Review: WE MARCH by Shane W. Evan

Kirkus Reviews' Best Children's Books of 2012

**Starred Review** Kirkus

**Starred Review** SchoolLibraryJournal

WE MARCH is brilliant.  With 61 words and 32 pages of drawings, Shane Evans manages to capture the essence of the 1963 March on Washington.

The morning is quiet.
The sun rises
and we prepare
to march.

We pray for strength.
We work together.
We come from all over...
to march.

We follow our leaders.
We walk together.
We sing.
We are hot and tired,
but we are filled with hope.

We lean on each other
as we march to justice,
to freedom,
to our dreams.

What the images show are people walking in the dark.  A family rising early to meet at a church where they and others make signs to take with on the buses that will take them to Washington, DC.

I love that all sorts of people are shown gathering for this purpose.  Black and white.  Male and female.  Old and young. In wheelchairs and of different religions. I like this because it allows adults to expand upon the message that this wasn't just the beginning of equal rights for people of different races, but for women and religious minorities, as well for those who are handicapped. 

Excellent book that can be shared across a range of ages.

Pam~


WE MARCH
by Shane W. Evan

Reading Information:
Word Count: 61
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reader: 1.2 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 158349
Lexile: BR

You might also be interested in:

• Martin Luther King, Jr. -- First Grade Readers

•  Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Second Grade readers

• 6 Great Books for Kids About Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Civil Rights for Kids

Review: THE TRUE STORY OF THANKSGIVING by Colleen Adams

I thought THE TRUE STORY OF THANKSGIVING from PowerKids Press could have been much better.

For example, if you take a look at the above page, you will note that there is no spacing between paragraphs.  And with the letters being VERY large (which I don't think you can fully appreciate in this image) it makes all of the pages of text ugly. 

The images aren't much better.  And while I really liked the use of classic artwork and the wood cuttings, I thought the switch to garishly printed modern photographs was less than appealing.

This page shows up better in this copy of mine
than in the book where it's 'muddy'.

Factually the book is better.  Although I thought it was strange that the author wrote that during the first winter in Plymouth that the pilgrims planted crops.  [Given the snowy environment that sounds strange.]

And I regret that the author missed out on an opportunity to point out that one reason that the treaty between the Wampanoag's and Pilgrims took place was because the Native Americans were tired of the Pilgrims robbing and stealing from them.  That would seem a fun and kid-friendly factoid that most watered-down history books don't talk about.

And as you can see from page 18, the BIG debunk is actually very mild.  Mostly having to do with the feast taking place over 3 days, rather than one.  And with small things like food selection and standing up instead of sitting.

Can't really recommend.  For a book at the 5th grade reading level, it's conceptually too simple and just not fun enough.

Pam~


THE TRUE STORY OF THANKSGIVING
(What Really Happened?)
by Colleen Adams

Reading Information:
Word Count: 1,327
Page Count: 24
Accelerated Reader: 5.0 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 126090


compiled by Pam
updated November 2014

The History and Activities of Ancient Greece by Greg Owens

This book is a little different from the others we've read so far. It's divided into two parts, the first part features the usual discussion of the origins of Democracy and 'life in Ancient Greece', and the second section contains some art and cooking projects that children can do with adult assistance.

Here are the Contents:

The World's First Democracy
Life in Ancient Greece
Arts and Sports
Hands-On Ancient History
-- Sesame Cakes
-- Makes a Peplos
-- Paint a Greek Vase
-- Make a Fresco Painting

Glossary
More Books to Read
A Note to Teachers
Index

The book does a very good job, in my opinion, of describing the origins and practice of Democracy in very few words (two pages). It's coverage of Greek lifestyle is more-or-less the standard fair covering as much material as the other books we've used, in about as much detail.

So far, this has been the only book that has presented us with a timeline. It's very contracted (only 1/2 page and 7 events) but if you have kids that like such things it will give them some idea of the mega-events that fell between 2800 BC (Minoans on Crete) and 146 BC (Rome becomes the dominant player).


