List of Read Alouds for Mystery of History Volume II

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Well, we finally finished Mystery of History, Volume 1 from last year.  I honestly have no idea how we got so far behind!  But we're ready to move on to Volume 2 finally.


My problem is this......I have an insane amount of books I want to read aloud to the girls this year!  Yeah, they are ages 11 and 14 and read VERY well by themselves...but we like read alouds, and there's just something about hearing it!   Besides, the girls generally would have never even picked up the books we read last year on their own....yet, they ended up loving almost every title we read for MOH1!   I hope it's the same this year!  They really help make history come alive.

Below is my list of books for this year (with a few videos/audios thrown in.)  I know there is NO WAY I can read all of these this year.  And I don't want to bog the girls down with assigning them to read lots of chapter books, as they have their assignments for Lightning Literature.  (That's why the most of the assigned ones on this list are picture books or very quick reads.)

I need help in narrowing this list down.....by about half of the chapter books!   So if you see anything on this list that should definitely not miss reading or that you would recommend skipping, please let me know!  I really want to read the best of the best...what will be most memorable to my girls.  (Most of them I have not pre-read, so I'm not sure of the content and would love any insight there if you've read a title and could warn me of anything that might be of concern.  I've tagged a few of them with "pre-read" so I can remember to definitely check them out prior.)



ETA:  A few folks have told me of books they really enjoyed, so I have made their titles bold to mark them as a "don't miss" title.  

