Children's Books for Social Studies Content: Home

Having fled from war in their troubled homeland, a boy and his family are living in poverty in a strange country. Food is scarce, so when the boy’s father brings home a map instead of bread for supper, at first the boy is furious. But when the map is hung on the wall, it floods their cheerless room with color. As the boy studies its every detail, he is transported to exotic places without ever leaving the room, and he eventually comes to realize that the map feeds him in a way that bread never could. The award-winning artist’s most personal work to date is based on his childhood memories of World War II and features stunning illustrations that celebrate the power of imagination. An author’s note includes a brief description of his family’s experience, two of his early drawings, and the only surviving photograph of himself from that time. How I Learned Geographyis a 2009 Caldecott Honor Book.

When Christopher Columbus landed on the island of San Salvador in 1492, what he discovered were the Taino Indians. Told from a young Taino boy's point of view, this is a story of how the boy tried to warn his people against welcoming the strangers, who seemed more interested in golden ornaments than friendship. Years later the boy, now an old man, looks back at the destruction of his people and their culture by the colonizers.

This new version of the Caldecott-winning classic by illustrator David Small and author Judith St. George is updated with current facts and new illustrations to include our forty-second president, George W. Bush. There are now three Georges in the catalog of presidential names, a Bush alongside the presidential family tree, and a new face on the endpaper portraiture. Hilariously illustrated by Small, this celebration by St. George shows us the foibles, quirks and humanity of forty-two men who have risen to one of the most powerful positions in the world. Perfect for this election year--and every year!

This updated version ofThe Buck Stops Hereis filled with fascinating details that enliven the histories of the presidents of the United States, from George Washington to Bill Clinton. The lighthearted rhymed text will help readers remember the names of the presidents in sequence, and the pictures connect each president to his contributions--distinguished or dubious--to American history.

Vietnam. A young American soldier waits for his enemy, rifle in hand, finger on the trigger. He is afraid to move and yet afraid not to move. Gunshots crackle in the still air. The soldier fires blindly into the distant trees at an unseen enemy. He crouches and waits -- heart pounding, tense and trembling, biting back tears. When will it all be over? Walter Dean Myers joined the army on his seventeeth birthday, at the onset of American involvement in Vietnam, but it was the death of his brother in 1968 that forever changed his mind about war. In a gripping and powerful story-poem, the award-winning author takes readers into the heart and mind of a young soldier in an alien land who comes face-to-face with the enemy. Strikingly illustrated with evocative and emotionally wrenching collages by Caldecott Honor artist Ann Grifalconi, this unforgettable portrait captures one American G.L's haunting experience.

It was an ordinary night in October of 1938 until a news bulletin interrupted the dance music onCBSradio-aliens were invading the United States! Meghan McCarthy's hilariousAliens Are Coming!tells the true story of the Halloween radio prank that duped much of the country into believing that Martians had invaded. The book uses excerpts from the actualWar of the Worldsradio broadcast and includes information about the importance of radios in the 1930s (before the time of televisions and computers) as well as facts about Orson Welles and H. G. Wells, author of the novel on which the broadcast was based. From the Hardcover edition.

"The Maestros do a real service here in presenting the more familiar explorers in the context of all the migrations that have populated the Western Hemisphere....An outstanding introduction."--Kirkus Reviews. "The dazzlingly clean andaccurate prose and the exhilarating beauty of the pictures combine for an extraordinary achievement in both history and art."--School Library Journal.

This ultimate picture book edition of Longfellow's poem includes historical artifacts in every image, two full-spread maps and two fold-out historical documents pasted down to the endpapers. Produced with the full cooperation of Paul Revere House, this edition is illustrated by Caldecott-winner Christopher Bing.

Set during the Great Depression, this warm-hearted family story tells of how, after they lost their home, Kate's grandparents and aunt got jobs picking potatoes by the light of the moon.

