Wholesome Historical Fiction - TOS Crew Review

While my children are still young, I am continually planning for their homeschooling future.  I don't think I will ever stop planning.  One of the most difficult things to do is to find "living books" for a true look into the world at the time you are studying.

The Product:
Well, there is a company, called Salem Ridge Press, that is trying to help bring back these types of books (from the 1800's and early 1900's that have been out of print), but ones that are wholesome and adhere to Philippians 4:8.  The founder of Salem Ridge Press, Daniel Miller, is a homeschool graduate himself who is helping us by providing reading material that is truly representative of what the Bible prescribes.  I urge you to go and read more about Daniel and his company as well as the standards they uphold for each of the books they choose to republish (after you read my review, of course).



To help me evaluate their books, I was sent one book as a paperback version and two that were e-books.  The book I received as paperback was Soldier Fritz.  I did not know at first if my girls would enjoy this book, since the title was about a boy.  But they were quite engaged after we read the first chapter (where they also found out that Fritz had a little sister.)

The two e-books I received were .  Both books were greatly enjoyed by our family.  The book about Mary Jane, was most liked because the main character was a little 5 year old girl, and my middle daughter just turned 5.
Mary Jane, her Visit and The American Twins of the Revolution
These books are very reasonably priced between $7.95 and $26.95 depending on soft cover, hard cover, or e-book.  The e-books are available here.  They also have discounts on sets.  The soft cover book I received, Soldier Fritz, was done on sturdy paper and had a great cover as well as pictures sprinkled throughout the text.

My Thoughts:
I was surprised to find that most of these books were also offered as e-books. I also liked that when you click on the individual book you are interested in it gives you a synopsis of the story, which also includes a time frame and setting, notable events and people, an age range the book will be best suited for, as well as the original publishing date.  Many of the books had the ability for you to read the first chapter!  That way you can pre-read before you buy - an awesome advantage!

If you go to the complete listing of books you can choose your way to find a book: either alphabetically, by age, by author, or even by time period and location.  I think the last way will be quite helpful for our classical style of homeschooling since we tackle history chronologically.  This year we are doing the Medieval to Early-Renaissance time period and I saw several books that might be great additions to our studies this year.


I'm sure the folks at Salem Ridge would love to hear from you.  You can sign up for their quarterly newsletter (where you might be able to win a free book) or drop them a line here. You can learn more about what others are saying about Salem Ridge Press, by checking out my Crew Mate's reviews over at the Homeschool Crew.

*** I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for a thorough and honest review.  Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of money for any of  my reviews.  My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences with the products and services that I receive.***