Great Book for Learning World Geography for Kids and Adult?

Geography and "social studies" is a passion of mine! You're right about not learning much in school though. Unfortunately many curriculums have all but eliminated geography from their offerings -even though our society is more global than ever and it's important to understand where people actually are and what their countries and regions are like!

Anyway -being the geography and map nut that I am (LOVE maps), I've found a number of great atlases and tools for my own pleasure and my children. I recommend:

The Usborne Children's Picture Atlas from Scholastic. It's inexpensive and has great pictures. My oldest has loved it from age 3 (he's almost 5 now).

The National Geographic World Atlas for Young Explorers -very cool!

The National Geographic Atlas of the World (they're up to the 9th edition now) -the hardcover was a birthday present for me about 8 years ago, and it's GORGEOUS. The maps are lovely and my children and I both enjoy looking at the book. They also make a softcover edition if you don't want to sink a bunch of money into it.

The National Geographic Family Atlas of the World might be a good one for both you and your kids to use together. I currently don't have it, but I think I'm about to order it ;-)

National Geographic's Our World -a child's first picture atlas -VERY cool for young kids.

You can tell I'm a big National Geographic fan, but they DO know their business when it comes to cartography and putting atlases and facts together. They do a really nice job.

Other items we enjoy for the United States and North America -Melissa and Doug's floor puzzle of the USA, USA placemats and Vtech's learning map of the USA -both my 2 and 4 year old have really enjoyed this!

You may not want to go this far, but I always wanted to do this for a child's room, so when we moved and transitioned my oldest from a "nursery" to a less baby-ish room, I ordered one of National Geographic's Atlas of the World wall mural maps. It covers one whole wall of his bedroom! It's the wall he faces when he's in bed at night, and he has enjoyed it so much. I love to tell him that it's his world, and he can pick anywhere on there he wants to go and go there someday. It's also been a great teaching tool to show him places we're going to and to show him exactly where his grandfather lives, how far away places he's heard about in the news are, etc. IF you have a space for one, I highly recommend it. It would be great in a playroom, office or basement area too. They also make much smaller versions of the world and U.S maps you can get. I know as a child I just loved staring at maps on people's walls!

I also love globes, and they have some awesome lighted ones out now! These make fantastic night lights in kid's rooms too, and it's fun to play the game where you spin the globe as fast as you can and have someone randomly put their finger on it or trace it on there to see where it stops. Then you can look up information on that place in an atlas book or via the internet.

http://www.worldglobes.com/world-globes/illuminated/245+#...

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/category/maps/atlases

Hello
I don't have a specific book to suggest but would suggest for the sake of learning state and international capitals, continents and great lakes, you might consider using food place mats. Ever since my son was little, I have always had one of those lamenated placemats on my kitchen table of the United States and on the reverse, an international map.. by about 4 1/2 , my son knew all the state capitols and now, many international ones. Also, since he now knows all 50 state capitols, we like review the abbreviations for each one. Additionally, he loves maps, therefore, I have hung those up on his bedroom wall. we also make a game out of reading license plates.. If the plate says Montana, I will ask, what's the capitol of Montana.. It's just simple easy learning made fun. About 6 months ago his 4th grade class was tested on state capitols and had to fill in a blank map.. sure enough he not only knew all the states but where they were located.
To me, having that placemat has been one of the best learning sources for us and it's been so easy... I just think having seen it at every meal, eventually the info is bound to set in..

best of luck and fun learning to you :)

I would start at the library. They have lots of different books on the subject in both the children's and adults' section. You may find something there that the kids really like and then you can always go out and buy it for your home.

I've been brushing up on my geography and teaching my kids with a website I found. http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/testmaps/maps.htm. It gives you the outlines of the states or countries and you can fill them in. I love it.