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stellamaris
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| Posted: Jan 18 2012 at 4:50pm | IP Logged
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We are just beginning a study of the Southwestern states of the USA, specifically Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, and Oklahoma. I am using Discovering Geography of North America with Books Kids Love as my main reference book. It has lists of books organized by region, but not all are of equal quality. I thought I'd start a thread here with our favorite resources, both those identified in the geography book and those we have stumbled across in our library. The best resources have astericks in front of them.
So far, I can definitely recommend:
READ ALOUD:
**Father Kino: Priest to the Pimas
DVD:
**The Southwest: U.S. Geography for Children. This was a short but succinct review of the regions economy, environment, history, and people. Lasting only 23 minutes, I was impressed with the amount of information it contained. One aspect I really liked was the way important terms were written out on the screen and clearly defined. Good for 3 grade and up, but younger children could also enjoy it. My library had this item
PICTURE BOOKS:
**Tomie de Paola's Big Book of Favorite Legends A great bargain price for four fabulous de Paola stories: The Legend of the Bluebonnet, The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush,The Legend of the Poinsettia, and Tony's Bread. The first two stories pertain to the Southwest.
**Alejandro's Gift Detailed pictures of birds and wildlife of the desert Southwest, along with a story about caring for the environment. The last few pages identify all the animals in the pictures and give some facts regarding them. Fun to find all the "hidden" (not too hidden!) animals.
The Armadillo from Amarillo Not a great text (a little too "rhyme-y" for me), but an informative book that locates Texas on the globe and in the universe, as well as giving some introductory information on landforms, wildlife, and vegetation. We discussed absolute and relative location after reading this book. Also, if you want to do any kind of a postcard exchange, this might be a nice introduction, as the main character (the armadillo) carries on a postcard correspondence with his cousin. The postcards are part of the illustrations.
The Cowboy and the Black-Eyed Pea Basically a retelling of the Princess and the Pea. Just for fun.
As I said, we just started, so I'll add to this annotated list as we progress (probably slowly). Feel free to add any great resources you have come across for the Southwest!
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In Christ,
Caroline
Wife to  dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
Flowing Streams
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MaryM
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Looks like a fun study, Caroline. This is an area of the country that I find fascinating and have a love for - lived in NM for a few years in middle school. I will say that I am a purist and really only consider New Mexico and Arizona the Southwest, but I understand that the other states (OK, TX, NV, and sometimes even CO, UT, and CA get lumped in there). But that doesn't really matter I guess, except to say that the resources I will add, will only be from those 2 states.
New Mexico
Santa Fe Trail: 1821-1880
Picture Books
Lewis & Papa: Adventure on the Santa Fe Trail (Barbara Joosse) - trade route, 1822-1880
Along the Santa Fe Trail (Ginger Wadsworth) - taken from memoirs
A Right Fine Life: Kit Carson on the Santa Fe Trail (Andrew Glass)
Tree in the Trail (Holling C. Holling)
Chapter books:
Wagons Westwards - Armstrong Sperry
We Were There on the Santa Fe Trail - Ross McLaury Taylor
La Conquistadora: The Autobiography of an Ancient Statue - Fray Angelico Chavez
This is a wonderful book - a pretty quick read chapter book about the oldest Marian statue in the United States, La Conquistadora. It is told from the point of view of the statue through her 500 years of existence. Through her eyes you see the history of Santa Fe, NM. It is a very Catholic book as well because it describes the devotion people have to Our Lady. The statue explains how she represents Our Lady.
Santero Carving:
 A Santo for Pasqualita (Ann Nolan Clark)
The Santero's Miracle (Amy Cordova)
Christmas Traditions:
Carlos, Light the Faralitos (Jean Ciavonne)
The Faralitos of Christmas
The Night of Las Posadas (Tomie DePaola) - this is the DePaola book that is truly a southwest story - set in Santa Fe, NM
Hot Foot Teddy: The True Story of Smokey the Bear (Sue Houser) - NM, 1950
Arizona
Mapping the Colorado River/Powell Expedition: 1869
Down the Colorado: John Wesley Powell, the One-Armed Explorer (Deborah Kogan Ray)
The Last River: John Wesley Powell and the Colorado River Exploring Expedition - longer test picture book
Desert (Sonoran):
Cactus Hotel - Brenda Guiberson
Around One Cactus: Owls, Bats and Leaping Rats (Anthony Fredericks)
Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus (Barbara Bash)
Three Little Javelinas (Susan Lowell) - love this book, my favorite 3 little pigs variation
America's Deserts: Guide to Plants and Animals (Marianne Wallace)
I 
Native People (Pueblo, Navajo, Hopi Apache, etc. are tribes in NM and AZ)
Annie and the Old Ones (Miska Miles)
Pueblo Indians (Little Wonder Book)
Ann Nolan Clark (b. 1898), winner of the 1953 Newberry Award, spent her life as a writer and as an educator for the Indians of the Southwest and the Hispanics of Latin America. In the early 1920's, she began teaching Indian children. Her time teaching preschool through fourth grade in a one-room schoolhouse in Teseque Pueblo influenced her decision to work on instructional materials. She wrote numerous children's books about the Native people. These are just some of them.
Young Hunter of Picarus
Tia Maria's Garden
Blue Canyon Horse
Little Boy With Three Names
This for That - with Don Freeman illustrations! - I have not seen this one before - HAVE.GOT.TO.FIND.IT
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Mary M. in Denver
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MaryM
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OK, I said I wasn't going to include other states, but I'll throw in my Texas contributions:
The Alamo: 1836
Susana of the Alamo (Jack Jakes) - Battle of the Alamo, 1836
Voices of the Alamo (Sherrie Garland) - history of the Mission, Battle of Alamo
Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America (Kathi Appelt) - Texas, Conservation, 1960-70s
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Mary M. in Denver
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stellamaris
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| Posted: March 10 2012 at 3:35pm | IP Logged
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Thank you, Mary, for your great suggestions! We have pretty much wrapped up our study, but I thought I'd add a few more favorites here for anyone else who might like to do a "rabbit trail" on the Southwest.
Among the other books we used that I really liked were:
The Lady in the Blue Cloak--legends from the Texas missions, including the legend of a woman in a blue cloak coming to preach to the tribes (Venerable Maria of Agreda) and a story in which our Lady defends a fort against attack.
A Desert Scrapbook: Dawn to Dusk in the Sonoran Desert--a nature journal style book with lovely watercolor illustrations of Sonoran flora and fauna
One Day in the Desert--moderately easy chapter book for younger readers (maybe 2nd grade and up) that describes desert life
Along Sandy Trails by Ann Nolan Clark--a lovely living picture book that tells of a young Papago Indian girl's outing into the desert with her grandmother to collect saguaro fruit. The pictures are photographs.
__________________
In Christ,
Caroline
Wife to dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
Flowing Streams
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JodieLyn
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And if anyone has girls of an age to enjoy the American Girl historical books.. Josephina is set just outside of Santa Fe before New Mexico was a state.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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JennGM
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I have to include one of my favorite authors: Sister Mary Jean Dorcy wrote about her visit to New Mexico and really delves into the Catholic culture and history of the region in Never the Golden City. OOP, but not hard to find.
And for older readers, Willa Cather's books, especially Death Comes for the Archbishop is perfect for this region.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: The Southwestern Region of the USA
