RAR #48: Give Your Child the World, Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time — Jamie Martin
We’re a whole week early! We couldn’t hold onto this podcast episode for another day without sharing it with you.
Jamie Martin’s brand new book, Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time releases today, and she came onto the show to talk about what it looks like to give our kids a heart for the world right from our cozy living rooms.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- how stories can knit a family together
- raising globally minded kids
- and a brand new summer book club that you’re gonna want to know about!
Click the play button:
Books from this episode:
(All links are affiliate links.)
Links from today’s show:
- Learn more about membership– so many good things happening here this summer
- Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time
- Jamie’s site, Simple Homeschool
- Simple Homeschool on Facebook
- Jamie’s husband’s work – Love 146
- Jamie’s other RAR podcast episode: RAR #11 Using the Library Without Losing Your Mind
- RAR #03: Reading Aloud is Like Comfort Food, Tsh Oxenrider
- RAR #41: Navigating Fantasy (A Guide for Christian Parents), Carolyn Leiloglou
- Reading Rainbow’s Skybrary
- More from Reading Rainbow including classic episodes
- The RAR Booklist
Here’s that video clip I mentioned of Candace Fleming reading from Boxes for Katje:
We introduce kids to authors every single month here at the Read-Aloud Revival. To find out how your child can participate at a live event, head here.
The (indifferent) reading doesn’t do the content justice. Sigh 😔
Thank you for these recommendations! I picked up Boxes for Katje today at the library and teared up while reading it. What a beautiful story! Can’t wait to share it with my kids.
We read around the world last year – focusing on one country or region per week. If anyone wants to participate and doesn’t have the book or they need MORE choices :) I blogged all of the books we read if that’s helpful.
http://www.wellreadkid.com/category/geography/
My kids are participating in a READ A THON! Using this book!!! Our little readers are collecting sponsors that pay them to read (along with the book) with a monetary donation and we will spend it on books from this site —>https://c5530.myubam.com/328325.
I am excited to reward reading with MORE reading and with that a prize of a BOOK!! If you want to participate! Gather some sponsors and go here to ^^ the above link to order!
Please message me because there is SO much more fun details to follow along!! In return for buying from the link, those who place orders receive reward books!
JAMIE! I absolutely did not COPE listening to your beautiful children sharing their stories of your book. You are inspiring. Please thank Trishna, Elijah and Jonathan for their recommendations.
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters!
My kids love the story of Ping.
Hey Sarah, thanks for the mention on the podcast! :)
Jamie’s book arrived in my mailbox yesterday, and I was thrilled to see you had her on to give us a little intro to it. I’ve been looking forward to digging into her recommendations, not the least because I’ve got a very international extended family myself! :)
Every episode you deliver is so fantastic, and I’m so humbled to be included in such an amazing group of book-loving people!
Ahhhh what a great episode!! The video of Boxes for Katje had me sniffling and wiping my nose. So wonderful!! When I share the episodes on Facebook, I want to BEG people to listen. “NO REALLY!!! This podcast will change your family!” Thank you for putting out such fabulous content.
I’m going with the Chronicles of Narnia :) We love visiting England and Narnia through these books!
I wouldn’t say it is our favorite, but one book that gives a glimpse of life in rural Nepal (we live in the capital city) is I See the Sun in Nepal.
I did have some local friends do an audio recording of both the English and Nepali and am happy to share that if anyone is interested!
Sorry for the duplicate. A little computer glitch on my part! :(
We loved the wheel on the school!
We just read Boxes for Katje and loved it! What an eye opener it was for my girls and I.
I like a little Jane Austen!
I love Anne of Green Gables not only because it’s such a sweet to my soul book but also because of the beauty of Nova Scotia. Never been to PEI, but I’ve been close, Cape Breton. Breath taking! Can’t wait to read these books to my girls!
Let’s see….I enjoyed My Russian Yesterdays, I enjoyed reading my kids The Kitchen Madonna, and my three-year-old currently loves Tikki Tikki Tembo. Thanks for the chance to win!
One of our favorite picture books is “Grandfather’s Journey” by Allen Say. The story of Mr. Say’s grandfather as a young man from Japan seeking life adventure in the U.S., and living 3 generations between both cultures.
Our family’s favorite books are the Christian Heroes then & now. They are so encouraging and take you to some of the remote places of the world where missionary have spread the love of Crist.
