Places in the heart: Geography through children's literature

Social Studies Review, Spring 2002 by Murphey, Carol E

Places in the heart are hooked to people and geography. Children's authors often write about places and regions that have had a specific impact on their lives. All of us, children and adults alike, have a life story that is built on being in a specific place at a certain time. Added to this are also the stories told of our ancestors, and these stories are related to a journey through time and space. Geography and history are always intertwined, and one does not exist without the other. Life experiences are a sum of the intersection of times with places.

There are many wonderful, illustrated children's books that can easily be used to teach any child about the geography and history of specific times and places. In this column I have selected fourteen titles that do this very well. The texts are meaningful and the illustrations superb.

SPECIFIC REGION BOOKS: THE PRAIRIE

Three outstanding books come to mind, that truly give a feel of the vastness and harshness of the prairie. They also convey life experiences in this geographic region that make the prairie a place in the author's heart. The newly published, The Gift, by Marcia S. Freeman and illustrated by Patrice Kennedy, Maupin House, 2002, tells the story of the immigration of a family from Norway to the American prairie, where they farm and live in a sod house. The loneliness of such a life, is evident from the child's statement in the book, " I remember harvest time on Grandfather's farm in Norway. Everyone came together to make the work lighter. On our prairie farm, no one came to help". The love that sustains the family, and the images of life on the prairie, makes this a story worth sharing.

The beautiful Canadian book, If Your Not From the Prairie, by David Bouchard and illustrated by Henry Ripplinger, Raincoast Books 1994, is an outstanding visual and verbal celebration of the climate, geography, and life of a child growing up on the Canadian prairie. Both the author and illustrator were born and raised on the prairie and share with you their love affair with the land, and an almost Norman Rockwell vision of their youth.

"If your not from the prairie, you've never heard grass," so the author says.

The last book I would recommend in this category is Heartland, by Diane Siebert and illustrated by Wendell Minor, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1989. The text is poetry, as is If Your Not From the Prairie. The lovely illustrations and the poem, show how one works and lives in the modern, American prairie. "I am the Heartland. I survive, to keep America, my home, alive".

The geography in the three books dazzles the eye and literally rolls off the student with a lasting impression of the geographic feature called, "prairie." Diane Siebert and Wendell Minor have collaborated on two other books worth mentioning. They also have a geographic theme. These are Sierra, where the terrain, flora and fauna of a mountain range is explored and Mojave, the life of a desert.

JOURNEY BOOKS

Journey books tell stories of the movement of people from one region to another or one country to another, and give us a vision and feel for other places. They delve into the emotions felt by those that have to move. These particular books relate to the life experience of many of our students and can often validate their feelings.

Radio Man, A Story in English and Spanish, by Arthur Dorros, Harper Collins, 1993, tells of the life of a migrant farm worker child. His journey begins in Texas at the Mexican border, and proceeds through Arizona, Califorma, and ends in Washington. The crops picked, the sights the child sees, the close-knit family, and the interrupted schooling are all part of the story. The unifying element in the book is Diego's love of his radio and finding Spanish-speaking stations along the way.

A journey of a different sort is depicted in The Whispering Cloth, A Refugee's Story, by Pegi Deitz Shea, illustrated by Anita Riggio, and stitched by You Yang, Boyd's Mill Press, 1995. The journey of a Hmong child to the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand and her dream of going to America sea journey, an American city and the fate of her treasure from the emperor's garden, the lotus seed. Evocative of the emotions in the text are the opening lines, " My grandmother saw the emperor cry, the day he lost his golden dragon throne".

Where Are You Going Manyoni? Illustrated and written by Catherine Stock, Morrow Junior Books, 1993, reveals the every day journey of a child going to school. This child, of Zimbabwe, walks along the banks of the Limpopo River and we get to meet the plants and animals of the region and the geology, through the wonderful watercolor illustrations. It lends itself to the story of every student on their way to school.

For a journey through time, I recommend, My Place, by Nadia Wheatley and illustrated by Donna Rawlins, Australia In Print, 1989. The book begins with a child in Bourke, Australia talking about her town and sharing a map of her town. The book continues with a different child, a different map, but the same place. It continues back in time by decades, with maps and descriptions of life, back to 1788. The last child is an aboriginal, who says, "Sometimes at the end of the day, I climb to the top of the big tree and play that I am the only person in the world."