We're going to make the sesame cakes and I'll update this review with the results to let you know whether it's worth the time and effort. As for the other projects, although my daughter is constantly pestering me to make a peplos, I see little chance of that happening. The same with the paper mache vase project, and the fresco project that requires us to make a plaster casting.

THE SKINNY:::
I liked this book principally for how Greg Owens handles the sections on Democracy and the Peloponnesian war.

The artwork and photo selections are good.

I like the project selections, although they aren't something I think most teachers would want to tackle. Better for homeschoolers perhaps.

All in all, unless you are going to use the projects to flesh out your studies, I don't think this book rates a place on the home shelves.

Well written.


Hands-On Ancient History:
The History and Activities of Ancient Greece
by Greg Owens

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree (2007)
• ISBN-10: 1403479208 and 1403479283
• amazon
  

Technical Stuff
No Reading information available.
Perhaps 3rd or 4th grade (?)

" The Ancient Greeks" (History Starts Here) by John Malam-- History Books for Kids

This is another general book on the Ancient Greeks, and though it had features of interest, it wasn't my favorite. Generally I would say that it was serviceable for the classroom, particularly for younger elementary students that read above grade level -- but it's not a good choice for the home shelves.

Here are the chapter headings:

Who Were the Greeks?
The Beginning of Greece
Athens -- City of Marble
How a City Was Run
Life in Ancient Greece
Children and School
Greek Clothes
Food and Drink
Gods and Goddesses
Festivals and Games
Stories and Theater
The Greeks at War
The End of the Greeks

Important Dates
Glossary
Further Information
Index

The Skinny:::
I thought the material was too simple for the reading level. For example, while the author spoke of Athens, there was no mention of Sparta and it's culture, nor of the warfare that took place between the city-states. Similarly, there were few details giving about the dining accommodations, and no mention of the term Andron, which we've run across in every other 'general' level book we've read.

What I did like were the two pages which were spent on the Minoans and Mycencaeans. Oddly enough, this is the only book, thus far, that has specifically mentioned that the Minoans did not speak Greek. I also liked the additional information that was offered on clothing and dyes. Other books mentioned spinning wool, and wool for clothing, but this book added that the Greeks also used linen to dress themselves.

The picture selection was very, very good. There was a great picture of a stone doll, for example, that had legs that pivoted.

Note: I think you'll find this book difficult to track down. There are different ISBNs and publishers given and tracking down the reading information was a messy business.

The Ancient Greeks (History Starts Here)
by John Malam, Michael & Kasia Posen (Illus.)

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hodder Wayland
• ISBN-10: 0750244518, also 1433940914
• amazon
  

Technical Stuff
Word Count: 1,976
Reading Level: 4.4
Interest Level: Elementary
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 4.4 / points: 0.5 / quiz: 140267

Another site gives the reading level as 4.5, and the Quiz as 48876.

For other Good Books on Ancient Greece, see our directory

Michael Townsend's Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders -- Good History Books for Kids

My children ADORE this book! It has the zany humor my "Captain Underpants Lovin'" 8 year-old son craves, and it had a level of humor a bit more sophisticated than that, that both my 10 year-old daughter and I enjoyed.

The stories covered:

The Foolish King Midas and the Golden Touch
Pandora and the Box of Mystery
Pygmalion and His Rocky Relationship!!!
The Abduction of Persephone
Arachne Gets a Big Head!!!
Perseus vs. Two Nasty Kings and a Really Ugly Monster
Pyramus and Thisbe- An Icky Love Story
The Short Flight of Icarus
Hercules and the Ten Labors (Give or Take a Few)
The Drawn-Out Finale...

What permanently endeared this book to me was that my kids totally got the messages that myths were meant to tell. Far from obscuring the themes, the humor and Townsend's shorthand version, seemed to clarify them and cement them in my children's heads.

A perfect example of this occurred the other night when we were all watching some junky-show on TV. It was a show with a version of the Romeo and Juliette story, and Laura piped up and said, 'Dad, that's just like the story of Thisbe and Pyramus'. To which Dave added, 'but without the crack in the wall."

