In reply to a listserv question about books for young people with a cross-cultural or anthropological angle, a few colleagues replied. Here are their suggested books.
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I've bought a bunch of books like the ones I'll list below for both my kids (long ago) and grandkids (who are almost your grandkids' ages) and they've always enjoyed these. For kids, I think a personalized/children's perspective like what these books offer seem to grab their attention. My son (a history buff from early on) also loved books on ancient history; the fictional newspaper format of some of these also grabbed him when he was around 11-12. My daughter also loved the "American Girl" biographies of imagined girls from different places around the world.
Hope these ideas are helpful!
Children Just Like Me: A new celebration of children around the world
A Life Like Mine: How Children Live Around the World
The Usborne Book of Living Long Ago: Everyday life through the Ages
History News: The Roman News
--FICTION--
R. L. LaFevers, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos
Karuna Riazi, The Gauntlet
Caroline Lawrence, Roman Mysteries series
Eliot Schrefer's series of books about great apes, beginning with Endangered
Any of the Rick Riordan Presents series, such as Kwame Mbila Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky and Roshani Chokshi Aru Shah and the End of Time
D. J. MacHale's Pendragon series, beginning with The Merchant of Death
And an older classic, Zilpha Keatley Snyder The Egypt Game
...These are all novels rather than nonfiction, but at this age I think the most important thing is to engage their imagination. Another good bet might be David Macaulay's books on architecture (Castle, Cathedral, Pyramid, etc.), which look like picture books but are actually quite information-dense fictionalized but realistic stories of how these ancient monuments were created, and for a sense of archaeological practice, The Motel of the Mysteries, which tells a story of future archaeologists excavating a twentieth-century motel and coming to completely mistaken conclusions.
Barbara Crane Navarro, 2014, Amazon Rainforest Magic: The Adventures of Namowe, a Yanomami boy.
- One of several children's books on Yanomami, but seems like the best.
Navarro is a French artist. For a dozen years she has devoted several months annually to living with Yanomami in Venezuela and Brazil. They inspired her artistic practice which includes creations to draw public attention to the devastation of the Yanomami and their rainforest habitat. Also check her Rainforest Art Project online.
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