"Excellent ink drawings, brightened with colorful washes, illustrate incidents from the text with clarity, a flair for the dramatic, and a sense of humor." (Booklist, starred review) "Kurlansky is a masterful storyteller. . . . Schindler's pictures, from serious to silly, add to the pleasure . . . . Readers of this title will never again look at fish and chips in quite the same way." (Kirkus Reviews) "Breezy, kid-friendly prose. . . . Fascinating and informative . . . bound to hook young readers." (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books)

At the first annual "states party," Virginia and Idaho hatch a plan to swap spots so each can see another part of the country. Before the party is over, all the states decide to switch places. In the beginning, every state is happy in its new location. But soon things start to go wrong. Florida, who switches spots with Minnesota, is freezing in the frosty northern climate, and Minnesota hasn't brought sunscreen and is getting an awful sunburn. Will the states ever unscramble themselves and return to their proper places? Packed with madcap humor and whimsical illustrations, this quirky story - starring all fifty states - is chock-full of introductory facts and silly antics that will make learning geography as much fun as taking a vacation.

Arizona was born in a log cabin her papa built. She grew into a tall girl who liked to sing, square-dance, and -- most of all -- read and dream of the faraway places she would visit one day. Arizona never did make it to those places. Instead she became a teacher, helping generations of children in the one-room schoolhouse which she herself had attended. Gloria Houston's Joyous recounting of her great-aunt Arizona's quiet yet meaningful life reminds us of the magical place a special teacher can hold in our hearts.

Imagine being on a White House tour and suddenly finding yourself surrounded by the ghosts of past presidents.... Sara and her class are listening to a tour guide droning on in the East Room, when George Washington leans out of his painting and plucks Sara into the ghost world. There, George gives her a personal tour, introducing her to thirty-five other ghost presidents, who tell her what it was like to live in the White House and face the problems of their times. In the State Dining Room, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson discuss the expedition of Lewis and Clark. In the Diplomatic Reception Room, Franklin Roosevelt speaks of the wonders of radio. And in the Oval Office, John F. Kennedy reminisces about his first day as president. Together the ghosts create a thought-provoking portrait of the challenges of being the nation's leader. With short biographies of all forty-two presidents, a timeline, lots of fascinating trivia, and conversations between presidential ghosts who never met in life, Ghosts of the White House is an informative and entertaining look at U.S. history. This is a tour that Sara -- and the readers who join her -- will never forget!

In these richly detailed pages, you'll meet three of the young Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower, Bartholomew, Remember, and Mary Allerton. The handsome paintings help you imagine how they lived after landing at Plymouth, through the dark winter and the busy days of spring, summer, and fall. Culminating with the harvest and the excitement of the first Thanksgiving feast, and featuring an illustrated epilogue that further personalizes the individuals and groups involved, "Three Young Pilgrims" makes history come alive. Based on the author-illustrator's extensive research, it conveys both information and emotion, capturing the feeling of seasons turning and moods changing, as, for the Allerton children, Plymouth becomes home.

Of all the battles of all time, the battle of Gettysburg stands out as one of the most powerful. It was a battle that came out of nowhere. A group of Southern soldiers looking for shoes, but ending up with a scrap instead--a scrap that turned into a fight, turned into a skirmish, turned into a battle that no American has ever forgotten. Brother fought brother, Generals who knew each other faced one another in a wheat field that would forever be known as the place where thousands were courageous enough to battle on another to the last man.

Leah loves her pony. Together they ride through tall fields of corn and race across green pastures, chasing cattle under summer skies. But now the land is devastated by a terrible drought. Like many farmers, Leah's papa faces losing the family farm. Without corn to sell, he cannot repay his loan from the bank, which has put his farm and equipment up for auction. But when the auction day arrives, the crowd is surprised by the sight of Leah, who makes a bid for her father's tractor. She has raised the money by selling something very precious--her pony. Set in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Elizabeth Friedrich's deeply felt story, vividly portrayed through Michael Garland's stunning oil paintings, tells of one child and what she would sacrifice for love of her family.

A young boy and his father visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Togo wasn't meant to be a sled dog. He was too feisty and independent to make a good team member, let alone a leader. But Togo is determined, and when his trainer, Leonhard Seppala, gives him a chance, he soon becomes one of the fastest sled dogs in history! His skills are put to the ultimate test, though, when Seppala and his team are called on to make the now-famous run across the frozen Arctic to deliver the serum that will save Alaska from a life-threatening outbreak of diphtheria. In the style of Akiak, winner of the Irma S. and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, along with five state awards, Robert J. Blake's detailed, carefully researched oil paintings complete the story of the adventure that inspired the internationally famous Iditarod race.

