Geographical+Resources

This bright, colorful resources is very appealing to elementary students. The beginning of the book contains an "America Fact File" with basic information on the country, as well as a map. From there, it is broken down by region, starting with New England. Within each region, each state is given multiple pages chock full of information and full color photographs (Massachusetts has 13 pages of information). The sections of each state contain information about the major cities and towns. The section devoted to Massachusetts contains information on Boston, Fall River, Lowell, Cape Cod, Lynn, Salem, Cambridge, Chicopee, Concord, Gloucester, Holyoke, Hyannis, Lawrence, Lowell, Lexington, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket Island, New Bedford, Pittsfield, Plymouth, Provincetown, Quincy, Springfield, Stockbridge, Sturbridge, Weymouth, and Worcester.
 * Melanie Patterson - Geographical Resources**
 * 1. Reader's Digest //Discover America//. (2003).**

Admittedly, this updated edition is no longer the most up-to-date. However, it has been my experience that this atlas is very easy for elementary students to use. It is organized and color coded by continent, then divided by the major regions. The beginning section is called "Our Planet Earth," with information on the planet and solar system (now out-dated). There is information on the different countries of the world, the different people of the world, and the different climates. The continental and country maps are preceded by a section called "How to 'enjoy' maps" that makes it easy for elementary students to learn to appreciate maps. I think it would be a good investment to purchase the most recent edition of this atlas.
 * 2. Facts on File //Children's Atlas//, Updated Edition. (1997).**

This is an atlas that is aimed at high school students (at the youngest). This is not an atlas that I would use with my elementary students, though it may be good to have a more up-to-date version on hand for teachers and staff. It opens with a table of contents that outlines: thematic maps (climate, vegetation, etc.), environmental maps for each continent, metropolitan maps of major cities, historical maps of the world, country flags, maps organzied by continent, historical U.S. maps, travel U.S. maps, tables, charts, and facts, and the reference map index.
 * 3. //Rand McNally's Desk Reference World Atlas.//** (1987).

**3 Geographical Resources - Anita Cellucci**

**Geographical Resources** **1//. World History Atlas.//** 2nd edition; DK Publishing, 2005. Provides a global overview and examines aspects of the changing global scene; political, economic, religious, demographic and the global impact of these issues during the period, also shows major eras in world history and regional histories of specific eras. This atlas includes texts, maps, photographs, timelines, diagrams and artwork that serve to show humans throughout history.

**2. //A Thoreau Gazetteer.//** Stowell, Robert Frederick. Princeton,NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970. A geographical guide to the writings of Thoreau through different types of maps, some drawn by Thoreau, and follows the sequence of his publication dates. Also includes a chronological list of his travels outside of Concord. The book helps to clarify Thoreau’s descriptions of places within his writings. The gazetteer includes photographs and drawings symbolic to his works.

**// 3. Atlas of Western Art History: artists, sites, and movements from ancient //// Greece //// to the modern age. //** New York; Facts on File. 1992. Provides a perspective on the development of Western art and architecture from the ancient world into the 20th century. Over 150 four color maps along with artwork of the movements, trends and artists that have influenced art in the western world for over 2000 years. Arranged chronologically and groups by historical period and style through the following: politics, trade routes, religious sites and routes, romantic and modern style spread, sources of precious medals, influence of landscape.

**3 Geographical Resources - Stacia Frederick**

 1. __ Our World, A Child’s First Picture Atlas __, Billie W. Kapp, National Geographic Society, 2000. This Atlas includes boldly colored maps for children 3-6 years old. There are 3 world maps, 7 continents maps, a U.S. map, and 70 color illustrations. Here is a fun and easy book to get young children interested in atlases. This Atlas teaches about Earth’s land, water, and countries, as well as the world’s people, places, and animals. There is a Section entitled Family Fun with 4 simple and easy activities.

 2. __World Atlas for Young Explorers__, Third Edition, National Geographic Society, 2007. This Atlas is for students in middle school and above. At the beginning of the book, there are 54 pages of informational maps such as the physical world, the political world, and the oceans. At the beginning of a new continent section, there are maps consisting of a view from space, a physical map, a political map, and maps of a segment of the continent. On almost every page there is a yellow-and-black icon (video, audio, photos, and/or games) to learn more about the subject matter. You can locate these icons on National Geographic’s website: []. When you’re at the website and click on a particular yellow-and-black icon (listed by corresponding page numbers), you can watch videos of animals in their natural habitat, listen to animals, view pictures of a country, and play games to further enhance your learning. There is also a listing of Outside Websites to learn more about the Earth’s climates, Earth’s geologic history, and mapping sites, to name a few.

3. __The World Book Atlas__, World Book, Inc., 2005. This Atlas is for students in middle school and above. At the beginning, there is a section on how to use the atlas which explains latitude and longitude, map projections, map scale, measuring distances, physical and political maps, and how the maps show topography. A time zone map, a legend page, and an Index containing 64 pages are also included. There are 142 pages of color world maps which include separate maps for continents and oceans. The oversized pages render these maps easy to read.

