Explore with Leif Eriksson

November 1, 2014

Gr 2-4-This flawed, poorly designed series introduces the earliest world explorers and their varied destinations. Their stories are told through sound bites of narrative and interspersed frantically with pullouts. Some pages are composed entirely of sidebars. These books may be designed for readers influenced by social media, but they neglect narrative entirely, and kids will struggle to find a central textual thread amid the blasts of information competing for their attention. The series does a disservice to the historical images by including tiny versions, clustered too closely together, and there's often a disconnect between text and images. The authors don't always let readers come to their own conclusions. For example, Ferdinand Magellan is labeled as "pig headed" without any explanatory anecdotes or examples. Give these titles a pass.

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2015
Grades 3-6 Students craving an alternative to traditional biographies will find the Travel with Great Explorers series good for sparking a curiosity for history. Arranged more like a guidebook with small packets of information, plenty of visuals, and maps, each title begins with a brief look at the boss' background and motivation for exploring. Subsequent double-page spreads cover the explorer's travel route, method of travel, relationships (or in some cases, disputes) with native peoples, and fortunes and mishaps encountered. Explore with Leif Eriksson not only describes his travel around Greenland and North America but the often misunderstood Viking culture. Additional spreads incorporate science through the flora and fauna the explorers met for the first time and the instruments they consulted for navigation. Humorous headlines make the series more engaging, while practical back matter makes it useful to beginning researchers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)