Childrens Literature

I am looking for books to teach Civics or Citizenship to my 8th Grade American History class in Ohio. I was wondering if anybody knew of any books that may hit the standards and be a little change of pace for the kids. I am thinking about a project where each kid is assigned a topic that is covered by a "picture book."

Thanks for any input.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Katy Scott on April 19, 2010 at 10:35am

I really like If the World Were a Village by David J. Smith. Here's a summary from Booklist: "To make the idea of a world of 6.2 billion people more understandable, Smith suggests that children imagine the population of the world as a village of just 100 people. That's one person representing 62 million people in the real world. Surprising, even shocking statistics follow--for example, many kids in the U. S. take computers for granted, but only seven people in the global village own one. Each double-page, picture-book spread relates a few consciousness-raising facts about such topics as nationalities, food, language, and religion."

Also, though it's not a children's book, Among the Hidden is a book middle school kids really enjoy, and it can spark some interesting discussions about government's role in our lives. (The government's portrayed as the big, bad guy, which I don't love, but it's sci-fi and 8th graders will be able to discuss the safeties in place to prevent our government from having too much power... or incidents where government, perhaps, has had too much power.)