The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) information network is the largest database for educational literature in the world. One of the greatest strengths of this database is the interdisciplinary nature of its documents. These documents cover fields as diverse as science, rhetoric, and journalism, as well as the social studies.

Each ERIC entry is preceded by a unique identifier. The “EJ” designation identifies the source as an educational journal. These are easily located in most academic libraries or are available through interlibrary loan. Items preceded by an “ED” designation encompass a wide variety of types, including research papers, books, conference proceedings, government documents, lesson plans, and many others. These items are also available in many libraries, or copies can be ordered from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). For additional information, contact EDRS, 7420 Fullerton Road, Suite 110, Springfield, VA 22153-2852 or call (800) 443-3742 or e-mail <edrs@inet.ed.gov>.

The ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education (ChESS) welcomes requests for searches regarding any aspects of social studies, such as lesson plans, instructional materials, research articles, and general information. Please contact David Kelly, ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, (800) 266-3815; <dkelly@indiana.edu>.

General Discussion

EJ549890. “Author’s Memoirs: Personal History in Children’s Literature,” by Anne Creany. Social Studies Journal 26 (Spring 1997): 26-35. Creany maintains that historical fiction provides children with the opportunity to vicariously live the events of the past, learn about their heritage, and develop a sense of the sweep of history. She recommends several books covering different historical periods and includes related instructional activities.

EJ466102. “Teaching with Historical Novels: A Four-Step Approach,” by John A. Smith and Dorothy Dobson. Social Studies and the Young Learner 5 (January-February 1993): 19-22. The use of historical novels in the elementary curriculum is becoming increasingly popular. To support this trend, the authors provide a four-step process that guides instruction using novels. They include recommendations for novel selection, teacher preparation, and enrichment activities.

ED398110. H Is for History: Using Children’s Literature To Develop Historical Understandings, by Laurel R. Singleton. CS: Social Science Education Consortium, Inc., Boulder, CO, 1995. Singleton contends that children’s literature and history should be linked in elementary classrooms. She provides an overview of eight historical understandings that can be developed using children’s literature, guides for using specific works of literature, and directions for three thematic history units based on children’s literature. The article concludes with an index of books mentioned in the text.

United States History

ED405244. Teaching American History through the Novel, by Sharon Bannister and Twyla R. Wells. J. Weston Walch, Publisher, 321 Valley Street, P.O. Box 658, Portland, ME, 1995. This source contains over three hundred outlines of novels for use by middle school, junior high, and senior high school teachers and students of U.S. history and literature. It provides an introduction, suggestions on how to use the book, and ideas for student activities. The book also includes a chronology and supplemental movie listing, and concludes with an “Index of Historical Characters and Events.”

ED371930. Native Americans in Fiction: A Guide to 765 Books for Librarians and Teachers, K-9, by Vicki Anderson. McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, Box 611, Jefferson, NC, 1994. This listing provides bibliographic information on 765 fiction books intended for grades K-9 and focusing on the social life and customs of Native Americans and their contributions to U.S. society. It presents materials alphabetically by nation, and includes a list of Native American nations and their locations, and a list of the books arranged by grade level.

ED377993. Remember My Name. The Council for Indian Education Series, by Sara H. Banks. CS: Council for Indian Education, Billings, MT, 1993. Banks tells of the fictional experiences of Annie Rising Fawn Stuart or Agin’agili, a young, half-Cherokee girl who moves to New Echota, the Cherokee capitol in Georgia, around the time of the Indian Removal of 1838. Banks characterizes the inhumane treatment of the Cherokee people by the state of Georgia and the United States as they were rounded up and forced to embark upon the Trail of Tears to Arkansas.

EJ528486. “A Kaleidoscope of Perspectives in Children’s Literature about Slavery and the American Civil War,” by Maria A. Perez-Stable. Social Studies 87 (January-February 1996): 24-31. This listing provides a selective sample of children’s novels that exhibit different views toward slavery and the Civil War based on gender, race, geographic location, and national origin. The author briefly summarizes the selections and discusses their strengths and weaknesses.

EJ528485. “‘The Killer Angels’: A Case Study of Historical Fiction in the Social Studies Curriculum,” by Edwin G. Bilof. Social Studies 87 (January-February 1996): 19-23. This interdisciplinary instructional unit uses the historical novel The Killer Angels to teach about the Civil War. Outside historical research bolsters writing assignments focused on character analysis from the novel. In addition, the lesson suggests guidelines for developing an interdisciplinary unit.

EJ494551. “Teaching African American History: A Literary Perspective,” by Gerald Mackey and Gail W. Tolbert. Exercise Exchange 40 (Spring 1995): 12-15. This unit offers high school students a broad perspective on African American history in general and African American writers in particular. Students select a book to read (from a list with synopses) and then choose at least one activity to complete (again from a list).

ED365754. The Black Experience in Books for Children and Young Adults, by Ersye Kirk. Positive Impact, P.O. Box 1764 Ardmore, OK 73402, 1993. This list details over seven hundred old, new, and award-winning books concerning black culture and heritage and intended for children from preschool to adolescence. It covers a variety of interests including history, biographies, folk tales, Africa, the Caribbean, poetry, the arts, facts, and fiction. The listing provides information on each book’s contents, author, illustrator, publisher, copyright date, grade level, price, and any awards it may have won.

