Understanding Civilizations is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts, addressing Literacy.RI.3.3 and Literacy.L.3.6. Studying civilizations is an integral part of any social studies education, and this book explores the topic with color photographs and illustrations accompanied by narrative nonfiction text. This book should be paired with "What Makes a Civilization?" (9781477725573) from the Rosen Common Core Readers Program to provide the alternative point of view on the same topic.