Elementary Reference Resources

Welcome intermediate students! I would like to introduce to you four items in our elementary school library reference section that you will really enjoy!

Encyclopedia
World Book, Inc. (2004) The World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, Inc.
This is an encyclopedia that you can check out and take home with you! If you want exciting, easy to read information about all different kinds of topics then these are the books you want. Decide whatever topic interests you, take the first letter of that topic, find the encyclopedia with that letter on the spine. The topics are easy to find because they are in alphabetical order. If you want to find out what a cicada is, what they do, and what they look like, then choose the “C” for cicada World Book encyclopedia to find out all about cicadas. Each topic gives you the most important information, so you won’t have to read for very long to find out amazing information that you didn’t know.

Ready Reference- Almanac
Joyce, C. (Ed). (2008) The World Almanac for Kids 2008. New York: World Almanac Education Group, Inc.
If you want to learn cool facts like what famous person has your birthday, how many people live in the United States, how many children each president had, and about volcanoes, hurricanes, amusement parks, National Parks, space, computers, and much more then check out this book! You can impress your friends with all the information you can quickly learn from this almanac. The book is very colorful and always interesting, so you won’t ever get bored with it!

Dictionary
School Specialty Publishing. (1997) Just Look ‘n Learn Spanish Picture Dictionary. Columbus, OH: School Specialty Publishing.
If you want to learn Spanish or if you already speak Spanish and want to learn English, then this is the perfect book for you! You can easily learn how to say different words in Spanish, because each word has a picture and a sentence to help you learn the new word. You can learn in Spanish how to tell time, say the days of the week, counting, and lots of words from a to z! This is a colorful dictionary that will help you have fun learning Spanish!

Geographical Information Source
CultureGrams. (2007) CultureGrams 2007 World Edition. Utah: ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
This is an excellent series of books that gives you an insiders look at different cultures of the world! If you are interested in knowing more about a countries’ religions, world view, arts, traditions, people, and language then this is a great book to check out. There are different volumes containing information on different countries. For example, the volume on Europe contains information about 44 different countries. The information about each country is broken down into 25 different categories; such as Land and Climate, History, Religion, General attitudes, Personal Appearance, Eating, Family, Dating and Marriage, etc. It is an easy format to use so you can find the information you are interested in quickly. Enjoy learning how countries are different and similar from one another, and gain a respect for all different cultures!