Reference & Learning Aids

A lot of education is filling in gaps. Even more is simple fact-memorization, the primary building block leading to the ability to regurgitate ideas, analyze them, and form original ones. Either way, there often isn't a better solution than stuffing names, dates, and figures in kids' heads until they can recall them at will. They hate this, generally, but it's a necessary evil.

In no way as unpleasant, but just as educational, is something most kids love to do: getting comfy with a big compendium of knowledge and turning each page, learning little tidbits about history, the world around them, how their body works, or who's been in outer space until they've had enough and go outside to hunt trolls or dig up buried treasure.

The best word to describe such books is one that every college student learns to dread: reference. If you don't get an F on your paper because you wrote it two hours before class, you definitely will because you forgot to cite your references. It's important to remember, however, that the enemy isn't reference; the enemy (for lack of a better term) is a system that places more value on following arbitrary guidelines than presenting and commenting on thoughts and information.

We're here to put the RAD back in reference. And memorization—there's nothing that says learning the times tables has to be boring. It often is, but usually only because we look at it as a chore, and not a privilege or exciting activity. This attitude often starts with parents: we didn't like math in school, so we kind of groan along with our kids whenever the ol' numbers chart comes out. If we get excited instead, our children are likely to do the same.

Below you'll find a long list of books crammed with facts. Some of them aren't important facts (usually the most fun), some of them are essential; we're not sure where the distinction should or does lie all the time, so we'll leave you to sort that out for yourselves. We would simply encourage, whether you're teaching the tens chart in math, or adding nuance to a study of the Old West by reading a short bio of female outlaw Belle Prater, that you approach "just the facts" with as much joy and anticipation as you'd like to see your children exhibit.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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84 Items found Print
Active Filters: 11th grade (Ages 16-17), Hardcover, Used Books & Materials
1,001 Things Everyone Should Know About American History
by John A. Garraty
1st edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
America and Its People
by Laureat Bernard,Ralph Brande, Don Sharkey
from W. H. Sadlier
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Atlas of the Islamic World
by Francis Robinson
from Facts On File
for 9th-Adult
in Historical & Cultural Atlases (Location: HISRF-ATLAS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Atlas of United States History
from Hammond World Atlas Corporation
for 6th-12th grade
in Historical & Cultural Atlases (Location: HISRF-ATLAS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Beards' New Basic History of the United States
by Charles A. Beard, Mary R. Beard, and William Beard
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Character for Life
by Don Hawkinson
for 7th-12th grade
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Christian Life and Character of the Civil United States
by Benjamin F. Morris
from American Vision Press
for 9th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War Battles
by Curt Johnson
1st edition from Crescent Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Compact Bible Dictionary
from Zondervan
for 9th-Adult
in Bible Dictionaries & Handbooks (Location: XBI-DICT)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
by Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit and Tremper Longman III, General Editors
from InterVarsity Press
for 10th-Adult
in Bible Reference (Location: XBI-REF)
$22.00 (1 in stock)
Encyclopedia of Animals
from Fog City Press
for 8th-Adult
in Zoology (Location: SCI-ZOOL)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Encyclopedia of Mammals
by Professor David Macdonald, editor
from Barnes & Noble
for 8th-Adult
in Mammals (Location: SCI-MAM)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
by James Trefil
from Routledge
for 7th-Adult
in Science Reference (Location: SCIREF)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Encyclopedia of the Horse
by Elwyn Hartley Edwards, ed.
from Crescent Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Essentials of New Testament Greek
by Ray Summers
from Broadman & Holman
for 10th-Adult
in Greek Resources (Location: FL-GRE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Family Word Finder
from Readers Union
for 7th-Adult
in Thesauruses (Location: REF-THES)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Golden Bible Atlas
Ninth printing from Golden Books
for 8th-Adult
in Bible Geography and Surveys (Location: XBI-GEO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Guinness Book of Records: 1994
by Peter Matthews, editor
from Facts On File
for 6th-Adult
in General Reference (Location: REF-GEN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Guinness Book of World Records: 1984
