What Are the Articles of Confederation?

March 1, 2012

Gr 4-7-When people consider the founding of the United States, many students start with the Declaration of Independence in 1776, then move to the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, without full comprehension of the enormous achievements of the intervening years, including the Articles of Confederation. Explaining the many discussions and compromises involved in setting up a government can be complicated for a young audience, but this book does a good job of breaking down the events into digestible pieces of information. In an effort to make the text accessible, however, a conversational tone and sentence fragments are employed. The "six questions" approach (who, what, where, when, why, how) provides a useful framework, taking readers through events in an easy-to-understand progression. Each chapter addresses a big question with more detailed questions highlighted on a notepad graphic within the text. Unfamiliar words are highlighted and defined in the side margins. To set off reproductions of primary sources, an eReader graphic is used, possibly to demonstrate that students can find digitized documents online. Period paintings, prints, and maps provide visual interest. Teachers will appreciate the list of additional resources at the end.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2012
Grades 3-6 The Six Questions of American History series investigates events in our nation's past in the same way a journalist mightthrough the framework of who, what, when, where, why, and how. As a result, readers uncover the past rather than memorize it. Plentiful photos and maps, as well as supplementary materialpresented on ripped-out notebook pages in lieu of text boxesmakes for a highly readable format. (Also used less successfully as information devices are the immediately dated images of cell phones and GPS.) What Are the Articles of Confederation? details the process undertaken by our forefathers to unify newly independent America, particularly as they hammered out the Articles over 16 months, beginning in 1776. Back matter here is superb: each title includes a primary-source document (e.g., Notes from Thomas Jefferson ), as well as an activity (e.g., Imagine that you are a reporter at one of the witch trials ), time line, source notes, and bibliography, plus further reading and websites.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)