history

Maps are Imagination.

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GPS will get you there, but maps show you why you want to go.

Maps by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinski c2012 US Edition c2013 Big Picture Press / Candlewick Press : Somerville

This book presents geography in a very BIG way. Its oversize pages open to double-page spreads featuring continents and countries of the world. Each country outline is filled with detailed images of cultural sites, physical features, foods, famous people, sports, and animals that make each region unique. You will find an image of a boy and girl in each country with names that they might be given. There are images of dwellings and the people who might live in them. Famous landmarks and cities are represented. Mountains, deserts, lakes, oceans and rivers are shown with creatures that can be found in and around them. Plants, trees, crops that are grown, all get attention here. Interesting facts and activities tell how people live and adapt to their environment. The map of the Netherlands shows how polders for farming are created by draining the water from areas that were once sea. Another image shows a flower market, and windmills, of course! This book, in a word, is fascinating, for any age.

Map key for Namibia

Noteworthy folk from the United Kingdom

Sweden

For teaching and having fun learning about geography, Maps is a gold mine. Instead of having your class write a report about Sweden, present this map and let each student select a topic. Somebody will want to write about a sport, someone else can cover what’s for dinner, another student can report on an animal found in Sweden. Link to the internet for recipes, instructions for games, or how to celebrate Midsummer’s Eve. So many possibilities present themselves in these colorful and informative pages. If you have a bored child on a rainy day, start a scavenger hunt through the book to find a type of penguin in Antarctica or the name of a portable home in Mongolia…hours may be happily spent browsing through the pages of this book. Maps has a sequel and the first edition has been updated to include more countries. There is also an activity book. Happy traveling!

Additional resource:

Find reasonably priced 16 x 20 inch outline maps at Map of the Month. They offer 89 different maps.

Telling Our Story, Year 250

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The American Spirit by David McCullough c2017 Simon and Schuster : New York

Who better to turn to on this American anniversary than our esteemed historian and eloquent speaker; David McCullough. In this collection of his speeches, Mr. McCullough reminds us of the stories that made us, and the qualities we should strive to keep and encourage in our children, the future of America. Here is an excerpt from a commencement speech at Union College in Schenectady, New York :

“John Adams read everything—Shakespeare and the Bible over and over, and the Psalms especially. He read poetry, fiction, history. Always carry a book with you on your travels he advised his son John Quincy. “You will never be alone with a poem in your pocket.”

“Read. Read. Read! read the classics of American literature that you’ve never opened. Read your country’s history. How can we profess to love our country and take no interest in its history? Read into the history of Greece and Rome. Read about the great turning points in the history of science and medicine and ideas.

Read for pleasure, to be sure….But take seriously-read closely-books that have stood the test of time. Study a masterpiece, take it apart, study its architecture its vocabulary, its intent. Underline, make notes in the margins, and after a few years, go back and read it again.

Make use of the public libraries. Start your own personal library and see it grow. Talk about the books you’re reading. Ask others what they are reading. You’ll learn a lot.”

This advice is lovely to hear if you think our continued liberty depends on our being literate and informed Americans. The speeches in this book include stories about presidents, members of congress, and individuals like the Marquis de Lafayette, Abigail Adams, John Trumbull whose painting of the signing of The Declaration of Independence is familiar to most of us. Meet Benjamin Rush, Charles Sumner, Reverend Manasseh Cutler and many other Americans who all made contributions to building a better life for people then and now. Do consider this book for any recent college grad of your acquaintance.