20ish books about India

In my never ending attempt to get our India unit finally done I was typing up our books about India and realized that was a post all by itself.  I’ll never get this homeschool geography unit done.  NEVER.

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Books about India the country

Indian Culture– This is a great book to give you an overview of Indian culture, and some amazing pictures.

Foods of India– a great recipe book, if you have middle school kids (who this is written for) your kids will be able to complete these with some help.

Cultural Traditions in India– Again amazing pictures, and with books like this, you really need to look at the pictures.

Recipes from India– Another great set of recipes, though I will warn you sometimes the ingredients are a bit specialized.

Hands-On History! Ancient India– I didn’t have this book at the time we studied India, only finding it later at Half Price Books, but I’ve used others in this series for other homeschool history unit (in particular Romans and Vikings)

India (True Books)– I love this series of books.  The pictures aren’t quite as gorgeous, but the information is wonderful, and your kids will learn a lot from it.

 

books about India and Hinduism

The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna– Any time you see a book by Demi available check it out from your library, the word choice is amazing.  Sadly when we did this unit it was checked out.  Someone took my advice without knowing it.

What Makes Me a Hindu?-Nice simple book detailing what is specific to Hindus.

What You Will See Inside a Hindu Temple– This is a great opportunity to see what a temple looks like if you can’t visit one, and let’s be honest, the ones in India are going to tend to be more spectacular (unless you’re in a major city with a large Hindu population).

Diwali (Rookie Read-About Holidays)– These are great books for 1st or 2nd grade, the reading level is very simple, and it has AMAZING pictures.

Hindu Cookbook (Festivals Cookbooks)– Because I always check out the cookbooks if I can.  I don’t always cook from them, but I like to pretend I am a successful cook.

 

Books about India and her people

Well, actually only two people came up in my quick lazy search, but afterwards I started thinking of others.

Mother Teresa– This is not actually the copy my library has, but it’s by Demi, see my above comments.

Gandhi: The Father of Modern India– Our library had some fascinating books on Gandhi, this was one of the lesser ones, it’s just a straightforward recital of what happened.

Grandfather Gandhi– This was my favorite from our library, it gave a different viewpoint.  I wrote an entire post, Gandhi lesson plan, on this book and our activities.

Gandhi: A March to the Sea– I have this book stashed away for next year in history.  It covers Gandhi’s long walk to the sea, and I think it makes a great comparison to Martin Luther King jr. and his march.  And I adore the artwork in this book.

 

books about India and its mythology, fables, and general fun

This is my catch all for the remaining books.  I specialized on mythology, fables, and fairy tales because I enjoy those, and that left only one or two generic books in my pile.  I don’t really regret that.

One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale – The classic tale of a little girl triumphing over the wicked and cruel Raja

Grandma and the Great Gourd: A Bengali Folktale– sort of a reverse Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma is traveling this time.

The Monkey and the Crocodile: A Jataka Tale from India– My kids loved this story and laughed at it.

Tales from India: Stories of Creation and the Cosmos– This is a fairly thick tome, but well worth checking out.

Monkey: A Trickster Tale from India– Who doesn’t like stories with a monkey?  Especially one as cute as this?

Sacred River– It’s sort of a day in the life, or season in the life of the people living and working near or on the river.  I loved this book.

The Jungle Book– I think I read this book 10 times when I was in 3rd grade, and this was a recent book and a movie evening at our house, so now my kids have read it as well, so I am happy.

 

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