I love this idea for our kids! A few years ago I set a goal for myself to “Read Around the World” with books set in as many countries as possible. It was so fun!
https://watermarkedpages.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/reading-around-the-world/
So, this book isn’t about another part of the world, per se, but it’s about a white journalist who darkens his skin to make himself look like a light-skinned black male in the 60s and travels through the South. It is a true story and to this day I have no idea why this book isn’t more popular. It’s called “Black Like Me” by John Howard Griffin.
I was so excited to hear Jamie recommend Anna Hibiscus. We discovered these books last summer, when I became and UBAM consultant. The stories are just so sweet and simple, but were a perfect, gentle introduction to African culture. Even better, we found the audio CDs at our local library, and the narrator, Mutiyat Ade-Salu, is A-MAZING! Listening to her narration has completely changed the way that I read these books aloud to my daughter. Did I mention, A-MAZING?!?
Little women was one of my favorite books!
First time visiting this wonderful blog! My kids and I have just started our visit to Bangladesh in Rickshaw Girl! This is right after our recent visit to Narnia. :)
We are an international family (my husband from Spain and myself from the USA – currently living in the USA, but with extended family in Spain), so we are constantly looking for more ways to expand our children’s cultural horizons. Thanks for the opportunity to win this book!
I feel like I could really stand to have this book at my fingertips– especially while planning my next year of homeschooling.
Thank you for doing the giveaway! I haven’t listened to the podcast yet, but it’s next on my list. We read a bunch of great ones about Africa like Wangari’s Trees of Peace, One Hen, Beatrice’s Goat and One Plastic Bag.
One book that my family enjoys is Stone Soup, set in China.
I wouldn’t say it’s our favorite, but given that we live in Nepal, I thought I’d share one about rural life here (even though we live in the capital). It’s called I See the Sun in Nepal. I had some friends here record an audio of it with both the English and Nepali and would be happy to share it with anyone (free, of course) who might be interested.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
One of my new favorites is “Boxes for Katje”. It reminds me so much of Operation Christmas Child boxes that we have done since I was a kid.
Thanks for the giveaway!
It’s in my Amazon cart ready to go if I don’t win!! ;-)
Wow what an opportunity thanks!
Wow what a great opportunity thanks!
My kids are still younger, so one I’ve read to them about other parts of the world is Stories from Around the World. It has opened their eyes to other cultures!
Little Pear by Eleanor Frances Lattimore
We have loved reading all the tales of Anansi from Africa. So great. Thanks for all these new recommendations. The amazon list is getting long!
Yay! I pre-ordered Jamie’s book and am looking forward to going through it. One of my favorite kid’s books from another country is the history book my kids and I are going through right now, Ordinary People in Canada’s Past. (from NE, but living in BC right now) It’s SO good!
Sarah M
One of our favorites is How to make an apple pie and see the world. Thank you for the giveaway!
So many books that we, too, love, but I think that might be because Jamie is a kindred spirit.
Window On The World
My kids love The Story of Ping!
My daughter loved Anna Hibiscus. I would love to get more of that series!
I loved Listening for Lions as well. Such a gem of a book.
Boxes for Katje is so sweet. My kids loved it too.
I recently discovered RAR we have been having a blast reading together as a family! We have a 5 and 3-year-old and haven’t gotten to enjoy too many books from around the world yet but other’s comments have inspired me to get started!
The Children’s Bible is our favorite book!
The kids and I thought Little Pear was cute – they laughed at his antics. :-)
My favorite is “The Proposal” by Lori Wick about Victorian England
There are so many! Our family really enjoyed Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfield.
The picture book Bee-Bim Bop! which is by Linda Sue Park was a huge hit in our house. I had to keep renewing it from the library – my four year old became completely obsessed with it! It also has a great recipe that we still make. ;)
Can.not.wait for this book!
Anne of Green Gables and PEI.
Carry On, Mr Bowditch is a family favorite!!
Gaston
While it’s not obviously French, it’s very much French.
We love Heidi at our house. My boys listen to it again and again (read by Kara Shallenberg on Librivox.org).
We have been living in England for 2 1/2 years now and are really enjoying learning all of the different literature that the children read here. Julia Donaldson is like our Eric Carle in the states and although I had read a few of Roald Dahl’s books as a child, he is vastly more popular here and has written tons of books that I had never heard of. We have been reading through his books lately and just visited the town he lived here in England and got to visit many of the places that inspired many of his books; Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Danny Champion of the World just to name a great few! We have loved every minute of it and will be sad to leave it all behind when we move back to the states in September, but will be eager for more adventures!
I’ve read Ping a million times to the kids! They also recently enjoyed the Gladys Alyward missionary story.
I would LOVE to read this. This has been a part of my dream homeschool for so long.
