Reviews (1)

story of remarkable life
I was very impressed by the life of Rigoberta Menchu. Her story is told with great depth of feeling but completely without sentimentality. There is background given on the Mayan culture which I found very interesting, that made her struggle so much more meaningful. This is really a great book for middle school ages to learn about current issues in Latin America, and about indigenous struggles. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I pledge
The author, June Swanson is a historian with the pictures done by freelance artist Rick Hanson. I Pledge Allegiance consists of forty pages with the first printing completed in 1990. This is a children's book offering easy to understand background on the history of The Pledge of Allegiance. The idea behind the book is to help children learn more about what they are reciting daily in their respective classrooms.

The book begins with the 1880s as Henry Ford is building a buggy that runs on gasoline and electric lights coming into homes. Most of the pages contain a paragraph with a matching image, such as the skyscraper that stood eleven stories high being built in Chicago. Next the frontiers were becoming States. In 1888 there was a children's magazine called, the Youth's Companion that was delivered weekly through out the United States. " It was filled with adventure stories".

The text within these pages has the key words to learn in bold - pledge, allegiance, Republic, Nation, indivisible, liberty and Justice. While the first four words were used within the same page to make comparisons of the meaning, the others needed one to two pages to guide the students. Republic was explained as a kind of government where everyone can vote with Nation being another term for country. The illustrations show the students in the classroom, people voting and the White House. Indivisible is when something cannot be divided or pulled apart. The illustration shows a war between the northern and southern states as an example.

Most of this was difficult for my son to absorb, partly due to his disability and also he was not interested in learning this in one session. It helped to go over a few pages in I Pledge Allegiance daily so he could comprehend it fully. The students in the book all knew that liberty meant freedom and then learned that Justice was about being fair with the same laws for everyone. " The children now understood that they were promising to help the government of the United States give freedom to all and treat people.

Very good but slightly deficient
Nicely written however it doesn't have depth about the nitty gritty on the pledge's author (a socialist who wrote the pledge to promote socialism in the most socialistic institution -government schools). "Nationalism" was the name of Bellamy's socialist movement and he was a vice president of its socialist auxiliary group.Their members wanted the federal government to nationalize most of the American economy. Bellamy saw government schools as a means to his socialist "Nationalism." The original socialist salute to the U.S. flag resembled the salute of the monstrous National Socialist German Workers' Party. As the only person who collects, exposes and writes about the frightening historical photos of the original socialist salute to the U.S. flag, I think that more books on the pledge should examine that "dark side." More books should examine the issue of whether the pledge should be scrapped, particularly for young children in government schools.The pledge's author lived until 1931 - long enough to see a similar salute and a similar philosophy espoused by the National Socialist German Workers'Party. ... Read more

Book Description

This Level 3 book is perfect for children who can read alone.

In Spies, readers explore the history of espionage through war and "cold war" peace. Meet the famous and the infamous, the agents and the double agents. Infiltrate the FBI, CIA, and KGB and follow the evolution of the tools of the trade, including industrial spying and computer hackers. The 48-page Level 3 books, designed for children who can read on their own, contain more complex sentence structure and more detail. Young readers will devour these kid-friendly titles, which cover high-interest topics such as sharks, and the Bermuda Triangle, as well as classics like Aladdin. Information boxes highlight historical references, trivia, pronunciation, and other facts about words and names mentioned. Averaging 2,400 to 2,800 words, these books offer a 50/50 picture-to-text ratio.

The Dorling Kindersley Readers combine an enticing visual layout with high-interest, easy-to-read stories to captivate and delight young bookworms who are just getting started. Written by leading children's authors and compiled in consultation with literacy experts, these engaging books build reader confidence along with a lifelong appreciation for nonfiction, classic stories, and biographies. There is a DK Reader to interest every child at every level, from preschool to grade 4. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Spies
Who doesn't like spies books? Well I do well in one of the spy books.I think this is the best spy books in the world because it has my favorite spy 007 and it also talk about spies even if it was a long time ago like Arnold he is a bitsh soldiers but they thought thay he was a spy and you have to take a risk you if you don't can't be a spy.

I recomend this book to anyone who like spy book and want to be one when they grow up like me I want to be a spy when I grow up and I like this book to because it show you how to be a spy.

Age Appropriate?
In reading through this book, I was greatly dismayed to see the graphic depictions of killing. Yes, we know that spies are often forced to do unsavory things. However, when writing for such a young audience, authors typically don't address them quite so vividly. As a former DK distributor, I was greatly disappointed to receive a book of such questionable content for my 8-year-old. I would recommend almost any other DK Reader, sight unseen, above this one.

Mystery Spies
The author of this book is Richard Platt.This book is a very good book. Spies try to copy its rivals country planes.Spies spy for many different reasons.Some spies because they been blackmailed. Spies have always had to work in secret.They write important messages in a code.Codes turn messsages into a jumble of letters that look like nonsense-hiding the original meaning.Only the sender and the receiver knows how to read the secret code.The deadliest killers of all were the 12-century Japanese spies known as Ninja"invisible men."Spies at wartime must make sure nobody suspects them.Unlike a regular soldier,spies have to live,dress,and talk like the enemy they are fighting. After I read this book,I know a lot of things about spies. I would recommend this book to all third graders. I wish you like it. ... Read more

Book Description

Is the President the boss of the country?
What happens if there's a tie?
How does a voting machine work?
Who belongs to the electoral college?

