books to use with SOTW 2

[S in Canada]

Hello,

Just wondering if there are any books you recommend as "must-haves" when doing SOTW.
Other than Usborne internet history of the world or Kingfisher obviously.

I was thinking more of medieval stories or shakespeare collections.....however this is only a 7 year old we're talking about!

TIA

[Chris in VA]

How is your library? We've enjoyed lots of books for SOTW, but there aren't many I'd buy (I'm cheap that way!).
I think the AG is invaluable for recommendations. The number of books you "need" really depends on where you want to supplement. I'd look over the chapters and the SOTW AG, and see which areas you feel you will need a little more info, which can be covered sufficiently for your children with just the text and maybe an activity or two, and which would benefit from a more intensive study (a few supplemental books, the map work, more activities--there are some places I've stretched it out). I want to go a little deeper into the Renaissance, and so I'm going to check out more books on Leonardo and the Medici's, and some others.
I have to say I did like Mary Pope Osborne's paperback, Medieval Tales (I think it's called that!). And I do like Lamb's Tales of Shakespeare, but I found both used. El Cheapo here.

[Ali in OR]

Well, I use Biblioplan which adds a whole lot of books to SOTW. I also like to use the AG as my library list and that really does add a lot too. What it doesn't really add are great read alouds--it seems to have mostly picture books rather than chapter books. A few favorites:

-Bruce Coville (hope that's spelled right) has many picture books of Shakespeare's plays. We enjoyed several from the library. They are longer than typical picture books.

-Rats, Bulls, and Flying Machinges from the Core Knowledge folks added a lot to our study of the Renaissance. Rainbow Resource had it last I checked.

-I enjoyed Explorers who got lost. I really learned a lot. The sections do get a bit long for early elementary, but I'm glad I have this book.

-Our favorite read alouds were probably Shadow Spinner, A Door in the Wall, Viking Adventure, and the Whipping Boy (though we really enjoy just about every read aloud).

-We got a lot of Mike Venezia's books on artists from the library while studying the renaissance.