If the World Were a Village

Title: If the World Were a Village
Author: David Smith
Category: Non-Fiction

Topic: World Geography
Grade Level: 3 - 8
This is a picture book that would work as a read aloud in any of these grades - I'm sure my fellow middle school teachers would agree that their students still like "storytime."
Rating by: Ann B.
 
Content: This book does the following...

• Explains the topic in a clear and logical way
• Focuses on the parts of the topic that are most important.
• Prompts student to want to find out even more about a topic.
• Makes the content relevant to the students’ lives.
• Prompts students to reflect on their own lives and choices.

Effectiveness as a Learning Tool: This book includes the following...

• Visuals that help break up chunks of text.

Readability?

• Appropriate for everyone in class - even the most reluctant readers can learn from it. 

Age Appropriate Content?

• Just Right

Comment from Ann B.:
I read this book to seventh graders and its statistics on the hunger in this world inspired them to launch a fundraiser for Heifer International.  This student-led initiative raised over $1,000 - that's a lot of goats! And it was all because this book helped them put things in perspective.

Amazon's Product Description:
"There are currently more than six billion people on the planet! This enormous number can be difficult to grasp, especially for a child. But what if we imagine the whole world as a village of just 100 people? In this village * 22 people speak a Chinese dialect * 20 earn less than a dollar a day * 32 are of Christian faith * 17 cannot read or write * 39 are under 19 years old In a time when parents and educators are looking to help children gain a better understanding of the world's peoples and their ways of life, If the World Were a Village offers a unique and objective resource. By exploring the lives of the 100 villagers, children will discover that life in other nations is often very different from their own. The shrunk-down statistics -- some surprising, some shocking -- and David Smith's tips on building "world-mindedness" will encourage readers to embrace the bigger picture and help them to establish their own place in the global village." 

Link to reviews on Amazon
Link to the website of the author: David Smith
Buy it from your local bookstore via Indie Bound

Red Scarf Girl

Title: Red Scarf Girl      
Author: Ji-Li Jiang   
Category: First Person Account  


Topic: China, The Cultural Revolution  
Grade Level: 5-9  
Students: A balanced mix of strong readers and struggling or reluctant readers 
Rating by: Ann B.  

Historically Accurate?

(4) Yes and also includes historical notes, primary sources, etc.*

(3) Yes

(2) A few inaccurate or misleading portrayals

(1) Not a bit
 * This is a first person account.

An Engaging Story?

(4) Almost all students will beg to keep reading

(3) Most students will get caught up in the story

(2) Some students will read ahead by mistake

(1) Students will groan when the book is mentioned

Prompts Discussion?

(4) Students will still be talking about it in the hallway

(3) Will prompt discussion about major issues in the past as well as today

(2) Will prompt discussion about the characters and the events in the book

(1) Will not prompt discussion

Readability?

(4) Everyone - even the most reluctant readers – can get on board

(3) Can be used for a whole class read

(2) Can only be used with a small high-powered reading group

(1) Recommend only to students that love reading

Age Appropriate Content?
____Too mature
_X__Just right
____Too simplistic


Amazon's Product Description:  

"Ji-li Jiang was twelve years old in 1966, the year that Chairman Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in China. An outstanding student and much-admired leader of her class, Ji-li seemed poised for a shining future. But all that changed with the advent of the Cultural Revolution, when intelligence became a crime and a wealthy family background invited persecution'or worse. For the next three years Ji-li and her family were humilated and reviled by their former friends, neighbors, and colleagues and lived in constant terror of attack. At last, with the detention of her father, Ji-li was faced with the most dreadful decision of her young life: denounce him and break with her family, or refuse to testify against him and sacrifice her future in her beloved Communist Party.

Told with simplicity, innocence, and grace, this unforgettable memoir gives a child's eye view of a terrifying time in twentieth-century history'and of one family's indomitable courage under fire."

Link to Reviews on Amazon
Link to Teacher's Guide from Facing History and Ourselves
Link to the website of the author: Ji Li Jiang
Buy this book from your local bookstore via Indie Bound

Material World

Title: Material World: A Global Family Portrait
Authors: Peter Menzel et al.
Category: Non-Fiction

Topic: World Geography, Materialism

Grade Level: 4 - 12 (the main content is communicated in the book's hundred of photos so younger students can still learn a lot from it, regardless of their reading level)
Rating by: Ann B.
 
Content: This book does the following...

• Focuses on the parts of the topic that are most interesting.
• Prompts student to want to find out even more about a topic.
• Makes the content relevant to the students’ lives.
• Prompts students to reflect on their own lives and choices.

Effectiveness as a Learning Tool: This book includes the following...

• Visuals that deepen the students’ understanding of the topic.
• Visuals that make students want to read the book.
• Visuals that help break up big chunks of text.
• A table of contents. 

Readability?

• Appropriate for everyone in class - even the most reluctant readers can learn from it. 

Age Appropriate Content?

• Just Right

Comment from Ann B.:
I've never taught a straight world geography class, but I've always kept this book on the shelf in my classroom.  It's a great book to have on hand if a student finishes a project early.  The premise of the book is intriguing to almost any student, and even just spending five minutes flipping through this will gets them thinking.  The authors have also published other books based on the same idea, including Women in the Material World and Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.

Amazon's Product Review:
"In honor of the United Nations-sponsored International Year of the Family in 1994, award-winning photojournalist Peter Menzel brought together 16 of the world's leading photographers to create a visual portrait of life in 30 nations. Material World tackles its wide subject by zooming in, allowing one household to represent an entire nation. Photographers spent one week living with a "statistically average" family in each country, learning about their work, their attitudes toward their possessions, and their hopes for the future. Then a "big picture" shot of the family was taken outside the dwelling, surrounded by all their (many or few) material goods.

The book provides sidebars offering statistics and a brief history for each country, as well as personal notes from the photographers about their experiences. But it is the "big pictures" that tell most of the story. In one, a British family pauses before a meal of tea and crumpets under a cloudy sky. In another, wary Bosnians sit beside mattresses used as sniper barricades. A Malian family composed of a husband, his two wives, and their children rests before a few cooking and washing implements in golden afternoon light. Material World is a lesson in economics and geography, reminding us of the world's inequities, but also of humanity's common threads. An engrossing, enlightening book. --Maria Dolan"

Link to reviews on Amazon
Link to the website of the author: Peter Menzel
Link to companion site, "World in the Balance" at PBS
Buy it from your local bookstore via Indie Bound