NCSS / CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 6-8 2022

Created on April 18, 2022, 10:18 am

Last Updated March 21, 2023, 6:03 pm

The Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People is an annual project of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council (CBC). This bibliography features K-12 titles published in the previous calendar year that are exceptional books for use in social studies classrooms, selected by social studies educators appointed by NCSS. The selection committee looks for books that emphasize human relations, represent a diversity of groups and are sensitive to a broad range of cultural experiences, present an original theme or a fresh slant on a traditional topic, are easily readable and of high literary quality, and have a pleasing format and, when appropriate, illustrations that enrich the text. For more information, a printable list for the current year, plus annotated past years’ lists see www.cbcbooks.org/readers/reader-resources/notable-social-studies-list/ and www.socialstudies.org/notable-trade-books.

1) Barefoot dreams of Petra Luna

Author

Series

Petra Luna volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

"Based on a true story, the tale of one girl's perilous journey to cross the U.S. border and lead her family to safety during the Mexican Revolution"--

Author

Description

A boy and his mother refuse to identify themselves as American or Canadian at the border and become caught in the limbo between nations when they claim their citizenship as Blackfoot.

3) Born behind bars

Author

Venkatraman, Padma

Description

In Chennai, india, after spending his whole life in jail with his mother, who is serving time for a crime she did not commit, nine-year-old Kabir is suddenly released and has to figure out how to survive on his own in the outside world.

4) Drawn across borders: true stories of human migration

Author

Description

"Resisting his own urge to walk away, award-winning artist George Butler took his sketchbook and made, over the course of a decade, a series of remarkable pen-and-ink and watercolor portraits in war zones, refugee camps, and on the move. While he worked, his subjects--migrants and refugees in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia--shared their stories. Theirs are the human stories behind the headlines that tell of fleeing poverty, disaster, and...

5) Fallout: spies, superbombs, and the ultimate Cold War showdown

Author

Sheinkin, Steve

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

"As World War II comes to a close, the United States and the Soviet Union emerge as the two greatest world powers on extreme opposites of the political spectrum. After the United States showed its hand with the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the Soviets refuse to be left behind. With communism sweeping the globe, the two nations begin a neck-and-neck competition to build even more destructive bombs and conquer the Space Race. In their battle for dominance,...

6) Harriet Tubman: toward freedom

Author

Description

"Graphic biography detailing Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and her efforts with other abolitionists to rescue dozens of those still enslaved"--

7) In the shadow of the fallen towers: the second, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years after the 9/11 attacks

Author

Description

This graphic novel chronicles the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City through moving individual stories that bear witness to history and the ways it shapes the future.

8) The many meanings of Meilan

Author

Description

"A family feud before the start of seventh grade propels Meilan from Boston's Chinatown to rural Ohio, where she must tap into her inner strength and sense of justice to make a new place for herself"--

9) Meltdown: earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Fukushima

Author

Langeland, Deirdre

Description

"On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever measured in Japan occurred off the northeast coast. It triggered a tsunami with a wall of water 128 feet high. The tsunami damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima triggering the nightmare scenario--a nuclear meltdown. For six days, employees at the plant worked to contain the meltdown and disaster workers scoured the surrounding flooded area for survivors. This book examines the science behind...

Author

Bruchac, Joseph

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

"A twelve-year-old Iroquois boy rethinks his calling after witnessing the arrival of a mystical figure with a message of peace in this historical novel based on the creation of the Iroquois Confederacy"--

11) Picturing a nation: the Great Depression's finest photographers introduce America to itself

Author

Sandler, Martin W

Description

This book features photographs taken for the Farm Security Administration by ten renowned photographers, featuring scenes from regions throughout the United States.

12) A queen to the rescue: the story of Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah

Author

Formats:

Description

Henrietta Szold took Queen Esther as a model and worked hard to save the Jewish people. In 1912, she founded the Jewish women's social justice organization, Hadassah. Henrietta started Hadassah determined to offer emergency medical care to mothers and children in Palestine. When WWII broke out, she rescued Jewish children from the Holocaust, and broadened Hadassah's mission to include education, youth development, and women's rights. Hadassah offers...

13) Recognize!: an anthology honoring and amplifying Black life

Description

"An anthology featuring over thirty Black authors and illustrators to honor Black life past, present, and future"--

Author

Bruchac, Joseph

Description

"Twelve-year-old Malian lives with her grandparents on a Wabanaki reservation during the COVID-19 pandemic"--

15) Samira surfs

Author

Guidroz, Rukhsanna

Description

"A middle grade novel-in-verse about Samira, an eleven-year-old Rohingya refugee living in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, who finds strength and sisterhood in a local surf club for girls"--Publisher marketing.

16) Shelter: homelessness in our community

Author

Series

Formats:

Description

"Part of the Orca Think series for middle-grade readers, this book answers the questions young people have about homelessness and its causes, effects, possible solutions and what we can all do help."--

17) A Shot in the Arm!

Author

Series

Big ideas that changed the world volume 3

Formats:

eComic, Graphic Novels & Manga

Description

Award-winning author Don Brown explores a very timely subject: the history of vaccines A Shot in the Arm!, book 3 in the Big Ideas that Changed the World series, is the history of vaccinations and the struggle to protect people from infectious disease. Beginning with smallpox-perhaps humankind's greatest affliction to date-and concluding with an overview of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown traces the evolution of vaccines and examines deadly diseases...

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies.

19) The thing I'm most afraid of

Author

Levine, Kristin

Description

In 1993, twelve-year-old Becca, who struggles with [an] anxiety disorder, visits her divorced father in Vienna, Austria, where she befriends a Muslim refugee fleeing the Bosnian genocide.

20) A time of fear: America in the era of Red scares and Cold War

Author

Description

In twentieth century America, no threat loomed larger than the communist superpower of the Soviet Union. The Communist Party of the United States attempted to use deep economic and racial disparities in American culture to win over members and sympathizers. Marrin shows how the miscarriage of justice in the Scotsboro Boys case, the tragedy of the Rosenbergs, and the menace of the Joseph McCarthy and his war hearings lured many Americans to the ideals...