This teacher's handbook, organized in two parts, gives theoretical support for integrating social studies and literature disciplines and serves as an instructional guide for classroom use. Part 1, "Children's Literature in the Social Studies Curriculum," provides a philosophical background for integrating social studies and whole language across the curriculum through thematic units based on children's literature. Practical suggestions are given for implementation of the approach. Part 2, "Activities and Processes," organizes lessons by the seven major areas of the social studies curriculum: child/self; family; community/neighborhood; city/country; states/regions; nation/country; and world. Focused on these themes, lesson activities are designed for each of 32 children's books. Examples of the books include: "Once There Were Giants" (Martin Waddell); "Ox Cart Man" (Donald Hall); "When I Was Young in the Mountains" (Cynthia Rylant); and "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" (John L. Steptoe). Each presentation includes a summary, social studies topics, content-related words, curricular perspectives, critical-thinking questions, related books and references, and activities. Appendices include an annotated bibliography of children's literature and social studies resources. An index and information about the author conclude the book. (MM)