Using Multicultural National Council for the Social Studies Notable Books in the Elementary Classroom

Abstract

Book Review Committee members for the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), in collaboration with the Children's Book Council, have reviewed current copyrighted trade books with social studies themes since 1972. As a result, an annual bibligraphy of K-12 trade books is published each May in the "Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People" insert in Social Education. NCSS committee members who read, review, and choose trade books worthy of inclusion in classrooms wrote the annotations for this suppement. The author was an NCSS reveiwer from 2004-06. In this article, she argues that quality trade books are an important supplement to social studies curriculum. She describes three notable multicultural trade books and teaching activities derived from the books' text.