The Century Book for Young Americans by Elbridge S. Brooks is a free civics eBook that explains how the government works in story form. The book is subtitled Showing How a Party of Boys and Girls Who Knew How To Use Their Eyes and Ears Found Out All About the Government of the United States. Quite a mouthful!
The premise is that three young people return from the World’s Fair at Chicago intent on continuing their investigations. But instead of starting with a tour of Europe, their father suggests that they first need to know their own country. So a tour is arranged and the young folks begin in Washington, D.C., learning how their government works.
It is through this tour that the reader explores:
- The government.
- The Constitution.
- The president.
- The cabinet.
- The Senate.
- The House of Representatives.
- The Supreme Court.
- The treasury and the post office.
- The flag.
- And much more!
Elbridge S. Brooks was an American author of largely historical and patriotic books that include one of our favorites on Christopher Columbus. He also wrote accessible biographies of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John Paul Jones, Benjamin Franklin, Lafayette, and many others.
This book is such a great introduction to civics for students of any age, that we have decided to provide a free book study that goes along with the book. The book study will look at each chapter, provide suggestions, assignments, further reading ideas, and more!
Originally published in 1894, The Century Book for Young Americans makes an excellent introduction to civics for students of any age — and it’s free!
Free eBook
Suggestions
- The Century Book for Young Americans makes an excellent family read-aloud, whether or not you use our full book study. Assignments will be easy to modify for the age of each child.
- There are 16 chapters — the perfect amount for covering one chapter each week for a 1/2-year study, or by allowing two weeks per chapter you will have ample materials for a full-year course by including additional reading assignments and explorations.
- You’ll want to keep a notebook to hold copywork, narrations, illustrations and diagrams, pictures, and more.
Additional Resources
The Century Book for Young Americans by Elbridge S. Brooks
Print copy published by Forgotten Books for those interested.
Author Notebooking Pages
Simple pages that include room for copywork, narrations, an illustration and dates of birth/death of the author, and books by the author.
Enjoy the entire series:
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