{"id":1934,"date":"2009-10-31T17:00:35","date_gmt":"2009-10-31T22:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1934"},"modified":"2009-10-31T17:00:35","modified_gmt":"2009-10-31T22:00:35","slug":"teaching-geography-with-childrens-literature-alice-ramseys-grand-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/10\/31\/teaching-geography-with-childrens-literature-alice-ramseys-grand-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: Alice Ramsey’s Grand Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Have you ever heard of Alice Ramsey? \u00a0I hadn’t, until I read the book\u00a0Alice Ramsey’s Grand Adventure<\/a>, written and illustrated by Don Brown. \u00a0This book tells the story of the first woman to drive across the United States! \u00a0With its simple text and great illustrations, the book might be used in a geography lesson to teach about different areas of the country, or could also be used as an introduction to a history or biography lesson on Alice Ramsey herself.<\/p>\n

The straightforward, informative way this book is written makes it perfect to be read aloud.\u00a0 The book begins, “On June 9, 1909, Alice Ramsey drove out of New York City and into a grand adventure.\u00a0 Alice Ramsey wanted to be the first woman to drive across America.”\u00a0 From there, it goes on to tell, step-by-step, each location Ramsey visited.\u00a0 The descriptions of each place highlight important things, as well.\u00a0 For example, Brown describes Chicago’s railway system: “Chicago, Illinois was a railroad center.\u00a0 The car bounced over mile after mile of rail until the women were dizzy.” \u00a0 The book ends when the women (Ramsey traveled with her two sisters-in-law and a close friend) reach San Francisco, and goes on to explain that after her first trip, Alice drove across the country more than 30 times by the time she was seventy.\u00a0 The text provides a lot of information, but presents it in an easy to understand format — this is what makes it great for use in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alice Ramsey’s Grand Adventure<\/em> could be used to teach a geography lesson about the United States while students also learn about who Alice Ramsey was and what she accomplished.\u00a0 The states mentioned in the book include New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, and California.\u00a0 Since Ramsey made her journey in 1909, students could research what the United States was like then and imagine what it might have been like for Ramsey to travel through all of those states.\u00a0 SOLs USII.1 and USII.2 focus on Social Studies skills and Geograph, and the book could be used to focus on the geography of the states mentioned and to get students thinking about life in the early twentieth century.<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n