A long time ago when there was no electricity and the streetlamps in Little Italy had to be lit by hand, Peppe lived in a tenement on Mulberry Street. His family was poor, and so, though he was just a boy, he needed to work. But a job as a lamplighter was not what his father had dreamed of for Peppe. Full color. 1994 Caldecott Honor Book.

Emi, a Japanese American girl, is confused & frightened when she is interned in a prison camp during World War II.

Life was grim in 1948 West Berlin, Germany. Josef Stalin blockaded all ground routes coming in and out of Berlin to cut off West Berliners from all food and essential supplies. Without outside help, over 2.2 million people would die. Thus began the Berlin Airlift, a humanitarian rescue mission that utilized British and American airplanes and pilots to fly in needed supplies. As one of the American pilots participating in the Airlift mission, Lt. Gail S. Halvorsen helped to provide not only nourishment to the children but also gave them a reason to hope for a better world. From one thoughtful, generous act came a lifelong relationship between Lt. Gail and the children of Berlin. This is the true story of a seven-year-old girl named Mercedes who lived in West Berlin during the Airlift and of the American who came to be known as the Chocolate Pilot. Artist Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen's evocative paintings illuminate Margot Theis Raven's powerful story of hope, friendship and remembrance.

A Jewish woman recounts how her mother was able to spare her from the horrors of the Holocaust as an infant.

Since the Tall Boots--the Nazis--have marched into Monique's small French village, terrorizing it, nothing surprises her. Until the night Monique encounters "the little ghost" sitting at the end of her bed. When she turns out to be--not a ghost at all--but a young girl named Sevrine, who has been hiding from the Nazis in Monique's own basement, how could Monique not be surprised! Playing upstairs after dark, the two become friends until, in a terrifying moment, they are discovered, sending both of their families into a nighttime flight. In the tradition of Pink and Say, Patricia Polacco once again dips into her own family's history to reveal her Aunt Monique's true story of friendship from the French Resistance.

Miriam, a young Jewish girl, is forced to leave her parents and hide with strangers in the country during the German occupation of Holland.

Illustrated by Dom Lee A Japanese-American boy discovers hope and self-respect while playing baseball at an internment camp during World War II.

Janusz Korczak was an author, radio personality, teacher, and doctor. But above all else he was a hero. As the beloved director of a Jewish orphanage in Warsaw, Poland, during the years of the Nazi Party's rise to power, he cared for hundreds of children. They loved him as a father and affectionately called him their "Old Doctor." Korczak could not save his children, but even in the darkest days of the Warsaw ghetto, he strove to protect them. Fianlly, forced to lead his orphans from the ghetto to the Treblinka death camp, Korczak remained with them to the end. This moving account of Janusz Korczak's life provides a powerful introduction to the tragedies of the Holocaust, but also highlights a remarkable story of courage in its midst.

A beautifully illustrated true story of another family's experience of the bombing of Hiroshima. Shin's uncle is able to get him the impossible: the tricycle he desperately wants. He is riding the wonderful, brand-new tricycle when the atom bomb is dropped. Shin is found in the rubble, holding on to his treasure. He dies later that day, ten days before his fourth birthday. The tricycle now sits in the Peace Museum in Hiroshima.

A young boy's world is shattered after his family is torn apart by the brutal Nazi regime. Only his father's gift of a harmonica brings him comfort and ensures his survival. Inspired by the life of a Holocaust survivor.

A young girl named Rose Blanche watches as the streets of her town fill with German soldiers and tanks. Then, one day, she follows a truck into the woods, where she discovers a terrible secret. This acclaimed book, illustrated by Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Roberto Innocenti, contrasts the innocence of childhood with the horrors of war.

Newbery medalist Karen Hesse tells a harrowing, true story about life in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. When Karen Hesse came upon a short article about cats out-foxing the Gestapo at the train station in Warsaw during WWII, she couldn't get the story out of her mind. The result is this stirring account of a Jewish girl's involvement in the Resistance. At once terrifying and soulful, this fictional account, borne of meticulous research, is a testament to history and to our passionate will to survive, as only Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse can write it.

