How to use living books to teach geography
“The world in all its beauty comes to life for the child through the medium of living books.”
All too often, geography lessons do little to excite the imagination of students. Children swiftly become bored memorizing dry lists of facts about countries and filling out blank maps with rivers and place names. But the world is alive—its landscapes, cities, and cultures are dynamic and breathtaking. Geography should feel just as vibrant, and thankfully, there’s an easy way to make your geography lessons come alive, through the power of living books. The world in all its beauty comes to life through the medium of living books.
So what are living books, anyway?
The idea of “living books,” was first conceived of by British educational pioneer, Charlotte Mason, in the late 19th century. Living books aren’t the rather dull, lifeless textbooks packed with facts that we all associate with school learning. Rather, they are rich, well-written works that ignite wonder and curiosity. Living books feature compelling narratives, vivid illustrations, thoughtful photographs, and descriptive storytelling. Living books open up the world in ways that foster genuine engagement with the material, inspire conversations, and allow the student to deeply know and understand the material through the power of living ideas.
Living books are especially powerful because they tap into a child's natural love for descriptive language and stories. By reading about adventurers crossing deserts, or animals roaming different biomes, children absorb geographic knowledge without even realizing they’re "studying" it.
“Living books feature compelling narratives, vivid illustrations, thoughtful photographs, and descriptive storytelling.”
How to choose living books for your geography lessons
It can feel overwhelming knowing what books to choose to use in your geography lessons. But you can easily learn how to recognize if a book “living” or not by reading a few pages and asking yourself these three simple questions:
Is it written in a captivating style – ie, once you’ve started reading, do you want to continue?
Is it descriptive – ie, can you see what the author is describing in your mind’s eye?
Is it interesting – ie, does it cover a topic in-depth or from a unique perspective?
Let’s look at some of my favorite living geography books:
There’s a Mountain in this Book
Grades 1-3
This vibrant, beautifully illustrated book invites young readers to step into the boots of a mountain explorer and embark on a journey through the diverse landscapes of the world’s mountain ranges. Through interactive die-cut flaps and gatefold pages, the book reveals how mountains are formed, offers a cross-section of a mountain’s interior, and explains how seasonal and climate changes shape these majestic landscapes.
Creative Ideas for lessons: Read aloud to the child, and ask them to narrate what they find most interesting afterwards. Ask the child to narrate the scene as if they were walking through the landscape themselves - what do they see, what is the landscape like, what animals live there. Use the illustrations as inspiration for illustrated notebooking pages. Do further research alongside your child to find pictures and names of mountains in your country.
Grades K-3
A unique and lovely book. A young girl sits at the bank of a river, and asks her grandmother “what is a river?” The old woman’s answer brings the river to life for the reader, interweaving geography, history, science, conservation and culture. Richly descriptive language creates pictures in the minds eye, alongside gorgeous illustrations and hand-drawn maps.
Creative Ideas for lessons: Use the hand-drawn maps in this book as inspiration for your child to create their own illustrated map, charting the course of a river from source to mouth. Take a look at some aerial photographs of rivers online together and see if you can find similar features that were illustrated in this book.
How can I create a Charlotte Mason inspired Geography Curriculum?
Learn how to easily create lively and engaging geography lessons with “Geography Lessons for a Living Education” - our practical guide for creating rich and meaningful geography lessons. Packed with practical teaching methods, creative approaches, and over 200 top picks for living books, podcasts, audio books, websites and apps, for grades K-12!
Create a rich and joyful living education: Learn how to easily create lessons that foster delight in the study of geography and cultivate deep engagement, creative expression, critical thinking and an expansive knowledge of the world. Purchase here
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