Social Studies

A New Coat for Anna

A New Coat for Anna
Harriet Ziefert / Grades 1-2 / Here is a priceless story of a mother's devotion to her daughter during the poverty and heartbreak following World War II. Anna needs a new winter coat, but her mother can not afford to buy her one, and all the local stores are empty after the war. Mother...

A Quarter from the Tooth Fairy

A Quarter from the Tooth Fairy
Caren Holtzman / Grades 1-2 / While trying to think of ways he can spend his quarter from the Tooth Fairy, a young boy learns about money, its value, and the different coin combinations that add up to 25 cents.   Standards ...

A Teddy Bear for President Roosevelt

A Teddy Bear for President Roosevelt
Connie Peter Roop / Grades 1-2 / In this beginning chapter book, a couple are in danger of losing their candy and toy store. They decide to make a stuffed bear and name it after President Theodore Roosevelt. When their new toy becomes very popular, they write a letter and send a bear to the...

Abe Lincoln Remembers

Abe Lincoln Remembers
Ann Warren Turner / Grades 1-2 /  What makes greatness possible? For Abraham Lincoln, it was intelligence, kindness, humor, and courage. He was a boy who'd give anything for a book. He was a flatboat worker, a wrestler, a postmaster, a lawyer who learned to lead people with words. And...

Follow the Drinking Gourd

Follow the Drinking Gourd
Jeanetter Winter / Grades 3-4 /  This engagingly illustrated picture book tells the story of Peg Leg Joe, a white one-legged sailor and handyman, who hired himself out to plantation owners, and eventually made friends with slaves. It turns out that this was all part of his plan, the...

Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer
Deborah Wiles / Grades 1-2 / Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim. But there's one important way they're different: Joe is white and John Henry is black and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry...

Happy Birthday Martin Luther King

Happy Birthday Martin Luther King
Jean Mazollo / Grades 1-2 / In commemoration of his peaceful fight for freedom and change, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday is celebrated across the nation. This sensitively written picture book provides an introduction to the life of Dr. King, beginning with his birth and childhood through...

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O'Dell / 4-6 / Science / Karana, an Indian girl, lives happily with her people on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. It is an island in the Pacific that gets its name from its beautiful shape — from above it looks like a dolphin lying on its side, "with its tail pointing toward...

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures in Ancient Egypt

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures in Ancient Egypt
Joanna Cole / Grades 1-2 /  What happens when Ms. Frizzle hops a flight to Egypt? She parachutes out of the plane and lands in Ancient Egypt, of course! Fans of The Magic School Bus series will love to join the hilarious and informative Ms. Frizzle in her new adventure, exploring the...

Mummy Math

Mummy Math
Cindy Neuschwander / Grades 1-4 / Matt and Bibi go to Egypt with their scientist parents in search of an ancient pharaoh's mummy. When the siblings are accidentally shut in the pyramid, they decide to explore. Using hieroglyphic clues, they discover that the path to the mummy is delineated by...