Traveling Man
Publication Information
Author:  Rumford, James	Illustrator:  Rumford, James
Title:  Traveling Man	Date:  2001
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin	City:  Boston
ISBN, paperback:	ISBN, hardback:  0-618-43233-7
Recommended audience:
ABE/ABLE:	ESOL:
Family:	Young Adult:
Picture:
General Information:
Book Type(s):    biography and autobiography
HSE Descriptor(s):
Summary:
Based on the real life of Ibn Battuta, who lived from 1304 to 1369, the author writes about the 75,000-mile journey and illustrates it with decorative maps and Arabic style motifs as he tells this incredible travel adventure. The author includes biographical background, a glossary, a map with routes, and excerpts from Battuta's diaries.
Teaching Ideas:
Readers may want to supplement the beautiful ancient maps with a contemporary world map in order to identify the modern countries he visited and perhaps estimate the distance traveled in segments of his journey. How would he travel today? What would he miss and what would he gain? Scattered throughout the story are truisms about traveling that make good writing prompts: "Traveling--it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller." A timeline would show the unexpected events that extended his trip beyond the original religious pilgrimage to Mecca. One enthusiastic reviewer shared this quote from St. Augustine of Hippo which also make a good writing prompt: "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."
Teaching Strategies:
DR-TA: Directed Reading Thinking Activity    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/dr_ta.pdf
Helping Students in the Writing Process    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/help_writing_process.pdf
K-W-L Instruction Strategy    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/k_w_l.pdf
Matrices or Charts    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/matrices_charts.pdf
Unsent Letters    http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/unsent_letters.pdf
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Hardships > problem solving

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