Incorporating book studies into your Geography or World Cultures curriculum is a great way to not only provide students a thorough understanding of an event – “The Big Idea” — but also create a multidisciplinary unit that focuses on and combines social studies and language arts, strengthening students reading and comprehension skills. Meet with the language arts teacher or math or science if you are able to bring in these disciplines to collaborate on strategies you can use that will address areas of weakness that can be improved upon.
Middle School Level Books That are Geography & World Cultures Friendly
These are book that have been suggested by other teachers within our disciplines and are often listed as “Teacher’s Pick” on Amazon.
Jacob’s Rescue
Based on a true story, and from the co-author of Rescuers, the courageous and vividly told story of one boy and the courageous family who risks everything to save him.
Once Jacob Gutgeld lived with his family in a beautiful house in Warsaw, Poland. He went to school and played hide-and-seek in the woods with his friends. But everything changed the day the Nazi soldiers invaded in 1939. Suddenly it wasn’t safe to be Jewish anymore.
I Am Malala
Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren’t allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn’t go to school.
Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause: She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school.
No one expected her to survive.
Now Malala is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner. In this Young Readers Edition of her bestselling memoir, which has been reimagined specifically for a younger audience and includes exclusive photos and material, we hear firsthand the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world — and did.
Malala’s powerful story will open your eyes to another world and will make you believe in hope, truth, miracles and the possibility that one person — one young person — can inspire change in her community and beyond.
Long Walk To Water
DISCLAIMER: THERE ARE SEMI-GRAHIC SENSITIVE DETAILS. PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU PRESENT TO YOUR STUDENTS TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE EMOTIONALLY MATURE ENOUGH FOR THIS READ.
A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the “lost boys” of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay.
Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way. Includes an afterword by author Linda Sue Park and the real-life Salva Dut, on whom the novel is based, and who went on to found Water for South Sudan.
Refugee
JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world . . .ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America . . .MAHMOUD is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe . . .All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers — from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But there is always the hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections will tie their stories together in the end.This action-packed novel tackles topics both timely and timeless: courage, survival, and the quest for home.
Chinese Cinderella
A Chinese proverb says, “Falling leaves return to their roots.” In her own courageous voice, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph in the face of despair.
Adeline’s affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her, and life does not get any easier when her father remarries. Adeline and her siblings are subjected to the disdain of her stepmother, while her stepbrother and stepsister are spoiled with gifts and attention. Although Adeline wins prizes at school, they are not enough to compensate for what she really yearns for — the love and understanding of her family. Like the classic Cinderella story, this powerful memoir is a moving story of resilience and hope.
Includes an Author’s Note, a 6-page photo insert, a historical note, and the Chinese text of the original Chinese Cinderella.
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