Tar Heel Tales

One of the first British attempts to settle North America was in North Carolina. But the Roanoke colony has trouble from the beginning with its location, its food supply, and its relations with the first Americans living nearby. That settlement disappears, but the colony of North Carolina returns to play a vital part in America’s history, from the American Revolution to the Civil War to man’s first powered flight. This funny, colorful graphic novel that will excite reluctant readers, prepare students for standardized tests in history and help homeschooling parents!

Comic sample page #1: What was the 3rd Roanoke colony?
Comic sample page #2: How hard is Dogwood wood?
Topics covered in this comic book
Teacher’s Guide for this comic

Why didn't the English Roanoke Colony survive?

dogwood tree wood

Chapter 1: Colonial Carolina

The first known European exploration of North Carolina happens during the summer of 1524. A Florentine navigator named Giovanni da Verrazano is working for France and explores the coastal area. Between 1540 and 1570 some Spanish explorers come up from their Florida territory to check things out. But it is the English who try to settle the coast of Carolina . . .

Colonial Carolina includes the following topics:

Why did the English settle in America?
When was the first Roanoke Colony?
When was the second Roanoke Colony?
What was the third Roanoke Colony?
Where did the “Lost Colony” go?
What work did colonists in America do?
Why did American colonists fight Britain?
Who were our revolutionary women?

Chapter 2: Carolina in the 1800s

After the Revolutionary War brings freedom to North Carolina, the first state capitol is built in Raleigh in 1794 and North Carolina gives up its western lands in 1790 (they will become the state of Tennessee). Before the Civil War, two North Carolina natives become president of the United States: Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) and James K. Polk (1845-1849). Then North Carolina secedes and joins the Confederacy in May 1861; it gains its nickname “The Tar Heel State” during Civil War battles in which its soldiers stick on the battlefield longer than troops from other Southern states . . .

Carolina in the 1800s includes the following topics:

How did James Polk help Oregon become a state?
Where did Robert E. Lee surrender?
How did Andrew Johnson run Reconstruction?
Where did railroads carry textiles in North Carolina?

Chapter 3: Know Your Wrights

As the 1800s come to a close, dozens of people around the world are trying to solve the problem of giving mankind the power to fly through the air in a heavier-than-air craft. Two bicycle makers from Ohio decide the best place to try their own aircraft ideas is on the windy, sandy dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina . . .

Know Your Wrights includes the following topics:

How did the Wright brothers control flight?
Where did the Wright brothers test their ideas?
How long was the first Wright brothers flight?

Chapter 4: Tale Of the Dogwood

North Carolina has many symbols – pictures that stand for something else. The official state vegetable is the sweet potato, the state bird is the cardinal, and the state tree is the pine. The state flower also comes from a tree – the dogwood. The dogwood tree can be found across North Carolina, from the mountains to the coast. People enjoy the dogwood’s white or pink bracts, which appear in springtime.

Tale of the Dogwood includes the following topics:

How hard is dogwood wood?
Who pollinates dogwood trees?
How do dogwood seeds travel?

Tar Heel Tales

View the Teacher’s Guide for this comic!