Social Studies Education

Have you ever heard of Machu Picchu? It’s an ancient citadel high in the mountains of Peru. Science played a big role in the building of Machu Picchu and the daily life of the Inca people who lived there. Find out the science behind Machu Picchu.

In 2018, the gaming industry made over 100 billion dollars worldwide. Professional gamers, designers, programmers, and writers all received some of that money. Learn about the different jobs in video games, and maybe someday you'll get paid to game.

How do people earn money? They might start their own business or work for a company. Find out more about different kinds of careers.

Order in the court! What do free speech, due process, freedom of assembly, and search and seizure have to do with our legal rights? Learn to decipher our nation's complex legal system and understand their rights under the law.

Imagine getting paid to play with toys! Toy influencers can make big money just for giving their opinions on the latest games and gadgets. Discover what it takes to be a social media influencer while learning basic economics and business skills, as well as important safety tips.

Make the world a better place for kids! This book is full of ideas and projects listeners can put into action to help with racial justice and human rights.

The United States keeps its gold safe at Fort Knox. How is this done? There are fences, locks, guards, and more. Learn more about this high-security place!

Air Force One keeps the U.S. president safe while flying. Learn more about the features that protect this amazing plane. Also find out how team members protect the president as he travels on Air Force One.

What does the U.S. Supreme Court do? Learn about who can be on the Supreme Court, how they are chosen, where they work, and more. Descriptive main text, fast facts, and callout definitions work together to support understanding.

What is the U.S. Senate? Learn about senators, how bills become laws, where senators work, and more.

Make the world a better place for people in need! This book is full of ideas and projects listeners can put into action to fight poverty.

Make the world a better place for animals! This book is full of ideas and projects listeners can put into action to help animals.

On the surface, Riverview High School looks like the post-racial ideal. Serving an enviably affluent, diverse, and liberal district, the school is well-funded, its teachers are well-trained, and many of its students are high achieving. Yet Riverview has not escaped the same unrelenting question that plagues schools throughout America: why is it that even when all of the circumstances seem right, black and Latino students continue to lag behind their peers?

In the 1920s cotton buyer Earle Dickson worked for Johnson & Johnson and had a klutzy wife who often cut herself. The son of a doctor, Earle set out to create an easier way for her to bandage her injuries. Band-Aids were born, but Earle's bosses at the pharmaceutical giant weren't convinced, and it wasn't until the Boy Scouts of America tested Earle's prototype that this ubiquitous household staple was made available to the public.

How does the president get his job? How do people know who will win an election before everybody’s voted? Do the candidates hate each other? Dan Gutman takes on his strangest subject ever: the American political system. Reaching through history from the days of the founding fathers to today’s voting system, Gutman tackles complex subjects in a clear, easy-to-understand way. Even grown-ups will find something in here that they’ve never learned before.

American Libraries editor in chief Leonard Kniffel offers a compelling collection of interviews with prominent figures--all of whom have special connections to libraries. From President Barack Obama to actress Julie Andrews; from basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to former First Lady and librarian Laura Bush and many others, stars of literature, politics, entertainment, and the public arena speak with Kniffel about the ways libraries have been critical in their lives.

In Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15, 1963, it is one little girl's 10th birthday. Excited about Youth Day at the 16th Street Baptist Church, she puts on her patent leather shoes and practices her choir solo. But her birthday will include no cake and no candles this year. A group of men have tucked a bundle of dynamite under the church's steps, and when it goes off, four girls are dead: AddieMae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair.

The story of America has always been shaped by people from all corners of the Earth who came in search of a better life and a brighter future. Immigration remains one of the critical topics in 21st century America, and how our children learn the lessons of the past will shape all our futures. The patriotic stories of hope that shape most immigration books are supplemented here by the lesser-known stories of those denied, detained, and deported.

This book chronicles the long history of the fight for women's voting rights, beginning in 1848, with a focus on the years between 1913 and 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendment was passed. The book includes profiles of notable women in the struggle.

The Reconstruction and Rise of Jim Crow describes the fallout of the Civil War, whose aftermath left the United States South angry and poor. This book details the struggles to decide how to deal with the newly freed slaves, through the years of Reconstruction, Jim Crow, sharecropping, and segregation. The storyline also sets the stage for the country’s next battle, which is between the Jim Crow laws and the 14th and 15th Amendments.