What is the Read Around the World Library? We've found books set in all the continents all over the world (except Antarctica) and organized them into a classroom library. This is an awesome resource to learn more about places all around the globe as you study geography this year!
Want to learn more about the monthly focus country? We will pull out the relevant books for you on a special bookshelf for easy browsing and access. Some of the books are also highlighted in the middle column below.
To encourage general inquiry about the world we live in, each quarter you will be given a Bingo sheet. Choose a row or column and read books in the assigned categories to complete your Bingo sheet. Suggestions for books you can read to fill your Bingo sheet are listed in the left-hand column below.
Did you finish your geography classwork early? Do you need an interesting free choice book for Academic Support? The Read Around the World Library is a great resource for fun independent reading.
The Read Around the World library is organized in three levels:
1. Continent
2. Country (alphabetically within each continent)
3. Book Title (alphabetically within each country)
So, for example, if you want to find Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe, you need to know the continent and the country of the book to find it on the shelf. In the online catalog, the book's continent, Africa, is listed as the book's Collection. The country, Zimbabwe, is listed in the book's Tags. Once you have this information, go to the Africa shelves in the library. Zimbabwe starts with Z so it will be waaaaay down at the bottom of the Africa section. Then, within Zimbabwe, look for Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. How do you know you're looking in the right place? The spine label of each book lists both the continent and the country.
Also note, when a book spans more than one continent, it will be shelved in the Multiple Continents section of the library. When a book spans more than one country within a continent, it will be shelved at the beginning of that continent section under Multiple Countries.
Don't quite get it? That's okay! This is a unique way to organize books because this library has a unique purpose--learning more about the world's geography! If you need help to find a book, ask your teacher or email Ms. Abercrombie (jabercrombie@latinpcs.org). We are all available to help.
If you're looking up a book in the online catalog, this is where you find the book's continent and country:
This is important! We need each and every fifth grade geography student to take the time and care to check out and return books to the Read Around the World library, or books will be lost permanently. Show your care and commitment to our community by following these procedures.
Step 1: Find the book You can start your search for a book by browsing the bookshelves directly or by searching the online catalog and then locating the book on the shelf. Either way, end this step with the book physically in your hands.
Step 2: Ask the classroom librarian or your teacher to check out the book to you Each classroom will have a student designated as the classroom librarian who will be trained for checking out books from the Read Around the World library. Your teacher will let you know who that student is. Your teacher can also check out books. Please do not take books from the Read Around the World library without checking the book out through one of these people!
This is super duper easy! When you're finished reading a book, put it in the return basket! That's it.
Whether you were just browsing for books and decided not to check out a book, or if you did check out the book and now you're finished reading it, in either case, put the book in the return basket.
Please DO NOT put a book back on the shelf, especially if you checked it out. Why? Each book has one and only one correct spot on the shelf. If you put the book back in the wrong place, no one will be able to find it. Also, if you checked out the book, the only way it gets checked back in is when you return it to the basket. If you put the book directly on the shelf, it remains checked out to you and you will be pestered with email reminders and overdue slips. You can avoid all that by returning your book to the return basket.
The one exception to this rule--if you are browsing for books and you have carefully kept track of the book location using a book marker and therefore know exactly where the book should be returned, in this case and this case only, you may put the book back on the shelf.
To complete a square on the Bingo sheet, you must read one chapter book OR two picture books. How can you tell the difference? We've marked all the picture books in the collection two ways:
In the online catalog, "Picture Book" is a tag. If you see the "Picture Book" tag in a book record, it is a picture book, otherwise it counts as a chapter book.
On the shelf, every picture book has a Picture Book spine label. If you see this spine label, it's a picture book, otherwise it counts as a chapter book.
Picture book spine label:
Third Quarter
Bingo Sheet
Directions: Complete a column, row, or diagonal on the Bingo sheet by reading one chapter book OR two picture books in each category (square). Once you read a book, submit a card to your teacher to receive Bingo credit. Each book can count towards only square.
R1 Books Set in North America: all books
R1 Books Set in North America: picture books only
R2 Books Set in Europe: all books
R2 Books Set in Europe: picture books only
R3 Folk or fairy tales: all books
R3 Folk or fairy tales: picture books only
A1 Books Set in Australia/Oceania: all books
A1 Books Set in Australia/Oceania: picture books only
A2 Books about Animals: all books
A2 Books about Animals: picture books only
A3 Books Set in Africa: all books
A3 Books Set in Africa: picture books only
W1 Books about Sports: all books
W1 Books about Sports: picture books only
W2 Books Set in Asia: all books
W2 Books Set in Asia: picture books only
W3 Books Set in South America: all books
W3 Books Set in South America: picture books only
Country of the Month
Ukraine
Available from Geography Classroom Library.
Charles Osgood reports on the Ukrainian tradition of pysanky, the art of decorating hollowed-out eggs with folk designs. Dating back to pagan times, the craft is still very much alive today. Source: CBS Sunday Morning
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Available from Geography Classroom Library, WLPCS Library and DC Public Library.
Available from Geography Classroom Library and DC Public Library.
Available from DC Public Library.