Can’t say we have one single favorite of all time, but most recently our 2yo enjoyed Whoever You Are by Mem Fox.
We haven’t read all that many books about other cultures actually. The most recent and loved was “Boxes for Katje”. Love seeing everyone’s comments for ideas. And would love to have a copy of this book too.
I loved “Homeless Bird” by Gloria Whelan, set in India, and “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park, set in Africa.
Love the idea of books giving is a window into other cultures!
As a kid, I very fondly remember a book called “Humphrey’s Ride” about a boy on a small island trying to find his father in London.
Oh, apparently it took place on Nevis (thanks, Google!) I couldn’t remember the island,
Looking forward to listening!!
We love Jan Brett’s book “Daisy Come Home” about the little Chinese girl and her hens.
Loved reading “The story of about Ping” to my children and showing them on the map the Yangtze River and seeing pictures from that country. There older now, but they still open it up once in awhile. Good book!
Our family really liked James Herriot’s Treasury for Children! I also liked Anne of Green Gables.
Really, my favorite is ‘From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya’, about the history of missions. This what the book my mom handed to me when I declared, in high school, I was going to be a missionary.
We just read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and loved it!
I just love what you are doing here. Thank you so much for the encouragement and inspiration.
We loved ‘Listening for Lions’!
My favorite books about other parts of the world are the missionary stories published by YWAM (Christian Heroes Then and Now series). I especially love the one about Amy Carmichael :)
Really enjoyed hearing this interview this morning when I was out on my walk. I can’t wait for your summer program to start since we were wanting to finish more of our curriculum on countries and cultures. Sounds like this will go perfectly.
We just finished the Amy Carmichael biography from the Christian Heroes Then and Now. Great intro to Indian culture late 1800s/early 1900s and the hardships of missionaries under the influence of the British Empire rules.
So excited to get Jamie’s book delivered later this week. I met her through a church community years ago before she had kids. If I win this raffle, I would give the copy to another friend.
Just read ‘Give Your Child the World’ blurb, my favourite type of books, book about books and on a topic dear to my heart!
Three Cups of Tea, the novel and the picture book, are great worldly books, giving a look at the middle east.
I am SO excited to get this book! I have been on a mission trip to China twice, and our family supports a child in Africa. I’m anxious for a list of books to help my children think outside of themselves! What a great gift to give kids in their early years.
Just finished Esther hautzig “endless steppe” – about Siberia and war and hope and life – beautiful
My favorite is Wess Staffords book on compassion international. It opened my eyes to their world in a whole new way.
Wonderful!
“Oh, The Places You’ll Go”
It’s funny because this book is not so much about a specific place, but I think it opens kids up to the idea of exploring.
love all the cool stuff you put before me, so many new authors and great encouragement for hs moms! thanks
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Fox is one of our favorites
We really enjoy the Brambly Hedge series. I know it’s not what might come to mind when thinking of a global book but it is set in the English countryside. We also Heidi. And I highly recommend the Anna Hibiscus series, both the chapter books and the picture books!
One of my favorite books about another part of the world is Hudson Taylor and Maria, by J.C. Pollock. It is a little known book that tells of the famous missionary to China, Hudson Taylor, and his love story with his wife that took place in China where both were living and serving. The author does an amazing job of sharing a biographical account in a narrative form, keeping the story interesting, authentic, and inspiring. :)
I love the idea of showing our kids the world. We have done a “camp” at home a few summers where we study different countries, the kids loved it. What a great resource this book will be!
My children really loved “The Story about Ping”. They really enjoyed learning about China.
I have to tell you that I am absolutely in love with this podcast!! We have been lead to pull our children out of public school and homeschool them this coming fall and this podcast has been such an inspiration. I get more and more excited every time I listen. Thank you, thank you so very much for sharing this with us, it is good for this mama’s heart.
One of my favorite children’s stories from another part of the world is The Glorious Flight… a story about Louis Bleriot’s flight across the English Channel. Hard to choose just one!
I second Anna Hibiscus! And I just read Boxes for Katje after the last podcast it was mentioned in and I started crying, oh boy! It was sooo good!
We listened to “God’s Double Agent” by Bob Fu on audible as a family. There were some harsh things we had to explain to our children, but they were really interested in what it would be like to be a Christian in China. Excellent book.
We loved reading the Wheel on the School, Boxes for Katje, Heidi…so many good ones. Thank you for this opportunity to win!
Jaime’s book looks like one that I would love! So funny – we just so happened to check out some of the books mentioned in the podcast from the library recently. Thanks for all of the great recommendations you give!
