Nonfiction Books for Kids on World Demographics

Books Offer Map Games and Fun Facts on Population Data

Jul 16, 2009

Nonfiction books for kids help give children (and adults) a better perspective on population demographics and map reading.

What is the current U.S. population? How many people in the world today go to school? Sadly, many American students (and more than a few adults) can’t answer these basic questions. Even basic map reading skills aren’t always taught to kids at an early age.

Fortunately, resources exist to give kids a primer in world demographics, U.S. population data, and early map reading. For those who enjoy passing on knowledge by reading and sharing picture books, the following nonfiction books make good choices for kids.

Educational consultant David J. Smith adopts a useful strategy to introduce kids to population data in this picture book, which imagines the world’s population (6.7 billion as of 2008) as a village of 100 people (each person representing 67 million people).

Using population statistics from the United Nations, U.S. Census Bureau, and other sources, Smith offers intriguing facts about the world population – noting that in this world village, 21 people (or over 1.4 billion real people) speak a Chinese dialect while only 30 (over 2 billion) out of the 36 school-aged villagers go to school.

Smith’s world population demographics on food are particularly worrisome as he states half the people in the village (3,350,000,000 people) do not have a reliable source of food and are hungry some or all of the time. World population growth is also troubling, as Smith notes the village is currently estimated to grow by 1.2 people (over 80 million real people) by 2009.

While a great book for kids, readers should make sure to choose the book’s most recent edition, since world population statistics and demographics continually change. Smith also acknowledges that not all his sources agree on the statistics – particularly in the areas of food supply, education, and population growth – although the estimates he provides are fair approximations.

Most importantly, Smith emphasizes that while learning population data is important, it is only the first step in developing true world windedness. As with all good education, developing a passion for geography, discussing world issues, and interacting with people around the world (through the Internet or pen pal programs) are essential to developing cross-cultural awareness.

David J. Smith returns in this picture book – this time imagining the U.S. population (306 million people as of 2008) as a village of 100 (each villager representing over 3 million people). Students will be amazed by these statistics, which reveal the U.S. village increased by 43 villagers (well over 130 million people) between 1950 and 2000, and currently owns more cars than any other country.

Other statistics are more troubling – as Smith notes 65 U.S. villagers (well over 198 million people) are overweight, while the U.S. ranks 37th in health care (despite spending more on health care than any other country). Another statistic notes the U.S. is aging faster than the rest of the world, with 15 villagers (almost 46 million people) between the ages of 40 and 49.

As with Smith’s If The World Were a Village, statistics for If America Were a Village come from numerous sources – including the U.S. Census Bureau, European Union, and United Nations – which led to occasional disagreement on statistics, necessitating the need for averages or extrapolations. Nevertheless, like its predecessor, this picture book remains a very accessible children’s resource for United States demographics.

Intended for preschool and early elementary students, Follow That Map! introduces kids to map reading by following the journey of a group of kids. When Sally and her friends learn her dog Max and cat Ollie are missing, the kids look for them in the city, the country, the amusement park, and many other places. At each place, the settings are shown as basic maps – some with compasses, scale bars, legends, routes, and/or symbols – encouraging readers to develop their map reading skills by studying the maps.

Kids will enjoy the story, which is told in a Where’s Waldo style as Max and Ollie pop up in each map – always out of view of the kids. To ensure that kids learn, however, parents and teachers should encourage kids to play with the maps by measuring distances using scale bars, finding directions with compasses, tracing routes to landmarks etc. Overall, it’s a fun book, albeit one that works best as a supplement with other map games.

Find more resources for teaching world demographics and world mindedness at David J. Smith’s Mapping.com website.

Ritchie, Scot. Follow That Map!: A First Book of Mapping Skills. Toronto, Kids Can Press. 2009. ISBN: 978-1-55453-274-2

Smith, David J. and Shelagh Armstrong. If The World Were A Village: A Book About the World’s People. Toronto, Kids Can Press. 2008 (orig. 2002). ISBN: 978-1-55074-779-9

Smith, David J. and Shelagh Armstrong. If America Were a Village: A Book About the People of the United States. Toronto, Kids Can Press. 2009. ISBN: 978-1-55453-344-2

The copyright of the article Nonfiction Books for Kids on World Demographics in Children's Non-Fiction is owned by Michael Jung. Permission to republish Nonfiction Books for Kids on World Demographics in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.