What Was...? books in order

The What Was...? series is a collection of 65 educational nonfiction books for young readers, covering historical events, cultural milestones, and institutions, published between 2013 and 2023.

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 What Was the Hindenburg? 2013 Sherri L. Smith Buy
2 What Was the Battle of Gettysburg? 2013 Sherri L. Smith Buy
3 What Was the Gold Rush? 2013 Sherri L. Smith Buy
4 What Was the March on Washington? 2013 Sherri L. Smith Buy
5 What Was the Boston Tea Party? 2013 Sherri L. Smith Buy
6 What Was Pearl Harbor? 2013 Sherri L. Smith Buy
7 What Was the Alamo? 2013 Sherri L. Smith Buy
8 What Was the Underground Railroad? 2013 Sherri L. Smith Buy
9 What Was Pompeii? 2014 Sherri L. Smith Buy
10 What Was Ellis Island? 2014 Sherri L. Smith Buy
11 What Is the Statue of Liberty? 2014 Sherri L. Smith Buy
12 What Is the Panama Canal? 2014 Sherri L. Smith Buy
13 What Was the Lewis and Clark Expedition? 2014 Sherri L. Smith Buy
14 What Was D-Day? 2015 Sherri L. Smith Buy
15 What Is the World Series? 2015 Sherri L. Smith Buy
16 What Was Hurricane Katrina? 2015 Sherri L. Smith Buy
17 What Were the Salem Witch Trials? 2015 Sherri L. Smith Buy
18 What Is the Super Bowl? 2015 Sherri L. Smith Buy
19 What Was the Great Depression? 2015 Sherri L. Smith Buy
20 What Was Woodstock? 2016 Sherri L. Smith Buy
21 What Are the Summer Olympics? 2016 Sherri L. Smith Buy
22 What Is the Declaration of Independence? 2016 Sherri L. Smith Buy
23 What Were the Twin Towers? 2016 Sherri L. Smith Buy
24 What Was the Great Chicago Fire? 2016 Sherri L. Smith Buy
25 What Was the San Francisco Earthquake? 2016 Sherri L. Smith Buy
26 What Was the Age of the Dinosaurs? 2017 Sherri L. Smith Buy
27 What Was the Wild West? 2017 Sherri L. Smith Buy
28 What Is Rock and Roll? 2017 Sherri L. Smith Buy
29 What Was the Ice Age? 2017 Sherri L. Smith Buy
30 What Are the Ten Commandments? 2017 Sherri L. Smith Buy
31 What Is the World Cup? 2018 Sherri L. Smith Buy
32 What Was the Titanic? 2018 Sherri L. Smith Buy
33 What Was the Holocaust? 2018 Sherri L. Smith Buy
34 What Is Climate Change? 2018 Sherri L. Smith Buy
35 What Is the Constitution? 2018 Sherri L. Smith Buy
36 What Is the Women’s Rights Movement? 2018 Sherri L. Smith Buy
37 What Were the Roaring Twenties? 2018 Sherri L. Smith Buy
38 What Is the Stanley Cup? 2019 Sherri L. Smith Buy
39 What Was Stonewall? 2019 Sherri L. Smith Buy
40 What Is NASA? 2019 Sherri L. Smith Buy
41 What Was the Vietnam War? 2019 Sherri L. Smith Buy
42 What Was the Berlin Wall? 2019 Sherri L. Smith Buy
43 What Were the Negro Leagues? 2019 Sherri L. Smith Buy
44 What Are the Paralympic Games? 2020 Sherri L. Smith Buy
45 What Was the Bombing of Hiroshima? 2020 Sherri L. Smith Buy
46 What Is LEGO? 2020 Sherri L. Smith Buy
47 What Is a Presidential Election? 2020 Sherri L. Smith Buy
48 What Is the Civil Rights Movement? 2020 Sherri L. Smith Buy
49 What Is Nintendo? 2021 Sherri L. Smith Buy
50 What Was the Age of Exploration? 2021 Sherri L. Smith Buy
51 What Is Congress? 2021 Sherri L. Smith Buy
52 What Is Black Lives Matter? 2021 Sherri L. Smith Buy
53 What Are the Winter Olympics? 2021 Sherri L. Smith Buy
54 What Was the Plague? 2021 Sherri L. Smith Buy
55 What Was the Harlem Renaissance? 2021 Sherri L. Smith Buy
56 What Are Castles and Knights? 2022 Sherri L. Smith Buy
57 What Is Juneteenth? 2022 Sherri L. Smith Buy
58 What Is the AIDS Crisis? 2022 Sherri L. Smith Buy
59 What Is the Supreme Court? 2022 Sherri L. Smith Buy
60 What Was Reconstruction? 2022 Sherri L. Smith Buy
61 What Is the Women’s World Cup? 2023 Sherri L. Smith Buy
62 What Was the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921? 2023 Sherri L. Smith Buy
63 What Was World War I? 2023 Sherri L. Smith Buy
64 What Was the Donner Party? 2023 Sherri L. Smith Buy
65 What Was the Children’s Blizzard of 1888? 2023 Sherri L. Smith Buy

The What Was…? series (sometimes listed as “What Is…?” or “What Were…?” depending on the topic) is a massive educational nonfiction collection for young readers. With 65 installments published between 2013 and 2023, the series covers everything from the Hindenburg disaster to the civil rights movement, from LEGO to NASA.

Each book follows a consistent format: a clear question as the title, short readable chapters, black-and-white illustrations, and sidebars with extra facts. The approach makes big historical topics manageable for kids without dumbing them down. The series is part of a larger family of “Who Was/What Was/Where Is” books published by Penguin Workshop, and individual titles in this list were written or co-written by Sherri L. Smith alongside other contributors.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the What Was...? series?

There are 65 books in the What Was…? series, published between 2013 and 2023.

What is the first book in the What Was...? series?

The first book in the What Was…? series is What Was the Hindenburg?, published in 2013.

What age group is the What Was...? series written for?

The series is aimed at readers ages 8 to 12. Each book is around 112 pages and uses a question-and-answer format with black-and-white illustrations to make historical topics accessible and engaging for middle-grade readers.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We may receive commissions for purchases made through links on this site.

Privacy Policy