Harper, New York, 2011.

2. Washington’s Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring
by Alexander Rose.
Rose unfolds the story of a Long Island-based spy ring of idealists and misfits who kept George Washington informed of what was going on in enemy-occupied New York.
Bantam; 1st Edition (April 25, 2006)

3. George Washington, Spymaster
Thomas B. Allen.
How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War
National Geographic Children's Books (January 9, 2007)

4. The Bridge Not Taken: Benedict Arnold Outwitted
by Damon Greenleaf Douglas
Best account of the 1777 British Raid on Danbury written to date. Amazing resource that includes primary source documents, maps.
Westport Historical Society, 2002, ISBN 0-96487-592-6

5. Don Troiani's Soldiers of the American Revolution
by Don Troiani and James L. Kochan
From Bunker Hill to Yorktown, from Washington to Cornwallis, from the Minute Men to the Black Watch, these pages are packed with scenes of grand action and great characters, recreated in the vivid blues and reds that defined the Revolutionary era.
Stackpole Books (January 3, 2007)

6. Yankee Doodle Boy (Joseph Plumb Martin)
by George F. Scheer
A young soldier’s adventures in the American Revolution told by himself.
Holiday House/New York, 1995, ISBN 0-8234-1176-1

Historical Fiction books covering topics related to the American Revolution

1. Guns for General Washington

by Seymour Reit
This book tells the story of Henry Knox’s daring mission to cross 300 miles of forest bring 183 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to George Washington’s army in Boston. This is a significant event in the early part of the Revolutionary War, a mission which many thought was impossible. This book tells the story from the perspective of Knox’s 19 year old brother Will.

2. The Secret Soldier: The Story Of Deborah Sampson
by Ann McGovern (Author), Harold Goodwin (Illustrator), Katherine Thompson (Author)
When "Robert Shurtliff" enlists as a common soldier in the Continental army, no one suspects there is anything unusual about him. The new soldier serves bravely for a year and a half. It is not until "he" is hospitalized with fever that his secret is discovered. Private Shurtliff is really a woman - 23 year-old Deborah Sampson!

3. Toliver's Secret
by Esther Wood Brady (Author)
A timid girl is asked to help the Patriots by delivering a secret message.

4. Patriots: Young Adult Historical Fiction Novel about the Battle of Bunker Hill
by Gregory T. Edgar
2nd Place Winner of the 2010 Premier Book Award in the category of Young Adult Fiction. Three teenage boys - two Americans and one British – learn that war is not the glorious adventure they thought it would be, and that their enemies are human beings after all.


For more check out my collection of My Brother Sam is Dead e-books at Amazon.com's Kindle. You can read them for free with a Prime account.