Leif Erikson

November 1, 2013

Gr 4-6-This series attempts to keep readers' interest by making the narratives flow like stories, including imagined dialogue and descriptive passages. The problem with this sort of presentation is that it might be hard for students doing research to extract specific facts. Also, speculative statements such as, "He was probably more upset that people found out that he had her killed" in Nero create a sense of unreliability. That said, a lot of information is provided, and the texts are compelling introductions. Full-page text boxes supplement the main text along with captioned photos, reproductions, and maps. Though these volumes are not strong report resources, they are additional purchases for collections in which readers' interest in ancient history is high.

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November 1, 2013
Grades 5-8 The Junior Biographies from Ancient Civilizations series brings its subjects to life by focusing on some of history's most famous (and infamous) names. Each volume establishes a context of the civilizations from which each subject sprang. Archimedes begins with the subject's famous Eureka! moment and then goes back to look at his boyhood, mathematical training, and the impact he had on ancient Greek civilizationas well as much further into the future. The books are a solid blending of art and text, with lengthy, illustrated sidebars doing the heavy lifting when it comes to explaining societies' mores.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)