Each year, on the fourth Saturday of November, Ukraine remembers the millions who died during the Holodomor, the Stalin-era famine that devastated the population in 1932-1933. Many countries consider it to have been genocide. Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
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Available from Geography Classroom Library and DC Public Library.
The Legend of the Christmas Spider - a festive and family friendly folk tale from Ukraine. Source: Wild Witch
The Christmas Spider legend in Ukraine also inspired the traditional straw spider Christmas ornament (shown above) called "Pavuk." Learn more about the ornament at Valya Dudycz Lupescu's website.
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Available from Geography Classroom Library, WLPCS Library and DC Public Library.
Thirty-five years ago an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine released lethal radiation into the atmosphere. The nearest city, Pripyat, home to around 50,000 people, was evacuated along with other communities in a 4,000 sq km zone. Lyudmila Honchar was four years old at the time and lived in Pripyat with her parents. We joined her as she returned to try and find her family home, 35 years later. Source: BBC World Service
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Available from Geography Classroom Library and DC Public Library.
A short informational video on the eastern most group of the Carpatho-Rusyns. They live on the border of Romania and Ukraine and have lived there for over 1000 years. Source: ЛемкоWithHistory
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Available from WLPCS Library and DC Public Library.
The small town of Kief in North Dakota was founded by Ukrainian immigrants more than 100 years ago during the same time period that A Sky Full of Song takes place. Once upon a time it was a bustling little town, but today it is nearly empty. Source: Voice of America
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Available from Geography Classroom Library.
May 21, 2015 Armed with a remotely operated mini-helicopter, National Geographic engineer Alan Turchik gets a bird’s-eye view of 3,000-year-old royal burial chambers. The unique perspective is helping to unravel ancient Nubian mysteries. Source: National Geographic
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Available in hard copy from Geography Classroom Library and WLPCS Library. Available in hard copy and ebook from DC Public Library.
Conversation with Andrea Pinkney on how a sparrow became Amira’s symbolic spirit guide for her story in The Red Pencil. Source: Book Lovers Foundation
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Available in hard copy from Geography Classroom Library and DC Public Library.
Watch a short video about Salva Dut, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, who founded the non-profit, Water for South Sudan.
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Available in hard copy from the Geography Classroom Library.
Author, Cristina Kessler, talks about the actual event in a Sudanese village which inspired her to write My Great-Grandmother's Gourd. Source: cristinakessler.com
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Available from Geography Classroom Library.
Read more about Bol Aweng's life since fleeing from Sudan, including his involvement in the Buckeye Clinic in Piol, South Sudan.
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Available from the Geography Classroom Library.
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More Geography Resources
Use the online catalog to search the Geography Classroom Library. Once you find the book on the shelf, you can use the online catalog to check out the book to yourself.
Kyiv оr Kiev? The difference in spelling and pronunciation of the Ukrainian capital seems small, yet it's profound. Source: KyivPost
Ukrainian folk-rap group, Kalush Orchestra, won the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest with the song, Stefania. The six-person band mixes modern streetwear with traditional clothing, from embroidered vests to lead singer Oleh Psiuk's signature pink bucket hat, and incorporates Ukrainian woodwind instruments like the sopilka and telenka. Source: Eurovision Song Contest
Borsch soup has actually been used as a symbol of Ukrainian gastrodiplomacy in the past. It's is a powerful symbol of Ukrainian food culture and the fight for cultural acknowledgement. So why do Westerners think borsch is Russian? What events in history support Ukraine's claim to Borsch? Source: Origins of Food
Cucuteni-Trypillian refers to an ancient civilization that flourished in the Carpathian mountains in modern day Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. It existed between 5,500 and 2,750 BC and was the largest settlement of the Neolithic period. Source: MocomiKids Learn more about this ancient civilization from the National Museum of the History of Ukraine.
Feb. 24, 2023: The war in Ukraine is the biggest in Europe since World War II. On the Ukraine War Anniversary, BBC's Ricky Boleto finds out how the children of Ukraine are coping with living in a country at war, this time at a school when an air raid siren goes off. Source: BBC Newsrounds
"The New Era" (Alahd Aljadeed) is a song written by Al Tijani Haj Mousa, composed by Omer Ihsas and sponsored by UNAMID (The African Union - United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur) to promote peace in Darfur.
Source: Sebastian Ioan
In 2019, world traveler, Drew Binsky, spent 48 hours in Juba, the capital city of South Sudan, and says it has been one of the most interesting and eye opening trips of his entire life. Source: Drew Binsky
In one of his last TV interviews, the late Manute Bol talks about his NBA career and personal struggle to survive in his native homeland of Sudan. Bol died June 19, 2010 at the age of 47 from acute kidney failure and complications from Stevens–Johnson syndrome. Source: George Michael SportsMachine
Sept. 2, 2023 African students in Sudan share the realities of finding themselves in a war zone, after moving to the country for a new chapter and education. Source: BBC News Africa
This traditional Sudanese instrument comes from Sudan's Blue Nile southern state and has been used for generations. Source: africanews
Mohamed Lamine Keita (Guinea) and NBA Academy Alumni Mohab Yasser (Egypt) learn every day from each of their teammates’ cultures, dances, food, and languages at the NBA Academy Africa in Senegal. This team probably has the most languages spoken in all the NBA Academies. Source: NBA Africa