Make a Book Map with Google Maps
I was filling in for my son's teacher in 3rd grade yesterday (no substitute). One activity I facilitated was their prepared book talks. The students had four minutes to talk to their classmates about a book they enjoyed and why they should read it too.
I noticed that a few of the books that were shared had specific locations for the settings. We decided to make a book map using My Maps from Google to highlight the settings in which these texts took place. Here is how it works:
Go to mymaps.google.com and give your map a name, such as "Book Map".
Select the marker tool and place pins on the locations of your books shared.
Add the title and author of the book to the heading.
Add a photo of the cover of the book by doing a Google image search within the marker menu.
If you'd like, find a URL to the book's Amazon or author page and paste it into the pin's description.
Now you have a book map! This map can be shared with other teachers and students the same way you would share a Google Doc. They can add to the map during the school year. One idea to take further: Add another layer of markers/pins of locations of books that you want to read. You can change the pin colors to differentiate between the two layers.
Below are a few screenshots of the start of our book map.