A Cry From Egypt was a favorite story we read this past year painting a vivid picture of Ancient Egypt during the plagues. Excited for the summer book club!
I love Around the World in 80 days by Jules Verne. I didn’t know it was a classic when I picked it off Overdrive last summer.
We recently read Ferdinand for our homeschool Book Bowl and we loved it! Starting our journey of reading more good books :)
I would love to win Jamie’s book. So happy to have found your RAR! Thanks to a recommendation from Wildflowers and Marbles blog :-)
Anne of Green Gables…be still my HEART!
The Kite Runner…my favorite! Also, by the same author, A thousand splendid suns
We recently finished a read aloud book called Listening for Lions, which we all throughly enjoyed! Took us to Africa and London! I enjoy your blog and your podcast is one of my favorites to listen to, I find it truely inspires me in our homeschool journey and read alouds!
I’m blanking on books for adults but my kids and I have loved Tomie DePaola’s books (he has an excellent Christmas story set in Mexico), and as a kid I had a collection of Native American folklore that I loved… I wish I could remember the name of it now!
We enjoyed The Sock Thief.
I just saw this book pop up as a suggestion on Amazon this morning and now here you are talking about it! Now it will make its way into my save for later file.
Enjoyed the podcast. My kiddos are older now, but encourage others to follow the advise in this book since it is so simple to share the world from your couch with your kids.
P. S. Mufaros Beautiful Daughters was a favorite of ours as well!
There’s a great episode of Reading Rainbow about this particular book. It discusses several over things about African culture!
My daughter really likes Tikki Tikki Tembo. Fun because it’s one of the few books that her daddy remembers from his childhood.
Favorite book about another part of the world…
I absolutely loved Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis. I’m also really enjoying the Chronicles of Narnia with my kiddos (almost finished with book 4)!
I’m so happy to see Listening for Lions in the list – we were supposed to read it for school but seeing that’s it’s – what, JUNE?!?! HOW???? — and we’re a teensy bit behind — *sob* — I decided to skip it. But it’s back on our list! :D Thanks for the recommendation!
This book sounds wonderful! My all-time favorite book is Secret Garden. Set in India and England.
Love the book “The Scarlet Pimpernel” about the French Revolution and all the ‘fairytales’ or ‘fables’ for kids about other countries and cultures of which I can’t even think of a title right at this moment…
The first book that I can remember getting me excited about other places was Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion and some of the subsequent books in that series. Traveling from India to America, by ship, and then Arabia, etc. always seemed so exotic and caught my imagination on fire.
“Tikki Tikki Tembo” by Arlene Mosel has always been one of my favorite books to read aloud!
Cannot wait to get my hands on these books! Anna Hibiscus is wonderful. Thank you for yet another awesome podcast!!!
Your blog, Instagram, book, podcast…it all keeps me going!
My girls loved listening to me read Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis out loud while we were studying Africa. Some parts are a little too much info for youngsters, but are easily skipped over if you know they are coming. They loved learning about a missionary who is serving right now today that they can pray for.
I love anything by Linda Sue Park about Korea! From Beebimbop for really littles to firekeepers son for elementary to When my Name was Keoko for high school (and more!) She is a great author!!
I enjoy reading Ping. Such an adventuresome duck!
Our family loves the book Heidi…getting to experience life in the Swiss Alps through the pages of that story is unforgettable, and so are the characters!
Right now my boys are loving reading through Story of the World–they especially love learning about Egypt!
Thanks for the giveaway!
May daughter loves 100 dresses. It’s hard to pick just one. We loved Ivan, The Green Ember and many more. My son is in love with Hank the Cowdog series.
Thanks for the giveaway,
Ginger
We enjoy reading Story of the World
We just read Anna Hibiscus and it was so great! What a great picture into another culture!
I have enjoyed reading Jamie Martin’s blog for years and read her previous books. I can’t wait to read this one. She has such great insight for Mamas.
Oh, and I love anything by Jan Brett!
The best book we’ve used is technically for adults, but my kids found it very interesting as well, probably due to the amazing photographs. It’s “Material World: A Global Family Portrait,” by Peter Menzel. He has 3 other books too. I’d love to get Jamie Martin’s book. Have you seen Build Your Library’s 7th grade curriculum, “Exploring Your World”? We may use it in another 1-2 years when our son is in 7th or 8th grade.
Hm, I guess my favorite book about another part of the world would have to be Harry Potter…does that count? I guess this is why I need to win!