Text and photographed details of a mural depict the history of the Japanese people in America.

Photographs taken secretly by a young Jewish man document the fear, hardship, generosity, and humanity woven through the daily life of the Jews forced to live in the Lodz ghetto during the Holocaust.

Without the yellow star to point them out, the Jews looked like any other Danes. For centuries, the Star of David was a symbol of Jewish pride. But during World War II, Nazis used the star to segregate and terrorize the Jewish people. Except in Denmark. When Nazi soldiers occupied his country, King Christian X of Denmark committed himself to keeping all Danes safe from harm. The bravery of the Danes and their king during that dangerous time has inspired many legends. The most enduring is the legend of the yellow star, which symbolizes the loyalty and fearless spirit of the king and his people. Award-winning author and storyteller Carmen Deedy has poignantly recreated this legend, which is accompanied by Danish illustrator Henri Sørensen's arresting full-color portraits. The result is a powerful and dignified story of heroic justice, a story for all people and all times.

Without the yellow star to point them out, the Jews looked like any other Danes. For centuries, the Star of David was a symbol of Jewish pride. But during World War II, Nazis used the star to segregate and terrorize the Jewish people. Except in Denmark. When Nazi soldiers occupied his country, King Christian X of Denmark committed himself to keeping all Danes safe from harm. The bravery of the Danes and their king during that dangerous time has inspired many legends. The most enduring is the legend of the yellow star, which symbolizes the loyalty and fearless spirit of the king and his people. Award-winning author and storyteller Carmen Deedy has poignantly recreated this legend, which is accompanied by Danish illustrator Henri Sørensen's arresting full-color portraits. The result is a powerful and dignified story of heroic justice, a story for all people and all times.

Ed Young's gorgeous illustrations add to Eleanor Coerr's reworking of the story of Sadako Sasaki. This presentation could be shared as a read-aloud. It will spark students' interest in reading Coerr's other book as well as learning about the human side of war. There is a monument to Sadako in Hiroshima Peace Park.

Ada Ruth's mama must go away to Chicago to work, leaving Ada Ruth and Grandma behind. It's war time, and women are needed to fill the men's jobs. As winter sets in, Ada Ruth and her grandma keep up their daily routine, missing Mama all the time. They find strength in each other, and a stray kitten even arrives one day to keep them company, but nothing can fill the hole Mama left. Every day they wait, watching for the letter that says Mama will be coming on home soon. Set during World War II, Coming On Home Soon has a timeless quality that will appeal to all who wait and hope.

Soonie's great-grandma was just seven years old when she was sold to a big plantation without her ma and pa, and with only some fabric and needles to call her own. She pieced together bright patches with names like North Star and Crossroads, patches with secret meanings made into quilts called Show Ways -- maps for slaves to follow to freedom. When she grew up and had a little girl, she passed on this knowledge. And generations later, Soonie -- who was born free -- taught her own daughter how to sew beautiful quilts to be sold at market and how to read. From slavery to freedom, through segregation, freedom marches and the fight for literacy, the tradition they called Show Way has been passed down by the women in Jacqueline Woodson's family as a way to remember the past and celebrate the possibilities of the future. Beautifully rendered in Hudson Talbott's luminous art, this moving, lyrical account pays tribute to women whose strength and knowledge illuminate their daughters' lives.

Illus. in full color. "Winter's story begins with a peg-leg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the Underground Railroad. While working for plantation owners, Peg Leg Joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper). A couple, their son, and two others make their escape by following the song's directions. Rich paintings interpret the strong story in a clean, primitive style enhanced by bold colors. The rhythmic compositions have an energetic presence that's compelling. A fine rendering of history in picturebook format."--(starred) Booklist.

This child's view of the long day's work in the cotton fields, simply expressed in a poet's resonant language, is a fresh and stirring look at migrant family life. "With its restrained poetic text and impressionist paintings, this is a picture book for older readers, too."--Booklist

When four courageous black teens sat down at a lunch counter in the segregated South of 1960, the reverberations were felt both far beyond and close to home. This insightful story offers a child's-eye view of this seminal event in the American Civil Rights Movement. Connie is used to the signs and customs that have let her drink only from certain water fountains and which bar her from local pools and some stores, but still . . . she'd love to sit at the lunch counter, just like she's seen other girls do. Showing how an ordinary family becomes involved in the great and personal cause of their times, it's a tale that invites everyone to celebrate our country's everyday heroes, of all ages.

