Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: Come and Ride With Us!

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Introduction and Summary

Come and Ride With Us shares a journey to different countries such as Haiti, Canada, Hong Kong, Peru, and a few others and shows children how people in different countries use different types of transportation to get around. This book was put together by Oxfam and illustrated by Annie Kubler and Caroline Formby. A child from each country takes the reader on a journey within their country. For example, we meet Aisha from Egypt. She explains that in Egypt she rides on a donkey who pulls a cart as her transportation around town. She carries clover and hay in the cart for their cattle. Abdul from Bangladesh tells us that they ride on rickshaws which can either be by auto or bicycle.  Pedaling can be very hard work! It is very interesting to see how some of the children get around in countries that do not have cars and automobiles that American children are used to seeing everyday.

Curriculum Connections
This book features flaps that show hidden items such as food or cargo that each mode of transportation carries. It can be used in Kindergarten or First Grade. I believe that it fits in more so with First Grade. It shows different modes of transportation, clothing of people in different countries, food, houses of shelter the people live in, and what the children do for fun such as playing sports, fishing, or sledding. In the back of the book there is also a map of the world and it asks you to locate all the different countries in the book. (VA SOL 1.6) This book would be an excellent introduction to showing students how people in other countries live.

Additional Resource

  • Map Game– This game is and interactive online game about labeling countries. You click and drag the countries to their appropriate spots on the map(globe). The site offers tips and suggestions for if this game is to hard or too easy for students (differentiation).
  • Geography Game, Children match countries onto a globe. It is timed and counts points so this can be very challenging. It goes over all different countries, some of which may not be studied within the SOL, but it is good practice.
  • Cardinal Directions Game– This is a cute game for the children to cut out and play. It helps the children learn their cardinal directions, but also they are using different modes of transportation for the game pieces, which also shows them about different cultures. This would be a great tie in with the book but also a great transition to learning about cardinal directions!

Book: Come and ride with us!
Author: Oxfam International
Illustrators: Annie Kubler and Caroline Formby
Publisher: Child’s Play International Ltd.
Publication Date: 1995
Pages: 16
Grade Range: K, 1st
ISBN: 0859537943

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