The First American Colonists Dyslexia Series

About this curriculum

The stories in this series explain the European colonists’ efforts involved in building—but not always keeping—the first white colonies in what would later become the United States of America. A Special Series of Books for Children Who Struggle to Read As young children, we seem to emerge from elementary-level American history and social studies classes with the idea that the first Pilgrims came to the shores of America, built a few homes, were befriended by the local native people, and celebrated a happy Thanksgiving before plunging headlong into the colonization of the New World. Even after high school, we persist in carrying around the idea that our European ancestors landed at Plymouth Rock and lived happily ever after, smiling away as they built their log homes and cleared a few acres for a vegetable garden. If we think critically, we know it can’t have been that easy. But how much do we really remember—or did we ever even truly know—beyond that simple narrative of arrive, settle, colonize? Of course, it certainly was not that easy. In fact, many people died…