Only four books about Rhode Island, the smallest state in the United States! Don’t miss this booklist about the Native Americans from present-day Rhode Island: Stories from the Wampanoags and Narragansetts.
R is for Rhode Island Red, read it for free at archive.org
“With every turned page readers will be treated to Rhode Island’s incredible scenery and have their many questions answered about our thirteenth state. Rhode Island has how many miles of coastline? The breathtaking beauty of Block Island is one of the state’s how many islands? Readers will also learn how Rhode Island native Samuel Slater started the American Industrial Revolution, and what the quahog is.” (from Amazon)
The Bravest Woman in America, read it for free at archive.org
Ida Lewis (1842-1911) was known as “the bravest woman in America” and the first woman to receive the American Cross of Honor. As the lighthouse keeper of Lime Rock, she saved between 18 and 25 lives.
“Ida Lewis loved everything about the sea, so when her father became the official keeper of Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport, Rhode Island, she couldn’t imagine anything better.
“Throughout the years, Ida shadowed her father as he tended the lighthouse, listening raptly to his stories about treacherous storms, drowning sailors, and daring rescues. Under her father’s watchful eye, she learned to polish the lighthouse lens so the light would shine bright. She learned to watch the sea for any sign of trouble. And, most importantly, she learned to row. Ida felt ready for anything—and she was.” (from Amazon)
The Black Regiment of the American Revolution, read it for free at archive.org
We learned so much about the brave black slaves from Rhode Island and how they earned their freedom at the end of the Revolutionary War. The last page of the book describes how Rhode Island passed a law that gradually abolished slavery. It still took years, but the last slave in Rhode Island died in 1859.
This book was a new perspective about slavery and Black soldiers in the Revolutionary War.
Finding Providence, link to read for free on archive.org
This short book of five chapters describes how Roger William is kicked out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his beliefs that disagree with the Puritan church. He escapes imprisonment and forms a new colony in what is now Providence, Rhode Island in 1636.
This is an I Can Read Chapter Book, “the most advanced I Can Read stores, told in brief chapters for the fully independent reader.”