50 Great Americans - Educational, Entertaining And Just A Little On The Creepy Side....
Written: Aug 10 '02 (Updated Nov 20 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Wide, yet strange, assortment of American heroes.
Cons: Illustrations and stickers are rather disturbing - you have to see it to believe it!
The Bottom Line: The information in the book is pretty good, but I would have chosen some stronger American heroes to showcase. Why bother using cartoons instead of real photos?
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| Freak369's Full Review: 50 Great Americans: Every Kid Should Know Books |
It was shortly before July 4th of this year that one of my brood asked me who I though was the most influential American in history. Being in a rare state – a complete loss of words – I asked him to give me a few minutes to think about the question. Twenty-five minutes later I was still debating his question and couldn’t narrow it down to less than 20 people that helped to shape the United States of America.
In the midst of looking on the internet for some famous names as I tried to narrow my search down to a handful, I came across a book called 50 Great Americans and really liked the brief description given at the online book store. Since they were offering free shipping on your first order, I whipped out my credit card and ordered a copy. Words could not prepare me for the shock that gripped me when the flat parcel arrived. You’ll have to keep reading to see exactly what I am referring to.
The Book
While Epinions lists this book as a “sticker book”, it is much more than that. There are 50 stickers, one for each person featured in the book, that can be placed in a designated section on each of the biography pages. I double-checked the ISBM number to make sure that this was the correct book for this section due to the fact that there is no photo of the front cover. To see the cover of the book, please feel free to visit this link http://www.booksamillion.com/bam/covers/0/76/810/024/0768100240.jpg
Most of the information about the famous folks in the book is basic. It’s targeted towards the 7 – 12 year age range but in my honest opinion, I think this is more for the 7 – 10 year old crowd. Some of the names will pop right off the page at you and others a bit more obscure. I.M. Pei was one of the few names that I didn’t recognize in the index of names, but after reading the biography I was familiar with his notable accomplishment in architectural design. The book covered politicians, entertainers, scientists, inventors and of course United States Presidents.
Each look at a famous individual contains the same basic information. As an example I’ll go over George Eastman in detail so you can get a feel of what is provided.
George Eastman
Born: July 12, 1854, in Waterville, New York
Died: March 14, 1932, in Rochester, New York
Family: One of three children
Claim To Fame: Gifted inventor and businessman who made photography simple and affordable.
The biography covers his life’s achievements, inventions, impact on America, dates of inventions, the establishment of the Eastman Kodak Company and the history of the “Brownie” camera. At the end of the biography is a small section called It’s A Fact which gives a very notable comment about the person.
Some biographies span two pages, but as a general rule almost all of them are 1 page. Some contain more information than others but I can honestly say that my kids have had a ball with this book. Due to the fact that there is a limited amount of information given, they took it upon themselves to do some research on the people they took a liking to. For me, that made me ecstatic. To see them freely seeking out information more than justified the price of the book. After all, if something is going to inspire a child to learn on his or her own – then it gets two thumbs up form me.
Some of the famous people mentioned in the book include: Harriet Tubman, Thomas Edison, Sandra Day O’Connor, Walt Disney, Samuel Morse, Patrick Henry, Pocahontas, Maya Angelou, Helen Keller, The Wright Brothers just to name a few. The wide spectrum of background, upbringings and events make this book appealing and educational and for the price, I feel it is more than worth the monetary investment.
Time Lines
A nice little perk to the text portion of the book is the addition of time lines. There are six one page time lines that cover the following areas: 1596 - 1776, 1777 - 1834, 1835 - 1864, 1865 - 1899, 1900 - 1918, 1919 - Present. Each of these time lines incorporates the famous people’s accomplishments into an easy to read chart. They are broke down to specific sections to covered specific lengths of time – and this is a great tool for learning important dates and events.
Illustrations & Stickers
I fully understand that some people think it is amusing to see famous people drawn in a cartoon fashion, however this is the exception to the rule. Almost all of the illustrations in the biography section are crude and inaccurate. If you want to teach your child about history encourage them to stick with the text portion of the book and overlook the cartoon depictions. In my own personal opinion, these depictions of ‘famous people’ are insulting. I understand they were given the rather strange looks to keep kids interested but if I were a child I would much rather see a real photo of Amelia Earhart than some doodle.
The Cons
I have nothing against Lucille Ball, Steven Spielberg, Abigail Van Buren or Ann Landers however I found it a complete waste of space for them to be mentioned in such a book. I would have rather seen a few more Presidents or historical figures added to the book then those in the ‘entertainment’ industry. There are a few sports figures mentioned however they were athletes that made an impact on history, not someone who wrote a cheesy advice column or starred on a television show. I don’t think anyone can even start to compare the monumental achievements of Jackie Robinson to those of Ann Landers.
The Bottom Line
While I still hold my stance on the illustrations and stickers being utterly useless, the text portion of the book provides a very nice stepping stone to get kids interested in history, famous people and events. There is enough information to inform a child but not enough for them to feel overwhelmed. In the case of my boys they were interested in learning more about Samuel Morse after reading about him and his inventions – and lets face it – Sam Morse isn’t exactly getting a ton of hits on search engines. If nothing else, this book inspired my boys to seek out knowledge from other sources and to take the basics they were presented with in this book and expand upon it.
Since I homeschool my boys year round, I am always on the lookout for entertaining and interesting books that will make learning fun. While I am sure there are numerous books on the market with better illustrations and more text information, this one got more than it’s fair share of reading and use. I suggest this for the 7 – 10 year old crowd that is looking for basic information on a wide range of famous people in American history.
The Stats
Name: 50 Great Americans Every Kid Should Know
Published By: McClanahan / High IQ
Pages: 64 [not including stickers]
ISBN: 0-7681-0024-0
Age Range: 7 - 12
Author: Jacqueline A. Ball
Illustrations: Tom LaPadula
Sticker Art: Steve Haefele
Price: $ 6.95
As always, thanks for stopping by!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2004 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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