Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time

I came across a lovely blog in a homeschool group on Facebook,[...], written by Jamie C. Martin - and was immediately intrigued by her promotion of her new book, "Give Your Child the World" and her summer global reading challenge. I bought the book on Amazon and off to the library we went!Each week, we were challenged to read from and explore a different region of our globe, and we gladly accepted the challenge! We gobbled up the delicious tales from all different countries and cultures. I especially enjoyed the variety of stories and recommendations from Jamie's book, and appreciated the time and devotion she put into this invaluable resource. We will definitely return to the book for reading recommendations beyond this summer challenge.The challenge began with Multicultural books, in which we chose to read, "My Librarian Is a Camel" by Margriet Ruiz. We were truly thankful to have such easy access to our local libraries, and this book highlighted that and made us appreciate the love of reading around the world.Next up, we read a book from Africa, "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" by John Steptoe. This gorgeous Caldecott Honor award picture book is a lovely tale of two daughters, one sweet and the other, not so much. A delightfully illustrated story about kindness, selfishness and attitude choices.Next, we travelled to Europe and chose "The Cats in Krasinski Square" by Karen Hesse. Having always been inspired by tales of kindness and bravery in WWII Europe, this story of two sisters helping those in need, despite the dangers of the Gestapo did not disappoint.The following week, we ventured to Asia, where we read "Tikki Tikki Tembo" by Arlene Mosel. This story of the boy with the very long name has been a favorite of mine for years, and I was overjoyed to share it with my kiddos.Then, we packed up for a trip to the Middle East, specifically Egypt, which, to me, has always been THE place of mystery and dreams. Here, we chose "Mummies Made in Egypt" by Aliki. I have always loved the beauty and simplicity of Aliki's books, and the details and illustrations of this one are just perfect for kitties and older kids alike.Arriving in North America was a difficult decision on what to read, since we are so familiar with many of the choices. We ended up choosing "Follow the Drinking Gourd" by Jeanette Winter, for its historical value, as well as its beautiful and touching illustrations. It is a great introduction to the history of slavery in our country, without being graphic or frightening.South of the border, in Latin America, we chose "The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest" by Lynne Cherry. My daughter is very aware of environmental issues, and this amazingly illustrated story touched us all. {Spoiler} We especially loved that hearts were changed at the end.Our final stop was Australia, Oceania, and the Polar Regions, where my son chose "Balto and the Great Rave" by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel. He's been on a dog kick lately, and we've read short stories about Balto in the past. Who doesn't love a heroic dog story (especially a TRUE one)?We really had a great time reading all of these wonderful tales and learning about the different regions, cultures, and children around the world. I highly recommend this book to any parent or caregiver of children of any and all ages!

When I heard of this book, I knew I had to have it, and it didn’t disappoint! Make sure you know what this book is: it has a few chapters at the beginning about helping your children be globally-minded, but the majority of the book is a wonderful, detailed book list with books to introduce children to every part of the world.I appreciated the extreme care with which the book list was organized—this is the exact organization that would actually help a parent. The books are first organized into continents, then by age, then by country (there’s also a “multicultural books” chapter with books about the whole world). So, if you want to find a book about, say, Brazil for your 8-year-old, you know exactly where in the book to look. The age categories are 4-6, 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12. I appreciated that the author seemed to categorize based more on what themes would be appropriate for different age groups rather than reading level or the amount of text on the page.All the books on the list look fantastic. There are quite a few that I think I’d like to read myself, and so many that sound fun to share with my daughter. Most of the book titles were unfamiliar to me, but as for the few I have read before, I can attest that they’re quality books that I’ve enjoyed. I would recommend this book to any parent looking for new book ideas for their kids.P. S. A great many of the Europe books are about World War II. I was a bit surprised by that since there are so many other stories to tell about European countries, but other parents might see that as a positive aspect of the book.

