Publications

The Carter Journals: Time Travels in Early U.S. History

Copyright: August 2015
Publisher: Indiana Historical Society Press

Summary: When fourteen-year-old Cody Carter’s grandfather gives him a box of dusty leather journals written by their Carter ancestors, even the history-loving Cody could not have predicted the adventure he was about to take. Journal by journal, Cody is physically transported back in time to experience the lives of Carters on the frontier in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Indiana as the family moved ever westward in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He hunts with Daniel Boone, huddles in a frontier fort under siege, makes friends with Native Americans in the Indiana Territory, operates a lock on the Whitewater Canal, hides slaves on the Underground Railroad, and experiences defeat at the Battle of Corydon. Ultimately, Cody confronts the difficult questions of war, westward expansion, and slavery while living the history of everyday people. Written by a history teacher determined to bring the past to life for his students, The Carter Journals reminds us that history is all around us—and that we daily make history of our own.