The book is organized with an Introduction, followed by the Solar System, the planets such as Mercury, Venus, Earth-Moon System, Mars System, Jupiter System, Saturn System, Uranus System, Neptune System and Pluto, asteroids, and comets. The book opens with how maps were probably made by early hunters long before the dawn of civilization. The book also has beautiful color pictures of space launches, detailed photos of planets, and the moon. In the appendix, there is a detailed glossary of terms, a summary of planetary spacecraft missions, and data for planets and satellites.
 * Mary Murphy Wood - Three Geographical Resources **
 * Atlas **
 * Greeley, Ronald, and Raymond M. Batson. //The NASA Atlas of the Solar// **// **System** //** . Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997. Print. **

this map book contains information on the people from the first Americans and newcomers, the immigration wave and the 20th century American including a chronicle of civilization. There is detailed information on state boundaries and how the land was divided. The economy, Networks, such as transportation including, railroads, wagon trains, horseback and automobile. There is information on communication systems from tavern talk, books, telegraph and telephone. Communities, including the birth and growth of home places and small towns to megacities. Throughout the book there are detailed maps of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. Finally there is a detailed bibliography at the end.
 * MAP **
 * //Historical Atlas of the United States.// Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1988. Print. **

Also referred to as a dictionary this books give the origins of 6,600 of the world’s most familiar placenames, ranging from natural objects, such as oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, mountains, islands, capes, and forests built by humans. The book includes Classifications of Placenames, Naming Patterns. Each entry comprises of three elements, name with an identifier such as “town” or “mountain”, the main entry, with the origin of the name and cross-reference with the familiar and unfamiliar names such as Bombay now Mumbai. There are 3 appendices; common placename words and Elements, Major Placenames in European Languages, and Chinese Names of Countries and Capitals and a Bibliography.
 * Gazetteer **
 * Room, Adrian. // Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features, and Historic Sites // . Jefferson, NC : McFarland &, 2006. Print. **

** // The American Heritage Pictorial Atlas of United States History //. New York: Mac Graw-Hill, 1966. Print ** This book covers three main parts: history, cartography and reference – it offers a running commentary & informative history that tells geographical causes and effects, it is designed for reading as well as for reference. This book covers US history from prehistoric times – 1966 (prehistoric, discoverers, struggle for continent, revolution & battles, civil war & battles, expansion & immigration, and world power) it includes historic maps and pictures the evolution of the US. In addition it offers pictorial maps of the national parks of the US. Even though there are certainly much more up to date geographic materials available in the library, I like the way this explains the cause and effect historic events had in shaping US geography. This book is a nice way to show students that a historic atlas can be useful.
 * Kate Millerick - 3 Geographical Resources**

** // The DK Geography of the World. // New York: DK Pub., 1996. Print. ** This book is full of detailed, colorful illustrations. It is organized by country – information includes: a detailed, colored map, physical features, climate, flags, agricultural information, industry, ethnic groups, everyday life, population, language and literacy. There is a very helpful reference section at the back which includes political systems, international organizations, world regions, world trade, etc. In addition to the index, this book contains a great gazetteer - which includes the cities/towns/counties on each of the maps included in the book, additionally, there are instructions on how to use the gazetteer included.

** Pope, Joyce. //The Children's Atlas of Natural Wonders//. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook, 1995. Print. ** This is an oversized colorful book that is ideal for young students. It is broken up by continent. Each chapter gives an overview of the continent and goes on to give a detailed description of key natural wonders in that region. For example N. America has pages dedicated to Yellowstone, Crater Lake, The San Andreas Fault, etc Students are able to find information on the history, wildlife, and geography of each of the natural wonders. The index is very easy to use and the book is clearly cross –referenced with excellent pictures, maps and illustrations.

//**Maine Atlas and Gazetteer**//**, published by DeLorme in 2001.** This book includes a wealth of information about the state of Maine in its introductory gazetteer, including the populations of its cities and towns, state and national parks, fish and wildlife preserves, hiking trails, beaches, lighthouses, airports, campgrounds and museums, designed to help people plan trips to the state. The rest of the book is made up of maps, as there is a large map of Maine broken into a grid of 70 squares, each of which gets its own page. The book also includes street maps of some of the larger cities in Maine. This resource (or this type of resources) would be great for allowing students to learn about their own surroundings on a smaller scale.
 * Michael Lavieri -- Geographical Resources**

This book begins with numerous maps of North America, each showing a different type of information. There are maps of energy and minerals, physical geography, highways, languages and religions, national parks, and native peoples. Each map includes a detailed and helpful key for reading. The rest of the book includes maps of each state and province in the United States, Canada and Mexico, which are illustrated to demonstrate topography as well. Each state and province gets its own page with a brief essay and a gazetteer about population, broken down into many categories, such as ethnicity, education level, home-ownership, etc.
 * //Oxford Atlas of North America//, published by Oxford University Press in 2005, edited by H.J. De Blij**

//**Columbia Gazetteer of North America**//**, published by the Columbia University Press in 1998, edited by Saul B. Cohen** This gazetteer includes a brief introduction explaining its proper use, including abbreviation keys and pronunciation explanations. What follows is a dictionary-type list of every state, city, town and village in North America. Information varies depending on the location, but in general each entry includes population, latitude/longitude, industry, founding, history, and the names of any colleges/universities. The breadth of the book is demonstrated by the inclusion of towns as small as Bristow, IA, pop. 197, which gets its own (however brief) entry.


