the Age of Exploration
best books for K-8

Below are the best children's books about the Age of Exploration and famous explorers. This is an exciting period in World History. In fact, thirty years later, I still remember learning about it as a child in elementary school (and I really wasn't much of a history buff back then.)

Below are children's books about the Age of Exploration and some of the key explorers. We couldn't find many books for the younger grades (K-Gr.2) on this era [That's understandable, of course. Knowing about the Age of Exploration is not exactly one of the core standards for K-2!] Therefore, we combined the two groups together to make this one list.

Books on the Age of Discovery
a.k.a the Age of Exploration

In 1492
by Jean Marzollo
Preschool - 1st grade



Where Do You Think
You're Going,
Christopher Columbus?

by Jean Fritz
3rd grade & Up



Encounter
by Jane Yolen
2nd grade - 5th grade



Follow the Dream
The Story of Christopher
Columbus

by Peter Sis
2nd grade - 4th grade



Adventures of the
Treasure Fleet

China Discovers the World
by Ann Bowler
Kindergarten - 4th grade



The Discovery of
the Americas

by Betsy & Guilio Maestro
3rd grade - 6th grade



Exploration
and Conquest

by Betsy & Guilio Maestro
3rd grade - 6th grade



Beyond the Sea of Ice
The Voyages of Henry Hudson
by Joan Elizabeth Goodman

4th grade - 7th grade



Explorers Who
Got Lost

by Diane Dreher
3rd grade - 6th grade



The World in 1492
by Jean Fritz and other
well known authors!



Who Was First?
Discovering the Americas
by Russell Freedman
5th grade - 8th grade



The World Made New
by Marc Aronson
5th grade - 9th grade



Who Really
Discovered America

Unraveling the Mystery and
Solving the Puzzle
5th grade - 7th grade



Sir Walter Raleigh &
the Quest for El Dorado 

by Marc Aronson
7th grade & Up



Magellan's World
by Stuart Waldman
3rd grade - 7th grade



Stowaway
by Karen Hesse
5th grade & Up



Who Was
Ferdinand Magellan

by S. A. Kramer
3rd grade - 6th grade



To the Edge
of the World

by Michele Torrey
5th grade - 8th grade



Anacaona: Golden
Flower, Haiti, 1490

(The Royal Diaries series)
5th grade - 8th grade



Pedro's Journal
A Voyage with Christopher Columbus
by Pam Conrad
3rd grade - 6th grade



Quest
by Kathleen Benner Duble
7th grade & Up



Morning Girl
by Micheal Dorris
3rd grade & Up



The Sea King
Sir Francis Drake & His Times
by Albert Marrin
6th grade & Up



The King's Fifth
by Scott O'Dell
6th grade & 8th grade