Why am I passionate about this?
I work as a journalist and delight in telling true stories about amazing people. Sometimes, my feature stories are about famous people; other times, I focus on those who don't always get the attention they deserve. I love telling their stories, and I enjoy reading about people who do heroic acts. Mary Anning, the person I profiled in my book, and the main characters in some of my favorite middle-grade books face adversity and triumph. Moving forward after facing hardships is a message I love and want to share with others. Positive actions lead to happiness.
Michele's book list on middle graders to learn about the past
Why did Michele love this book?
My son gravitated toward the I Survived books after graduating from the Magic Tree House series. My son, who is 23, still reads I Survived books when new ones come out. I do, too.
The books usually have children as the main characters who travel back in time. I had never heard of the Great Molasses Flood, but I was fascinated to learn about a massive tank in Boston containing sticky and gooey molasses exploding onto the streets in the North End neighborhood and how the community dealt with the mess and cleanup.
In school, I've always been fascinated by history. I wish these books existed when I was a kid because they make learning about the past easy to understand.
1 author picked I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 7, 8, 9, and 10.
100 years ago, a killer wave of molasses struck a crowded Boston neighborhood. Discover the story of this strange disaster in the next book in the New York Times bestselling I Survived series.
A deadly - and strange - disaster. It's been four years since Carmen and Papa moved from Italy to Boston. Life here is exciting, but not always easy. And then there's the massive metal tank that rises up over their crowded North End neighborhood. The ugly tank, filled with sticky brown molasses, has always leaked. But nobody imagined that it could one day explode apart, sending aâŚ