George Washington’s Socks

George Washington’s Socks
Woodruff, E. (1991). George Washington's socks. New York, NY: Scholastic.

 

 Take a trip back in time with Matt and his history club.  In this historical fiction book you will get a true feeling for the events and happenings of the Revolutionary War.  You will meet George Washington and get an inside look at the struggles the American Colonists faced to give us the gift of freedom.

George Washington’s Socks

Woodruff, E. (1991). George Washington's socks. New York, NY: Scholastic.

George Washington’s Socks is a historical fiction book.  The author uses the setting and events of the Revolutionary War as an integral background for her book.  

You will notice a theme in many of Elvira Woodruff’s books; she likes to use time travel as a way to create suspense and excitement in her writing.

In the book, George Washington’s Socks, Matthew Carlton and a few boys in the neighborhood have started a club.  They have an overnight campout that turned into a time travel back to the time of the Revolutionary War.

The story is told in first person from the point of view of the club members. The club members get to meet George Washington and even participate in the Revolutionary War.  It gave the boys an up close and personal experience of what it would have been like to fight in this war for freedom.  The conflict of the story came when Matt’s sister was captured by the enemy, sending the club members on an eventful quest to save her. The conflict was resolved near the end of the book when the club members were reunited with Matt’s sister and they were able to find their way back to their present day home.

While there were not pictures in the book, the author did a great job using imagery and descriptive language to paint a clear picture of the setting in the reader’s mind.  Through her words she depicted the heroic acts and inhumane living conditions these young men were enduring.   

I used this book as an extension activity to the 5^th grade unit on the Revolutionary War.  We read the book and charted the sacrifices and gains and used them as research for an opinion essay, describing the sacrifices and gains, and deciding if we thought the struggles the American colonists went through were worth the gain of freedom.

The following website has guided questions to help students comprehend the text as they read.

http://www.twpunionschools.org/PDF/Summer%20Reading%20Guide%20GR5.pdf