The St. Augustine Trilogy – Young Adult series – paranormal & historical – reading classroom use.
These books fictionalize, but accurately represent, events that happened in America’s oldest and most haunted city, St. Augustine, Florida. These events are listed below under the name of each book.
This posting is mostly intended for secondary level reading and language arts teachers who are using, or are considering using, The St. Augustine Trilogy in their classrooms. At the end of the article are helpful links to point those teachers in additional directions.
Book I, Sliding Beneath the Surface
• The expulsion of the Seminoles from Florida by the United States government
• Slavery in Florida.
• The re-enslavement of the Seminole black allies after the Native America expulsion
• The Second Seminole War in Florida (1835-1842)
• The Dade battle that began the Second Seminole War, the worst defeat of the U.S. Army by a Native America population before Custer.
• The imprisonment of Seminole leaders in St. Augustine’s old Spanish fort, the Castillo de San Marcos
• Race relations in St. Augustine in 1964
Book II, Stepping Off a Cliff
• The rounding up of Native American resistance leaders in the U.S. during the 1870s and 1880s
• The imprisonment of rounded up Native American resistance leaders in St. Augustine’s Castillo de San Marcos
• The great William Wing Loring funeral of 1887 in St. Augustine where hundreds of uniformed Civil War veterans marched arm-in-arm, from both the North and the South
• Henry Flagler and the building of his beautiful hotels in St. Augustine
• The Florida earthquakes of 1879 and 1886
• St. Augustine in 1885
• The St. Augustine monster (yes, there really was one)
Book III, Targeting Orion’s Children
• The now extinct Native American populations of St. Augustine and Florida before the arrival of the Spanish
• The Spanish conquest of Florida
• The use of Native American and slave labor by the Spanish in St. Augustine to build the Castillo de San Marcos
• The near execution of a suspected pirate in early St. Augustine
• The English siege of St. Augustine in 1702
• The destruction of the old Spanish lighthouse in St. Augustine
• The vandalism of the newer St. Augustine lighthouse
Reenactment of the Dade Battle that triggered the Second Seminole War
• The placing of a Civil Rights memorial in St. Augustine’s Constitution Plaza
• The African American fort, Fort Mose, and it free inhabitants who protected the city of St. Augustine
Links for Further Information on Using the Trilogy in the Classroom
Click here for “A Book Series for the Reading Classroom.”
Reenactment of the slave Luis Pacheco guiding U.S. soldiers through Seminole territory
Click here for the details on the first high school reading program to use a class set of books in the classroom.
Reading Teacher Sparks Student Interest
An article from teacher Kathy Snyder about her experience.
Quotes From Sliding Beneath the Surface Book Reviews
Book reviews for Sliding Beneath the Surface on Amazon.com
Includes reviews from reading and language arts teachers.
Click here to see some of the St. Augustine locations featured in the trilogy.
Pirate reenactors parade through downtown St. Augustine
Click here for more information about Book I, Sliding Beneath the Surface.
Click here to see review of Book I on Amazon.com.
The remains of the the 7 ton St. Augustine Monster discovered on St. Augustine Beach in 1896
Click here for more information about Book II, Stepping Off a Cliff.
Click here for more information about Book III, Targeting Orion’s Children.
Sample Photo Galleries – Historic St. Augustine, Florida
The Castillo de San Marcos (The old Spanish fort)
The St. Augustine Cathedral Basilica
Spanish Soldiers of the 18th Century
St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museume
The Dade Battle Reenactment, Part II (The trigger that started the Second Seminole War)