The Story about Ping
I am so glad you’re addressing this! I’ve read through the world with my first daughter and am doing it again now with my second. I print a map of the world and color in countries as we read picture books related to the country. I stick with stories set in that place or tales from that culture. There are so many good books we’ve read! Jeanette Winter has written many stories I’ve liked with cheerful illustrations, such as Angelina’s Island (Jamaica & New York) & Biblioburro (Colombia). I also just discovered The Girl Who Spun Gold, an African Rumpelstiltskin tale. It’s an engrossing story with amazing illustration by Leo & Diane Dillon.
My daughter just listened to The Jungle Book, and I also love The Secret Garden and The Little Princess. On The Well-Educated Heart/Libraries of Hope, Marlene Peterson has a whole library of classics categorized by topic and geographic region. She’s amazing!! Another book I love that is a great read-aloud guide is The Read-Aloud Handbook!! So awesome!!
I’m new to homeschooling and very interested in this read. Thank you for offering the giveaway! I really enjoyed Kisses From Katie.
Lots to choose from. I love an out of print book called Folk Tales from Russia.
We love Mirette on the Highwire by Emily Arnold McCully, set in France.
I love the book Ping!
We have loved “The Story About Ping”, “The Giraffe That Walked to Paris”, and “Window on the World”. “Children Just Like Me” is a great factual book my kids have enjoyed. There are so many!
Can’t wait to hear it!
We have been loving “Boxes for Katje” recently and we also really like “The Hatseller and the Monkeys” (it’s basically the same story as “Caps for Sale” but it’s set in West Africa and gives insights into the culture – I think the story is originally a West African folktale). We also enjoy reading familiar fairy tales like Cinderella set in other cultures.
I loved reading “Golden Goblet” as a child.
Looks like an incredible resource!
We have found so many new-to-us books from RAR that we adore! Thank you for doing what you do!
I cannot wait to hear this episode!! My favorite book from another part of the world… does Tomie de Paola and Strega Nona count?
My kids loved Dragon Rider – set in Europe.
I found you through your podcast and have listened to every episode! They are simply fantastic! I so look forward to each new episode! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
We continue to love your book recommendations.
We love the Celebrations book – by the same publisher that does “Children Just Like Me”.
One of my favorite picture books about children from another part of the world is Chir Chir is Singing by Kelly Cunnane and Jude Daly. It is a sweet, funny, poetic story of a young girl in Kenya trying to help out her family members in their daily work.
I’m enjoying listening to your podcasts and hearing all the great inspiration!
I can’t think of a favorite so I’ll go with the latest, Number The Stars by Lois Lowry, it’s really historical but it’s set in Denmark. This book was both a gentle insight for younger ones to a difficult time in history in a different country, as well as a well written enjoyable read.
For books about cultures & generations our family loves Patricia Polacco…the Keeping Quilt.
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel, maybe? There are so many good ones!
Thanks for another great post of ideas and helps.
Story about Ping!
My kids and I love Missionary stories because they introduce us to people all over the world and encourage us to share Jesus with others. One of our favorite books is: Missionary Stories with the Millers by Mildred Martin.
I’m kind of in love with Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates by Bruce Coville. The illustrations of the Netherlands are beautifully done and the story is all about the good and lovely
Red Sails to Capri was a favorite. The kids laughed at my horrible accent imitations!
Granny Went to Market is a fun ’round the world counting book for littles.
We really enjoyed reading Heidi.
Cien Años de Soledad (100 Years of Solitude) by the great Gabriel Garcia Marquez!
I love all the travels of Miss Rumphius!
I would love this book! I bought Missionary Stories with the Millers to use as not only a spiritual encouragement but also a geography tool with my kids next year. This book would be a great help to us!
I love the books recommended on RAR and your blog and would LOVE to win a copy of this amazing looking book! Thanks!!!
Can’t wait to listen and check out the books that are linked…they are always so good!
Love this podcast!
I love reading books from around this world. This book would be a wonderful help to our library!
I loved Mufaro’s beautiful daughters.
My kids and I LOVED Boxes for Katje!! Thanks for recommending it!!
We love Snow Treasure, Roman Ransom, and Winged Watchman. What a great topic.
Can’t wait to read this book by Jamie Martin!
Being a German native I naturally read a lot of German books to and with my kids, of course. So right now we love Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver (“Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer”) by Michael Ende. We now need to order the sequel!!
Lucky me! I recently bought Children Just Like Me at my local library’s used book sale for a quarter :)
I don’t think I could pick a favorite, but am so looking forward to the suggestions in Jamie’s book! ☺
My kids love Cocoa Ice.