When Sheldon Russell Curtis told this story to his daughter, Rosa, she kept every word in her heart and was to retell it many times. I will tell it in Sheldon's own words as nearly as I can. He was wounded in a fierce battle and left for dead in a pasture somewhere in Georgia when Pinkus found him. Pinkus' skin was the colour of polished mahogany, and he was flying Union colours like the wounded boy, and he picked him up out of the field and brought him to where the black soldier's mother, Moe Moe Bay, lived. She had soft, gentle hands and cared for him and her Pink. But the two boys were putting her in danger, two Union soldiers in Confederate territory! They had to get back to their outfits. Scared and uncertain, the boys were faced with a hard decision, and then marauding Confederate troops rode in.

Hallie must decide whether or not to risk helping two runaway slaves escape to freedom.

Rich in historical detail and filled with luminous illustrations, this poignant book movingly describes the holiday celebrations of both slaves and slave owners on a pre-Civil War plantation. The year is 1859, and it's Christmastime on a Virginia Plantation. The slaves are cleaning and setting up the Big House--where their masters live--for the festivities. The Big House is filled with warmth, colorful decorations, and yummy food...but there is talk of war and a sense that times may be changing. In the quarters--where the slaves live--conditions are poor, dirty, and cold, but the slaves are filled with hope for better times ahead, and they sing songs of freedom. Moving deftly between two worlds, this beautifully illustrated book is a historical tale as well as a holiday treat.

Joseph's grandpa could do almost anything with his hands. He could play the piano, throw a curveball, and tie a triple bowline knot in three seconds flat. But in the 1950s and ‘60s, he could not bake bread at the Wonder Bread factory. Factory bosses said white people would not want to eat bread touched by the hands of the African Americans who worked there.   In this powerful intergenerational story, Joseph learns that people joined their hands together to fight discrimination so that one day, their hands—Joseph's hands— could do anything at all in this whole wide world.

FROM SLAVE SHIP TO FREEDOM ROAD presents a series of magnificent paintings created by artist Rod Brown, portraying the story of slavery from its beginnings on the infamous ships of the Middle Passage to the enslaved Africans' and their descendants' centuries of subjugation and their final hard-won freedom. This gifted artist has vividly expressed both the horror of the slaves' experience and the hope and spirit of resistance that sustained the survivors.Acclaimed author Julius Lester's impassioned meditations on the paintings challenge readers to imagine not only the pain and grief, but also the triumph of the slaves: a terrifying voyage in chains and darkness; the humiliating auctions that separated families; the belief in deliverance; the joy and uncertainties of freedom. Together, Mr. Brown and Mr. Lester invoke the memory of their ancestors and provide a stirring testimony to their strength and endurance.

There's a sweet, sweet smell in the air as two young girls sneak out of their house, down the street, and across town to where men and women are gathered, ready to march for freedom and justice. Inspired by the countless young people who took a stand against the forces of injustice, two Coretta Scott King Honorees, Angela Johnson and Eric Velasquez, offer a stirring yet jubilant glimpse of the youth involvement that played an invaluable role in the Civil Rights movement.

An authentic and powerful account of slavery and how a handmade quilt helps a little girl leave home for freedom. With a poet's keen ear, Tonya Hegamin tells the account of a little girl whose mother is a secret agent on the Underground Railroad. Before sending her daughter north to freedom, the mother sews a quilt for her daughter, not only to guide her with its symbols of moss and the north star, but also to remind her always that the smiling girl in the center of the quilt is "most loved in all the world." Strikingly illustrated in unique textile collaging and expressive acrylic paintings.

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, sister remembers the March on Washington. From Dr. Martin Luther King's sister, the definitive tribute to the man, the march, and the speech that changed a nation.

Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her involvement, as a 6-year-old, in the integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960. An icon of the Civil Rights movement, Ruby chronicles each dramatic step of this pivotal event in history.

A southern man learns to write his name so he can vote the first time blacks were allowed to.