 * - 3 Geographical Resources**

Leacock, Elspeth, Susan Buckley and Rodica Prato. //Journeys in Time: a New Atlas of American History//. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print. This book is a cross between a historical atlas and an American History primer. It is organized into twenty chapters, themed on pivotal events in American History and ending with “Leaving Vietnam.” Each chapter has an easy-to-read narrative about how history influenced geography (or vice versa) with annotated maps. This would make an excellent supplemental text for an American History class from upper-elementary to high school.

Petty, Kate, and Jennie Maizels. //The Amazing Pop-up Geography Book//. New York, NY: Dutton Children's, 2000. Print. I purchased this book because it was recommended by the National Council for Social Studies, and my students absolutely love it. Especially for students accustomed to interactive and 3-D environments, the pop-up figures offer them a tactile learning experience. It is organized by chapters on different landforms, but my favorite is the page on volcanoes! There are also some cartoonish characters in the book who explain basic geography terms and facts. The book would be appealing to students up to 2nd or 3rd grade.

Jenkins, Steve. //Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest//. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Print. This book also is targeted for young readers (or even non-readers), and it is aesthetically one of the most beautiful books in the library. It contains a set of spreads on different superlatives in geography (highest mountain, deepest ocean, etc.), and each spread is illustrated via beautiful paper collages. It is not a text-heavy book, but there are plenty of charts and displays that organize interesting facts about each location. This would be an excellent reference for an elementary unit on geography.


 * Emmy Garr - 3 Geographical Resources**

//National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World//; Carl Mehler, Project Editor and Director of Maps; published in 2009. This is the best overall, general-purpose atlas I encountered this week. It covers a very wide range of user needs while being visually striking. It has a great blend of beautiful images, a huge variety of maps that cover a multitude of topics, and some narrative to help explain the various elements. There are also appendices on flags, the oceans, and even space/other planets.

//Hammond Citation World Atlas//, Contributors: Advisory Board, published 2000. The best feature of this atlas is its convenience: the pages are smaller than a typical atlas, and each page consists of general (political) maps and indexes (some have topographical, agriculture, or rainfall maps, as well as showing the national flags). Unlike many other atlases I looked at, this is almost entirely maps with little accompanying narratives or photos. For a user who already understands how to use an atlas, this is a great choice for flipping directly to the geographic information he or she needs.

//National Geographic Atlas of the Ocean: The Deep Frontier//, by Silvia Earle, published in 2001. I like this for the opposite reason I liked the //Citation// atlas: it contains a lot of narrative and less maps. I really appreciate how varied the images are: there are photos, satellite images, old-fashioned nautical charts, and sea maps that explore various aspects of the world’s oceans, including depth, topographical features, temperature, weather patterns, etc. But the accompanying narrative is so in-depth and explains so much that this is almost more like a beautiful, engaging oceanography textbook. Unlike most atlases, where the user flips to the page he or she needs and then is potentially done searching, I found myself reading page after page in order to find out more information about our oceans. This is a great resource for anyschool and an excellent book to recommend to students who are interested in marine sciences.


 * Mary Gaeta – 3 Geographical Resources**

Adams, Simon, John Briquebec, and Ann Kramer. //Illustrated Atlas of World History//. New York: Random House, 1992. Print. I like this atlas because it starts with prehistoric times. For each section, it provides information about the people from that time period and it provides pictures of their artifacts. It also includes a map of the area. For example the section on Slavery and the New World (96) has a map of the slave trade route. The atlas ends with Technology and Pop Culture. This section provides pictures of Michael Jackson and the Beatles. It is also accompanied by a map of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd world countries.

Henley, Claire, and Chris Russell. //First Atlas//. Skokie, IL: Rand McNally for Kids, 1994. This is a wonderful atlas for children. The introduction states that children can learn about the land, the weather, and the people around the word. It has a ½ page of symbols with icons that are just right for young students. The 1st map is a color map of the world and it shows where different wild animals live around the world (bison, skunk, kangaroo, and more). Its map of Europe shows Big Ben and the Parthenon. This is a very visually attractive encyclopedia for young children.

Howarth, Sarah. //The Children's Atlas of the 20th Century: Chart the Century from World War I to the Gulf War and from "Teddy" Roosevelt to Nelson Mandela. London: Quarto Children's//, 1995. This atlas is divided into four sections by years (1900-1914, 1914-1918, 1919-1939, 1939-1945, 1945-1994). The sections are further divided into regions of the world. The atlas is a mixture of maps, pictures, and facts. On the right hand side of the odd number pages, important events are listed in a column for that time period. The atlas provides numerous pictures and maps to accompany each section. For example, the section, 1945- 1994 Japan and The Pacific, has three different maps of the Pacific area and includes pictures of Hiroshima, the 1964 Olympics in Japan, Sumo Wrestling, and a Spider Robot.