My daughter really enjoyed Heidi and Habibi.
We just read The Kite Fighters for our co-op book club and my boys especially loved it.
Two books we have liked were
1) The Wheel on the School and learning about the stork nests on the roofs in Holland
2) The Swiss Family Robinson and learning about edible tropical plants
We just finished reading The Children of Noisy Village and Happy Times in Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren. My children (7 and 4) enjoyed every page! Thanks for the great giveaway.
So many books from around the world that I love! Cameron Townsend and Brother Andrew (missionary stories), The Singing Tree, Secret of the Andes are a few that come to mind!
I don’t know if I can narrow it down to just one book, but I love reading classic British authors and reading descriptions of the different parts of Great Britain–I’ve always thought a favorite books tour of the British Isles (visiting all the favorite locations from my readings) would be amazing!
I’ve enjoyed Jamie’s previous book and look forward to this…and reading some of these other book suggestions with my kids. Live homeschooling!
Thank you for an opportunity to win a copy of this book. I am constantly visiting books that offer new titles to read to my young boys. And, with internationally adopted boys, we love stories that take us all over the world. Right now we are reading books from the series Classic Starts and they previously enjoyed missionary stories that spanned Asia and Europe (Eric Liddell, Brother Andrew, etc.). It is such a joy and privilege to read aloud together and to “visit” places one book at a time.
Thank you Sarah! I have learned so much from your book and podcasts! I am looking forward to the next school year and hopefully teaching from rest!
We love Window on the World: When We Pray God Works. We also have enjoyed reading aloud Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan when we were studying India. My 13 year old son recommends Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard (from Bethlehem Books).
I loved All the Light We Cannot See! Growing up I loved books and biographies of missionaries.
Our family’s favorites at the moment about another place in the world are Story of the World and Magic Tree House stories.
Thank you so much for all that you do. I can’t tell you what an inspiration your podcast is!
I would love to win this book. We live overseas right now (and have for five years). I am so thankful for the experiences that my kids have been able to have in learning about new cultures.
I forgot to add that we are currently reading “The House of Sixty Fathers” and it is awesome. My kids beg me to keep reading.
Our kids love Beatrice’s Goat and the Usborne book of Stories from Around the World.
My best friend’s mother came to America from Cuba when she was a young girl. I found the book “My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood” by Rosemary Wells with Dino Fernandez and give it to my best friend when she gave birth to her first son. So happy I found it!
Enduring favourites in our home:
Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola
Hush by Minfong Ho
Hairs-Pelitos by Sandra Cisneros
Calling the Doves by Juan Felipe Herrera
We All Went on Safari by Laurie Krebs
One Grain of Rice by Demi
Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortensen
A Ride on Mother’s Back by Emery & Durga Bernhard
Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier
King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry makes you laugh and cry. The story starts in Morrocco and includes England, too. Imagine traveling without any parents to guide you as a young boy!
We just finished Listening for Lions and loved it. Thank you!!!
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and the prequel are lovely read alouds.
We just read Hans Brinker. It is such a classic. My kids loved hearing about the skating.
Love traveling through books and with books. I remember what I read an certain trips and can revisit the place by reading them again.
Enjoy the Scotland highlands in Melissa Wiley’s Little House in the Highlands…
Number of the Stars in WW II Europe..
The Anne books! PEI sounds lovely….
I like Nu Dang and His Kite a story from Thialand
I can’t wait to listen to this podcast! We spent almost 2 1/2 years in Haiti with our five children and this is my heart for them! Our youngest really enjoys the book “Tap-Tap” because it reminds her of our time in Haiti. We also enjoyed a book a few years ago with another family that had the children reading about different unreached people groups around the world and how we could pray for them.
We have loved the Life Like Mine books.
Thank you for being a source of continual inspiration!!!
(And keeping the inter-library loan manager at our library feeling needed)
I cannot wait to listen to this episode, and I hope I win the book. “Giving” my children a global perspective is one of the primary reasons I homeschool. I have thoroughly enjoyed using Sonlight’s reading lists and some years, their instructor’s guides, as one way of going about doing this.
Being an ex-librarian, I can attest to the quality of the books mentioned in the podcast! There are a few I haven’t gotten to yet but they must be good to be in such fine company! Thanks!
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
What…only one??? The Book Thief. The Hiding Place. Peace Child. And recently, Tosca Lee’s incredible The Progeny. (These would be mama reads.)
For my child? Any and all of the Narnia books. The Hobbit. The Winged Watchman. And the list goes on…..
