Mapping the Americas Children’s Literature

A to Z Brazil. Justin and Ron Fontes. Scholastic.

A to Z Mexico. Justin and Ron Fontes. Scholastic.

The Armadillo from Amarillo. Lynne Cherry. The armadillo leaves his home in San Antonio and travels north through the canyons and prairies of Texas and ends up in space.

Borreguita and the Coyote. Verna Aardema. Dragonfly Books. Reading Rainbow. Folk tale from Mexico. The lamb uses her clever ways to outsmart the coyote.

Caribbean Dream. Rachel Isadora. Picture Puffins. Poetic text about the children on an island in the West Indies. Book is vivid for younger children.

A Child’s Alaska. Claire Rudolf Murphy. Photographs by Charles Mason. Alaska Northwest Books. Visual images provide readers with a look at the Last Frontier.

A Discovery of the Americas. Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro. Harper Trophy. Book starts out with the Stone Age explorers who crossed the land bridge from Asia to North America.

Flute’s Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush. Lynne Cherry. Harcourt. The book follows the story of the thrush’s migration from the nesting ground in the Belt Woods in Maryland to the winter home in Costa Rica, and back again.

The Legend of the Poinsettia. Retold and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. Penquin Putman Books. This is the Mexican legend of the poinsettia. (Note: The story has a Christmas theme.)

Lost City: The Discovery of Machu Picchu. Ted Lewin. Philomel Books. Story of Hiram Bingham who went on an expedition to find Vilcapampa, the lost city of the Incas. Instead, Bingham found Machu Picchu in the wilds of Peru.

Mapping North America. Kate McGough. National Geographic School Publishing. For younger children.

Maps. Ari Brennan. National Geographic School Publishing. Examples given refer to South America. For younger children.

Mariana and the Merchild: A Folk Tale from Chile. Caroline Pitcher and illustrated by Jackie Morris. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. This book is a poetic retelling of a traditional South American folk tale.

North America: People and Places. National Geographic School Publishing. Explore differences in the ways people live and examine how the cultures in North America are changing as a result of migration, globalization, and technology. Lexile: 940.

A Picture Book of Sacagawea. David A. Adler. Illustrated by Dan Brown. Holiday House. Story is about Sacagawea, a Native American who was a Shoshone.

A River Ran Wild. Lynne Cherry. Voyager Books. From an ecologically dead Nashua River, people fought to restore the river to its original state.

Rookie Read-about Geography, North America, Allan Fowler. Children’s Press.

Rookie Read-about Geography, South America, Allan Fowler. Children’s Press.

Sequoyah: the Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writng. James Rumford. Houghton Mifflin Company. Sequoyah was a metalworker who didn’t want the Cherokee voices to disappear. He began to draw symbols for each word and later on invented letters to spell out the sounds of the language.

South America: People and Places. National Geographic School Publishing. Explore the diverse cultural interactions. Lexile: 900.

This Land is Your Land. Woody Guthrie. Little, Brown Young Readers.

United State Geography. Ruth Wong. National Geographic School Publishing. Book covers natural landmarks and landmarks built by people.