If America Were a Village: A Book about the People of the United States… (utgåvan 2009)

5.6, 4-8

I really enjoyed looking through this book. It explains in detail how the world would be if it was only populated by 100 people. We see different foods, cultures, and some surprising information about our world as a whole. I like this book because it helps put some things in perspective, and shows kids some world issues they may have not previously known about. ( )

Have you ever received the e-mail that reduces the world to 100 people and describes how many of the 100 speak English, are Muslim, have a college education, etc.? This is the same concept but it uses the United States as its base population. A lot of statistics and percentages are thrown out there, making this book somewhat abstract for younger kids. To get the book's points across, adults should be willing to break down the numbers in graphic representations for their kids or students. Middle and high schoolers with a good grasp of percentages should be fine. The author includes recommended activities for getting the most out of the book and cites the print and online resources he used to compile statistics. A companion title to "If the World were a Village."

I really enjoyed this book and I think it is an awesome way to teach students about America's demographics. I think this can be a hard concept for some students to understand. What this book does is break down the overall population down to a number younger students are able to work with. This way students can grasp the concepts with more ease. I also enjoyed the topics the book chose to cover. The illustrations also do a great job of brightening the book up and making it a great picture book for all ages.

Overview:
This is a book with an overview of America. This book has statistics of many different things in general such as: how old we are, cultural backgrounds, where we live, religion, what we do, money, and much more. This is a good lead through when a teacher wants to review statistics or even what America is made of! The book gives many interesting facts about America and includes even compares us to other countries and cultures of the world.

Personal Reaction:
This was a great cultural book and it was interesting to know what America is made of. I enjoyed this book and think it would be great for a classroom to read. I think it is great for students to be knowledgeable about the other cultures that are in American and how some students may be different in that way. Learning the basics of America can be started with this book.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. The teacher can use one of the many extension ideas in the back of this book as a classroom activity. For example, a teacher can have maps and globes around the classroom and the children can use those to point out the different places while reading the book as a class.
2. This would also be a great project for an upper elementary classroom to start a project on each child’s cultural background and what parts of the book that they fit into best. The students can write a paper on where they are from, what they eat, what they do for fun, and so forth.