The two books I picked for my comparative Analysis of Social Studies are All About Me published in 1997 and Here I Am, also published in 1997.  The grade level these textbooks are designed for is kindergarten.  Both of these textbooks are designed to be guides for the teacher considering kindergartners are just learning the ABC's and do not really know how to read.  Because the students don't use these textbooks, this analysis does not cover topics such as -how hard the material is for students to understand, vocabulary density, and contextual clues.
    To begin, both of these books have a table of contents and an index.  The books' contents are set up topically as opposed to chronologically.  All About Me is set up by having different units.  Under each unit there are about five or six different lessons.  Under these different lessons, there are three different parts:  1) Access 2) Build 3) Close.   This book gives the teacher step by step instructions on how to teach the lessons.  In the very beginning of the lesson it gives the objectives, vocabulary for the students, and a list of resources for the teacher to use.  Throughout the different lessons, it also gives ideas on how to integrate the topic being taught with other subjects (math, language arts).  In the very beginning of the unit there is a preview, and at the end of the unit there is a unit wrap-up.  (An example of a wrap-up lesson:  In unit 1, "I know who I am", students were to make a class story cloth showing what they learned from the unit).
    Although Here I Am is similar to All About Me, they are set up a little differently.  In Here I Am, there is not a unit preview in the very beginning.  However, before the lessons there is a unit organizer, bibliography, opener, and project ideas.  In each lesson it gives an overview, lesson objectives, and key concepts.  At the end of each lesson there is an objectives checklist.  It also gives the teacher an evaluation activity to assess his/her students with.
    Both books are set up with one main idea as the unit and then lessons to reinforce the main idea.  From carefully looking at all the sub-topics of each unit, the lessons do reflect he main ideas.  For both of these books, it is not necessary for students to have background knowledge of the material they are learning.  Within the content, they are designed in an orderly fashion so that students can start with basic knowledge and move out (i.e. starting school, meeting families, let's explore, our country, our world..).
    In each book, concepts are clearly defined and there is a list of questions for the teacher to ask students (i.e. In Here I Am unit 1 lesson 2-Our busy Classroom- Objectives: identify activities that involve working together.  Key concepts and questions (i.e. lesson 1 Meet my neighbors- One objective: describe neighborhoods.  Vocabulary:  neighbor, neighborhoods.  Questions:  How can you be a good neighbor?).
    These two books vary in the ways they teach, but for the most part they teach about he same topics.  Here I Am is really helpful because it has a page for teachers at the end of each unit on assessment opportunities.  It also has a big book that goes along with the book to get children involved.  All About Me does not have this, but it does give the teacher many different ideas for integration and it gives ideas on how to bring home involvement into students' work.
    When analyzing kindergarten textbooks, it is very hard to compare and contrast two of them.  I think a good textbook has to have many different lesson plans under a unit and the units have to be connected to the main idea.  I can not really say that one of these books had something the other didn't except for things I have already listed (big book, assessment ideas).  I think both of these books would be a great guide for kindergarten teachers.  I would definitely use either one of them.  I thought the overall content in each book was essential material for kindergarten students to learn.  The lessons are many different examples of the unit's main idea and there are so many activities to do with the students.  The main ideas are explicit to the teacher and the authors' work is in a sequenced order of what to do first, second, and third.  There are many explicit illustrations shown for the teachers to see so that he/she teaching will know how to do them (i.e. bulletin board, family quilt, and class pictographs).  These books are a guide for teachers.  It is up to the teacher on how to present the material to the class on a kindergarten level.  If the teacher goes by these books, I think the activities will be great because students will work "hands on" a lot, and I think the topics are covered really well with very much supporting detail.

Banks, James A. Here I Am. Macmillan McGraw-Hill, 1997.
Boehm, Dr. Richad G. etal. All About Me. Harrcourt Brace and Company, 1997