Let TeachingBooks.net help make a geography lesson come to life!
You can connect countries all over the world to real-life book creators. Do this simply by using our Author Name Pronunciation Guide.
There are several advantages to sharing these short audio clips with your students:
- Students get to hear authors and illustrators who may (or may not) have accents different from their own.
- Everyone learns the correct pronunciations for names that are sometimes difficult to say.
- You can make a natural bridge from a geography lesson to a literature study — and vice versa.
Below is a short list of authors/illustrators — and the places with which their names are associated. The origins of these names take us around the world…
Ashley Bryan (Antigua and Barbuda)
Janet Tashjian (Armenia)
Mem Fox (Australia)
Mitali Perkins (Bangladesh)
Gail Sidonie Sobat (Canada)
Claudia Dávila (Chile)
Ed Young (China)
Ying Chang Compestine (China, Italy)
Leyla Torres (Colombia)
Peter Sís (Czech Republic)
Naomi Shihab Nye (Denmark/Norway)
David Almond (England)
Brian Jacques (France)
David Bouchard (French Canada [Métis])
Cornelia Funke (Germany)
Lisa Papademetriou (Greece)
Polly Horvath (Hungary)
Shenaaz Nanji (India)
Mina Javaherbin (Iran)
Giora Carmi (Israel)
Charles Ghigna (Italy)
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich (Jamaica, Nigeria, Croatia)
Mariko Tamaki (Japan)
Linda Sue Park (Korea)
Ruta Sepetys (Lithuania)
Brian Lies (Luxembourg)
Shaun Tan (Malaysia, England/Ireland)
Yuyi Morales (Mexico)
Margriet Ruurs (The Netherlands)
Ifeoma Onyefulu (Nigeria)
Lise Lunge-Larsen (Norway)
Ibtisam Barakat (Palestine)
Bob Raczka (Poland)
Vladimir Radunsky (Russia)
Janet McNaughton (Scotland)
F. Isabel Campoy (Spain)
Adrian Fogelin (Sweden)
Tololwa M. Mollel (Tanzania)
Dennis Foon (Ukraine)
Chris K. Soentpiet (United States/Hawaii/Korea)
Sherman Alexie (United States/Spokane)
Thanhha Lai (Vietnam)
Did you enjoy your trip?
Posted by Carin Bringelson, MLS, Director of Online Content & Collections
Absolutely amazing idea and use of this collection, Carin. Personal. Informative. Curricularly centric. And about favorite books and authors.
Hello, I LOVE this Around the World in 35 names… What a beautiful idea. My name is listed under Palestine, which is correct, and I am thrilled. I’ve used this service so much during last year, referring students and teachers to TeachingBooks.net for the correct pronunciation of my name.
With sunshine and all the best,
Ibtisam Barakat.
Fabulous! I have already posted this web link to both of my class websites. I especially like how Shaun Tan’s name origin and his accent clearly show different country roots.
Great list! But, Colombia is misspelled –> Leyla Torres (Columbia)
Thank you for the correction, Mary! The post has been corrected.