EJ526682. “Ordinary People on an Extraordinary Adventure,” by Stan Steiner. Social Studies and the Young Learner 8 (Jan-Feb 1996): 7-10, 14, 17. This annotated bibliography of children’s trade books, fiction, and poetry about the Oregon Trail includes a concise overview of the hardships settlers faced as they followed the trail during westward expansion. A bibliography of reference sources at the end of the article provides help with further reading.

ED337377. “The Wilder Years,” The Little House Books and Other Resources on the Westward Movement, by Barbara Hatcher. 1991. This annotated bibliography focuses on the movement westward into the California and Oregon territories in the mid-nineteenth century. Aimed at elementary and middle school students, these materials are organized into three sections: historical fiction, non-fiction books, and children’s magazines and additional materials.

ED371931. Immigrants in the United States in Fiction: A Guide to 705 Books for Librarians and Teachers, K-9, by Vicki Anderson. McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, Box 611, Jefferson, NC, 1994. This annotated bibliography identifies fiction books concerning the social life and customs of immigrants to the United States. It lists 705 titles suitable for grades K-9, and each entry provides author, bibliographic information, grade level, and a brief annotation.

ED364494. Using Literature to Teach Middle Grades about War, by Phyllis K. Kennemer. ORYX Press, Phoenix, AZ, 1993. Kennemer suggests ways of using children’s literature to enrich the study of military history. The book is divided into six units that list and describe appropriate books, learning activities, and resources for teaching about specific wars in which the United States has been involved. Units are recommended for use with students in grades 6-8, although they could be adapted for higher or lower grade levels.

World History

EJ432659. “History as Story: Books for Social Studies (Children’s Books),” by Lee Galda. Reading Teacher 45 (November 1991): 224-33. Galda discusses sixty-one books that create a sense of time and place and can help young readers experience the history of the world. The article also offers bibliographies on biographies, sports, and social studies.

ED351235. Two Voices from Nigeria: Nigeria through the Literature of Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta, by Lyn Reese. Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 1985. This document uses excerpts from novels, primarily by Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta, as a means of viewing Nigerian culture and history through the eyes of its people. It includes activities and questions enabling students to analyze African literature in different historical periods. A glossary of terms and a twenty-one item bibliography are included.

EJ523731. “Teaching World History with ‘Things Fall Apart,’” by Martha J. Feldmann. Teaching History: A Journal of Methods 20 (Fall 1995): 72-77. Feldmann recommends using Chinua Achebe’s novel of the nineteenth-century conflict between African tribal culture and English colonists in a world history class. Achebe’s rich narrative, written in a graceful prose, is easily accessible to high school students. The novel replaces simplistic and abstract concepts with those more complex and concrete.

ED387385. Children’s Literature from Northeastern Asia, by Maurine V. Richardson, et al. 1995. The authors present an overview of children’s literature from China, Japan, and Korea. They follow Ramirez and Ramirez’s 1994 suggestions for selection of classroom literature: the general accuracy of the story line, lack of stereotypes, use of appropriate language, accurate perspective of the author, and story line and illustrations current in fact and interpretation. The article includes a bibliography.

EJ492065. “Using Fiction to Teach History: Multicultural and Global Perspectives of World War II,” by John Kornfield. Social Education 58 (September 1994): 281-86. Kornfield asserts that the growing interest in multicultural and global education is encouraging teachers to search for new ways to teach history. He describes the use of historical fiction in a sixth-grade, interdisciplinary, multicultural unit on World War II and includes an annotated bibliography of thirty-three recommended books.

EJ551255. “Holocaust Education: Legislation, Practices, and Literature for Middle-School Students,” by Edna Greene Brabham. Social Studies 88 (May-June 1997): 139-42. The article presents a brief examination of legislation mandating Holocaust education, points out limitations in the current use of literature to teach this topic, and discusses examples of the best and most recent Holocaust literature. It includes a bibliography of fiction and nonfiction Holocaust literature for children and young adults.

EJ512756. “Recent Publications on the Holocaust,” by Esta Pomotov. Canadian Social Studies 29 (Summer 1995): 156-58. This annotated bibliography of twenty-one books concerning the Holocaust includes both fiction and nonfiction. It categorizes the books into primary, junior, intermediate, and senior grade levels.

ED339390. Perspectives on the Holocaust: An Annotated Bibliography of Personal Accounts Appropriate for the Young Adult Patron, by Barbara White. Master’s Research Paper, Kent State University, 1991. This annotated bibliography and filmography was compiled from published listings, publishers’ catalogs, review periodicals, and online databases. Consideration has been given to the quality of a work as well as its ability to hold the attention of young adults. Citations are presented under the following headings: Resources for Holocaust Study and Teaching; Collected Works, Escape, Hiding, Organized Resistance, Ghetto and Camp Existence, Being a Non-Jew in the Third Reich, Being a Half-Breed, and Filmography.

ED391710. Anne Frank in Historical Perspective: A Teaching Guide for Secondary Schools, by Alex Grobman and Joel Fishman. Martyrs Memorial and Museum of the Holocaust, Los Angeles, CA, 1995. This guide helps secondary students understand The Diary of Anne Frank through a series of short essays, maps, and photographs. The essays include “The Need for Broader Perspective in Understanding Anne Frank’s Diary,” by Joel Fishman; “Teaching the Holocaust through the Diary of Anne Frank,” by Judith Tydor Baumel; and a chronology of the Frank family.

David Kelly is an information specialist with the ERIC Social Studies/Social Science Education Clearinghouse. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Delaware and an M.A. in Political Science from Indiana University.