History Year by Year

December 1, 2013

Gr 4-8-Divided into different eras, with various ranges of time ("Before History Began," "Really Ancient History," "Much More Civilized," "The Marvelous Middle Ages," "Exploring and Reforming," "Time for Change," "Empires and World Wars," and "Fast Forward"), this offering follows the publisher's successful pattern of full-color pictures, brief blurbs of text, and highlighted features focusing on particular aspects of the broader subject. Starting with "3 MYA" ("million years ago") and ending with "1945-present," each part of the book gives a brief overview of what was going on in different parts of the world at the same time. A color-coded time line runs across most of the spreads, showing the progression and advancement of civilization. Every few pages, a particular subtopic gets extra attention. For instance, in the "700 BCE-500 CE" section, there is a two-page discussion, replete with a color picture of Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huangdi's terra-cotta army. Features such as these make this an excellent browsing book, but students can still pull information from the text. A brief history of both the United States and Canada is appended. A good addition to most collections, both for the information it offers and for its appealing format.-Carol Fazioli, Barth Elementary School, Pottstown, PA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2013
Grades 6-9 Presented in a time-line format, this is a visually astonishing excursion through world history from 3.5 million years ago to 2012. The colorful ribbon of time across the middle of each page is branched off with blocks of text and accompanying illustrations (photos of artifacts and events, drawings, and diagrams) to provide a stimulating, browser-friendly design throughout. Most double-page spreads cover a specific-length segment of time, starting at millions of years in prehistoric times, reducing to smaller time spans as history becomes more detailed, and then finally settling in at five years for most spreads from 1910 onward. Special pages highlighting major eventsor, in some cases, focusing upon the lives of childrenare interspersed throughout. The coverage is inclusive, touching upon activities in all parts of the world, though much of the information will require a fairly sophisticated knowledge of history to understand. Although designed for reference, this has the feel of a carefully crafted museum exhibit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)