Election fever is never higher than when the country is electing a president, but how does it all work? In a fun and snappy question-and-answer format, this book tells you everything you want to know about our democratic process in action. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great book for teaching elections facts
I am a 5th grade teacher and I found this book very helpful in providing explanations to my students about various elections processes. The kids really enjoy as it is written in a question/answer format. I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about our elections! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Impeachment of Bill Clinton: Everybody lost...
Ultimately, Daniel Cohen achieves his sense of balance in "The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton" by finding all the parties involved guilty of something.The Republican party was able to take advantage of competing standards in being critical of Clinton's behavior, applying a legal standard to his political behavior and a political standard to his legal actions.In a similar fashion Cohen uses various standards to find fault with one and all, which, I dare say, is a position most young readers can readily buy into.

In 1998 the U.S. House of Representatives voted for two articles of impeachment against President Clinton: committing perjury and obstructing justice.Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate after a brief trial, but Cohen is well aware that the story involves much more than the Constitutional issues.Cohen presents the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the context of the "Character" issue that had followed Clinton throughout his run for the White House.Detailing the string of events that brought Lewinsky to the attention of Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr.Even though he is writing for a younger audience, Cohen pays attention to details: he points out the employee photograph of Lewinski from the Department of Defense was used because it was the only one available until journalists finally tracked her down.A small detail, but important because in the world of news images matter.The chapters in which Cohen details how the White House counterattacked the building story and the testimony that became the focal point of the impeachment effort.

During the whole impeachment affair I always like to read news magazines rather than newspapers, because I appreciated the sense of perspective that you get from something that comes out weekly rather than daily.Cohen certainly takes advantage of the persepctive time affords him.I also like the fact that Cohen does not let his objectivity stand in the way of being critical: he notes that Betty Currie, the president's secretary, would have been an obvious witness to call but that the impeachment managers did not want to have a string of black witnesses being questioned by white males.Again, I think this sort of detail speaks to the quality of this book.

Ultimately, the information in this book may enlighten, but it probably will not persuade anybody, mainly because everybody's mind is made up on this one.I remember thinking it was a big mistake for the U.S. Supreme Court to let lawyers go after a sitting U.S. President in a civil trial and when Clinton denied having "sexual relations" with Lewinski I immediately knew that he was ruling out intercourse, but not other things.Along with what happened in Florida, it was an interesting couple of years educating children about the wonderful world of politics in this country.Of course, I am not sure too many students are interested in beating this particular dead horse, but this is an excellent treatment of the sordid chapter of recent American history.

A Fair Tale
Extremely well-written in an unbiased telling of the facts, Cohen presents this entire scandal in "the best light possible."Toldchronologically, he incudes black/white photos and documents that keep thisbook moving at an acceptable pace. A much appreciated addition to anyschool or public library, this will be a popular reference for any schoolproject concerning Presidents.Readers are left to draw their ownconclusions about the "charmed" life and bad choices of this U.S. President.You can't do much better than that, Mr. Cohen. ... Read more

Book Description

Laura Bush has loved education and reading since she was a young child, and today she brings her experienced viewpoints, her love of children, and her interest in education to a much broader audience as the wife of the forty-third president of the United States, George W. Bush. In her speeches and public appearances, she expresses what many Americans believe: that every human being should be treated whith dignity, and that no child should be left behind in shcool, or in life.

This biography of one of our most fascinating public figures touches on all aspects of Mrs. Bush's life, from her years as a teacher and librarian, to her first meeting with her husband, to the birth of their twins, to her important work as an advocate for women and children. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Disappointing.
I was looking for a concise, yet interesting, book about the Declaration of Independence. The book provides a simplified accounting of the times preceding the writing of the document. Though the vocabulary is age-appropriate and the information factual, the style is uninteresting, and the book gives none of the fascinating details that could bring the period and the event to life.

An introductory story about the Declaration of Independence
This book for younger readers is about more than "The Declaration of Independence." Patricia Ryon Quiri begins her story with English settlers coming to a new land and the colonies rebelling against being forced to pay taxes to the British government. The American Revolution is part of the background of the story, which focuses more on the political actions of the Continental Congress than on the battles; still, we are halfway through this book before we come to the actual writing of the Declaration. Quiri provides the basic information about the motion for independence, the drafting of the declaration, and the vote for approval. Understandably, she does not get into the debate over the idea of independency in general or the specific provisions of the Declaration, such as the one regarding slavery that was omitted. As she points out in her conclusion, she is dealing with this document as an eternal symbol of freedom for Americans rather than as a political and/or rhetorical treatise. There will be plenty of time for young readers to consider the Declaration of Independence as such, when they are capable and willing to read the entire document. This juvenile history provides the basic historical details.

This volume in the True Book series is illustrated with mostly historic paintings from the time period, including the famous ones of Jefferson showing Franklin and Adams the Declaration and the entire committee presenting the document to the Continental Congress. There are also some contemporary photographs of the Declaration and I appreciate the fact that Quiri tells her young readers that the copy on display at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. "is cracked, and the writing has faded." I saw the Declaration the last time I was in Washington, and to see what direct sunlight and other destructive agents of time have done to the parchment was a great shock. Therefore, I think everyone should be aware that if they have the chance to see the Declaration of Independence they should be prepared for the reality of what is left (In comparison, Da Vinci's painting of "The Last Supper" is in a hundred times better shape). ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Great Book!!!
After reading through this book I have found that it is not only well organized but makes the students really think about important questions on issues about government. I believe that the questions and projects that the book presents are not only challenging but fun as well. For any Civics teacher out there, this book is a must! ... Read more