The Who Was? book series from Penguin Randomhouse is a fun way to bring important historical figures to life and help your kids to really explore history in an engaging way. The books cover scientists, social rights activists, presidents, artists, and athletes. There are Who Was? books on everyone from George Washington to Temple Grandin to Dwayne Johnson.
We loved reading these and I wanted to be able to capitalize on the learning that was happening so I created the Who Was Unit Studies to do just that. Each unit study includes activities, videos, games, and even more book suggestions.
History can be taught in any order and still be effective but for those of you who wish to do it chronologically I have compiled a list of our current Who Was Unit Studies in chronological order to the best of my ability below. The list places each book/study chronologically based on the persons date of birth.
King Tut (1343 B.C.)
Genghis Khan (1162)
Joan of Arc (1412)
Leonardo da Vinci (1452)
Ferdinand Magellan (1480)
Galileo (1564)
William Shakespeare (1564)
Isaac Newton (1642)
Blackbeard (1680)
Benjamin Franklin (1706)
George Washington (1732)
Paul Revere (1734)
Betsy Ross (1752)
Alexander Hamilton (1755)
Johnny Appleseed (1774)
Sacagawea (1789-1890)
Edgar Allan Poe (1809)
Abraham Lincoln (1809)
Charles Dickens (1812)
Clara Barton (1821)
Milton Bradley (1836)
Claude Monet (1840)
Thomas Alva Edison (1847)
Alexander Graham Bell (1847)
Milton Hershey (1857)
Theodore Roosevelt (1858)
George Washington Carver (1864)
Beatrix Potter (1866)
Wilbur Wright (1867)
Marie Curie (1867)
Orville Wright (1871)
Ernest Shackleton (1874)
Albert Einstein (1879)
Helen Keller (1880)
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892)
Amelia Earhart (1897)
Walt Disney (1901)
Dr. Seuss (1904)
Rachel Carson (1907)
Frida Kahlo (1907)
Jacques Cousteau (1910)
Stan Lee (1922)
Maya Angelou (1928)
Mister Rogers (1928)
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929)
Anne Frank (1929)
Neil Armstrong (1930)
Jane Goodall (1934)
Tuskegee Airmen (Began in 1941)
George Lucas (1944)
Sally Ride (1951)
Steve Irwin (1962)
J.K. Rowling (1965)