2011- 2012 Mystery of History Read Alouds			Read Aloud	Pages	Own / Library	Comments
Week	Lesson	Title	or Assigned?
		Weeks 2-4: Should I read aloud Ides of April/Beyond the Desert Gate/Eagle of the Ninth/Silver Branch/Lantern Bearers? We own some.
1	3	Paul the Emissary		Video	Lib
2		Beric the Briton	Audio	Audio	Own	by Jim Weiss (62AD Roman invasion of Britain)
2	5	Forbidden Gates	Read Aloud	126	Own	Stephen, the first martyr
2	5	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 1, Polycarp
2		Twice Freed	Read Aloud	190	Own	Paul/Philemon (mentions Stephen's stoning)
2	6	Pearl Maiden	Read Aloud	371	Own	culminates in the siege/destruction
2	6	For the Temple	Audio	Audio	Own	by Jim Weiss
3	7	Masada: The Last Fortress	Read Aloud		Own	Pre-read-the subject was handled well.  We will read aloud.
3	9	Escape from Pompeii / MTH Vacation Under the Volcano	Assigned		Lib
4	12	Saint Valentine (Sabuda)	Assigned		Own
5	14	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 3, Constantine
6	16	Rescue in the Mayan Jungle	Read Aloud	144	Ch. Lib.
6	17	Augustine: The Farmer's Boy of Tagaste	Read Aloud	93	Own
6	17	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 6, Monica & Augustine, Christian Mother & Son
6	18	The Indestructible Book		Video	Own
7	19	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 7, St. Patrick
7	19	What Really Happened in the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		PDF	Chapter 1, St. Patrick, Sower of Light
7	20	Famous Men of the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 2, Attila the Hun
8	23	Sword in the Tree	Assigned		Own
8	23	A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court	Audio?		Lib	Audio by Dufris (12 hrs.) or abridged by Naxos
8	23	Black Horses for the King	Read Aloud	217	Own
8	24	What Really Happened in the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		PDF	Chapter 2, Theodora, Empress of the New Roman Empire
8	24	Anna of Byzantium	Read Aloud		Lib
8	25	Across a Wide and Dark Sea / Marguerite Makes a Book	Assigned		Own
9	29	Famous Men of the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 8, Muhammad
10	30	Saladin	Assigned		Lib
11	32	Dragon Slayer (Beowulf)	Read Aloud	108	Own
12	34	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 9: Boniface, Missionary
13	37	Son of Charlemagne	Read Aloud	208	Own
13	37	Famous Men of the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 10, Charlemagne
13	37	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 10: Charlemagne, Protector
13	38	Shadow Spinner	Read Aloud	219	Own
14	40	Raiders from the Sea	Read Aloud	191	Own	(There are others in the series, but do not own them.)
14	40	Beorn the Proud	Read Aloud	208	Own
14	40	Viking Adventure	Assigned		Own
14	42	The Namesake: A Story of King Alfred	Read Aloud	269	Own
14	42	Augustine Came to Kent	Read Aloud	184	Own
14	42	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 1: Alfred the Great, Christian King
15	43	The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow	Read Aloud	240	Own	AKA The Story of Rolf : A Viking Adventure
16	46	What Really Happened in the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		PDF	Chapter 3, Good King Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia
18	52	Leif the Lucky	Assigned	56	Own
18	53	Tales from Shakespeare	Read Aloud		Own	Macbeth
18	54	Famous Men of the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 17, El Cid
19	55	The Shield Ring	Read Aloud	234	Own
19	55	The King's Shadow	Read Aloud	259	Own
19	55	Striped Ships	Read Aloud	226	Own
19	55	Famous Men of the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 19, William the Conqueror
20	58	Paula the Waldensian	Read Aloud	191	Own	(for mom to read....Rora—great book, though sad)
20	58	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 14, Peter Waldo
20	59	Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine	Assigned	187	Lib	Royal Diaries Series, France, 1136
20	59	What Really Happened in the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		PDF	Chapter 5, My Grandmother the Queen, Eleanor
20	59	A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver	Read Aloud	200	Own
20	59	The Hidden Treasure of Glaston	Read Aloud		Own?
21	61	The Lost Baron	Read Aloud	297	Own
21	61	Boy Knight: A Story of the Crusades	Read Aloud	324	Own	(AKA Winning His Spurs)
21	62	Robin Hood	Assigned		Own	(Could listen to Jim Weiss' audio of Robin Hood)
21	63	The Perfect Sword	Read Aloud		Lib	Pre-read?
Qtr4		Apple & The Arrow	Assigned		Own
Qtr4		Trumpeter of Krakow	Read Aloud	208	Own
22	64	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 15, Francis of Assissi
22	65	Phillip's Crusade: The True Story of the Children's Crusade	Read Aloud	316	Own
22		Wings Like a Dove (Chosen Daughters series)	Read Aloud OR Assign?	205	Own	Jeanne D'Albret (not covered in MOH2)
22	66	Adam of the Road	Read Aloud OR Assign?	317	Own
23		Otto of the Silver Hand	Read Aloud	170	Own	MA Germany
24	70	The Book of Virtues	Assigned		Own	The King & His Hawk pages 37-39
24	71	Famous Men of the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 27, Marco Polo
24	72	In Freedom's Cause: A Story of Wallace & Bruce	Audio	Audio	Own	by Jim Weiss
24	72	Girl in a Cage	Read Aloud	234	Own	Robert the Bruce's daughter, Marjorie
24	72	Famous Men of the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 26, Robert Bruce
		The Door in the Wall	Read Aloud or Audio?	120 pgs.	Own	(Could get audio from library again)
26	76	A Parcel of Patterns	Read Aloud		Lib	Pre-read?
26	78	The Beggar's Bible	Read Aloud	134	Own
26	78	John Wycliffe: The Morning Star	Video	75 min.	Lib?	Bob Jones ShowForth Video
26	78	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 17, John Wyclif, Morningstar
		Fire, Bone, & Bed	Read Aloud		Lib	1381 Feudal System  (Update:  I skimmed, and think I will pass on this one)
27	80	Trial & Triumph	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 18, John Huss, Forerunner
27	80	John Huss	Video		Lib?	Bob Jones ShowForth Video
27	81	Famous Men of the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 32, Joan of Arc
27	81	Warrior Girl	Read Aloud	352	Own
27	81	What Really Happened in the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		PDF	Chapter 6, Joan of Arc, Maid of France
28	84	Ink on His Fingers	Read Aloud	127	Own
28	84	Famous Men of the Middle Ages	Read Aloud		Own	Chapter 33, Gutenberg

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