Geography Books for Kids

As a kid, I loved my globe. I loved spinning it and stopping it with my finger and deciding that where my finger stuck was where I would go someday. I still have a lot of travel to do, and hopefully future opportunities to explore this great planet with my kids and husband will happen when the time is right. For now, we are mostly armchair explorers – discovering the big-ness of this world and its geography through books.

Here are some great kids books I have found that present geographical concepts and explore diverse human cultures. We read and re-read these books in our homeschool. Many of these books we read slowly over a whole term – reading just one or two pages per day.

What is a map?

Learning how to read a map, draw their own maps, and understanding the birds-eye view perspective are developmental milestones for kids. According to David Sobel, author of Mapmaking With Children, around age 5 is when children develop representational drawing and that is when they can also begin to understand and draw maps with a frontal perspective. These are some books we read in the K-3 age range that introduces mapping concepts.

Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney

I love Joan Sweeney and her ability to put the child’s perspective right into the centre of her books. In Me On the Map, Joan Sweeney explains what a map is in such a simple, methodical, yet personal way.

Mapping Sam by Joyce Hesselberth

In Mapping Sam, we learn of different information a map can convey and we follow a cat on her night-time prowl.

Geography Reference Texts for Kids

Geography from A to Z: A Picture Glossary by Jack Knowlton

Don’t know the difference between a butte and a cliff? This book will define them (and tons of other geographical terms) with illustrations. It is an excellent resource.

Elementary Geography – Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason taught geography through short lessons with demonstrations, poems, and a series of questions. This is her original book she wrote to teach her students and it is still relevant today. We have gone through the lessons and enjoyed it and I will be using this text again next year for geography with my daughter.

The World is Huge!

We live on one huge planet with a ton of diversity – but every place is connected to every other place somehow. All roads lead somewhere and connect to something else. Our weather is connected, our economies are connected. These geography picture books explore the interconnectedness of the world.

On the Same Day in March by Marilyn Singer

Different weather is happening all over the world. In some places, like near the equator – the weather is mostly the same every day. In other places in the world, like Alberta, Canada – the weather changes hourly. What’s going on in different places on the same day in March?

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

I love How To Make an Apple Pie and See The World as it explores the complexity of our global trade and how we rely on ingredients produced near and far to make something as simple as an apple pie.

Miranda the Explorer by James Mayhew

Wouldn’t it be exciting to explore the world in a hot air balloon? In Miranda the Explorer, she takes quite the journey.

Different Ways of Being

I want my kids to understand that the way we live is just one way – everyone’s family is different and people in different cultures in different cultures around the world might live very differently from us. They may also see the world differently. These books introduce the concept of worldview and cultural differences.

This Is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe

This Is How We Do It explores the way children live and do similar activities around the world. I like how it broadens our worldview on what school or play might look like.

If You Lived Here by Giles Laroche

I can’t be the only one who loves looking at realtor listings for houses around the world, right? I wish I could go inside. If You Lived Here showcases all the different style of homes people build for themselves around the world.

They All Saw A Cat – Brendan Wenzel

They All Saw a Cat is not technically a geography book at all, but I like to include it in geography lessons because it asks readers to consider different perspectives , which is part of the study of geography.

Geography of the World’s Water

Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling Clancy Holling

In Paddle-to-the-Sea a carved doll in a canoe floats from melting snow into a stream, into a river and into the Great Lakes – making his way through the lakes out to the sea.

Follow the River from Brook to Ocean by Arthur Dorros

Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean bridges between geography and science and explores the world’s water and the importance of keeping our rivers clean.

Great Rivers of the World by Volker Mehnert

So much of the world is built upon its rivers. Great Rivers of the World is an atlas that looks specifically at the world’s major rivers.

Atlases

Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinkski

We really like the illustrations in the Maps atlas because they pictorially describe what kinds of things you’d find in each country.

National Geographic Beginner’s World Atlas

I like this atlas because it explains the difference between physical and political maps for young readers. It presents the world by continent and as it is North American -Anglophone based, it also includes political maps of the United States and Canada.

Geography Books for Older Kids

Prisoners of Geography – Our World Explained in 12 Simple Maps by Tim Marshall

These maps explain a lot of the world’s recurring conflicts to control certain territories that are still happening today – Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, for example. This is a book better suited to upper elementary or middle school aged and above.

Around the World in 80 Days – Jules Verne

With the development in the Industrial Revolution, wealthy Englishman wagers that he can make it by train all the way around the world in only 80 days. Will he make it?

Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days – Illustrated by Todd Smith

I’ll admit I used to be kind of meh about graphic novels and comic books. My kids would read them but I would consider them “fun” reading. Hardly academic. But my kids love them. I’ve totally reformed my opinion after reconsidering the complex language and storytelling mediums I’ve found in comics. I’ve found that graphic novels really boost our understanding of texts written before the 19th century. Anyways, if this is you – and you know that realistically you and your kid won’t actually read Jules Verne’s classic tale, might I suggest the graphic novel version instead to whet your appetite for a founding father of science fiction. You can then track the 80 day journey around the earth.

So that’s it – some excellent geography books for kids that can be read many times over as staple resources to include in your homeschool or home library.

A Few Other Geography Resources We Love

A World Map – Rand McNally

I chose this map because first and foremost – the colours go better with my interiors. The aesthetics of my home are important to me and I don’t want a wall map hung as art that looks better suited for a kindergarten classroom. But also, I needed the map to be accurate and from a reputable company – not some sepia-toned purely decorative poster. And so, Rand McNally, trusted map-maker fulfilled my requirements.

I think it looks pretty inoffensive. I have our wall map hung on the wall of the stair landing outside the kids’ bedrooms next to the air purifier. I’ve hung it at a height they can see.

A Hanging System for the World Map

A Globe

I’m old fashioned and did not want a smart globe that lights up, talks, spins by batteries, or connects to an app. I just wanted an accurate globe with raised topography features and was what I loved to spin as a child. Maybe my kids are missing out on fancy smart globes but I like our analog globe I found at Costco. I’ve linked above a similar analog globe on Amazon.

Map-Making Stamp Kit

These stamps bring me so much joy! My kids and I had such a fun time designing our own “lands” with these stamps. We drew our territories, we stamped forests and mountains on the land. We drew rivers and lakes. We put dots down for the cities. We drew roads between them. It was fun!

Mapmaking With Children by David Sobel

Lastly, I’ll include this book that I read for my own education – it has many different mapping related activities to do with children. Inspired by Mapmaking With Children, one afternoon my son and I re-created a favourite railroad layout at the San Francisco zoo using his wooden train track toy. We printed off a copy of the zoo map from the website and used it to guide our track layout. If you’re looking for project-based geography inspiration for your homeschool, I do recommend this book.

Anyways, that’s all for now! I hope these geography resources inspire your homeschool or home life for the year ahead!

Warmly,

Heather

ps: This post contains Amazon-affiliate links from which I earn a small commission. Thank you for supporting my blog! I love sharing books we’ve loved with the world.

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