Basal textbooks are rather popular for social studies teachers to use in the classroom setting. There are selected reasons for this occurring. They do provide beginning and new teachers a framework for ongoing lessons and units of study. The accompanying Manual provides suggestions for learning activities for learners to pursue. Evaluation procedures are given to assist in assessing pupil achievement and progress. Textbooks are also helpful for experienced teachers to lean upon when teaching many curriculum areas and time is needed to gather resources in a crowded school day. There are also numerous criticisms hurled at basal textbook usage in the social studies. Outdated textbooks are used which do not contain updated subject matter content pertaining to recent events and happenings. They may also become too formal in use whereby facts are learned by pupils with little or very few opportunities for critical and creative thinking. Then too, a teacher may stick to the basal exclusively to the exclusion of other valuable sources of information (Ediger, 2009). The purpose of this manuscript is to clarify how basal social studies textbooks may be utilized in a quality social studies curriculum.