John Greenwood's Journey to Bunker Hill

December 1, 2010

Gr 3-5-These books use reader's theater to bring American history to life. Each volume focuses on the experiences of one real person or a fictional character representative of the time, first telling his or her story, then transforming it into a script. Despite the use of primary sources in the stories about the real people, there is a fair amount of fictionalized thought and dialogue, but an author's note at the end of each book should clear up any confusion. Though handsomely illustrated with full-spread paintings, the narrative portions are lackluster, written with surprisingly elementary language and sentence structure. Susan Campbell Bartoletti's Kids on Strike! (Houghton, 1999), Don Brown's Let It Begin Here (Roaring Brook, 2008), and Shelley Tanaka's A Day That Changed America: Earthquake! (Madison Press, 2004) cover the same topics in more compelling ways. It's the reader's theater sections that make these titles stand out. The roles are color-coded for easy differentiation, and lines are evenly apportioned. For reluctant readers, there is a role dedicated to sound effects. The only flaw is the books' constant referencing of the series' website, which promises help with sound effects, printable scripts, prop suggestions, and so on, but leads instead to the publisher's general website where there are no such features.-Rebecca Dash, New York Public Library

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