We are enjoying The Land I Lost. It is about a boys childhood memories of Vietnam.
We loved “Family Under the Bridge” and the Madame Martine and Madeline books (for younger ones) during our France study. Also, we enjoyed “Sona and the Wedding Game” during India study.
Love your podcasts…seriously one of the most helpful resources I have found during our homeschool journey. Thank you!
Hi! My kids and I really enjoyed Gladys Aylward (Christian Heroes Then and Now series). In it we learned quite a bit about early 20th century Europe, especially Russia and Japan. It covered the war between China and Japan, which we really knew very little about before this.
Thanks for the chance to win, Sarah!
I have loved the Royal Diary books. They are the “diary” of different princesses from all around the world. Africa, England, Scotland, France etc.. “The Royal Diaries” they are published by Scholastic and have many authors. Each one has a summary at the end talking some of the true story.
Books have always allowed me to travel without leaving the sofa!
I love reading anything set in England but I am also partial to the Anne of Green Gables series. As I read those books as a girl, PEI became the home of my dreams.
My family adores Boxes for Katje. What a precious story that is so beautifully illustrated.
It’s not as far afield as some, but The Secret Garden is my favorite book with a strong idea of place and culture. Oh, and The Poisonwood Bible!
Looking forward to listening to the podcast today and planning titles for summer time reading for our family! This book is such a great idea!! Thank you!
I love your podcast! I started by listening to random episodes, then quickly decided to start with episode 1 and listen all the way through. I was so sad when I caught up! Thanks for a quality show!
I did the exact same thing while decorating for Christmas. When I realized that this is the last episode until August, I nearly cried. I’ve already listened to several of the episodes more than once, while waiting for the new podcasts. I guess I’ll have to start back at the beginning to fill the void until next season. :-(
Thank you for the inspiration!
Angela
I love your podcast and blog. I WANT your book as soon as I can afford it. We are starting a business right now, so we are just a little tight on money, but in a couple of months hopefully I can buy your book Teaching from Rest. Thank you for all your work.
The girls have listened to “Madeleine Takes Command ” dozens of times. It takes place in Canada.
Heidi was such a fun book to read! My little ones absolutely loved it. In fact, they were acting out the story the entire week (even using a chair and gliding it across the kitchen for Klara’s wheelchair)!
We always loved reading The Wind and the Willows growing up and discovering the English countryside and manners
Love the idea of reading books from around the world.
I bought Children Just Like Me when I was single and in college to keep for when I had kids – which ended up being over 10 years later! I so much want my kids to have a heart for the whole world!
My children adore this book! They beg me to read pages regularly!
My kids loved God’s Smuggler
My boys and I enjoyed reading Treasure Island together.
I love How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. There’s so much going on in that book!
We’re enjoying now out-of-print Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton.
So many great ones. I loved the Anne of Green Gables series growing up. Kisses from Katie is one of my newer favorites, as well as anything by G.A. Henty!
xo,
Christen
ChristenKrumm.com
These aren’t books about another part of the world, but that take place in another part of the world. I love reading my girls classics like “The Secret Garden ” and Anne of Green Gables “. It’s like stepping into a new area, at a different time, and enjoying the beauty of the world around you. The girls love it too.
Love the idea about reading books from around the world.
We are so excited for this book! May it be our guide as we unite through our similarities, learn through our differences, and prosper as a peaceful world through what we discover in the pages of Jamie’s book.
I’m so bad with favorites! How about LOTR in Middle Earth? ;) I love In the Time of the Butterflies (in Dominican Republic) by Julia Alvarez and The Brothers Karamazov (in Russia) by Dostoevski. Fun question!
We enjoyed reading through the library’s Dutch inspired literature after a visit to a tulip farm. As we learn German folk dancing, we keep delving into early German children’s literature, which is fascinating.
We love The Wheel on the School set in Holland.
Reading the Little House on the Prairie books and thinking about what it was like to live in the pioneer days is always fascinating. My kids always ask lots of questions while reading them!
We are huge Anne of Green Gables fans! PEI sounds lovely. I’d love to do a mother-daughter trip there someday.
I love the Book about Brother Andrew! It was fascinating to read about how the rest of the world lacked bibles when we had multiple copies per home!
Haven’t listened yet, but I know it will be so, so good! We really liked Kisses From Katie and the Gladys Aylward story.
So excited for the summer reading program!
I love new book ideas!
The Tiger who came to tea. It’s a British read and so fun!
Our family loves the Tomie DePaola book Jamie O’Rourke and the Pooka. My children especially love my attempts at an Irish accent.
