How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008. ISBN 978-0-374-33499-4
Annotation: War forces a family to flee to a strange land of hunger and poverty. The father buys a map that inspires the young boy's imagination and he forgets his hunger.
Media: Full-color ink and watercolor.
Rating: 4Q/4P.
Curricular connections: History/Social Studies.
School level: Upper elementary.
NP 07/04/09
How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008.
ISBN: 0374334994
Media: Watercolor, Pen, and Pencil.
Q5/P5
Memoir of when the author’s family fled Poland in 1939 and lived in present day Kazakhstan. His father buys a map instead of food and feeds young Uri’s imagination, instead.
CURRICULUM CONNECTION: 5th – 8th grade Geography and Language Arts classes
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Lesson Plan Title:
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Plan Your Own Journey
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Grade Level
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Seventh
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Subject
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Language Arts Class
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Topic/Theme addressed:
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Travel and connecting ideas in an expository essay.
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Student Learning Outcomes:
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Learn more about different cultures/geographic regions
Connect ideas through explanations and reasoning.
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CA Academic Standards Addressed:
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WRITING 1.0 Writing Strategies
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Required Materials:
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4 picture books on travel, paper, collage materials, and markers. Possible trip to the library.
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Lead-In Activity:
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Read Traveling Man by James Rumford; How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz; Erika-San by Allen Say; and Uncommon Traveler by Don Brown.
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Step 1: Gather Ideas
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- Think about the stories we have read about real people who left their home to visit far-off places.
- Are you like Ibn Battuta or Uri want to visit many places, or are you like Erica or Mary Kingsley who both become fixated on going to one place?
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Step 2: Research
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- Research the different locations using print and online sources.
- Find out what you would need to know to travel effectively in those cultures.
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Step 3: Essay Assignment
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- Write an exposition paper about what journey you would plan for yourself and why?
- In your thesis/topic sentence, explain why you want to go to these locations, and how are these locations connected?
- For example, to find connections, you can choose places with famous nature sites, sites related to one historical event, or cities that feature types of art or architecture. Or, re-trace of a famous explorer.
- Your research on these different locations will go into your essay and the complete source will be on the last page, called the bibliography.
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Step 4: Present Ideas to the Class
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- Give a 3-5 minute presentation on the places you will go and what a traveler should know about these locations.
- Design a poster or a brochure highlighting your trip.
- Convince your classmates to take your journey with you.
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FBoggs 07/09
How I learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008. ISBN 978-0-374-33499-4
The author’s story of fleeing his homeland at an early age, and the struggles that ensue. Although his stomach is often empty, a special map keeps his imagination fed.
Media: Watercolor
Q5/P4
5-6th
Curricular Connection: Level 5-7th. Social Studies, World Cultures.
D. Balestreri added to PB 7/25/09
How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-374-33499-4 Subject/Genre: Refugees, Geography, Picture book Grades 5-6
A hungry family is dismayed when father returns with a map in leiu of supper, but is ultimately satiated by the gift.
Curricular connections: Could be used as part of a lesson with English language learners, who'd be likely to find the story very relateable to their circumstances.
Literary device: Onomatopoeia: "smacking his lips" and alliteration: "Fukuoka, Takaoka, Fukuyama, Nagayama, Okazaki, Miyazaki. Pennsylvania, Translyvania.
Q/P: 5/5 Shulevitz has employed collage, watercolor and ink artfully to ptovide high quality illustrations, and the story of the triumph of imagination (partially autobiographical, according to the author's note) is equally compelling.
BVG, 7/21/09
Citation: How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008.
ISBN: 0374334994
Annotation: Fleeing their war-stricken homeland, a boy and his family become poor. One night the father brings a map, despite food being essential. Nonetheless, the boy grows to love the map.
Media: Watercolors, Ink
Curricular Connections: 5th-9th grade World History/Geography. Subjects- WWII, Poverty, Geography
Rating: 5Q/5P
S.F 6/21/09
How I Learned Geography by Uri Schulevitz, ill. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008.
A boy and his family are living in poverty in a strange new country with very little food. Instead of bread, his father brings home a map and hangs it on the wall. The boy studies the map and is suddenly transported to exotic places.
- ISBN 978-0374334994
- Media: Watercolors, ink
- Rating: 5Q/5P
- Curricular Connections: Grades 5-6, History/Social Studies
- Theme – Poverty – Uri Shulevitz tells his childhood story of how his family fled their native country of Poland during World War II and settled in the Soviet Union with very little money. They slept on a dirt floor, had no toys or books, and food was scarce. This is the setup to the story in which his father one day comes home with a map of the world instead of bread.
DPower 6/28/09
How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0374334994
Though his family is fleeing their war ravaged homeland and their family is hungry, a little boy finds wonder in the map his father brings home one day instead of food.
- Media: Pen and ink, Watercolors
- Rating: 5Q/4P
- Curricular Connections: Grades 5-9 History, Geography
CHA 8/1/09
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Shulevitz, Uri. How I Learned Geography. New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-374-33499-4.
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Plot Summary
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A young boy makes the best of isolation and hunger during World War II by using his imagination and learning geography on a big world map his father brings home.
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Media
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Collage, water color and ink
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Curricular
connections
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Social Studies – poverty, World War II, displacement
5th up
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Rating
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5Q 5P
top 10 ***
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Extras
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Based on the author’s childhood.
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