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-Adult
in General Reference (Location: REF-GEN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Guinness Book of World Records: 1985
by Norris McWhirter (editor and compiler), David A. Boehm (American editor), Maris Cakars (sports editor), Cyd Smith (assistant editor)
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-Adult
in General Reference (Location: REF-GEN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Guinness World Records: 2002
by Antonia Cunningham
from Guinness World Records Ltd
for 6th-Adult
in General Reference (Location: REF-GEN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Guinness World Records: 2007
by Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief
from Guinness World Records Ltd
for 6th-Adult
in General Reference (Location: REF-GEN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Halley's Bible Handbook
by Henry H. Halley
Later Printing from Zondervan
for 9th-Adult
in Clearance: Christian Books (Location: XCLE)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Hammond Atlas of the 20th Century
by Richard Overy, ed.
from Hammond World Atlas Corporation
for 8th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Heritage of Freedom
by Frank Monaghan
from Princeton University Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Revised from Holman Bible Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Bible Dictionaries & Handbooks (Location: XBI-DICT)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Horizontal Line Synopsis of the Gospels
by Reuben J. Swanson
1st edition
for 11th-Adult
in Bible Reference (Location: XBI-REF)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Image of War: 1861-1865 Volume 1
by Jenny Davis
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Imaginaries: Little Scraps of Larger Stories
by Emily Winfield Martin
from Random House
for 3rd-12th grade
in Writing Reference (Location: REF-WRI)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - 4 Volume Set
for 10th-Adult
in Bible Reference (Location: XBI-REF)
$75.00 (1 in stock)
Journey through the Bible
by V. Gilbert Beers
from David C. Cook
for 9th-Adult
in Bible Dictionaries & Handbooks (Location: XBI-DICT)
$22.00 (1 in stock)
Lefties
by Jack Fincher
1993 reprint from Barnes & Noble
for 9th-Adult
in Practical Home Schooling (Location: HSR-PRAC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Little History of the World
by E. H. Gombrich
from Yale University Press
for 6th-Adult
in World History Reference (Location: HISW-REF)
$9.50 (1 in stock)
Little Red Writing Book
by Brandon Royal
from Writer's Digest
for 6th-Adult
in Writing Reference (Location: REF-WRI)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Macmillan Visual Desk Reference
from Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in Encyclopedias (Location: REF-ENC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Medieval World: An Illustrated Atlas
by John M. Thompson
from National Geographic
for 9th-Adult
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$40.00 $28.00 (1 in stock)
Memory Mechanics
by Gary DeMar
from American Vision Press
for 9th grade-adult
in Research & Study Skills (Location: REF-STUDY)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
National Geographic Society: 100 Years of Adventure and Discovery
by Courtlandt Dixon Barnes Bryan
1st edition from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 7th-Adult
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Never Before in History
by Gary Amos & Richard Gardiner
from Foundation for Biblical Research
American History Reference for 10th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$24.00 (2 in stock)
New Manners & Customs of Bible Times
by Ralph Gower
Rev Sub from Moody Press
for 10th-Adult
in Bible Reference (Location: XBI-REF)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
by James Strong
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 11th-Adult
in Bible Concordances & Word Study (Location: XBI-CONC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
New Testament Greek for Beginners
by J. Gresham Machen
from Macmillan
for 11th-Adult
in Bible Reference (Location: XBI-REF)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
NIV Exhaustive Concordance
by Edward W. Goodrick
from Zondervan
for 11th-Adult
in Bible Concordances & Word Study (Location: XBI-CONC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
People, Places, Things, Ideas - 4 Volume Set
from Hawthorn Books, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$32.00 (1 in stock)
Portland Then and Now
by Linda Dodds & Carolyn Buan
from Thunder Bay Press
for 9th-Adult
in Pacific States (Location: HISV-PNW)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Prefixes & Suffixes - Set
by Laurence Urdang
1st edition from Verbatim Books
for 9th-Adult
in Grammar Reference (Location: REF-GRA)
$38.00 (1 in stock)
Random House Webster's College Dictionary
from Random House
for 10th-Adult
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Reader's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
by Sakae Kubo
from Zondervan
for 10th-Adult
in Bible Reference (Location: XBI-REF)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Roget's International Thesaurus
