This post is in partnership with The Children’s Book Review, K. I. Knight, and Jane R. Wood. All opinions are my own.
The students in this story learn they are more alike than they are different, and the reader will learn this as well.
~Ali Dunn, Me Two Books
Finding Family Treasure
Written by K. I. Knight and Jane R. Wood
Ages 7 and Up | 142 Pages
Publisher: Melting Pot Press LLC
Publisher’s Synopsis: “Who are we?” Ms. Johansson asks her class of fifth graders. Her perplexed students soon discover the lesson she wants them to learn. While studying the founding of their country, the class is challenged to understand the melting pot that makes up the American people-both past and present.
With the help of a genealogist, students learn to navigate websites that introduce them to written records that have documented their families’ histories. One by one, the young people hear family stories connecting them to America’s earliest immigrants and settlers.
As the story unfolds, some personal conflicts occur among the students, long-standing family tensions surface, and intergenerational relationships evolve. Complex issues such as privacy, adoption, diversity, immigration, slavery, and antisemitism are addressed in an age-appropriate manner.
As a result of their research project, the students not only discover personal connections to the past but also, in some cases, to each other.
Kathryn Knight, who uses the pen name K I Knight, is an international award-winning Author, Genetic Genealogist, American Historian, Keynote Speaker, and Cemetery Preservationist. Over the last thirteen years, Knight has documented more than 20,000 hours researching the first recorded Africans to arrive in the English settlement of Virginia in 1619. Her passion is unrivaled and strongly evident in her published writings.
Her literary work includes Fate & Freedom, a five star – Gold medal historical trilogy detailing the lives of the 1619 Africans, as well as her nonfiction work, Unveiled – The Twenty and Odd, for which she was awarded the Phillis Wheatley Literary Award by the Sons and Daughters of the US Middle Passage. The mother of three adult children, Knight, lives in North Florida with her husband, Tom.
Jane R. Wood is the author of five award-winning juvenile fiction books where she weaves history and science into stories filled with mystery, adventure, and humor for young readers ages 8-14. Students like her books because they’re fun. Teachers like them for their educational value. Wood is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and television producer. She has a BA from the University of Florida and an MEd from the University of North Florida. Wood lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and is the mother of two grown sons and five grandchildren.
Me Two Books Review
Themes: adoption, diversity, immigration, slavery, and antisemitism
This educational chapter book begins with a class assignment to learn about American History and ends with a 5th grade class that are bonded by their collective stories. Through genealogical research, the students discover their families' pasts and how the past affects the present. Interwoven into the narrative are historical facts about the founding of America. This book doesn't shy away from issues like slavery, racism, and antisemitism, but instead serves as a jumping off point for conversations with your child. The students in this story learn they are more alike than they are different, and the reader will learn this as well.
Enter for a chance to win a copy of Finding Family Treasure, along with a 1-hour genealogy consultation!
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