Sheena Loves Sunsets

D’Aulaire’s Biographies: A Book Series Review

Sheena Sy Gonzales

If you’re a homeschooling family, chances are you’ve heard of the D’Aulaire biographies.

We recently got the entire D’Aulaire Biography Pack from Beautiful Feet Books. Today, I’ll be sharing a little bit about them and how we use them in our own home.

What is Beautiful Feet Books?

Beautiful Feet Books publishes and provides guides, books, and other products with a literature-rich approach. They started with history sets but they also have sets for music, character and geography. They are the publishers of the 8 biographies from the D’Aulaires.

The founder based the concept on Charlotte Mason’s approach of learning through living books. Charlotte Mason advocates the use of beautiful books instead of relying on dry textbooks. As a home educator following CM principles (I mix CM with Classical,) I am with them on this one!

(See related post: Why I Decided to Curate Our Children’s Books and also a review of two of their other sets “Around the World in Picture Books 1 and 2”)

Who are the D’Aulaires?

A brief history about the authors are in order to fully appreciate this series. Allow me to quote Beautiful Feet Books on this one (shortened for brevity):

“Ingri Mortenson and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire met in Munich where both were studying art in the 1920’s.

Their books were known for their vivid lasting color. a result of the painstaking process of stone lithography used for all their American history biographies. This was an old world craft in which they were both expert, which involved actually tracing their images on large slabs of Bavarian limestone.

Throughout their long careers, Ingri and Edgar worked as a team on both art and text. Their research took them to the actual places of their biographies, including the countries of Italy, Portugal and Spain when they were researching Columbus; to the hills of Virginia while they researched Washington; and to the wilds of Kentucky and Illinois for Abraham Lincoln. The fact that they spoke 5 languages fluently served them well in their European travels and in their research of original documents.”

The D’Aulaire Biography Books

The collection from Beautiful Feet Books contains all 8 of the historical biographies the D’Aulaires made:

So what exactly makes these books so special? Of course, I cannot speak for all but these are some of the reasons why I personally love them.

First, the illustrations are breathtaking. As mentioned above, the illustrations were painstakingly created using stone lithography. The results are beautiful. There is something so charming about the way the pictures were made.

I also love that the stories are engaging and very well-written. They are great for keeping the kids’ attentions, and I can promise you that! 😉 My son thought he wouldn’t like it at first but asked me to keep reading once we started.

I particularly love that the books contain many intricate details that are very memorable. It’s been more than 6 months since we read “Wings of Per” for example, and my son still mentions details about Per’s boat whenever boats come up in conversations.

Things to note:

As these books were written more than half a century ago, there are some themes and elements in the books that may be a bit problematic now.

I have read comments from other homeschooling moms about a few historical inaccuracies on some of the stories as well. I think it will be helpful to do a bit of research before diving into the book with your child.

For example, the version of Pocahontas’ story is contested. Some parts about the Columbus story is also debated. However, as much can be expected since both these stories have always been controversial, no matter the retelling.

Also, Wings of Per is based only loosely on the real person (which confused my son when he found out, at first. Though this didn’t seem to change his impression of the story and continues to mention that he enjoyed that book.)

Nevertheless, I still believe that it is possible to enjoy these books (greatly, if I may add,) for what they are. I recommend reading them aloud with your children and just providing the necessary anecdotes and corrections on historical information as you go along.

Personal Experience

As a CM homeschooling family, basing most of my curriculum picks from Ambleside Online, we will be using these biographies spread out in the next couple of years. For Year 1, we plan to do Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Buffalo Bill. I’ve also added Leif the Lucky as we tackle the Vikings in our history lessons.

I am excited for the kids to know more about these people through the stories of Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire.

Disclaimer: Beautiful Feet Books provided me with the D’Aulaire set for review. However, all opinions are unbiased and completely my own.

—

RELATED POSTS:

FOR MORE HOMESCHOOLING ARTICLES, CHECK THIS OUT!