Homeschool Reading · Literature

The Courage of Sarah Noble

by Alice Dalgliesh · a homeschool reading guide · Newbery Honor · 1955

Best for

Grades 2–3 (historical fiction, based on a true story)

Reading level

560L Lexile® measure

Subject

Literature (historical fiction · colonial)

On Chalky

11 modules with personalized comprehension questions

Use this book for

• Literature (core): A short historical novel with one clear theme — courage as a thing you keep up, not a thing you have — carried by a heroine young readers measure themselves against.
• Reading skills (core): Comprehension across a real narrative arc: the journey out, the fear met, the winter among new neighbours, and the promise kept.
• History & geography (tie-in): Connecticut, 1707, from a true story: an eight-year-old kept house for her father while he built their cabin. It opens colonial life at a child's height — cooking pots, wolves, and all.
• Character & discussion (tie-in): 'Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble' — her mother's words work like a tool she reaches for. What words a family hands its children is a conversation worth having.

The book

In 1707, eight-year-old Sarah Noble rides into the Connecticut wilderness to cook for her father while he builds the family's new house — wearing her cloak, and her mother's words: keep up your courage.

Alice Dalgliesh built this 1954 Newbery Honor book from a true story, and its honesty is what lasts: Sarah is genuinely afraid — of wolves, of the dark, of the Indian families she has been taught to fear — and the book lets her be wrong about that last fear and shows her finding it out, person by person, as she is sheltered by a Native family through the winter. Courage here is not fearlessness but a habit, renewed daily, which is a definition a seven-year-old can actually use.

Why homeschoolers reach for it

• Courage defined usefully. Sarah's courage is something she keeps up — a practice, not a trait. Children adopt the phrase for their own hard days, which is what themes are for.
• History with a child at the centre. Colonial life arrives through Sarah's hands: cooking, keeping house, being brave at night. It is a better first door into the period than any survey.
• A fear examined, not flattered. Sarah has been taught to fear her Native neighbours, and the winter she spends in Tall John's household undoes the teaching. Watching a character outgrow a prejudice is quiet, powerful reading — worth talking through together.
• A true story underneath. Sarah Noble lived; the town of New Milford remembers her. 'This really happened' buys a kind of attention fiction alone cannot.

Reading skills it builds

On Chalky, every module ends with comprehension questions written from the book's own text, each exercising a specific skill aligned to the Common Core reading standards for grade 2.

• Evidence-based analysis (CCSS RL.2.1): How does Sarah keep up her courage at night? Find her ways
• Theme & objective summary (CCSS RL.2.2): What the cloak and the words each carry — said plainly
• Narrative element analysis (CCSS RL.2.3): Sarah, her father, Tall John's family — and what each gives her
• Vocabulary & word impact (CCSS RL.2.4): 'Settlement', 'hearth' — colonial words met in a colonial kitchen
• Text structure & development (CCSS RL.2.5): Journey out, winter through, family reunited — the arc entire
• Point of view & perspective (CCSS RL.2.6): The wilderness Sarah was warned about, and the one she finds

If your state asks you to document reading instruction, this is the record: which book, which skills, which standard each aligns with, kept automatically as your child reads.

Running it as a unit

On Chalky, The Courage of Sarah Noble runs eleven modules — about two weeks at 20 minutes a day, open-and-go: the modules are already sequenced, so there is nothing to plan the night before. It sits well beside the grade 2 plan, and pairs with early American history. A rhythm, not a rulebook:

1. Week 1 — the journey out. A module a day. Keep a courage list: each time Sarah is afraid, note what she does next. The list is the theme, gathering itself as you read.
2. Week 2 — the winter and the return. Finish the modules. Ask what changed: the wilderness, or Sarah? Mark New Milford, Connecticut on a map — she was real, and the town is still there.
3. Close — the family words. Sarah's mother gave her words to carry. What words would your family send with a child? Choose them together — that conversation is yours, and worth keeping.

Pairs well with

• Sarah, Plain and Tall — 560L · another Sarah, another frontier
• Little House in the Big Woods — 720L · frontier life, one size up
• Mrs. Peter Rabbit — 500L · gentler animal company alongside

Start your reading comprehension curriculum on Chalky

Standards references describe alignment with the Common Core State Standards for Reading, grade 2; homeschool requirements vary by state, and this page is a record of instruction, not legal advice.