The ''We Were There'' books are a series of historical novels written for children. The series consists of 36 titles, first released between 1955 and 1963 by Grosset & Dunlap. Each book in the series is a fictional retelling of an historical event, featuring one or more children as primary characters. The books were written by a number of different authors, each writing from one to seven of the books; the authors included

Benjamin Appel Benjamin Appel (September 13, 1907 – April 3, 1977), was an American novelist specializing in detective and crime fiction, sometimes from a radical perspective. Appel was born in New York City to Louis Appel and Bessie (née Mikofsky) and gre ...

, Jim Kjelgaard,

Earl Schenck Miers Earl Schenck Miers (27 May 1910 – 17 November 1972) was an American historian. He wrote over 100 books, mostly about the history of the American Civil War. Some of them were intended for children, including three historic novels in the ''We Were ...

, William O. Steele, and others. Each book's byline also lists a separate "historical consultant", who was a specialist in the historic topic covered by that particular book. The historical consultants were typically college professors or, in the case of war-related stories, retired military officers; among the more noteworthy consultants for the series were the historians

Bruce Catton Charles Bruce Catton (October 9, 1899 – August 28, 1978) was an American historian and journalist, known best for his books concerning the American Civil War. Known as a narrative historian, Catton specialized in popular history, featuring in ...

Walter Prescott Webb Walter Prescott Webb (April 3, 1888 in Panola County, Texas – March 8, 1963 near Austin, Texas) was an American historian noted for his groundbreaking work on the American West. As president of the Texas State Historical Association, he la ...

and A. B. Guthrie, Jr. The books are illustrated with black-and-white

line art Line art or line drawing is any image that consists of distinct straight lines or curves placed against a background (usually plain), without gradations in shade (darkness) or hue (color) to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objec ...

, with color drawings on the

dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back boo ...

. The dust jackets of the original printings of the books describe the series as follows:

We Were There books are easy to read and provide exciting, entertaining stories, based upon true historic events. Each story is checked for factual accuracy by an outstanding authority on this particular phase of our history. Though written simply enough for young readers, they make interesting reading for boys and girls well into their teens.

The original hardbound editions of the books were followed by several other printings, including editions for book clubs and libraries. The books were later reissued with hardbound picture covers (using the original dust jacket artwork), and softcover editions of some books became available in the 1970s. Three of the books are available from Lamppost Publishers and American Home School Publishers.Home page
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List of ''We Were There'' titles

References

{{reflist Series of books Series of children's books Children's historical novels 1950s children's books 1960s children's books