The Skinny:::

Michael Townsend's book was a real hit in our household. My children (boy and girl; 8 and 10) loved it.

The versions of these ancient myths in this book are approximations of the original stories. They are riddled with humor and summaries of some of the 'bigger' themes. At first I wondered if the kids would get anything useful out of the book, but they entirely grasped the greater themes. And honestly, doesn't humor sometimes make memorizing easier.

Violence: nothing graphic, but hey, these are Greek myths. Cyclops do get their eyes poked out.

Language: use of the word stupid.

Adult situations: Well, again, it's Greek myths we're talking about here. And Perseus' mom did have help from Zeus to conceive. But not to worry, it's handled quite well (at least my two didn't blink twice). Zeus arrives and goes "Poof!" and the next thing the princess says is, "Wow, I'm pregnant!" To which Zeus replies that now she'll never have to be lonely again. (All difficult material is handled in the same way.)

Highly recommend.

Pam~
Somewhere in the X-burbs


Michael Townsend's Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders
by Michael Townsend

Reading Information:
Word Count: 10,068
Page Count: 160
Accelerated Readier: 2.8 / points: .05
AR quiz: 138501

For other Good Books on Ancient Greece, see our directory

"Greek Hero" by Manning & Granstrom -- Good History Books for Kids

"Greek Hero" is another book that we're using to flesh out our studies of Ancient Greece. (The first was Susan Reynold's The First Marathon: The Legend of Pheidippides.)

It's a book that presents it's information via a story, but unlike the Reynold's book, this story is of modern origins.

To get children started, the authors begin with a map of the 4th Century BC Greek empire. By this time it's an image the children and I are familiar with. They then introduce the cast of characters that children will find in the story. This is pretty much required as there's little time, in so brief a book, to go into in-depth character studies.

The premise is that a young soldier named Agathon was at the battle of Plataea (479 BC) and that after that decisive victory against the Persians that he is free to pursue more peaceful activities. This premise serves to acquaint children with the Persian/Greek wars and also allows the authors to whisk us from one Greek location to another as Agathon gets on with his life.

Chapter Headings
Who were the Greeks?
Meet the Greeks
Victory
Homeward Bound
Campfire Stories
Deliveries
Home Life
Theater
Temple of the Gods
School Days
Wedding Day
Greek Women
Market Place
Sparta
Olympia
The Games
End of the Greeks
What the Greeks Left Behind
Glossary & Index

As you can perhaps see, the nature of these chapters is to teach about everyday Greek life: trade and commerce, family and marriage, food and household affairs, and religion at that time

Now, as a story the book didn't work all that well for us. There just wasn't time in so few pages to provide continuity between activities. However, I still think it was a worthy attempt and a laudable approach as it made what could have been dry material on the everyday life, kid-friendly.

Some of the material we had covered before, but some was new to us. For example the authors explained more about how men and women dined, how women were treated, and how marriages were arranged. They even quoted a snippet of a poem from Sappho, the famous Greek poetess. In addition, they gave brief summaries of a couple of the Greek myths, so if your child isn't familiar with them, this might spark their interest.

The Skinny:::
A useful and informative book. The story didn't work for us, but it served well to make the children more interested in the everyday life of ancient Greeks.

Great artwork. If you look at Amazon's Look Inside pages, you'll see that the facts and story are presented in a lively manner.

Pam
Somewhere in the X-burbs


Greek Hero (Fly on the Wall)
by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
  
• ISBN-10: 1845076834
• Look Inside
  
• amazon

Technical Stuff

Word Count: 2,704

Reading Level: 5.1

Interest Level: elementary

Accelerated Reader: reading level: 5.1 / points: 0.5 / quiz: 125757

For other Good Books on Ancient Greece, see our directory

Ancient Greece - Good History Books for Kids, a directory

The kids and I have embarked on a study of Ancient Greece and these are the books we've used. If any of them seem interesting to you, click on the picture and you can see what we thought of them.

Pam
Somewhere in the X-burbs
































For printables and activities, see Activity Village - Ancient Greece for Kids