World History Through Children's Books: Integrating Kids' Historical Picture Books, Novels and Nonfiction in the Classroom for Preschool through Ninth Grade

Subject and Theme Articles

Including activities, related fiction, nonfiction and links.

• World War II
• World War II: as an example of a school wide parallel reading theme.
• Women's History and Children's Books: This article is mostly focused on US History but has some nice jumping off points for world history.
• Biographies and Memoirs
• Time as a Subject and Time Travel Fantasies
• Greek and Roman Mythology
• Tongue in Cheek Fairytales: typically set in and reflect the literature of historical Europe.

Annotated Booklists for Specific Subjects

• The Holocaust

General Activities and Lesson Plans

• Creating a Living History Museum

Teachers' Guides for Featured Books

These include book summaries, related books, activities and links.

• Castle in the Attic - by Elizabeth Winthrop. Novel. Grades 3 and up.
  England, Middle Ages
• Catherine, Called Birdy - by Karen Cushman. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
  England, 13th Century
• Dateline: Troy - by Paul Fleischman. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
  Greek Mythology, Turkey, 12th or 11th Centuries BC
• Great Kapok Tree, The: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest - by Lynne Cherry. Picture Book. Grades K and up.
  Amazon Jungle, Historical to Present
• Keeping Quilt, The - by Patricia Polacco. Picture Book. Grades K and up.
  Russia, An Immigrants History of Her Life In Russia
• Night Journey, The - by Kathryn Lasky. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
  Russia, Jews, 1890's
• Number the Stars - by Lois Lowry. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
  Denmark, World War II, 1943
• Nory Ryan's Song - by Patricia Reilly Giff. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
  Ireland, Potato Famine, Mid 1800's
• Single Shard, A - by Linda Sue Park. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
  Korea, Artisans, 12th Century

Reviews of Recommended Books

• Arrival, The - by Shaun Tan. Novel Wordless. Grades 5 and up.
  A wordless book of an immigrant's arrival in a nameless and surreal fantasy country.
• Ray, Deborah Kogan. To Go Singing Through the World: The Childhood of Pablo Neruda. Picture Book. Grades 4+.
  1900's in Chili, South America.
• Cushman, Karen. The Midwife's Apprentice. Novel. Grades 5+.
  Middle Ages in England.
• Morning Girl - by Michael Dorris. Novel. Grades 4 and up.
  1490's, Caribbean.
• Nightfather - by Carl Friedman. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
  Holocaust, Europe.
• Root Cellar, The - by Janet Lunn. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
  1860's, Ontario, Canada.
• War of Jenkins' Ear, The - by Michael Morpurgo. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
  1950's, England.
• Tom's Midnight Garden - by Philippa Pearce. Novel. Grades 5 and up.
  19th Century, England.
• Rebel - by Allan Baillie. Picture Book. Grades 3 and up.
  1990, Rangoon, Burma.
• Chicken Man - by Michelle Edwards. Picture Book. Grades K and up.
  1980's, Israel.
• Sami and the Time of the Troubles - by Florence Parry Heide. Picture Book. Grades 3 and up.
  1980's, Beirut, Lebanon.
• Tree of Cranes - by Allen Say. Picture Book. Grades 2 and up.
  1940's, Japan.
• Three Golden Keys, The - by Peter Sis. Picture Book. Grades 3 and up.
  1950's and 1960's, Prague, Czech Republic.
• Wan Hu Is in the Stars - by Jennifer Armstrong. Picture Book. Grades 2 and up.
  Folklore, Chinese.
• Hana's Suitcase - by Karen Levine. Nonfiction. Grades 4 and up.
  Holocaust, Czechoslovakia.
• To Go Singing Through the World - by Deborah Kogan Ray. Picture Book. Grades 4 and up.
  Early 1900's, Chili, South America.

Booklists of Recommended Books

• Middle Ages

Related Areas of Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

• US History