Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Books

What books dealing with social studies topics are you or your students reading that you would recommend and why? Please specify grade level.

1 comment:

Chasidy said...

My students are reading "Bound" by Donna Jo Napoli. It discusses ancient Chinese foot-binding, and gives good descriptions of Chinese culture. We are also reading "Two Cakes Fit for a King," which is a collection of folktales from Vietnam. These tales were written ONLY in Vietnamese until 2003, when the author translated them. What is interesting about Vietnamese folk tales, is they all have a sad ending, instead of happy ones like our fairy tales. The Vietnamese created sad endings, to help prepare the children for sad events that will occur in life. Also, for "teacher reading," I have just finished two fantastic books. The first is called "Three Cups of Tea." It is the most inspiring story about how education really can change the world--one school at a time. The author is my hero. The second book is "Reading Lolita in Tehran," and is a true story about a teacher in Iran who gets a few female students to read western literature, and how it changes their life.