Books to read:
A Chair for my mother: When all their possessions are burned
in a fire, a little girl together with her mother and grandmother save
to buy a special chair.
A New Coat for Anna: During World War II, Anna’s mother decides to trade for few valuables for the resources needed to produce a new coat for her daughter. Anna visits the sheep that provide wool. meets the woman who spins yearn, helps her mother dye yarn, takes the yarn to the weaver, and goes to the tailor who makes the new coat.
A Peddler’s Dream: Solomon Joseph Azar leaves his native Lebanon to find his fortune in the United States. He travels the countryside on foot to sell his wares. His industry and determination turn his dream into a reality and he becomes the owner of a large store.
Along Came the Model T!: A biography of Henry Ford, the developer of the first light-weight, inexpensive automobile. Includes a description of the Model T and tells how its invention changes the world. Also describes how the development of the assembly line increased productivity.
Banana’s From Manolo to Margie: Follow a crop of bananas from a plantation in Honduras to the breakfast table of a child in the United States. The bananas are handles by many specialized workers and carried on different forms of transportation.
Beetles Lightly Toasted: Ten- year old Andy lives on an Iowa farm. He and his cousin Jack are determined to win their school's contest on “conservation.” They devise hilarious ways to save resources- including eating insects and cooking hamburgers on a car engine.
Buffalo Hunt: The role of the buffalo in the Plains Indian life, including its spiritual significance and its many uses for food, clothing, shelter, and tools.
Great-Grandma Tells of Threshing Day: A young girl and
her brother team about shared work and responsibility on threshing day
in the early 1900s.
Hammers, Nails, Planks, and Paint: Illustrations and simple
text explain the process of building a house.
How a Book is Made: Animals explain the steps of producing a book starting with the writing of the manuscript and the drawing of pictures. Explains all the technical processes leading to printed and bound copies.
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World: The illustrated story of a girl who gathers the ingredients for an apple pie from locations all over the world. Trace the route of the baker as she uses resources and different types of transportation to produce her pie.
If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon: Provides insight into the planning necessary for wagon travel west to Oregon in the 1840s and the kind of life experienced on a wagon train.
Little Nino's Pizzeria: Tony likes to help his father Nino at their small family restaurant, but everything changes when someone offers the opportunity expand the pizzeria. They make more money, but they are miserable. Tony and his father reopen their pizzeria.
Make Way for Ducklings: Mr. and Mrs. Mallard decide to move their eight ducklings to the Boston Public Garden. The trip becomes a challenge for Michael, the policeman, who oversees the adventure.
Music, Music for Everyone: Rosa learns to play the accordion, then she and her friends form the Oak Street Band. The money she earns playing at a neighborhood party is used to help her mother with expenses while her grandmother is sick.
On the Way Home: A Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri in 1984: Laura Ingalls Wilder's diary of her 1894 trip from Dakota Territory to Missouri. Laura, her husband, and her seven-year-old daughter move from their drought-stricken farm to the Ozarks. She describes the towns, rivers, people and events that happen along the way.
Paddle-to-the-Sea: A young boy carves the figure of an Indian in a canoe and sets him off on a journey through the Great Lakes and down the Saint Lawrence River. Winds, currents and human hands help him as he journeys to the Atlantic. Along the way he observes a sawmill, fishermen, the Coast Guard busy docks, the factories of Detroit and peaceful farms.
Shoes for Everyone: A Story about Jan Matzeliger: The biography of a man who, despite hardships and prejudice, invented a shoe-lasting machine that revolutionized the shoe industry in the late nineteenth century. Jan Matzeliger's invention that increased output and lowered the price of shoes.
The Berenstein Bears and Mama's New Job: Each member of the Bear family has a job - they depend on each other. When Mama decides to go into business, the rest of the family learns about time scarcity and all the goods and services Mama Bear provided for them before she went back to work.
The Berenstein Bears and Too Much TV: The Bears give up other activities when they choose to watch TV. Useful in introducing opportunity costs and the scarcity of time.
The Days of the Cave People: A young cave dweller hunts and fishes with the men of his tribe and observes how tools are made.