I have to admit that my worldly reading is a bit sheltered. But we did Story of the World Volume 1 (well, part of it) this past homeschool year, and it’s been interesting to go through some of the extra reading suggestions for books that I’ve never heard of! The kids liked Anansi the Spider books best.
I love the new-to-me selections on your list.
I love Jaime Martin. I’m looking forward to exploring with her new book.
My favorite book about another part of the world … that’s a tough one, partly because it’s hard to define “another” for me–is it anywhere other than I live now? Than I’ve lived in the past? Than my country of citizenship (the U.S.)? (We move a lot …) I’m going to go with favorite non-American, non-UK book. The real honest answer is The Culture of Morality, by Turiel, but it’s a textbook about moral development in various cultures, so I’ll choose a novel, too ;) That one would be The Girls of Riyadh. To read to my 5yo daughter–Usborne’s Stories From Around the World.
Favorite global book for me? Cutting for Stone. For kids? Riki Tiki Tavi maybe?
The Wheel on the School, was a recent read we enjoyed.
My son has learned a great introduction to other parts of the world, through the Magic Tree House series. :)
I am so passionate about this, and we have purposefully loaded our bookshelves with stories from around the world for our girls. Our oldest was born while we were serving in Cambodia, and we so value raising them in a way that allows them to see the world and all of Creation as good and worthy of care. Thank you so much for sharing this message. And I need Jamie’s book!! : )
We love For The Temple by G. A. Henty. It’s more historical than cultural, but it’s a recent read and on my mind. Thanks for all the encouragement!
Ping was my favorite as a child!
Our most recent favorite read about another part of the world is Snow Treasure.
Reading aloud to my kiddos Carry On, Mr Bowditch…I’ve cried 3 times – 2 chapters to go. Hopefully, I can make it through the end with no more tears. So fun to look at an atlas to see all of the places he sailed!
Kisses from Katie
I loved God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew.
We started using Sonlight this year for homeschooling and my boys loved the book Stories from Around the World! One of the reasons we chose Sonlight was because of the worldview aspect. I can’t wait for this new resource to come!
God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew.
What a wonderful selection of books! I would love to win Jamie’s book to instill live for people around the world in my children.
I love reading around the world. Since we work on Italian language in our house, I focus on purchasing books from Italy. The pictures and content show so much about a cultural difference without overtly mentioning it.
We also love all the Miroslav Sasek books, like “This is Rome”; “This is London” or “This is the World”. Those are available in multiple languages as well!
Looking forward to listening!
We really enjoyed “The Wheel on the School” by Meindert DeJong.
That is our current family read aloud. My boys think Janus is hilarious. I look forward to reading more of DeJong’s books, as I adored Along Came a Dog as a read aloud last year.
We love James Herriot and he is in England. Recently I picked up Bamboo Has and a Rice Cake by Ann Tompert with art by Demi and it is wonderful. The story is great and I love that there are Japanese characters throughout the sentences. It builds as it goes and isn’t hard, but is good exposure for our children who have never seen them before. Highly recommend it as a way to hear a traditional Japanese tale!
We love the Funny Little Woman, which is a Chinese folk tale. Though we love folk tales from all around the world. They are some of our favorite books.
I love reading books about China throught the ages, fiction and non-fiction. I love The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck—it is so sad and beautiful!
The Good Earth! I read that last summer. Oh my heart! We have a daughter from China and some parts just about killed me!
I’m an Asian Chinese but wasn’t born and didn’t grow up in China. I’ve no idea what really happened but I could connect (though my circumstances are average). It felt so genuine I wondered how could a non Chinese acquire that kind of intimacy. I soon googled (found) it out.
Currently we’re really enjoying “The Winged Watchman” as a read-aloud for school! It takes place in Holland during the Nazi occupation of WW2.
Jamie’s book sounds like one I want to read…thanks for the chance to win!
“A single shard” paints a beautiful picture of the Korean culture in an older era and it is a wonderful book about perseverance and hard work.
I still love the Anne of Green Gables books and her descriptions of PEI. As a Canadian now living in the US there is something that draws me deeply.
Me too! I am an expat Canadian living in Virginia now! Love reading those stories to my littles.
Somehow I never read these as a child, but I binged listened to the first two books in the series last month, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!
We love the board book “Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes” by Mem Fox. Beautiful illustrations of babies from all over the world with the gentle reminder that “all of these babies, as everyone knows, has ten little fingers and ten little toes.” All four of my boys will gather round to listen whenever it is read aloud.