Ups (the Wright brothers, Bessie Coleman) and downs (the Boston subway, the Titanic)

With our monthly U.S. history reading, seven-year-old S and I have made it back to the 20th century -- while technically we're covering 1875-1925 this month, most of the books I've picked fall into the latter half of the period.

Without much ado, here's what I've brought home:

• Beneath the Streets of Boston: Building America's First Subway by Joe McKendry
• Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell and illustrated by Ted Rand
• Race for the Sky: The Kitty Hawk Diaries of Johnny Moore by Dan Gutman
• Mack Made Movies by Don Brown
• Houdini: World's Greatest Mystery Man and Escape King by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Eric Velasquez
• Exploring the Titanic by Robert D. Ballard (thanks to Book Moot for the suggestion)
• Casey Over There by Staton Rabin (is this really the only picture book to focus on WWI?)
• Fly, Bessie, Fly by Lynn Joseph and illustrated by Yvonne Buchanan (thanks to Chicken Spaghetti for the suggestion)

There are a few notable omissions from this list, including S's year-round favorites from The Great Brain series; books we've read and enjoyed in previous years that I chose not to repeat this time around (What Charlie Heard, Locks, Crocs & Skeeters: The Story of the Panama Canal, Call Me Ahnighito, Model T: How Henry Ford Built a Legend); and a couple of newly published ones that I wasn't able to get my hands on easily enough to suit me: Klondike Gold and Maggie's Amerikay.

And how, you may ask, can I overlook the San Francisco earthquake during this 100th anniversary year of hullabaloo? Well, we read Earthquake in the Early Morning last year, and Deborah Hopkinson has a forthcoming novel set amidst the quake, and I hope to read that one with a certain fan of her Prairie Skies series.

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I've been at this for nearly a year now. For you newcomers, here are links to my previous posts on U.S. history reading, which is my main contribution to the homeschooling of our two sons.

Prehistory-1621: The List and The Wrap-Up
1622-1750: The List and The Wrap-Up
1750-1800: The List and The Wrap-Up
1775-1825: The List and The Wrap-Up
1800-1850: The List and The Wrap-Up
1825-1875: The List and The Wrap-Up
1850-1900: The List and The Wrap Up
1875-1925: You're reading it!
1900-1950: The List and The Wrap-Up
1925-1975: The List and The Wrap-Up
1950-2000: The List and The Wrap-Up
1975-present: The List and The Wrap-Up