Laura Vila

OMG. The illustrations are GORGEOUS. It whips through 50,000 years pretty fast, but take the time and soak in those pictures.

Grade: K+
Genre: Informational
Themes: Immigration, city life
Building Manhattan comes as a welcome vehicle for teaching young children how the United States became populated. The book takes the reader on a simple explanation of how Manhattan became the city as we know it today. It is a picture book that older students can begin understanding how the city was shaped. I used this book for an introductory explanation to immigration during social studies class when we were discovering how the show more United States became populated. The illustrations are colorful and add great detail to the story. show less

2009/2010 nominee for the Chickadee Award (best picture book as voted by the children of Maine.) Personally, I don't see how this is going to have a ton of appeal for Maine kids, seeing as it's the history of Manhattan. Maybe if they really like history. Also, I know my tastes tend to not agree with the rest of the state, because I was blindsided by this year's winner.

This book is a biography photo book. It has words and the pictures are there to give imagery to the wording on the book. This book is very colorful and has very interesting items depicted in the pictures. It is a short and simple way to show how Manhattan became Manhattan.