by Robert L. Chapman (revised by)
4th Edition from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for 6th-Adult
in Thesauruses (Location: REF-THES)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
from Hendrickson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in Bible Dictionaries & Handbooks (Location: XBI-DICT)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Student Bible Dictionary
by Johnnie Godwin, Karen Dockrey, Phyllis Godwin
for 7th-12th grade
in Bible Study & Reference for Kids (Location: BIB-STU)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Student Science Dictionary
from Houghton Mifflin
for 7th-12th grade
in Science Reference (Location: SCIREF)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Talk to the Hand
by Lynne Truss
1st edition from Gotham Books
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: English & Language Arts (Location: ZCLE-LAN)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Temple
by Alfred Edersheim
from Eerdmans
for 10th-Adult
in Bible Reference (Location: XBI-REF)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Time-Life Understanding Computers -24 Volume Set
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Computer Literacy (Location: ELE-COMP)
$120.00 (1 in stock)
Time: The Century Collection
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th Century (Location: HISW-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Timechart History of Aviation
from Lowe & B. Hould Publishers
for 6th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
TimeFrame #03: Age of God-Kings
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
TimeFrame #04: Barbarian Tides
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
TimeFrame #05: A Soaring Spirit
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
TimeFrame #06: Empires Ascendant
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
TimeFrame #07: Empires Besieged
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
TimeFrame #08: March of Islam
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
TimeFrame #09: Fury of the Northmen
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
TimeFrame #10: Light in the East
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
TimeFrame #11: The Divine Campaigns
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
TimeFrame #13: The Age of Calamity
from Time-Life Books
for 10th grade-adult
in Time-Life TimeFrame (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Touched By Fire
by William C. Davis, ed.
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Unveiling the Kings of Israel
by David Down
from Master Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Ancient Israel (Location: HISW-ANIS)
$27.99 $18.00 (1 in stock)
Unwrapping the Pharaohs
by John Ashton & David Down
from Master Books
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Egypt (Location: HISW-ANEG)
$27.99 $16.00 (4 in stock)
Use the Right Word
by S. I. Hayakawa
1st edition from Reader's Digest
for 9th-Adult
in Thesauruses (Location: REF-THES)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words
Revised from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Bible Dictionaries & Handbooks (Location: XBI-DICT)
$12.50 (2 in stock)
Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words
by W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White Jr.
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Bible Dictionaries & Handbooks (Location: XBI-DICT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Visual Dictionary of Everyday Things
DK Visual Dictionaries
from DK Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Visual Dictionary of Physics
DK Visual Dictionaries
by Jack Challoner
from DK Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Visual Dictionary of the Universe
DK Visual Dictionaries
by Paul Docherty, ed.
from DK Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in Oversized Science Books (Location: SCI-OVER)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Way We Lived
by Richard Tames
from Reader's Digest
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
We Pulled Together. . .And Won!
by Deb Mulvey, ed.
from Reiman Publications
for 7th-12th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Western Civilization Combined Volume
by Jackson J. Spielvogel
6th edition from Wadsworth Publishing Company
for 7th-12th grade
in History Spines & Surveys (Location: HISRF-SPINE)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
What Darwin Got Wrong
by Jerry Fodor & Massimo Piatelli-Palmarni
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 10th-Adult
in Science Reference (Location: SCIREF)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Women in Science
by Rachel Ignotofsky
from Ten Speed Press
for 4th-12th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
World Jesus Knew
by Anne Punton
from Moody Press
for 8th-Adult
in Bible Reference (Location: XBI-REF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Young Reader's Companion to American History
by John A. Garraty, editor
from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-12th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$7.50 (1 in stock)