I love books about books, and this one is great for parents who are wanting to streamline their library visits and get to the best-of-the-best for titles with a global theme for ages 4-12.In the first 40-ish pages, we are introduced to author Jamie Martin and her global family. She shares the story of how they came to be (LOVE IT!) and offers some practical, doable ideas for how we can broaden our understanding of the world with our children. Next up leads us to the premise of the book: build your family culture around books, and travel together around the world with great books.The book lists are organized by region and age interest level. They list title, author, illustrator when applicable and a short synopsis of the book. Sometimes, we'll have a note on whether a book contains religious elements, in case a parents wishes to avoid or have a discussion prior/after.The indexes are helpful. We have one by author, one by country/region, and historical index, and title index. This will help you on your library hunt. (by the way, if your library allows you to reserve a bunch of titles on hold, do it! Let them do the legwork of finding your books and putting them together for you. Makes library visits with little ones easier. Get your holds and browse, or get your holds and get on outta there. Oh, and if your library doesn't have a title, find out if they do interlibrary loan.)Sprinkled throughout the book recommendations, we hear many families answer the question: "How do you give your child the world in your home?"Now. As I love good book lists and we read a ton around here, I will say that many of the titles I already recognized from our own library perusal or other book lists. Some Five in a Row titles are within; and others I have found already from my treasured All Through the Ages by Christine Miller. There is some overlap in titles for this book and Miller's. In Martin's book, we have a longer synopsis. One area where Miller's book has an edge, is it simply has way more titles (plus, history and geography and more sections), and it also reaches interest levels beyond the age 10-12 set; Miller's reaches high school.That said, there are some new-to-me titles in Martin's book, and there are certainly room for both books on my bookshelf. I will use both when browsing titles when we're doing a regional study, country study, or just wanting to add some more living books to our library list.

For someone who is guilty of standing in rows of library books for ages and never knowing what to choose, this resource is priceless. Now I am able to expose my children to the big wide world and the diversity within it and know that whatever I choose will be quality and appropriate to the ages and interests of my kids. We are doing an around the world study this year and can see myself coming back time and time again. Thank you!!

I bought the book to participate in the summer reading club, I stumbled upon it on instagram and quickly orderd the book. I had to wait a week for it (Im from the Netherlands) and I loved the simplicity of the book. Its just booklists catagorizied first by continents and age of the children.I spend a few nights looking up titles to see if they were available in dutch (some were, but not a lot) and my local Library doesnt carry that much English childrens books. But if your Library carries all these titles this book is amazing, it has done all he work for you! I selected a few titles from each continent, bought a few and added a few to the christmas lists of my kids. Luckily amazon offers second hand books, so some books you can get for a fairly cheap amount. I really loved this amazing resource!

Everything that Jamie writes is pure gold, if you haven’t already check out her blog and ebooks too. We home educate our six year old daughter and find her to be a great source of ideas and inspiration. This book is a wonderfully curated list of books from around the world, separated geographically but also broken down by suitable age range (and in one of the index’s historically), but it is so much more than simple lists, each book has lots of information to help you determine if it is suitable for your family and there are anecdotal snippets from the author as well as three chapters giving you insight into her life and great ideas for using these stories with your family. We dip in and out of the book whenever we are learning about a new country or continent and never fail to find something to add to our reading list.There is no way to adequately describe how great the book is so I’ll just say “buy it” you won’t regret it. For me the most important thing about this book is the author’s wonderful skills curating the lists which saves so much time researching online and uncovers gems you may never come across on your own, fantastic work.

This book has a huge list of recommendations which I wasn’t expecting, definitely worth a read.

Jamie has collected such a rich list of books that are great for kids to learn more about cultures around the world. The variety of fiction, non-fiction, resource type books, fairy tales...there is something for everyone to enjoy! Her book is also really well organized by region, and also by age...and at the back there are lists of the books by the time period that it covers, and by title. So helpful! We love the books we've read from her list so far, and look forward to reading many more.