Books in Hands on History series

It's hard for kids today to understand the importance of good long-distance communication. All their lives they've been able to reach people far away, even in foreign countries, instantly by phone, fax and e-mail. It's almost inconceivable to them that they would have to wait a month or even 10 days for news. But that's the way it was in the middle of the 19th century in America. The United States weren't really united at all. Then along came a man named Samuel Morse who invented the telegraph and a code to go with it. It wasn't long before telegraph lines were strung from the Mississippi River to California and news was being tapped out in dots and dashes faster than anyone could have dreamed. Students will enjoy learning how it all happened, and they'll practice tapping out their own messages in Morse code as well as experimenting with other methods of long-distance communication. Just a few years after Morse's timely invention Alexander Graham Bell, while experimenting on ways to improve the telegraph, invented the telephone. That was just the beginning. Telecommunications today is like a tornado, sweeping everyone up in it and dropping us back to Earth with multifunctional office phones, cell phones, fax machines, radio, TV, e-mail and more. Students will discover through creative activities how it all began. They'll get involved in discussion, drama, creative writing, art, music, a fun rap, skits and more. After this study, your students will appreciate their modern tools of communication as they never have before!

Color your own masterpiece! Wassily Kandinsky is one of the most famous artists of the modern age, known for painting some of the earliest works of abstract art. Now, kids of all ages will enjoy coloring Kandinsky's most famous pictures. Includes 25 coloring pages, a brief biography, and a reference list of works identified by title, date, and collection.

Color your own masterpiece!Hex signs, a type of early American folk art, first appeared on barn sides across the Pennsylvania Dutch country in the nineteenth century. These geometric designs convey the imagination and aesthetic sensibility of the people at that time. This fun coloring book is based on designs drawn from authentic hex signs of the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Kids of all ages will love to decorate these 25 coloring pages with markers, crayons, or colored pencils.

Your Mission: Find Mary’s secret diary using spycraft stools to uncover hidden codes!It’s a true story of bravery: Mary Bowser was an African American spy for the Union who worked as a maid in the mansion of Confederate Jefferson Davis. From hair-raising close calls when she almost gets caught to how she uses her photographic memory to “steal” top secret documents. Mary’s story reads like a gripping novel.It’s a mystery to solve: There are clues embedded in the story’s text and illustrations, and Spycraft materials—including a replica Civil War cipher wheel—come in an envelope at the beginning of the book. Use both to discover what happened to Mary Bowser’s secret diary.

Your Mission: Find Mary’s secret diary using spycraft stools to uncover hidden codes!It’s a true story of bravery: Mary Bowser was an African American spy for the Union who worked as a maid in the mansion of Confederate Jefferson Davis. From hair-raising close calls when she almost gets caught to how she uses her photographic memory to “steal” top secret documents. Mary’s story reads like a gripping novel.It’s a mystery to solve: This hardcover library edition does not include any removable spy tools; a canny reader will unravel clues embedded in the text and illustrations to solve the book’s ultimate mystery and experience history in a whole new way.

A Coloring Book for Easter or Any TimeRussian eggs became famous in the nineteenth century when the ruling tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II commissioned the renowned jeweler Peter Carl Faberge to create beautiful eggs as Easter gifts. Now, for Easter or any time of the year, kids of all ages will enjoy coloring these beautiful eggs drawn from authentic Russian egg designs. Includes 25 original designs along with blank templates so that you can create your own eggs.