The American Experience Storybook

by Stephanie B. Meter (Editor)

Genres: School

328 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Michele Rearden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was required reading for my 8th grade homeschool student. There were parts of it that we both liked, and parts that we didn't. We read about 24 or so, Americans with the constant question being asked, "Is this person a hero, why or why not"? Some weeks, that question was easy to answer, other weeks, it was quite difficult. The reading level is generally several grades lower than 8th grade. Many of my students were initially excited to read about many of the people they saw in the Table of Contents, but then were disappointed by the lack of information and even heroic information about the person. We often read about their childhood, which generally happened long before they did anything noteworthy. My class was disappointed in what could have been their favorite book.

As a parent, I can see value in most of the selections chosen. A few were questionable, but I don't think it connected with the students on the level the students had hoped for. What could have become a quick favorite ended up being a 'meh' from most, if not all the class.

[Adelaide Pond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for challenge B, lemme say this most of the stories were pretty good
This was probably my favorite strand of the first semester!
So why three stars?

As I said most of the stories where good, well actually….maybe 65%was good.
What I had a problem with was that -

Sometimes the author would overly praise people, they would say over and OVER
How great a person they where, as if they were trying to make you think that ALL of these
People we’re good upright morral people, now I’m not saying that all of them weren’t, but when
You keep overly emphasizing that a person was a true “hero” it makes me start to think that the author
Is hiding something about there past under the surface, that there trying to manipulate you into thinking
What they think.

Another thing I had a hard time with was that I did this with my grandma and she would ask me about
There life, and there acts of good in detail, like famous battles, instances in there carriers in law ext,
And I was unable to tell her since the only information I could give her was about there childhood and what was told to me I the summery.

Other than that it was very informative, and over this book I learned how to read a chapter of a schoolbook and reatáis the info until 4 days later with accurate detail ( I ended up taking on depth notes, which was helpful to learn how to do)

Overall the book wasn’t bad, but could have been done better

[abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read it for my 8th grade class and it was pretty good, Lots of debates in class over some of the people!

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. Stories were short and engaging. Footnotes were super helpful. Such a good variety of stories. Great addition to our homeschool library!

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with the stories in this book. As a Challenge B director, it was painful to draw out meaningful conversations on heroism when the stories did not give enough substance. The students were often confused by the significance of the selected stories, as was I.

[Audrey (Loki's version) ⊬]

Not that bad. It was pretty informative and easy to read. Didn't like all the praise for Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, though.

[Haylee Fletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this week by week for school since the beginning of August. Their different stories about people in American history and most of the time they were very interesting to read.💕 class and I have had some debates at homeschool co-op (which we go to once a week) about what makes someone a hero or if the person that we’re reading about is a hero or not. I really enjoyed this as part of my stepping into debate for school, and I’m excited for what comes next! I highly recommend reading this if you’re into American history and want to learn more about it!

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several of the stories were eye-opening, while other stories were quite unhelpful and disappointing.

I'd suggest a big edit on which excerpts are included in this book overall -- in order for this to be a great book. Otherwise, it's nothing special and only halfway good.

[Adrianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories herein are worthy. Some were really drawn out, boring and seemingly pointless. But the majority are worthy - it is worthy to learn about American heroes, who are still human and therefore, flawed.

[Andy]

An amazing audiobook

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fantastic American heroes. Boring stories about them.

[Paige]

I had to read this book for 8th grade homeschool year and it was alright. we had lots of great discussions about the people in class

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Challenge B debate strand. I appreciated that the sources for each story were old/applicable to the time period/unique. I also appreciated that we could debate the heroism of each person - many didn’t qualify as heroes for our class. But some of the stories were very disappointing and had little relevant information to even help us to decide or discuss.

[Abby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like a textbook.