April 1, 2004
Gr 4-7-Common to these titles are brief, but not particularly easy, texts with large, clear type in a cleanly designed format. Relevant facts are scattered throughout the wide margins along with a few full-page sidebars that provide related historical background. In addition, these books include addresses of places to visit or contact, and, in place of a Web site list of possibly dated URLs, the publisher provides a link to its own site that, presumably, will be updated in a timely manner. (This link also takes one to the publisher's online sales catalog.) The photos and reproductions that appear on every page are well chosen and clear. These slim titles also might be suitable for reluctant readers. One wonders, though, about the criteria for the brief glossaries when in Tubman, for example, the words "capture" and "courage" are included but "prophet" and "disguising" are not.-Sue Sherif, Alaska State Library, Anchorage
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